Ingrid is the epitome of a failing millennial at 30 years old. Dumped by yet another boyfriend, a troubled relationship with her family, her only friend lives abroad, and she is overweight, sedentary, broke, uneducated, and now unemployed. All she k...
Warning: This chapter contains description of accidents, death, and suicide.
Something was off. A mother's heart could always sense it. Normally it was the clench in her chest, a worry that came "from nothing". But when a mother knew it, she knew it. Even when it wasn't a child she carried one day in her own womb. The connection between a mother and a child in need was indiscribable, but never failed. It came from a place of almost unbearable love and decision to protect. Norah felt that clench when Esme was at a sleepover, having to pick her up late at night because a thief broke in. She felt the same clench when Allie was at a school trip, receiving a phone call minutes later because the school bus was hit by a drunk driver. Those were two of the countless moments she immediately sensed when her daughters were in distress, but made it out of the situations unharmed. However, there was a time where the clench was stronger, her chest felt heavier, and the outcome was the most painful a mother could ever be forced to deal with.
Before Norah gave birth to Esme and Allie, who were 23 and 19, she had already been a mother to a child in 1992. That was a story she never told anyone. A 17 year old cheerleader who fell in love with the football captain. He was tall, blond, blue-eyed, focused, determined, responsible and kind-hearted. And, against all odds having in mind his popularity and great looks, he dreamed of only having one woman in his entire life. And that woman he knew was Norah. So when she told him she was pregnant of his child, to him it was a confirmation that it was going to last forever. The enamoured couple named the baby Joy as her arrival brought even more joy to their lives. And for the next 5 years, joy was the biggest part of that little young family's life. When enough money was saved for the wedding, they started the preparations feeling like they were falling in love all over again.
Norah was shopping for her wedding dress while her soon-to-be husband went with Joy to an amusement park about 20 minutes from there. But all of a sudden the butterflies in Norah's stomach were replaced by a dreadful clench in her chest and nightmarish urge to see her daughter. Back in 1997 mobile phones and phone calls were very expensive, and for the young couple of 22 years old with a small child having them was a bit too lavish at that moment, so they thought. But, oh, how she wished she could make just one call to know if Joy was alright. She wasn't with the car either since her fiancé preferred to not let their child in the sun. Norah's hand felt the racing beats of her wary heart and her eyes squeezed shut from despair before she almost ripped off the white gown from her body, ready to take the first taxi to the amusement park.
35 minutes later she saw police cars, helpless cries from parent's and many ambulances, but what she didn't see was the big ferris wheel her daughter loved to ride the most. It wasn't standing upright anymore, it had tumbled. Norah's eyes widened and she cried Joy's name, praying to all gods that everything was okay and she wasn't there. The police officers told her to look up at the city hospital where all the wounded had been taken. In the hospital, she found out her beloved man tried to protect Joy with his own body like a dome when they fell, but they were too high, making the impact cause death from internal bleeding in the five-year-old and the father lose one of his arms. Norah did her best to continue her life with her partner somehow, trying to be his rock since he fell into a deep depression due to the guilt, but the pain was too much for him to handle. Two months after his dismissal a shot led to the second funeral of the once family of three.
For some reason, Norah's heart clenched again in her chest and Ingrid came to her mind. The chat stated something that never happened before: she had been offline for 16 whole hours. Ingrid was the kind of friend to always tell Norah everything she did, including if she would spend time offline.
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A mother always knew when a child was in need or in danger. And it was clear that something happened with Ingrid. But what could Norah do when Ingrid lived in a different continent, and the only contact they had depended on the internet?
