DETACHED

Chapter 12: Chaos

The small wooden door burst open with a deafening bang.

"AMARA!" Chief Marcus's voice thundered through the tiny house.

His boots pounded against the worn wooden floor as he rushed from one room to another.

The bedroom

Empty.

The kitchen.

Empty.

The backyard.

Nothing.

"Amara!" His breathing grew heavier.

For the first time in years, the house answered him with nothing but silence. The front door creaked open, Evelyn stepped inside, unsteady on her feet, the smell of alcohol lingering around her. She frowned as she watched Marcus tearing the house apart.

"What is wrong with you?"

Marcus spun toward her, his eyes blazing.

"Where is she?"

Evelyn frowned, "Who?"

Marcus marched toward her,

"Don't play games with me."

"Where is Amara?"

Evelyn blinked.

"I thought she came home after school."

Marcus grabbed both her shoulders.

"She never came home!"

The words hit Evelyn like a slap.

"What?

"She's gone!" Marcus said hold Evelyn. Evelyn pushed his hands away.

"What do you mean she's gone?" She asked

"I've searched everywhere!" Marcus said as frustration could be heard in his voice.

"You were supposed to be here!" He said again pinching the bridge of his nose.

"My God..." She whispered. Marcus pointed at her angrily.

"This is your fault!" Marcus looked at her with anger and frustration. He deliberately tried to shift the blame.

"My fault?" Evelyn looked puzzled

"You were drinking while our daughter disappeared!" Marcus continued

Evelyn laughed bitterly "Our daughter?"

"You remember she's your daughter now?" She continued

Marcus's face twisted with anger "don't start"

"No." She stepped toward him.

"You don't get to stand there pretending to be a worried father." She pointed her fingers at him drinkingly

"You beat her yesterday!"

"You called her useless!"

"You treated her like she was nothing!" She kept counting all the things she knew that Marcus did to hurt her child, no Amara, she has no right to call her child.

Marcus clenched his fists.

"I disciplined my child." Marcus defended

"You destroyed her!" Evelyn shouted.

"You broke that little girl long before today."

Marcus slammed his fist onto the dining table. The old wood cracked beneath the impact.

"I have done everything for this family!" Marcus shouted back

"You've done everything for yourself!" Evelyn screamed back.

"You cared more about your reputation than your wife."

"More than your daughter." She said and staggered backward.

Marcus pointed toward the bedroom.

"Enough!"

"No!" She shouted

"For years I've watched you terrify that child, I watched her eat in silence,I watched her hide bruises." She paused and adjusted herself

"I watched her stop smiling and every single time..." Her voice cracked.

"...I did nothing." Tears rolled down her face.

"I failed her." She cried

Marcus looked away. For the briefest moment, guilt flashed across his face. Then it disappeared beneath his pride. Evelyn walked into the bedroom and dragged an old travel bag from beneath the bed.

Marcus frowned. "What are you doing?" She ignored him.

She opened the wardrobe and began packing.

He strode over, snatched the bag from her hands and threw it across the room.

Clothes scattered across the wooden floor.

"Nobody is leaving this house!"

Evelyn slowly turned toward him.

"I'm leaving."

"No."

Marcus shook his head violently.

"No, you're not."

He stepped closer.

"This is my house."

"You are my wife."

"Amara is my daughter."

"My family stays under my roof."

Evelyn's eyes burned with tears.

"There it is, the truth."

"You don't love us, Marcus."

"I stayed because you had money back then, you took care of me when I was pregnant, I thought I had escape but noo... I was wrong". She continued packing

Marcus grabbed her wrist.

"You are not walking away from me."

She struggled against his grip.

"Let me go!" She struggled

"You belong here!" Marcus said

"I don't belong to you!" She resorted

Her voice echoed through the house.

"You lost the right to call me your wife the day you chose fear over love plus you have no money." She looked at him saying this

Marcus's grip loosened for just a second.

It was enough. Evelyn pulled free.

She picked up the travel bag and slung it over her shoulder.

"If Amara comes back..."

She said through tears.

"May she never come back." She changed her words and walked toward the door.

Marcus didn't stop her.He was fuming

The wooden door closed behind her.

The sound echoed through the empty house.

Marcus stood frozen.

His wife was gone, no gold digger woman whom is married.

His daughter was missing.

For the first time in his life...Chief Marcus realized that everything he had fought so hard to control was slipping through his fingers.

Xavier threw himself onto the bed the moment Uncle Mark closed the bedroom door behind him.

The soft click of the lock echoed through the room.

He jumped to his feet and rushed toward the door.

"Uncle Mark!"

He twisted the handle several times.

"Please! I just need to go out!"

Silence answered him.

He leaned his forehead against the wooden door before slowly letting out a frustrated sigh.

"This isn't fair."

He walked back into the room and kicked the leg of a chair.

It slid across the floor with a loud scrape.

He dropped onto the edge of the bed and buried his face in his hands.

His thoughts drifted back to Amara.

He wondered if she had gone to school.

He wondered if she was still avoiding everyone.

Most of all...

He wondered whether she hated him.

"I just want to say I'm sorry."

His voice was barely above a whisper.

"And... thank you."

He had replayed that moment in the classroom countless times.

She could have pointed at him.

She could have told everyone he was the one who took Esther's money.

Instead...

She had remained silent.

He still couldn't understand why.

A gentle knock interrupted his thoughts.

Knock.

Knock.

"Xavier?"

It was Emilia.

"I brought you something to eat."

"I'm not hungry."

"You said that earlier."

"I'm serious this time."

Emilia sighed softly from the other side of the door.

"You can't stay angry forever."

"I'm not angry."

He looked toward the window.

"I'm just tired."

There was a brief silence.

Then Emilia spoke again.

"Your father believes he's doing what's best for you."

"Maybe." Xavier replied quietly.

"But before I leave Eldeheim..."

"I need to see someone."He looked down at the small wrapped gift resting inside his desk drawer.

It wasn't expensive.

Just a simple thank-you gift he had bought with the little allowance he had saved.

He had imagined handing it to Amara himself.

Now...

He didn't even know where to find her.

His fingers curled into a fist.

"No matter what..."He whispered.

"I'll find her."

"I'll apologize."

"And I'll thank her."

Only then...

Would he be ready to leave Eldeheim.

Marcus remained standing in the middle of the small wooden house.

The silence was unbearable.

Only moments ago, the house had echoed with shouting.

Now...

There was nothing.

His eyes drifted toward the broken chair Evelyn had knocked over during their struggle.

The shattered bottle still glistened on the floor.

Clothes lay scattered where he had thrown her travel bag.

For the first time in years, the house didn't feel like home.

It felt abandoned.

Marcus let out a slow breath and ran both hands through his hair.

"No..."

He muttered.

"No..."

He refused to believe this was happening.

Evelyn would calm down.

She always did.

She would come back.

But Amara...

His eyes darted toward the empty bedroom.

She had never stayed away this long. Not once.

A strange feeling settled deep inside his chest.

Fear.

Real fear.

He hurried outside.

The afternoon sun had begun to sink behind the hills of Eldeheim.

Marcus looked up and down the dusty road.

"Amara!"

His voice echoed through the quiet village.

A few neighbors turned to look.

Some greeted him politely.

Others simply watched.

Marcus ignored them.

He walked from one compound to another.

"Have you seen my daughter?"

Everyone gave the same answer.

"No."

He checked the small playground near the village square.

Empty.

He searched the path leading toward the stream where children sometimes gathered after school.

Nothing.

The market.

Nothing.

The school gate had already been locked for the evening.

His breathing became heavier with every step.

As the sky slowly darkened, something he had not felt in years crept into his heart.

Regret.

Not because he believed he had done wrong.

But because he no longer knew where his daughter was.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone with trembling hands.

There was only one person left he could think of.

Grandma Ruth.

Without another thought, Marcus turned toward his car and drove into the gathering dusk,

"Ring.. Ring " Marcus's phone rang, he struggled to bring it out cos he was driving,

"Hello.." a voice rang from the other side of the phone.

" Yes, who's this please? ..".He asked

" Am I talking to Chief Marcus?" The voice called out with so much professionalism

"Yes.. you are" he replied

" Please can you come to Saint Jones Hospital, we have your daughter..."" The line disconnected.