Girl Lost

by Michelle Files

  We spent several days going back and forth over what I should do about that photo of me we saw. One beautiful summer day we were laying on the grass in my backyard taking in some sun and mulling over my decision. There was a slight breeze and a butterfly landed on my knee, making me smile.

  “I don’t know what to do,” I told him as I reached for the butterfly. It had other ideas and flew away, out of my reach.

  “Well, you only have two choices as I see it, call the number or ignore it. And, if I know you, which I most certainly do, you will end up calling the number.” Charlie was a very logical person. He always mulled over the pros and cons of everything. He also knew me very well.

  “Oh, you think you know me that well, huh?” I said, jokingly.

  “Yep, so just call ‘em. You might finally find out something about your mother.”

  I thought about it for a moment. “If I call them, my grandparents could get into trouble for kidnapping me. I don’t want them going to jail.” That was my biggest fear in the whole thing, how it would affect my grandparents. They were the best people I knew and I didn’t want this to hurt them in any way.

  “I can’t believe they lied to you all this time. Do you really think they are the ones that kidnapped you?” Charlie asked me.

  “I guess it was either them or Abbey. Maybe they all were in on it.” I was crushed.

  I loved my grandparents so much. I couldn’t imagine them doing something like this. If they went to jail, it would kill me. But, that also meant that I had a family out there looking for me. They missed me and loved me. I might even have brothers and sisters I didn’t know yet. How cool would that be? Being an only child was no fun at all. I always wished for a brother or sister to grow up with. Charlie was the next best thing. I was so lucky to have him.

  I lay there in the sun dreaming of a really cool life and an awesome family that would love me and be there for me, no matter what. We would hang out, have family picnics, go on cruises to the Caribbean together, and just have so much fun.

  “Hey, wake up. You’re acting all spacey, Madison.” Charlie nudged me and it jolted me back to reality.

  “If I ignore this and just go on with my life I will never know my real family. I think I have to call and at least find out about them, don’t you think? I could do it without them knowing who I am, right?”

  “Told you that you would call them,” he said smugly and got up to get my cell phone from the patio table where I’d left it.

  “Whatever,” I replied as Charlie handed me the phone. I gave him that look he knew so well. He pretended not to notice.

  “Wait. What if they are horrible people and live thousands of miles from here and I have to go live with them? I don’t want to move away.” I was starting to panic, even hyperventilating a little.

  “Okay, calm down,” he said to me, as he patted me on the back. “Don’t tell them where you are. Just find out what you can. They can’t come get you if they don’t know where you are,” he said matter-of-factly.

  “That makes sense. They obviously don’t know where I am or they would have come and got me already.” I grabbed the phone from him. “Where’s the phone number?”

  “Right here.” He handed me the piece of paper he had written all the information down on.

  I shakily dialed the number on the paper. After two rings someone answered.

  “Hi, um, I um, saw a picture on your website that I think is me.” I stammered most of the words out.

  “Okay, what is your name?” the woman asked. She didn't seem surprised by my call at all. Did people call all the time saying that they were missing?

  “Well, it’s Madison. But my last name is different than on the website. It says Tyler. I’m pretty sure that’s me.”

  “Madison Tyler?” she asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Just a moment. Let me look this up,” she said and I could hear her typing on a keyboard. After about twenty or thirty seconds she came back on the phone. "Here it is. Why do you think this is you?”

  “Because it looks just like me and the birthday is the same. And my name is the same."

  "Do you have any birthmarks or scars or other identifying features of any kind?"

  I thought for a moment. "Yes, I have a birthmark."

  "Okay, can you tell me where it is and what it looks like?" She still didn’t sound surprised by any of it at all.

  "Yeah, it's like a heart shaped birthmark on my neck, by my left ear."

  There was a slight pause.

  “Madison, can you tell me where you are right now?” she asked. I could tell the woman was trying to sound calm, but she really sounded odd all of a sudden.

  “No, I can’t.” Then I panicked and hung up.

  “Why did you do that?” Charlie asked, perplexed at my actions. “Why are you so pale?”

  “She was asking too many questions. She wanted to know where I am and I didn’t know what to say. I think I screwed up. I shouldn’t have called them.”

  “They don’t know where you are, so don’t worry about it,” Charlie reassured me.

  “I hope you’re right,” I said and flipped over on the towel to my stomach. My belly was getting fried.

  My butterfly friend had returned and I watched her for a few minutes as she walked around on a yellow daisy in the garden a few feet from where we were laying. When she finally flew away, I lay there in the sun with my eyes closed for a while, thinking about my dilemma. Should I call them back? Should I just get on with my life? I didn’t think I could do that. I needed to know the truth. Was I living with kidnappers? How could I possibly go on without knowing more? Then a blast of ice cold water hit me and I could hear Charlie laughing just a few feet away.

  “What the hell?” I said as I leapt to my feet. I reached for my towel to wipe off the water and wrap myself up. “Why did you squirt me with the hose? Jerk.” I was very annoyed at his actions and I’m sure it showed on my face.

  “You fell asleep. I tried to wake you and you just mumbled at me and turned away. So, I figured I would take matters into my own hands.” I think he started cackling at that one.

  “Very funny. I don’t think I like you anymore,” I said with a smirk on my face as I went into the house for a soda. Charlie followed me in.

  “Your loss,” he said, clearly not believing me. “You’re red as an eel.”

  “I think you mean red as a lobster,” I corrected him.

  “No, I think ‘eel’ is about right.” He laughed again. I couldn’t help but laugh back. I loved him so much and could never stay angry with him for long.

  I changed into shorts and a tank top and we spent the rest of the afternoon watching TV in the air conditioning. It could be really hot in the summer sun.

  “Let’s look on the computer and see what movies are playing at the theater,” I suggested to Charlie.

  Charlie’s eyes lit up. “Oh my god. We should do a web search on you,” He said, all excited. I think I even saw a twinkle in his eyes.

  “What, why?” I said, clearly confused.

  “Well, not you exactly. Madison Tyler. Well, I guess that’s you. I’ll bet there’s stuff on there about the kidnapping.” He was already heading toward the computer.

  “God, we’re slow. Why are we just now thinking of this?” I asked him. This is the first thing we should have thought of, even before calling the missing kids hotline.

  We sat down in front of the computer in the living room. I didn’t have one in my room, because my grandparents thought I was too young to have my own in my room. They said they wanted to keep an eye on what I was doing. I think they watched too many serial killer cop shows. I typed in ‘Madison Tyler kidnapping’ and there were thousands of web pages matching that description.

  “Holy cow,” I exclaimed

  We both looked at each other in shock at all the stories on there. I clicked on the first one and it was a newspaper article that said she lived with her parents in Ashford, a rural town in Maine, when t
he housekeeper kidnapped her one night out of her bed, while everyone was sleeping. There was a massive search for her. There was even a reward of $100,000 offered for any tips leading to her whereabouts, but they never could find the housekeeper or her. They said they weren’t sure that Abigail Hunter was even the housekeeper’s real name. It said her parents’ names were Adam and Sarah Tyler. At the time she was an only child.

  “My mom’s name is Abigail. Abbey for short,” I said to Charlie, stunned.

  “I know. There is no doubt now that this is about you,” He said with a sad look on his face.

  “I know. She’s not even my real mother.” I started to cry.

  Charlie wrapped me in his arms and just let me cry. He knew I was in a lot of pain and didn’t know what to do about all of it. I had grandparents that I loved, a mom that I never knew, that now I know was my kidnapper, and I had real parents that missed me and wanted me back. I was heartbroken.

  After several minutes of crying, I got up, went to the bathroom and washed my face. I looked in the mirror. Do my real parents look like me? Will they want a teenager after all this time? They don’t even know me now. I’m not the cute little 2 year old that they last saw.

  I pulled myself together and sat back down at the computer to do some more research. We spent an hour reading articles about my kidnapping and my family. We didn’t really find out much more. It seemed like the Tyler family was very private. We read that they owned a horse farm in Ashford on the coast, only a couple hours from my town.

  I decided to think about it for a while before I did anything. I didn’t want to be too rash and make a bigger mess out of it than it already was. I did know one thing, this was going to be a big deal. There was no way this whole thing was going to go away. My real parents needed to know where I was. I couldn’t keep my whereabouts a secret. It wouldn’t be fair to them or anyone else. I was at least fairly certain that my grandparents had nothing to do with it. I really believed that they thought I belonged to Abbey and that I was really their granddaughter. This was really going to hurt them.

  Chapter 3

  Early the next morning I was awakened by my phone ringing. I answered, still groggy.

  “Hello,” I said, without even opening my eyes.

  “Hello, is this Madison?” I heard a strange voice on the other end.

  “Yes, who’s this?” I asked, half asleep.

  “This is the Missing Children’s Center,” she replied.

  I bolted awake. The sunlight coming in through my window stung my eyes and I squeezed them shut almost instantly.

  It took me just a second to recover. “What, why are you calling me?” Stupid question.

  “You called us about a missing child you saw on our website named Madison Tyler. Was that you who called?”

  “Yes, but how..how did you get my number?” I was confused.

  “Caller ID. Our computer automatically logs all phone numbers when people call us with tips.”

  “Oh.” Crap, what have I done now?

  “Madison, my name is Teresa and I’m one of the supervisors here at the organization. I just want to help you sort this all out.” She was very sympathetic in her tone.

  Fully awake by then, “I’m not really sure I want this all sorted out,” I said bluntly. “I like it here where I am.” I climbed out of bed and opened my bedroom curtains just a bit more and peered down the street. Were they watching me? I looked both ways up and down the street, as well as at the houses across from my room. What was I doing? I was being ridiculous. I opened the curtains up all the way and walked back over to my bed and sat down.

  “Listen Madison, it is only a matter of time before we know exactly where you are. We are getting a warrant right now to get the records from your cell phone service company. Once we have that information, we are required to call the police. They will show up at your door.” She sounded like she was really trying to be nice, but she scared me and I started to cry.

  “Oh no. Please don’t do that. My grandparents will be really upset. They don’t know that I called you.”

  “Honey, do you know that you were kidnapped?” she asked.

  “Yes, I found some articles about it. But, I don’t think my grandparents had anything to do with it. I think it was my mom.” I had thought of her as my mom all my life. I guess it was an old habit. "I mean the person that I thought was my mom,” I corrected.

  “Is your mom Abigail?”

  “Yes, they call her Abbey. But, I don’t know her. She dropped me off here when I was two and never came back. My grandparents think I’m her daughter.”

  I could hear my grandma cooking breakfast in the kitchen. “I can’t talk right now, my grandma will hear,” I said in a sort of whisper.

  “I see.” There was a pause. “Madison, I would rather talk to you in person. Is there somewhere we can meet?”

  “No, I don’t think so.” I didn’t even hesitate. I knew I didn’t want to meet with her.

  “I promise to hold off calling the police if you will meet with me. I just want to make sure you are all right and tell you what happened.”

  Even at 15 years old I knew better than that. The second I showed up somewhere, the police would be all over me. She was just trying to lure me out and I wasn’t about to fall for it.

  “No, I can’t do that, sorry.” I hung up the phone. I knew hanging up wasn’t going to solve anything, but I needed some time to figure out what was happening.

  That’s when I began freaking out. They had my phone number and would probably be showing up at my door very soon. If they arrested my grandparents, where would that leave me? I might be taken away and never see them again. I was so worried that I had started something that was going to change things forever. I couldn’t imagine that they would just let me stay at my house with my grandparents and leave us alone. No, that wouldn’t happen. I was at least old enough to realize that. I took a quick shower to clear my head, and just as I got out, Grandma called from the kitchen.

  “Madison, breakfast is ready.”

  “Be there in a minute,” I called back.

  I dressed quickly and combed out my hair. When I got to the table, my grandpa was already sitting there eating breakfast and reading the newspaper. I knew his routine. That’s what he did every single morning of my life.

  Grandpa tilted down his newspaper toward me so he could see over the top of it. “Maddie, where have you been? I’ve hardly seen you this summer.” He was the only one that called me ‘Maddie’. I loved his nickname for me.

  “I’ve been around. Hanging out with Charlie mostly.” I tried to sound calm, but I knew my voice was a bit shaky. They didn’t seem to notice.

  My grandparents loved Charlie. I told them years ago that he was gay and they were perfectly fine with it. In fact, they were probably happy about that fact, since I was not hanging out with straight guys. They would worry then. I really didn’t hang out with much of anyone, besides Charlie. We had a few friends we would meet up with occasionally, but that was about it. For the most part, it was just Charlie and me.

  Grandpa seemed satisfied with my answer that I had been hanging out with Charlie all summer and went back to reading his newspaper. Grandma finished cooking her eggs and walked over to the table to eat her breakfast. My grandparents were wonderful people and I loved them dearly. Grandpa was a tall man, over six feet and kind of big and intimidating to most people. He used to run a construction crew for many years and was good at bossing people around. I just knew him as a big teddy bear. He was the kindest man I had ever known. Grandma was also very sweet. She had such a kind face. Even now in her sixties you could tell that she was very beautiful when she was a young woman. Her bright blue eyes were very distinctive. Abbey definitely got her beautiful eyes from Grandma. I had no idea where my green eyes came from. It probably wouldn’t be long until I found out though.

  I ate breakfast in silence. Grandpa was not much of a talker anyway, and Grandma could always tell when something was wrong
. She never pushed me though. She knew I would tell her when the time was right for me. She was great like that. Well, I guess the time was right as I really couldn’t hold off telling them. If the cops showed up at our door, they would find out really fast and I didn’t want them to be ambushed with the whole mess.

  “Grandma, Grandpa, I need to talk to you,” I said about as quietly as I could, secretly hoping no one had heard me. No such luck. They both heard. Grandpa put down his newspaper and Grandma put down her fork and they both looked at me intently.

  “What is it sweetie?” Grandma asked.

  I sat there for a full minute without saying a word. I hadn’t really thought it out, which was the story of my life all of a sudden. I had no idea how I was going to break it to them.

  “Maddie, out with it. I’m an old man,” Grandpa said with a chuckle.

  Even that didn’t make me smile and at that point they knew it was serious.

  “Maddie, honey, please tell us what’s wrong. You aren’t pregnant, are you?” Grandpa looked worried.

  “Ugh, no! Grandpa, I’m only 15,” I said, shooting him a look. I saw the relief on his face.

  “Okay, then please tell us what is wrong,” Grandma said reassuringly.

  I hesitated, but I figured that there was no backing out now.

  “Okay. The other day Charlie and I were watching TV and one of those missing kids TV shows came on. There was a picture of me on there,” I said quietly.

  There was silence for a moment. “Honey, that was just someone that kinda looked like you,” and with that, Grandpa got up and started walking out of the room.

  “Wait, Grandpa, there’s more,” I called after him.

  He turned around, looking confused, and came back into the kitchen and sat down. They both sat in silence, waiting for me to finish.

  “The picture of the girl had my birth date and said she went missing when she was two years old, which is the same age I was when I came to live with you. It also said her name was Madison.”