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The Vanishing, Chapter Seven
Chapter Seven:
I stared at the photos on my sisters walls, family photos of her growing family and photos that went back to our childhood, photos with the three of us sisters, life before Rachel was taken from us, kidnapped near the high school one day, and long before I was shot!
I found myself staring at my legs, unmoving, I missed the way I use to be able to run around and chase my little niece, and maybe someday that would happen or I’d find the strength to do things differently but that wasn’t now, my focus seemed to always be on my missing sister which wasn’t exactly fair to the family that was still there.
I watched my niece playing with her favorite doll, looking at me, she walked over and handed me the doll.
“Auntie, she’ll help you feel better.” Ruth said, with a gentle smile. The wisdom of a three year old, the baby doll, so much more than a doll, spoke of love and compassion.
I smiled, and said gently “Sweetheart, I can’t take your baby from you, she’ll miss you.”
“No, she won’t.” Ruth said determined. “She wants to help you.”
My three year old niece realized something I had been to blind to admit, I was hurting and I needed help. Burying grief was not good, I knew that from before and here I was doing it again, but it seemed…