Spiralled

Chapter - 5

Thirteen years ago.....

Catherine's POV

The oven beeped loudly signalling that the food was done. I was making my homemade rotisserie chicken today. Nathan liked the chicken that i made so today it was on the menu along with sautéed vegetables and cheesecake.

The dinner table was set just the chicken was remaining. Nathan was late today, he should have been home about thirty minutes ago.

I shrugged it off. Maybe the work pressure was more since it was the month end.

Since i had time i decided to freshen up a bit since all the cooking had left me sweaty and greasy.

Taking the apron off as i was about to go upstairs the landline in house rang loudly, startling me a bit.

"Winston residence." I said into the phone.

"Cathy it's me." Nathan's breathless and alarmed voice replied from the other side.

"Nathan? What's wrong? Why are you not home and why do you sound like that?"

"It's your sister and Jonathan." He said in a grave tone.

As soon as he said those words, a chill ran through me knowing that whatever I was about to hear was not good.

"What about lily?" I asked nervously.

"They-they are gone Cathy. The house is burned to ashes. I...i just got there and there is nothing left."

His words made the universe stop for me. The time stopped, only thing that was functional was Nathan's sorrowful voice and the loud thumping of my heart in my chest, it sounded like my heartbeats were in my ears and not in my chest.

"Listen to me carefully Cathy, get a taxi and come over here quickly. There’s a huge crowd around the house and i don't know where Ollie is. They won't let me pass unless you get here." He said urgently.

My world crashed a second time thinking of Olivia. Oh my sweet ollie, my little love was missing.

"I am-I'm coming. You wait for me I'll be there as soon as i can." I rasped out wiping my tears.

My whole body was covered in pin and needles. I almost crashed into furniture as I moved towards the bedroom like a blind robot.

Leaving everything as it was, i ran upstairs and grabbed my purse. I locked the house in hurry and called for a taxi.

The whole time i was sitting in the cab with a blank mind. It felt like it took forever for me to reach my sister’s house.

A huge swarm of people, a firefighter truck, police cars were surrounding the remains of a once loving home of my sister.

I all but ran in haste, pushing the crowd only to be stopped by police officers.

"Let me go!" I cried out. "This is my sister's house."

One of the officers heard me and signalled the officer who was stopping me to let me in.

I stumbled my way to the bodies of my sister and Jonathan. All that i could hear was my loud wailing and Nathan in the background arguing with police to let him in as i was his wife.

I screamed and wailed as i revealed my sister's burnt face. She was unrecognisable as her face was completely charred to the bone. All that was left of them was bones and burnt skin.

"Olivia." I cried out and got up in panic. "Where is Olivia?"

I clinched to one of the officers and asked him desperately. "Where is my niece?"

"Ma'am apart from the two bodies we didn't find anyone in the house. There was no one except the victims."

"STOP LYING TO ME! THEY HAVE LITTLE EIGHT YEAR OLD GIRL NAMED OLIVIA MARTIN. YOU NEED TO FIND HER! NOW!"

"Ma'am calm down! Right now we are investigating the scene. We will tell you if we find anything." The officer said.

"Nathan, Nathan Ollie is lost Nathan! She is not here! Someone took her. Please find her Nathan she's just a little girl." I freaked out at Nathan. I could hear myself scream in desperation.

Nathan took me to our car. All i could do was cry and pray to God that Olivia was fine and that she will soon come back to us. I just hoped that she was fine and unharmed. The sheer thought of something happening to my little baby was frightening to me.

Out of nowhere, sky thundered loudly and it began to pour heavily. Everyone scattered to their homes, clearing the streets. My sister's and Jon's body was hurled into the ambulance in a hurry. All I could do was watch helplessly as the ambulance drove away into the stormy night.

The house looked black and sullen, something right out of a haunted movie. Once a loving home of my family was turned into a tragic crime scene in a blink of an eye. And all I was left with was memory of my dead sister and her husband and their missing child. It was all too much for me to shoulder at once. I didn’t understand if I should mourn or worry about finding Olivia. I has to find her at any cost; she was just a little child and more she was exposed to the outside world, she was more likely to get on harms way. There was no way I was going to let that happen. I was going to bring her back to me. I buried my face in my hands, hoping desperately to find Olivia.

I watched Nathan speaking to one of the police officers with blurry eyes. The officer patted him shoulder in sympathy and walked away. Nathan walked to me with a sorrowful look on his face.

"They have called us a down at the station to provide your DNA. They need to verify if it's Liliana for sure since the body is unrecognisable. They will also need Ollie's photo so they can look for her." He said softly to me.

I nodded robotically. I don't have energy to say anything so hear anything for that matter.

"One more thing." He said. "They found few things in the house that they want you to have. It'll be have to you at the police station."

"Can we go now?" I asked, looking at him.

"Are you sure? Can you do this right now?" He asked raising a brow.

I nodded. "The more time we waste, more time it'll take for them to track Ollie. We need to give them a photo. I have them in my phone."

Nathan nodded. "Alright then."