The news of the kidnappings spread across the country so fast that it became impossible to avoid. Every television station spoke about it, the newspapers also carried the stories on their front pages. Radio presenters discussed it every morning with fear in their voices while people online created different theories trying to understand who was behind it all.
Everyone were beginning to panic. Families became more protective, people stopped staying out late and yet, despite all the noise surrounding the case, the police still had nothing. They had, no suspect, no location, no ransom demands, all they had was,
Nothing.
However, at the Yungie mansion, the large television hanging against the wall of the sitting room played the same report repeatedly. The voice of the reporter filled the cold atmosphere of the room while pictures of the missing women flashed across the screen one after another.
"Authorities have assured citizens that investigations are ongoing," the reporter said professionally. "However, police have admitted that there is currently no direct link connecting the victims. The kidnappers have also made no attempt to contact any of the families for ransom."
Eadlin sat quietly on one of the long leather couches staring at the screen without blinking. Papers were scattered all over the centre table in front of him. Some had names written boldly across them while others contained dates, locations, occupations and family backgrounds.
He had spent hours trying to understand it. Trying to find something.
Anything possible, if it could be a pattern, a clue, a mistake but just like the Police, he to got;
Nothing.
His pen moved slowly against one of the papers again as he wrote another victim's information beneath the others.
Age.
Occupation.
State of origin.
Relationship status.
Birthplace.
He compared each detail carefully with the others but none of them connected in any way. One woman was a banker while another sold fabrics. One was from a wealthy family while another struggled financially. Some were married others were not. Even their ages were far apart.
Nothing matched.
It almost looked like the women were selected randomly and somehow, that made everything even scarier.
Eadlin leaned back against the couch slowly, exhausted. His eyes moved across the papers one last time before frustration finally took over him completely.
"There has to be something," he muttered under his breath.
His voice sounded tired.
Broken.
He grabbed one of the papers and looked at it angrily before throwing it across the room. The others followed immediately after. Sheets scattered across the polished floor while some landed beneath the table.
"This makes no sense!" he shouted and kicked the table at his front aggressively.
The sound echoed through the massive sitting room before silence settled again almost immediately.
Eadlin looked around unconsciously, at first it was like his mother was standing right in front of him telling him it will be alright. He looked again and realized that no one was there, no one came to calm him down, no one told him things would be okay.
Although the mansion was filled with workers, guards and expensive decorations, yet at that moment it felt lonely in a way he could not explain.
Slowly, he sat back down again.
His elbows rested against his knees while both hands covered his face.
Then finally,
He cried.
Not loudly.
Not dramatically.
But silently, the kind of crying that came from someone who had been trying too hard to stay strong.
His shoulders shook slightly while tears slipped quietly through his fingers.
A hand suddenly appeared in front of him holding one of the papers he had thrown earlier.
"Wipe your tears," a soft voice said gently. "She will come back."
Eadlin looked up immediately.
Ashley stood there looking at him with eyes filled with concern.
The moment he saw her, whatever strength he had left disappeared completely. He stood up quickly and hugged her tightly, almost like a child afraid of being abandoned.
Ashley held him carefully, rubbing his back slowly while allowing him cry against her shoulder.
"She can't just disappear," Eadlin whispered painfully. "She wouldn't leave me."
Ashley closed her eyes briefly at the pain in his voice.
"She loves you too much for that," she replied softly. "Your mother will fight her way back to you."
Meanwhile, Mr. Yungie was slowly falling apart in ways nobody expected. At first, he tried to remain composed. He continued attending meetings, signing documents and speaking with investors like normal. But after weeks passed without any news about Isabella, the perfect image he always maintained began to crack badly.
He stopped caring about himself, barely slept, food lost its taste to him. His beard grew rough and uneven while his clothes became wrinkled from wearing them carelessly for days. Sometimes, he stayed locked inside his office from morning till night drinking endlessly while staring at old pictures of Isabella.
The workers in the mansion feared him more than ever because of his unbearable temper.
One afternoon, a maid mistakenly spilled tea beside him while serving.
The sound of the slap that followed shocked everyone in the dining room.
The young maid held her face immediately while tears filled her eyes.
Mr. Yungie stood up furiously.
"Can nobody do anything correctly in this house anymore?" he shouted angrily.
No one answered him.
Nobody even looked directly at him.
The atmosphere around him had become suffocating.
Ashley watched her brother carefully during those months and the more she watched him, the more worried she became. He was no longer just grieving. He was destroying himself slowly.
One evening, she found him inside his office surrounded by unfinished drinks and scattered files. The room smelled heavily of alcohol and stress. Although he was with the Police but he did not care to compose himself. The two officers, one in uniform and the other in regular wear, stood, their head bend like they are avoiding his eyes.
"I paid you to launch a private investigation to find my wife and you said you've got nothing?" He asked sounding so wasted.
"We are sorry sir."
"Will your apology bring my wife back." He yelled holding her picture.
He stood up, staggering from the liquor, walks over to the Police nearly falling. He squeezes the picture into the detective hand.
"Yungie," she called calmly as she entered.
He ignored her completely.
Ashley moved closer.
"Find…...her." He said looking at the Detective. "Pl….pleeeease!" He added with his voice breaking.
"You need to stop this."
Still, he said nothing.
Then suddenly, he laughed bitterly without looking at her.
"My wife is gone Ashley," he said hoarsely. "What exactly do you expect me to stop?"
"You can go." Ashley said to the Officers.
"Yes ma'am." They replied and then began to leave.
"Why did you tell them to go Ashley? They know where my wife is they are just hiding it from me." He said as he falls to his knees revealing a similar pendant to that on Isabella dangles around his neck.
The police looked back, but Ashley gave them a sign to leave after which Ashley's expression hardened.
"You have a son," she replied sharply.
That got his attention.
He finally looked at her.
Ashley stepped closer, frustration written clearly across her face.
"So what now?" she continued angrily. "Will you destroy yourself because Isabella is gone? Is that your plan?"
Mr. Yungie looked away again.
"You have a child who still needs you right here," Ashley added. "Eadlin is already losing his mother. Must he lose his father too?"
Silence filled the room heavily.
Ashley exhaled shakily before speaking again.
"The greatest favour you can do for Isabella right now is to stay alive long enough to take care of her son."
Her voice softened slightly after that.
"What happens if she returns tomorrow and finds out her only child suffered because you refused to act like a father?"
That finally broke through him. Mr. Yungie lowered his head slowly while his breathing became uneven.
Ashley's frustration disappeared immediately seeing that reaction.
"Think, Yungie," she whispered tiredly. "Please think about this."
And for the first time since Isabella disappeared, Mr. Yungie cried openly.
A full year passed after Isabella's disappearance.
Although the pain never truly left the family, life slowly forced itself forward. Business meetings resumed, public appearances all continued. The mansion became lively again, though not in the same way it once was.
Then during a business trip abroad, Mr. Yungie met Erica.
She was young.
Beautiful.
Soft spoken.
She knew exactly how to make people feel understood. She listened carefully whenever he spoke and smiled warmly at things nobody else paid attention to.
Around her, Mr. Yungie slowly began to feel human again.
However, Eadlin noticed the change immediately and hated it. To him, it felt wrong, like his father was trying to erase Isabella little by little.
It became a frequent arguments between them.
"You're replacing her," Eadlin said angrily one night.
Mr. Yungie's face darkened immediately.
"No one can replace your mother."
"Then why does she suddenly sit in her chair?" Eadlin fired back bitterly. "Why does she suddenly live in her house?"
Mr. Yungie remained silent after that.
Months later, despite Eadlin's resistance, he married Erica.
The wedding was luxurious enough to make headlines. Politicians attended. Celebrities came. Expensive gifts filled the mansion while cameras flashed endlessly throughout the ceremony.
Everyone smiled.
Everyone celebrated.
Except Eadlin.
Throughout the entire wedding, he sat quietly beside Ashley with the same thought repeating itself inside his head again and again,
His mother should have been there instead.
However, Isabella is still stuck in a place bounded with chains. She had no idea of how long she had been there anymore.
Days had stopped feeling like days a long time ago.
The walls she was chained to were made of old stones stained with moisture while thick chains hung from different corners
Her hands were chained above her wrists, bruises covered parts of her skin, old ones mixing with new ones. Her once beautiful hair now looked rough and tangled, falling carelessly over her shoulders. The elegant woman the world once knew as Mrs. Isabella Yungie no longer looked like herself.
She looked pitiful.
A bowl of untouched food rested close to the wall. She had stopped trusting what they gave her long ago.
"I want to be free. I want to go back to my family." She kept saying repeatedly.
"This is our life now. As they said, we will be used to hold the veil so earth wont be destroyed." Another woman beside her said weakly.
"No, I want to be free." Mrs Yungie said again.
"Forget it." The woman said trying to discourage her.
"I want to be free. I wish to be." As soon as she pronounced the last word, the chain snapped. The other woman beside her looked so shocked.
A light shown on her, Mrs. Yungie struggled towards the light and…..
The light was gone, so was Mrs. Yungie.
The other woman who saw this began to shout…..
"I want to be free!!!!"