It Had to be You

Chapter 9

Claire watched the train leaving the station in slow motion, it gave her this desperation and agony that it was taking off slowly, yet it was going too fast for her to be able to react and do something about it.

The kids inside the train didn't even grasp the reality that they had been separated from Claire while looking for the purple 1971 Dodger Challenger Hot Wheels car toy. Joshua, Mason's father, had given it to him for his first birthday. It was the only present he had ever gotten from his father.

For his first four birthdays and Christmases, Claire had taken the liberty to buy two presents — tell him one was from his dad, but as the kid grew older and Josh's absence turned more confusing...the kid stopped believing her. In his heart, the only real present his dad had given him was the one he personally had handed over.

Mason was not going to leave the car behind to be forgotten, he still loved his dad. Lizzie knew how much the toy meant for his best friend and that's why she had run back on the train to help him find it.

Both kids were crawling down the train isle, one on each side, carefully looking for it. They ignored every face the adults they were disturbing made them, "I FOUND IT!" The blonde girl called out, the boy grinned and poked his head out from between two empty seats.

"Yeah!" He stood up and walked to her side to take it. He squeezed it on the pocket of his jeans, feeling about the change Owen had given him. "Lets go!" They ran back to their seat. He grabbed his backpack and it was until they headed for the door when they realized they were moving.

"Where's your mom?" Lizzie wondered, the brunette boy frowned and shrugged.

The first thing a woman did as a mother once the paralytic shock of losing your children had worn off, was to go to the authorities. That's what the redhead was doing while yelling at the person in charge of her subway station.

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" She leaned forward, her hands gripping tight from the edge of the desk.

"We have let the other stations know that two kids have been separated from their mother, what else do you want me to do?" The person rolled his eyes. It really sucked when these hysterical parents ruined his donut and coffee break.

"TO . FIND . MY . KIDS ?" The redhead rubbed her forehead trying to calm down. "You know what, fuck you. Thanks for nothing!" She spat and turning on her heel she stormed off.

She needed to think and which was something she was struggling with because by the second those kids were farther away from her and on their own. She took a deep breath and did the responsable thing; she took her cellphone and dialed the other parent.

"Gorgeous, I'm on my way to your place now~" He announced with a smile.

Claire closed her eyes, he was going to hate her forever; specially after that rant she had given him for letting Mason lose at the zoo. The zoo! This didn't even compare, "I—" She sobbed, "I lost the kids on the train." Her voice was trembling. Before today... this was something she would have to face on her own — which no mother or father should have to do.

"I'm on my way, which station?" Owen tried to remain calm, it was evident in her voice that she was about to lose her mind.

Claire had taught Mason many things since a very young age. They were the only person each other had, and so she needed him to be a little more independent than an average kid his age. He had learned her cellphone number in song when he was four and had learned to go potty at two an a half. Claire didn't own a car so they were always on the subway, therefore she had taught him, from the moment he learned how to talk and walk, what to do in case of an emergency.