Laura woke up, still feeling exhausted. Beside her, Richard, her husband and Emily’s stepfather, was fast asleep.

Laura peeled back the sheets and went to the kitchen like every other morning. The business trip had been tiring. Once she had prepared breakfast, she headed to Emily’s room.

“Time to wake up, sweetie!” Laura started, but her voice trailed off when she noticed Emily’s bed was perfectly made.

Laura checked Emily’s bathroom, but Emily wasn’t there. Weirdly enough, Emily’s things were perfectly organized. Laura searched all the rooms, the backyard, and even the garden, but Emily was nowhere to be seen.

Laura knew Emily wasn’t the most obedient kid. She had sneaked out a couple of times and even attended wild parties. But today, it wasn’t one of those reasons why Emily was missing. Laura could feel it in her gut.

“Rick, wake up!” Laura returned to their bedroom and tried to wake up her husband. “Emily’s missing!”

“Let me sleep, Laura,” Richard replied, his voice groggy. “She’s a teen. She must have snuck out to meet those friends of hers. Relax.”

“This is serious, Rick. Her room is spick and span! This isn’t like Emily!”

But Richard dismissed her concerns and went back to sleep. Laura was anxious. She went downstairs to the living room, hoping Emily would walk in through the door any moment, safe and sound.

Suddenly, her phone pinged with a message.

“If you want your daughter alive, bring $100,000 to the address below…”

Laura’s head spun. She wanted to tell herself it was a bad dream. But it wasn’t.

With trembling hands, Laura immediately called the cops. They arrived soon. She had just let them in when Richard’s voice boomed from upstairs. “Laura? What’s going on? What are cops doing here?”

“Someone kidnapped Emily!” she replied tremblingly. “The kidnapper is demanding ransom.”

“Are you sure it isn’t one of Emily’s games?” he asked as he joined her in the living room.

“Of course it’s not, Rick!” she cried. “We have to find her!”

The cops, Laura, and Richard entered Emily’s room.

“Anything missing from here?” Detective Harris asked Laura and Richard.

“The carpet!” Laura now noticed. “It’s not here.”

“You got any idea about it?” Detective Harris looked at Richard.

“Uh, yeah, I took it to the dry cleaner,” Richard replied.

Detective Harris made a note. “I’ll need the dry cleaner’s address, please.”

“Yeah, I’ll get it. One second,” Richard said and left the room.

While the detectives looked around the space for other clues, Laura’s phone pinged again. Blood drained off her face as she read the message that had popped on her screen.

“What is it?” Detective Harris noticed her horrified expression. She handed her phone to the cop, who read the message aloud.

“If you involve the cops, you’ll never see your daughter again.”

“Let’s drop the ransom, Mrs. Dennings,” Detective Harris suggested. “We can set up around the drop-off location. It’s the best chance of getting your daughter back and catching the kidnapper.”

“No way!” Richard protested as he returned with the address. “That’s too risky. We should just give the ransom, and then maybe the bad guys will let her go.”

“But Richard, what if they take the money and run away?” Laura shook her head. “No. I think the detectives are right.”

Richard couldn’t argue any further. It was decided: Undercover officers would be positioned around the ransom drop-off point.

As Laura drove to the drop-off point with the ransom money, she only thought of Emily. She just wanted her back. She wanted her baby girl home.

Laura parked near the park the kidnapper had mentioned. Then, following his directions, she walked over to the oak tree in the park’s center and placed the money there.

As Laura returned to her car, she positioned her rearview mirror to keep a vigilant watch on the drop site.

Detective Harris, in a nondescript jacket and jeans, signaled at her from across the street that the cops were positioned. Laura’s heart pounded every time she looked into the rearview mirror. She couldn’t wait for the kidnapper to show up.

But day turned into night, and no one ever came. The children playing there left the park, and soon, it stood abandoned again. Detective Harris approached her window, and she rolled it down.

“I think it’s time you should head home, Mrs. Dennings. Perhaps the kidnapper changed his mind.”

Laura was crushed. How could the kidnapper not show up? Did he get a hint about the undercover cops? The drive home was a blur for Laura. As she returned to Emily’s room, she saw the carpet was back. Richard stood there, his eyes bearing a strange relief.

“Doesn’t the carpet look like it’s new?” he asked.

Laura kneeled to run her fingers on the carpet. Emily had chosen it herself several months ago. She was so excited when they brought it home.

“How could it be so new?” Laura blurted.

“A good cleaner can do wonders, honey,” Richard replied quickly, almost too quickly. And it was then a doubt crept into Laura’s mind. But the grief of her missing daughter was too deep to dwell on anything else.

Ten years passed. The cops closed the case because there were no leads. Everyone seemed to have moved on from Emily’s disappearance, but Laura hadn’t. She entered an advertising office, clutching her daughter’s photographs. They had turned a pale yellow, and the edges of some were worn.

Laura approached a woman at the front desk. “I’d like to rent some banners,” Laura said.

“Sure,” the woman, Jenna, smiled. “How many would you want?”