The Placeholder

Chapter 10

Miniature footprints in the snow lead me past my front yard. The prints are shallow, and are slowly being concealed as frosty wind blows sheets of fresh snow to cover the holes.

I run at a stuttered pace. My stubby legs experience difficulty trying to navigate the wintery landscape. Nevertheless, I am desperate, and persist in my hasty pursuit.

"Timmy?" I shriek as loud as my vocal cords will allow. "Timmy, where are you?"

My brother's tiny prints are the only clue I have. Dawn has recently cracked the horizon, and Timmy is nowhere to be found.

"Timmy? It's too cold to be out here. Follow my voice and come with me back inside!"

Panic threatens to overtake me as my oxygen supply leaves my lungs. Timmy is only four years old. He's not old enough to know how to put on his winter wear without help. My own snow pants hadn't been put on properly. Slush numbs the back of my heels as snow gradually thaws inside my boots.

My only slight relief is that Timmy's footprints are not the only evidence of human presence. Bigger boots have tracked the same trail as Timmy's. Wherever he has gone, he was with an adult. A grownup wouldn't let Timmy freeze, would they?

An image of little Timmy shivering and blue at the lips fuels my fear. I choke on sobs as my chest heaves uncontrollably.

"Timmy?" I can only manage a small gasp. Still, I continue to call his name. "Timmy?"

My thighs sting from the biting of the rapidly dropping air temperature. It hadn't been so cold yesterday, but today it is cold enough to develop frostbite.

"Don't let Timmy be dead," I beg to whoever may listen beyond the sky. "Please let him be alive and close so I can take him home."

I knew something had been wrong the minute I had woken this morning. For one, I am never awake this early. An urgent dread had dragged me into consciousness. Instinct screamed to check on my family.

I went to my brother before my parents. Mother always told me to look out for him. As a big sister, I have to keep him safe.

His bed had been unmade and empty. His sheets were tangled and hanging off the edge of his mattress. As if he had been violently ripped from his bed unexpectedly.

Mother and father were peacefully asleep. I didn't need to go into the room to hear my father snoring. I didn't want to waste time waking them.

I had gotten lucky that Timmy snuck animal cookies into his room again. There were crumbs speckled on the floor and a half-eaten tiger on his pillow. Whoever had taken Timmy must have let him bring a cookie to keep him quiet.

The crumbs had guided me to the top of the stairs. After that, I was on my own.

I would have spent an hour searching the entire first floor if not for the abrupt chill crawling over my skin. The castle has heating on every level. It wouldn't be this cold unless someone had opened the front doors, allowing winter to seep through.

Sure enough, more evidence had led me this far. Over the small hill Timmy and I would roll down during springtime. Sometimes, we would pick marigolds that grow on the opposite side and give them to Mother.

When I reach the top, there are no flowers, and there is no Timmy. Only footprints. And then a new type of tracks to replace them. Two symmetrical lines in complete juxtaposition. Perfectly aligned and stretching far beyond my reach.

The blood drains from my face.

"Oh no," I moan. "Not a carriage. They didn't take Timmy away in a carriage."

But, of course they did. Town Square is too far to travel on foot in this weather. I attempt to comfort myself with the knowledge that Timmy was able to walk this entire way and should be much warmer in a carriage. Whoever took Timmy would have to stop somewhere to hide. Once Timmy is reported missing, the whole country will search for him. I can follow the carriage to their hiding spot and bring him home!

I make the mistake of trying to sprint faster. My ankle gives way and I collapse to my knees. Snow chills my body from the waist down.

"Rhoswen!"

A man's voice booms behind me. Stunned, I climb to my feet, trying to keep my pink mittens on my hands. I wave them frantically over my head.

"Dad!" I call back. "Dad, someone took Timmy. We have to follow the tracks!"

My father's figure gradually becomes taller and wider. I bounce impatiently as he approaches much too slow.

"Dad," I shout again. "We need a horse. The lines on the road are too thin to belong to a car, so they only took a carriage. If we can get a horse, we can catch up! They couldn't have gotten very far yet!"

As my vision sharpens on my father's face, I see that he is enraged. And rightfully so, someone abducted his son!

No one can mess with a Prince and get away with it, I think to myself confidently. No one can mess with the King's son without suffering severe consequences.

My rescue plans dissipate into nothing as my father's shadow consumes me.

"What are you doing out here? Have you gone mad?"

I fling my arms out, partially frustrated and partially perplexed.

"Timmy is MISSING! We have to go FIND HIM!"

"What nonsense are you babbling about?"

I feel like a fish, flapping my lips helplessly with no sound coming out. My father doesn't give me the chance to collect myself.

"Never mind, let's get out of this brutal weather. Really, Rhoswen, what were you thinking? Don't you know it's too cold to be playing out here without an adult?"

My father tries to scoop me from the ground. I resist vehemently, thrashing and kicking the air; throwing all of my weight into the ground.

"I wasn't playing! I'm looking for Timmy! He's been kidn*pped, can't you see? Look at the tracks. LOOK AT THE TRACKS!!"

My father finds a firm grip under my armpits. He begins to lift me out of the snow. My hands curl into small fists as I pound on his chest and shoulders. One loose swing accidentally collides with his left cheek. He shakes me as if I don't weigh any heavier than a sheet of paper.

"Quit your flailing and hollering this instant!" My father roars. He tosses me over his shoulder with ease.

I continue to wriggle, but my energy is waning fast.

"Timmy is missing, do you understand? YOUR SON IS GONE!"

Father doesn't listen to me. How can he not believe what I'm telling him? The evidence is right under his nose!

By the time my father and I are sheltered inside the castle, I am shivering and on the verge of hyperventilating.

"How could you let them get away?" I accuse with as much venom as my seven year old mind can muster. "Now, Timmy is even farther away than before."

My father continues to ignore me. He turns to one of his employees. "Melinda, please take my daughter to get a warm shower."

"Yes, your Highness. I'll get that ready for her right away."

Melinda pulls me away gently. I give up on resisting. At this point, Timmy’s abductor will be impossible to hunt down on my own.

I allow Melinda to bring me a towel and warm, fluffy clothes. Once I am fully dressed, I grip her forearm. "You have to reason with my father," I plead. "Timmy is in trouble. We have to find him."

"I'll see what I can do," She says, disturbed.

I am forced into a guest room I've never been inside of before. Melinda hesitates. "Stay in here, please."

I am not given the opportunity to defy her. I am left in the room alone. The door locks from the outside, with no way to open it from within.

It is too late, but I rush at it with all the force I possess. Slamming into the hard wood.

"Let me out!" I scream until my vocal cords rip to shreds. "Timmy needs us! Let me out!"

No one responds and no one will come for me. My throat becomes too sore to utter another word.

Tears stream down my face. My chest heaves as I think of little Timmy with a scary grown up. How abandoned he will feel when he realizes that no one is coming to save him.

"I tried, Timmy," I whisper, my voice hoarse. "I tried and I failed."

I should have ran faster. I should have waken up and sensed the danger sooner. I could have stopped this before it started. How did someone even get in? We have guards everywhere, how could they miss Timmy being taken away?

Unless the person who took him is from the castle…someone he trusts…

Red flashes scatter amongst my vision. A searing pain burns my heart. Scorches it, and bewildered hurt pools in the base of my lungs.

I become limp, sliding to the floor.

Knowing there is nothing left I can do, I surrender to the cold, black fear that puts out the flames, and shames any storm nature could form on earth.