My Angel in Heaven

Angels

It is now 20 years later. 20 years since 5-year-old Rosalie's body was found and her family was given closure. 23 years since she went missing. How is her family getting along over two decades later?

I really am sorry about this, everyone. Trigger Warning: Major Character Death.

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20 years later – June 27th, 2039

It has been twenty years since the police found little Rosie's body, all the way back in 2019, 3 years after she first went missing.

Rosalie Faye Montgomery-Hastings would be 28 years old today if she were still alive.

Spencer wonders what she would be like. Who she would look like.

Would her hair still be blonde and curly?

Would she be a mother right now? How many kids would she want, who would she marry, what job would she be doing?

It is a hard anniversary for everyone, but especially for Spencer.

She... yearns for her baby girl. So hold her, kiss her. She wishes for all those moments that were missed – kindergarten, high school graduation, Prom, Homecoming, marriage, going to college, adulthood.

But she also wishes for the more... mundane milestones that one would not second guess – sleeping without a nightlight for the first time.

Getting her first period. Getting her first crush and first kiss, getting her driver's license. Her first all-nighter in college.

20 fucking years...

And that is only counting since the police turned Spencer's world upside down even more than what it already was when they knocked on her door and said...

We found your daughter's body.

If you count all the years Rosie was gone?

23.

Twenty. Three.

Two decades and nearly half of another one. Nearly one-quarter of an entire century.

Spencer is 49 years old now.

Almost 50.

She has been alive for... for almost half a century.

And...

But... as much as she misses Rosie, and longs for her to be here... well...

She looks over to her living room.

Where her son, Rosie's baby brother, Scottie, is. He is now 24 years old. He is married, and he is a dad, and he... he is so thankful for everything he has today.

To the right of Scottie, is Spencer's daughter. 14 years old.

Yes, that is right.

She has another daughter.

Because you see, just 4 years after Rosalie's body was found, and the families said their goodbyes, Aria and Spencer decided to add to their family.

They were, in no way, replacing Rosie, but they wanted to become moms again.

They wanted to experience the joys of raising a child from infanthood once more.

To make another baby, to love this baby and raise him or her.

For two years, they tried through IVF. They had two pregnancies that were cut short. But then, when Scottie was 10 years old, they found out they were pregnant. Spencer this time was carrying.

They named their baby Hope.

Hope Rosalie Montgomery-Hastings.

She was the rainbow after the thunderstorm that they all needed.

Scottie got a playmate, the girls had another niece, and Spencer and Aria saw so much of their baby girl in Hope.

She grew up knowing exactly who Rosie was. She was told all kinds of stories about her big sister, she was shown pictures, and she spoke about Rosie.

Their life was finally getting back on track. Yes, Rosie was still gone, and god, yes, did they miss her. But for the first time in nearly a decade, Spencer and Aria were happy.

There were Christmases, and birthdays, and Thanksgivings, and firsts, and Hope being a pumpkin for Halloween...

For three years, it seemed everything was on its way to being, dare they say... perfect...

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Until one sunny day, in the summer of 2028. Scottie was 13, and Hope was about to turn 3, and Spencer had taken them to the park for some playtime.

She arrived back home at lunch because the kids wanted to go home, pick up Aria, and go back to the park for a picnic.

The kids, Scottie, and little toddler Hope ran inside and up the stairs calling for Aria.

Spencer can still remember their voices...

Mama! Where are you?

It was said in a sing-song voice, something Scottie loved doing and was trying to teach his baby sister to also do.

Spencer had smiled. She had walked to the kitchen, opened the closet, and was in the middle of bending down to pick up the picnic basket.

She never got that far, though. Scottie screams still send chills through her body when she remembers.

Mommy!

She nearly hit the corner of the wall with her face when she turned it so quickly. She took the stairs three at a time and was upstairs, down the hall, and to her bedroom in record time.

Her 13-year-old baby boy was holding a sobbing 32-month-old Hope, and was standing about three feet away from the door.

Before she even opened her mouth to question him, he pointed a shaky finger towards the doorway.

She walked in on a scene that will stay with her until the day she dies.

Aria was laying in bed.

Nothing out of sorts, right?

Except Spencer knew.

She just... knew.

Before she touched her. Before she checked for a pulse. Before she called her name a dozen times, crying for her to wake up, baby, please. Please wake up.

The coroner ruled it a suicide.

Too many sleeping pills, he said. An overdose.

Spencer cannot believe, still, to this day, 11 years later, she just...

She tries to hold out hope that... that it was an accident.

But...

Well...

You know what they say about hope...

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Okay, so...

Comment?

I was going to do a chapter with a balloon release for both Rosie and Aria. But I think I'll end it here with the possibility of maybe coming back one day.