A Night with Gideon novel Chapter 7

Chapter 7

“MOMMY, I like that pencil case. It looks nice,” Summer spoke as the little girl looked up at her with her hands pointed to one of the mall stands with colorful pens and art supplies displayed on it.

It was Sunday, and right after attending the worship service, Lyzza decided to take her daughter to the mall. No matter how hectic the time was, given the fact that she helped her mom with managing the store and she needed to study at the same time, she would always make sure that she’d have plenty of time to spend with her daughter at the end of the day.

“Didn’t you have a new one already? You haven’t used that pencil case yet,” she answered strictly and looked down a bit to face the kid.

“Yes, Mom.” Summer nodded. “But I like that pink one, Mommy. It looks so pretty.” Her daughter slightly pouted her lips and gave her the puppy-eyed look.

Now, could somebody tell her how she could resist this cute little devil in front of her?

However, she decided to be strict and chose to discipline her daughter instead. She put her hands on her waist and raised her eyebrows. “You can’t be like that with me, Summer,” she responded, which made the kid look down.

Summer played with her fingers as a result of her being anxious. When the kid looked back at her, she was already on the verge of tears.

She then hugged one of her mother’s legs.

“Sorry, Mommy,” Summer said softly, then hid her face between her mother’s legs.

Lyzza deeply sighed, then carried her daughter. They were currently in the bookstore’s secluded area, so they could not be seen in public that much. She was actually there to buy some school supplies too.

“Okay, what do you want to pick in exchange?” She leaned down to face her daughter and asked her about that.

“The stickers, mommy,” the kid responded. “I won’t ask Tito Cai to buy me stickers tomorrow.”

They both stopped for a moment. She knew how much her daughter liked those personalized stickers. It looked like she even liked the pencil case more.

“Okay. But just one is enough, got it? You won’t ask for anything else? Is it a deal?”

Her daughter happily nodded. “Thank you, Mommy,” the kid said sweetly as she gave her mom a peck in the cheek.

Her child’s sweet gesture made Lyzza weak. Summer was such a sweet baby. She was naturally soft and caring, even though she had her own tantrums at times.

“Sure, let’s go and get one.” She put her daughter down and went to the shelf where the pencil case was located. “Is this the one, baby?”

“Yes, Mommy.”

She then realized why her daughter liked it so much. The pencil case was covered in pink and, to top it all off, it had a picture of a famous doll wearing a military outfit but in a cute, stylish way.

She later grabbed all the supplies that she needed before they went on their way to the counter.

“Baby, sit down here for a bit,” she stated as soon as she saw the queue at the counter. The kid might get tired of standing up while waiting, she thought. Her daughter could be short-tempered sometimes and get bored easily.

“Yes, mommy. I’ll behave here.” She smiled at her and looked at the other kids sitting on the same bench as her.

She returned to the end of the line and gave small glimpses of her daughter’s direction, who was sitting and having a chat with the other kids.

Summer gave her a flying kiss when she saw her mother looking at her. She did the same, which made her daughter burst out in laughter. It made her giggle too, then she returned her gaze to her bag and grabbed her wallet since it was her turn to pay.

“Three hundred forty-eight, Ma’am,” the cashier stated. She pulled out a five-hundred-bill and handed it over to the cashier.

When she got the receipt and the supplies, she immediately left the counter and started to look for her daughter.

Her face went pale when she realized that her daughter was not sitting on the bench anymore.

“Summer,” she nervously called her daughter and went to the direction where the other kids were gathered. “Have you seen Summer?” she asked one of the kids whom Summer was having a conversation with a while ago.

“Miss, what do you need from my kid?” One of the mothers asked.

“I-I was just asking if she had seen my daughter,” she replied. “I saw my kid talking to her a while ago.”

“She went outside.” The child pointed to the door. “She said she saw her dad outside.”

She quickly rose to her feet without even thanking the child and her mom due to the growing dread she felt for her daughter.

Who was the daddy referred to? Maybe a stranger went with her and took her away!

“Oh my God,” she nervously whispered while examining every corner of the place. “Where are you, baby?”

Confused and fearful, each stride she took was to the left. She didn’t even care if she ran into anyone coming her way.

“Summer, baby,” she called. She saw a man leaning onto the railings while scrolling through his phone and grabbed his arm. “Sir, have you seen a little girl, around three years old? She’s wearing a pink dress.”

“Oh, sorry, Miss. No, I didn’t see her,” the man replied.

One after the other, she questioned every person who crossed her path. And just like the man before, no one had seen her child, either.

“I’ll let the information center and the central management know about this so we can help you find your daughter, Ma’am.” said the store security guard, whom she asked for help with.

“Thank you.”

The man nodded and patrolled the other station using his radio.

She was advised to sit down for a bit while the authorities looked for her daughter. In that way, it would be easier for her to see her kid once the authorities find her. But even though she wanted to, she couldn’t stay still. She couldn’t bear to sit down while her daughter was nowhere to be found.

She rose from her seat and started to walk and find her daughter.