Insufficient

Chapter Two: Panic

(Julie's POV)

I was now slouched down, my back to one wall, my knees bent and resting on the other. I was fighting to keep my eyes open.

It was like 1 in the morning for me, and I was exhausted. I had jet lag. I'd been sitting on the floor all day.
I haven't eaten in almost a week. My body felt like it was on fire.
I could still feel my ribs screaming at me from my little "fall" off the banister and I was just done.

I felt a hand on my shoulder and jerked away on instinct, accidentally slamming my head against the wall.

I groaned, holding my head tenderly as I looked at the worried woman in front of me.

'Oh, that's embarrassing.'

I glanced to the side of the woman and saw a little girl, not much older than 4. I smiled at her before turning my attention back to the mother.

"Can I help you?"

"I was calling your name, but you seemed to be asleep. I was asking if you were okay? You've been here for a while."

"Um, someone's supposed to be picking me up, but they're not here yet."

"Oh," the woman said, but this didn't seem to ease her worry.

"How long have you been waiting?"

"Just a few hours." I said and she pressed her lips together in an unamused manor.

"Oh dear, that's not good. Can you try calling someone, can I call someone."

"I tried. Nobody's picking up."

"Sorry, what's your name? How old are you even."

"I'm almost 15. My name's Julie."

She nodded and then seemed to decide on something, looking behind her for a second before turning back to me.

"Come with me please. We're gonna go find someone that can help you."

The woman didn't wait for an answer as she pulled me up by my hand, simultaneously setting her daughter on her hip.

She guided us to the gate manager, who was standing behind the podium playing on her phone.

"We're not boarding for another half hour. Please feel free to take a seat." She said in a bored tone.

"Miss? I've got a girl here whose ride never showed. Do you think you can help her?"

"I mean, there's really nothing I can do about that. I can send her to my manager?"

I could see her opening her phone to her calls list and hitting the one that said "Supervisor."

She said something about a misplaced kid, and needed to be picked up before she hung up and let us know he would be there soon.

Soon enough this really tall dark skinned man showed up. I could tell he was the supervisor cause that's what his name plate said.

Looking at his hair I was intrigued. He had what looked like a bunch of braids but really close to his scalp and in multiple different lines. The braids hung loose at the end of his scalp, swishing back and forth whenever he walked. It was really pretty, and a few of them even had white and dark purple beads at the end.

(A/N: I have forgotten what the actual term for these types of braids are, but I've always thought they look rly pretty.)

He introduced himself, told me his name was Trevor.

Mr. Trevor walked me to his office, and I said goodbye to the nice lady who had gotten me from the corner.

"So Julia, can you tell me more about what's going on? I hear that nobody came to pick you up when your flight landed."

I nodded and recalled today's events, leaving out the whole being threatened and slapped thing.

He talked to me for a few minutes, asking me for phone numbers, wanting to try and contact someone again.

Right as he was going to pick up the phone to make a call the little thing started ringing and there was a thin little red light that kept blinking.

He picked up the phone, putting it to his ear and saying,

"This is Trevor." In a very professional voice.

He sighed as he listened to the other person talk before he chuckled slightly.

"Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about. I'll be down there in a second, I think I've got who you need."

He set down the phone and looked at me as he stood up.

"If you could stay here, I've got something I need to deal with. We're gonna find your uncle okay?" He said before he left the room.

I sighed, looking around as a deafening silence crowded the room.

Now what do I do?

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Uncle Stefano's POV
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I'm absolutely livid. Not only at my son, but also at myself. Even though he's more than old enough to not need someone looking over his shoulder 24/7, I should have known that something was wrong.

I sped to the airport, the feeling of guilt and anxiety getting worse the closer we got. My brother tried her cell a few times but she never picked up. I feared for the worst.

Arriving at the airport me, my brother, wife, and father all jumped out of the car and rushed into the building. We drew a few suspicious looks but I really couldn't care less.

We went straight to the gate that Julianna supposedly arrived at.

We moved around the line of people to get to the person directing people through the tunnel that led to the plane. Fuck if I can remember what they are called right at this moment.

"We need to know if you've seen a little girl by the name of Julianna Riccardo. She's about 14, has light brown hair, freckles?" My wife asked, giving as best a description as she could, given that we've not actually seen the kid in a while.

"Actually yeah. She was sitting on the floor over there," The lady pointed to the corner across from the desk. "For a while before some lady came and got her. She took her to-" She was cut off by multiple curses escaping everyone's mouths.

"Oh shit."

"What did she look like?"

"Which way did they go?"

"We need to see the security footage."

"Quiet." All it took was one word from my father to get everyone to stop talking over each other.

"Where did she take the girl?" He asked in a menacing voice that demanded answers.

"T-t-t-to my supervisor. S-s-she wanted to m-m-make sure she got h-h-home safely." The girl stuttered, obviously scared.

My mind whirled as my heart slowly calmed down from the heart attack it had just attempted to have. The lady called her supervisor, likely to make sure they had the right person.

The good news was we hadn't lost her. I couldn't help but wonder why this woman saw Julie sitting on the floor for hours, and didn't think to contact someone, or at least go check on her. It was a little suspicious and I planned to look into it later.

For now, I just needed to know that my niece was safe.