Abduction

27: Another Side

"Erika!" Elizabeth shouted, snapping me out of my daze. "What are we going to do?"

"Do about what?" I questioned, growing annoyed.

She sighed, "Forget it, obviously I'm the only one who gets how serious this is."

"Liz," I began, "I'm sorry. I'm just as hurt and confused as you are."

Elizabeth shook her head, "At least you know the guy who might be our dad. To me, he's just a random stranger."

"A random stranger who kidnapped your sister." I corrected jokingly, hoping to lighten the mood.

She smiled lightly. It had worked. 

"Girls?" Annette asked as she knocked on Elizabeth's door.

"Come in." She called to her. Annette slowly appeared in the doorway, clearly in distress. I felt bad for her, but it was still her fault.

She slowly sat down on the bed next to us, "You girls need to know the whole story."

We nodded in agreement and listened to her side of the story. 

"Jacob was very young, practically still an infant. Steve was constantly working while I was stuck struggling with him alone. I hardly had time to sleep, or even eat. One day while I was out walking with Jacob, Mike saw me struggling and offered to help. We walked together and talked for hours. He could tell I was exhausted so he offered to come to the house and help me. It became a routine, almost every day he would come over and help out with Jacob. He was so kind and obviously ready to be a father."

 Elizabeth snapped, "So you made him one."

I grabbed her hand and shook my head, "Let her finish."

Annette sighed, "That's when he told me about Lisa and the issues they had been having. She was having an affair for months, but he didn't want to lose her. Meanwhile, I had practically lost Steve. That's when our relationship went farther. I didn't mean to be unfaithful to Steve, but I felt so alone at that point. Eventually, the guilt started to eat me alive so I told Mike to leave and never come back and then I told Steve about my issues, of course leaving out the whole Mike portion. He shortened his hours and everything was fine, but then a couple months later I found out I was pregnant with you girls."

I became confused, "So why didn't you tell Mike and try to figure out if he was our father? Didn't you love him?"

"It's quite complicated," She responded, "he and Lisa were back together and I didn't want to get between them. Plus, Steve and I were happy again. Everything was falling back into place and you girls were the greatest blessing, You made Steve happy again and he started spending more and more time at home to be with you girls."

Elizabeth scoffed, "More time at home? He's constantly working!"

"Yes, once Erika went missing he left again," Annette explained, "the pain of losing his child was too much. I was once again left alone with Jacob, and now you, Elizabeth, and Mike had left the city. I don't know how I never connected the dots that he took Erika, but I'm glad you girls know the truth now."

We sat in silence and a million thoughts went through my head. All I was able to get out was, "I want to know who our real dad is."

"No, Steve would never agree to that," Annette said sternly, "you girls need to focus on yourselves right now. I will figure this out."

We watched as she left the room and I instantly knew what I had to do. 

I had to see Mike.

Question for the Reader: Who are some of your favorite musical artists?

Author Answer: Halsey, Ed Sheeran, Oh Wonder, Billie Elish, and AJR are my top 5!