Love never dies

▪︎ 23 ▪︎

Good morning. As everyone might know, we have been searching for survivors again from the Queen Gambit. Divers and the navy have searched two islands with sad results. They have found several bodies, mostly young females and men. Tomorrow we will search the third island, named: Santa Cruz, da Grasiosa. We are hopeful we find more bodies, despite that they might be all dead by now.

I turn off the TV, holding back the tears. They found bodies on the last two islands. What if they find Beca's body? What if she's dead? I shake my head to shake away the tears and walk over to my pin board. I need to cross away the islands they already searched. Okay, so the first island: Vila Nova do Corvo can be crossed. They found one body there, from that Gwen girl. The second island: Santa Cruz das Flores, they found four bodies. Two of the bodies could no longer be identified. I put a cross through both islands. Where are you Becs? Are you still alive? My mind think of the worst scenarios. What if they find Beca's body on one of the islands? What if I have to bury her? Did she suffer? Was she starving? Did she - I stop my thoughts right there, not wanting to think about that. Luckily for me the door bell rings, so I put the board back into the closet and walk over to the front door to reveal Emily.

,,Hi!" She says enthusiastic and pulls me into a hug.

,,Hello to you to." I laugh and let her inside. ,,What brings you here?"

,,Well, I thought since you have to work tonight, I can watch Ryan."

,,Oh, you don't have to. I can call my mom and -" Emily stops me right away.

,,Chloe, you know I love that little guy. I'd be happy to be with him." I smile. ,,So where is my favorite cousin?" Emily looks around the living room.

,,He's upstairs in his room. He wanted to play with his toys. Wait here for a moment, I'll take him downstairs." Emily nods and sit down on the couch. I walk up the stairs, into Ryan's room to see him playing with his toy cars. ,,Ryan, sweety?" He looks up to me. ,,There's someone downstairs who wants to see you."

,,Who, mummy?"

,,Come with me and you'll see. I promise you will like it." I hold out my hand to his and he grabs it. Together we walk down the stairs, carefully we don't fall and walk into the living room. The moment Ryan sees Emily, he let go of my hand and literally jumps into her arms.

,,Aunt Emily!" He yells excited.

,,Hey buddy. Guess what? I'll be here with you tonight while your mom has to work."

,,Really?"

,,Yeah, would you like that, sweety?" I ask my son, just to make sure he's okay with this. Ryan nods and pull Emily with him to the floor, where his LEGO lies. I smile at the sight and let them play together for now. I walk into the kitchen to make a cup of tea and to look at the pin board once again. There has to be some kind of clue, right? Just as I'm about the grab the board, my phone let me know that I received a message. I grab my phone from my pocket and see a message from Donovan.

Hey, Chloe. I was wondering if you would go to the park with me?

I look at the message over and over again. It's sunny outside and I can use some distraction before I have to work. I'm pretty sure Wyatt and his friends come in again to harass me. Wyatt won't stop until I'm breaking. I walk into the living room with my phone in my hand, opened with the message.

,,Em?" Emily looks up from building with the LEGO. ,,I received a message from Donovan. He's asking me to meet him in the park. What should I do?"

,,Well," Emily gets up and walks over to me. ,,Do you want to meet him?"