Louise sat down on the sofa and pulled her phone out of her pocket. It had been a long day and she knew she wasn’t going to be able to see Donnie for another day at least. He was all she thought about, every second of every day. He was so handsome it made her stomach flutter when she thought about his face, how his lips felt on hers.
There were no messages from Donnie. He hadn’t contacted her since she’d left him at the hotel. She knew he would be busy with work; he was always busy. Maybe she could go up to her bedroom and put on something enticing and send him a selfie?
Louise quickly tapped out a text to Donnie, saying that she missed him and that she couldn’t wait to climb back into bed with him. Checking her phone was on silent, she slid it back into her pocket and got herself comfy on the sofa.
The local news sounded out on the television, and her mum turned the volume up a little. Louise sighed but couldn’t be bothered to get up from the sofa and go to her bedroom to watch something else. She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket, and her stomach flipped with excitement. As she reached for her pocket, her attention was caught by the words spoken by the reporter on the screen.
‘The family of a young woman, who was reported missing in 2019, are distraught as they say they are no closer to finding out what happened to her. Demi Simpson, who is twenty, was last seen heading out for work on the morning of the eighth of May. No one has seen or heard from her since. There has been no activity on her mobile phone, bank account or social media pages.’
‘Bloody hell,’ Louise’s mum said, taking a sip of her tea. ‘That poor family.’
Louise sat forward and focused on the screen, listening as the reporter continued.
‘Her family have said that it is completely out of character for her not to have contacted them and are extremely worried for her welfare. Police Scotland are asking for anyone who has information on Demi’s whereabouts, to come forward ASAP.’
Louise fixed her eyes on the screen when the image of the young girl, the same age as her, flashed up. She looked happy, carefree. And Louise recognised her.
‘Oh my god, I know her.’
‘Do you?’ her mum replied, somewhat distantly as a crashing sound from above them made her look up. Louise knew it was her dad, drunk, and probably falling out of the bed.
‘Yeah, we went to school together. We weren’t friends or anything, I just remember her. Fuck, that’s a bit close to home, is it not?’
‘If that girl has disappeared off the face of the Earth, in my opinion she’s long gone and probably dead by now,’ Louise’s mum replied.
‘Mum!’ Louise shot her a look. ‘You can’t say things like that. She could just have run away or something.’
Helen shook her head. ‘You, my girl, are very naïve if you think that’s the case. I’m a mother and if you’d been missing for all that time, I’d hold on to hope. Of course I would. But I’m not stupid. There are bad people all over the place and that young girl has come across one or more of them. Poor family.’
Louise felt entirely gobsmacked at the words leaving her mum’s mouth. She’d never heard her speak so fondly of her like that before. She was always too busy worrying about keeping things quiet so as not to wake her dad from his drunken stupor. But she supposed she was right. If there had been no trace of Demi Simpson then she must be dead. Or maybe didn’t want to be found?
‘Fancy a cuppa?’ Louise asked, getting to her feet and heading to the kitchen.
Standing against the counter as she waited for the kettle to boil, Louise stared down at her phone. A message had come through from Donnie. Just an icon. A black heart. It made her smile, but it quickly faded when a Google alert appeared at the top of her screen.
Family’s appeal to find Demi Simpson.
Thank god she had someone like Donnie to protect her from the horrors of the world.