Where Is My Mummy?

Little Rosie stepped backward just as she turned around to see the person who spoke to her. There were four-built men who were staring down at her with a smirk on their lips. She stepped backward and her eyes widened when she saw them move towards her.

“Wh..who are you, people?” Her mother had told her not to talk to strangers. Especially bad-dressed strangers like these men who were dressed in a manner that made her scared. Their trousers were ripped in different parts and their shirts looked too big for their body. Two had haircuts that seemed too ridiculous to her and the other two had a scarf around their head. Their eyes were dark and they seemed somewhat drunk. Surely they were looking like everything her mother asked her to stay away from.

“We’re your friends. We have good intentions so don’t be scared, kid. Oh, are you looking for your mother?” One of the men asked.

Little Rosie on hearing her mother stood still. Do they perhaps know her mother? How else do they know that she was looking for her mommy?

“Yes.”

“I said it. Come on, we’ll take you to her, okay? Your poor mommy. She has been looking for you everywhere and calling ‘baby, baby.’ She was almost crying when we saw her. She looked pitiful.”

“Really? Mommy was almost crying?”

“Hmm. Come, we’ll take you to her, okay?” They persuaded.

“What if you guys are child traffickers?” She folded her hands under her chest. Her mother had also warned her about child traffickers. They deceive children and kidnap them to take them to other countries. Who knows if these men are child traffickers? They would kidnap her and take her far away from her mother.

The men sighed. One came forward and smiled charmingly.

“Don’t worry kid, I’m a friend of your mum. We used to be close friends and I know her very well, okay? If you don’t want your mum to start crying, come let’s take you to her.”

The men used the strategy of her mum crying to get to her and it seemed to work as the kid unfurled her hands and stared into space as if she was thinking of something important.

“Fine then, let’s go before Mommy starts crying.”

She stepped forward and stood before the men. One got hold of her hands and led her away from the crowd with the other men trailing behind them.

“Are you sure my Mommy is here? Mummy isn’t here. This isn’t the place she asked me to stand before,” little Rosie complained as they led her away from the crowd and to a place where there were only a few people. One of them took out his phone to make a phone call and the others just ignored her as if she wasn’t standing before them.

“Where is my Mommy? Why aren’t you people saying anything?” She cried.

They looked at her and turned their faces without saying a word.

“Misters, where is my Mommy? Mommy! Let go of my hand,” she dragged her little wrist from the man but he was holding her too tight, and no matter how she tried to drag it out of his hold, he only held her tighter.

“Stop screaming, kid. I’ll give you a slap if you scream again.”

Little Rosie, as if she didn’t hear the man’s warnings, kept screaming for her mother and pulling her wrist. Her heartbeat increased as she realized that these men were bad men who were going to take her away from her mommy. They were child traffickers and if she doesn’t pull her wrist from this man, she might never see her mommy again.

“Mommy, Mommy,” her little voice screamed desperately as she struggled in the kidnapper’s hold. Devising a plan, Rosie bent her head to the man’s hand and sunk her teeth deep in it causing the man to scream loudly and release her wrist.

……

At a close side to the place where little Rosie and the traffickers were, a man stood there with his hands in his pocket and a phone in his ears with his luggage beside him.

“Hardy, where are you?” He asked the person on the other line.

“I'm at the airport. I'm almost close.”

“Come here quickly.”

“Yes boss, oh, I can already see you.”

The man ran towards him and breathed heavily as if he had run a marathon. Marcel glared at his head before scolding.

“Why are you late? I've been standing here for an hour. If you can't do your job well, then quit. I don’t need suckers around me.”

“I’m sorry, boss. There was traffic on the road. I had to take another route

“That doesn’t explain why you kept me waiting. You should be here at least twenty minutes before I arrive.”

“I’m sorry. I thought that you would be traveling privately.”

“Drop it. Take my luggage and let’s get out of here. The trip was a failure.” He started walking ahead of the other man with his hands buried in his pocket and his eyes ahead. Whoever sees him now would know that the boss was in a really bad mood and was in no position to chit-chat. The business trip he went for was a failure and nothing came out of it. It has been a long time since he last failed in getting a client. Perhaps he needed a vacation.

“Boss, are we going to your penthouse?” The man behind him asked.

“Yes.”

Just then, they heard a scream ahead of them from a little child who was screaming for her mommy. The scream of the child was loud and after some time became muffled.

“Is that a little child?” Hardy wondered.

“Maybe a mother hitting her child or something. These days we have lots of mothers doing that to their children. Pathetic. Move it. It’s none of our business.”

They heard the child’s scream again and Hardy looked at the boss who seemed nonchalant.

“Boss, the child. She seems to be in pain.”