Marianna Ramondetta

It can’t be, Gina thought, it just can’t be.

That feeling again, as though she was trapped in some sort of nightmare - that none of this was real, that soon she would wake up in her own pink and green bedroom and her alarm would ring, and she would nudge her husband, and force herself out of her safe cocoon.

The cold rain on her face whipped her back into reality.

As she made her way out of the park, she clung to a tiny glimmer of hope. Even though Rachel was quiet and unassuming, she was smart. There was always a possibility that she had found her way back to the school, or some kind person had helped her, and right now she would be waiting in the lobby. Waiting with an angry and furious Miss Kennedy.

Of course, Gina would lose her job or, at least, they would not hire her back for the next school year. But that was all right, better than the alternative, which was unthinkable.

The parents of the elementary school girls were gathered outside the school, chatting. Dressed in designer clothes, carrying handbags that cost more than the average car, they didn’t seem to look at her in any peculiar way. In fact, they didn’t glance at her at all. If a child was missing, they would know already.

It was going to be all right.

She drew a deep breath, threw open the front door and stepped inside the lobby.

The lobby was flooded with children, and mothers, and babysitters, so at first Gina didn’t see Catherine, Rachel’s mother.

But then the crowd began to thin out and Gina heard Catherine’s voice.

“Excuse me,” she said, “I am looking for my daughter, Rachel. Excuse me,” she repeated, and then Gina saw that Catherine was interrupting Megan, who was talking to an anxious parent, a parent who was concerned because her daughter had failed a test on subtraction. “I’m looking for my daughter, Rachel McNulty.”

“She’s in Mrs. Patino’s class.” Megan waved Catherine away.

“I know which class my daughter is in. But she didn’t come down with the rest of the girls.”

And just as Gina was about to come over and say who knew what, nosy Natasha butted in.

“I know where Rachel is. Mrs. Patino went to get her.”

“I don’t understand. Is Rachel in the nurse’s office? Those darn sneakers, the laces are always coming undone. Where is the nurse’s office?”

“Rachel isn’t with the nurse. She’s in Central Park.”

“Central Park?”

“Natasha, what are you talking about?” Megan snapped.

`Natasha shrugged, and her auburn braids bobbed up and down. “I think she got left behind.”

“Left behind?” Catherine shrieked. “Where is my daughter?”