try begging
"Ugh..."
"Haah, really."
Nancy, who had been looking back to see if anyone was following in their car, let out a sigh mixed with annoyance.
"Sniff..."
Whether it was because she was scared or simply because she didn't like being in the same car as them, the child was huddled in the corner of the passenger seat, sniffling.
"Hmph... Stop crying."
A child, curled up with knees to chest, glared up at her. This stubborn thing. Even after going through all that, she was still glaring. She wasn't scared of her yet. "I'm hiccuping," the child retorted.
"I'm not crying. Daddy said not to cry." Don't cry and wait. Nancy suddenly recalled what Winston had said to his daughter before she ran away. It was disgusting how he acted so sweetly like an angel to his own daughter, while being a devil to other people's daughters.
"Listen to me carefully. Be quiet. Don't talk to anyone. Or you'll never see your mother again."
Nancy began to warn the child.
"Do you understand? If you don't listen to me, you're going to get punished. I'm not as soft as Uncle Bobby. You know this, right? This hurts if you get hit by it."
The child stared at the gun on her waist. She thought maybe the child was finally scared when she started to sniffle, but no.
"Daddy said it doesn't hurt even if you get shot with that." Nancy chuckled at the absurd remark.
"Did you see Uncle Bobby get hit, or not?"
No matter how much she tried to scare her, the child just kept saying irrelevant things.
"Did Uncle Bobby go to heaven?"
"Heaven? Hell, more like."
That dirty traitor. As she drove along the quiet suburban road, cursing under her breath, the quiet child started babbling again.
"Did you fight with Mommy? Mommy's face was all red and blue like yours."
"Don't talk."
When she told her to be quiet, the child muttered to herself. She was as annoying and unruly as her mother when she was young.
"Hic, my muffin. My muffin is gone."
Didn't she know what situation they were in? The child was looking for something to eat in the middle of all this.
"Ugh, humans are such pests."
It was no better to mix with a devil's child.
Nancy slowed down and kept glancing out the passenger side window. She could occasionally see a railroad track between the low buildings in a row.
"Damn it, I should have taken the map."
She had forgotten in all the excitement. She had no idea where she was wandering. Following the railroad tracks, Nancy stopped her car at a station and hesitated. She had to abandon the car around here. The train station in front of her was too small. It was so quiet that there was a high risk of being noticed.
But she didn't know how much further she had to go to find a larger station. Finally, she made a decision and drove two blocks past the station. She abandoned the car, leaving the keys in the ignition in a back alley. Any thug or reckless teenager would steal it right away. It would confuse the military's pursuit and was a blessing in disguise.
The train station was as deserted as ever. As with any suburban station, there weren't many trains that stopped. Nancy stood in front of the ticket booth, staring at the timetable, racking her brain. There were two options. She could take a series of local trains to reach her destination, or she could circle around the north and take a slow train that crossed the Norden border around evening. The second option was more convenient as she wouldn't have to change trains, but there was a higher chance of being tracked. And besides...
[Arrival at Witheridge: 11:42]
It just so happened to pass near her hometown. It meant she would see familiar sights outside the train window. She sighed involuntarily.
"Ma'am, is there anything I can do to help?"
A strange man spoke to her. Glancing behind her, she saw an elderly station master approaching. Nancy pulled her scarf tighter over her face and squeezed her child's wrist, warning her.
"Yes? Why?"
"I was wondering if you needed any help..."
The station master looked at her and her child with worried eyes. The child was sobbing, and no matter how hard she tried to hide it, the bruises on her face were visible. She looked suspicious to anyone.
This kid is just making me look more suspicious.
The child twisted her wrist, trying to escape her grasp, and looked at the stationmaster with her uniquely teal eyes, pleading for help. Nancy smiled, thinking of a way to calm the child and close her eyes.
"Actually, I could use some help. Is there a pharmacy around here?"
"Barbital."
The owner of the grocery store, which also served as a pharmacy, didn't seem to understand. The young woman pulled out a wrong bottle from the wall shelf and handed it to her.
"No. I want barbiturates."
The woman continued to fluster as if she had some kind of intellectual problem, and took out the wrong thing. The pharmacist seemed to have left.
"Then give me a bandage and some rubbing alcohol first."
If he still hadn't let her father out by midnight or if he had done something stupid, then I might really have to cut off her fingers.
Nancy sighed.
It would be okay to kill her with a single bullet because it wouldn't get blood on her hands, but it was unpleasant to mutilate the child's body.
But if it had to be done, I had to do it.
Nancy looked down at the child who was once again looking at the stranger with eyes that were begging for help.
I should put her to sleep with barbiturates. She now knows that she has been kidnapped. If she opens her mouth or tries to run away, it will be difficult. She is quiet now, but the endless chatter was annoying.
And it was better to put her to sleep in case she really needed to bleed.
"No, I said I wanted a bandage, didn't I?"
For some reason, the woman running the pharmacy was having a hard time understanding such a simple request.
"Ban... ban... could you say it again... please?"
Hearing her clumsy and stiff accent, Nancy realized. The woman was an immigrant from Norden.
"Oh, come on. Do you think this is Norden? How can you run a store if you can't even speak the language?"
Nancy is so mean.
Ellie blushed with embarrassment and glared at Nancy's back as she walked towards the shelf where the milk bottles were kept. I hate Nancy. Because of Nancy, Uncle Bobby went to heaven and Mommy cried so hard. I had something really important to tell Dad, but I couldn't. I'm definitely not going to help her.
Even though Ellie could speak Nordenian, she kept her mouth shut. Soon after, the back door opened and a tall man came in, struggling with a wooden box.
"Excuse me. Are you the pharmacist here?"
As soon as Nancy said something, the man put down the box and walked towards the woman.
When Nancy followed, the woman, whose face was still bright red, ran towards them and opened the box the man had left behind.
"Bandages, gauze, and alcohol. And, uh..."
Nancy, who had been chattering away, glanced at Ellie who was standing not far from the woman. She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then looked at the woman who was crouching behind her and smirked before turning back to the man. "Give me the barbital in a small bottle."
"Nancy is bad. Bad people are caught by the police." And now Nancy is busy.Ellie watched the woman intently as she took an apple from the box and put it in a basket. Then she quietly approached her. When the woman looked up, Ellie whispered,
"Ruf die Polizei an."
The woman's eyes widened as she understood the Nordic language.
[ That woman is not Ellie's mother. She stole Ellie from her mother. My name is Ellie, and my mother's name is Grace. Please call the police.]
Leon was speechless for a moment as the woman conveyed his daughter's words in Nordic. How could a mere 33-month-old child be so intelligent and brave as to ask for help in a foreign language right in front of that woman?
"She's just like me after all." There was no longer any reason to issue a nationwide manhunt. Not only that, but Ellie's actions had saved countless hours, manpower, and the dwindling patience and sanity of both him and Grace.
If the woman who had heard Ellie's plea hadn't told her husband and reported it to the police, they might not have been able to identify the train with the child and the kidnapper so early.
While they were right about her taking a train, their prediction that she would use a crowded station was wrong. On the other hand, thanks to that incorrect prediction, the station attendant clearly remembered the "mother and daughter" who looked suspicious.
"They boarded a slow train bound for Norden at around 10 a.m."
Their prediction that she would change trains was also wrong. When they plotted all possible routes, arriving at the drop-off point at night, they had assumed she would take the last possible train, the slow train bound for the border. So, she had chosen the very first one?Was she not as smart as Grace?
"Bring me the train schedule immediately."
As the station attendant ran inside the station at the man's command, Grace asked the pharmacist, "What did that woman buy?"
Hearing the disgusting reply that she had bought bandages and disinfectant, both of them gritted their teeth.
"And she also bought a bottle of barbital."
Barbital?
"In case the child cried or made too much noise..."
Could she have bought it to put the child to sleep? As one of her worst fears seemed to be coming true, Grace snatched the train schedule from the station attendant and headed towards the sedan parked on the street.
"Let's go." If they drove at full speed, they could catch up.
"What time is it now?"
As soon as the man got into the car with her, Grace looked at his wristwatch. It was 15 minutes before 11. They checked the next stop of the slow train on the train schedule the station attendant had brought.
[Witheridge Arrival: 11:42]
They instinctively looked at each other. They knew without saying that they were thinking the same thing. Why that place of all places? It was the place where their victory and defeat, hope and despair had intersected three years ago. Now that their former enemy had become an ally, whose side would fortune be on?
"Damn it..."
Nancy covered her mouth with her palm and shook the baby bottle, grumbling. A small, fingernail-sized pill was still floating leisurely inside the bottle, as if mocking her. She was making too many mistakes today, all because she was in such a hurry.
It was a mistake to have dropped the entire barbital tablet into the milk. She'd tried in vain to dissolve it, but had given up feeling ridiculous.
Should I just crush a new one and put it in? But she worried that if she accidentally mixed the new one with the milk that already had some dissolved, the child might die. The child was going to die eventually, but she had to stay alive until the deal was completely finished.
As she wasn't a pharmacist, she had no idea about the lethal dose of barbital for a three-year-old. Nancy threw the bottle out the window. As she closed the window with a sigh, she met the child's gaze. The child was sitting in the middle, opposite her, kicking her feet and staring at her with a furrowed brow. Her mouth was closed, but those sea-green eyes seemed to mock her. I need to put her to sleep quickly.
It was a good thing she had chosen the slower train, as it would be exhausting to keep changing trains while carrying a sleeping child. Unlike local trains, this one had a dining car. Of course, there would be milk. It wasn't just milk she needed. After staying up all night watching over Mr. Barby, she was feeling dizzy. She desperately wanted coffee.
"Excuse me." Nancy opened the compartment door and called to the conductor sitting at the end of the corridor.
"Yes, ma'am. What can I do for you?" A man in a black suit and a flat cap appeared outside the door, and Ellie jumped out of her seat.
"It's a police officer!"
"I'd like to order a cup of warm milk and a cup of coffee."
"Okay, and sugar and cream...?"
"Milk instead of cream. A large cup, and make the coffee strong."
When she peeked outside, Nancy pushed her back. Ellie pouted and returned to her seat.I thought it was a police officer... Ellie puffed out her cheeks and sighed deeply.
"Here, eat this."
After the waiter left and closed the door, Nancy took a muffin out of a paper bag and offered it to the child.
"This isn't my muffin..."
"Ugh..."
Nancy scoffed and glared at the child.
"Do you think I'm your maid?" Even if she wanted to be sweet, she couldn't.
"If you don't want to eat it, starve."
When the child belatedly reached out, Nancy casually threw the muffin back into the bag and sat down. She coldly watched the child who kept glancing at the door as if she were playing with her.
"Who are you waiting for?"
"..."
"Do you think your dad is going to magically appear and save you right now?"
It was hard to say whether the kid, who nodded without hesitation, was pathetic or funny. As Nancy let out a sigh, the attendant returned.
"Ma'am, here's your coffee and milk."
Nancy paid the conductor and placed the tray on the table in the middle of the room. She stood with her back to the child and secretly put the crushed pills in the milk. This time, it dissolved well. She dabbed it on her fingertip and tasted it. The milk was so sweet that the bitterness of the barbiturate was not even noticeable.
"If you don't like muffins, at least drink some milk."
She held out a glass of milk, but the child just blinked, staring at the glass. How annoying. Nancy suppressed her rising irritation and bent down to the child's eye level, lifting the corners of her lips.
"I'm sorry I told you to starve earlier. You don't have to starve. It makes Mommy so sad when you're hungry."
When she mentioned the child's weakness, the child nodded and took the glass. As the child brought the glass to their lips, Nancy paused before sitting down.
"I said coffee, not tea."
There was tea in her cup. She opened the door and looked out into the hallway, but the seat where the stewardess should have been sitting was empty. When she didn't come, Nancy glanced at the child sipping milk and picked up her cup.
"Don't you dare take a single step out of here. Or you'll never see Mommy again."
The child tilted her cup and stared at Nancy. Well, even if she tried to escape after drinking that, she wouldn't get far before collapsing.
"And don't forget that Mommy will be sad if this cup isn't empty when I come back."
As soon as Nancy left and the door closed, Ellie took the cup away from her mouth and made a face.
"...It's bitter." The milk was incredibly bitter. She wanted to spit it out, but she thought Nancy would get mad, so she just held it in her mouth, pretending to drink.
"And don't forget that Mommy will be sad if this cup isn't empty when I come back."
I don't believe Nancy. Nancy is a liar.
"Your mom abandoned you." This liar! Mommy didn't abandon Ellie. She cried so hard to get me back. And Mommy never got sad when Ellie didn't drink her milk. But Ellie was sad.
I'm thirsty. Maybe because I cried so much? I'm so thirsty.
Ellie stared intently at the milk jug on the tray and made up her mind. Since Nancy had stolen Ellie from her mother, Ellie would steal Nancy's milk. She put down the cup she was holding and grabbed Nancy's milk jug. The milk was so sweet.
She gulped it all down, and when she could see the bottom of the jug, she was suddenly scared. Nancy would be so angry, wouldn't she? Her wrist, which Nancy had gripped tightly, and her shoulder, which Nancy had pushed, still ached.
She didn't know where Nancy would hurt her next. As she looked around, her eyes fell on another milk cup and she smiled brightly. All she had to do was pour the milk from her cup into Nancy's cup.
"Oops, I spilled it..." She spilled a little when she was pouring. She put down the cup and wiped the spilled milk off the tray with a napkin, but then the door burst open.
"Did you finish it?" Nancy's face suddenly appeared above her head.
"...Yeah." Startled, she nodded blankly, and Nancy stared at her before patting her head.
"Good girl."
"Hehe..."
She thought Nancy was going to be angry, but she wasn't.
"Here, since you're a good girl, you deserve a muffin."
Nancy gave her a muffin and picked up the milk jug, pouring the milk into a large cup. I hope she doesn't notice. Ellie returned to her seat, nibbled on her muffin, and watched Nancy nervously as she brought the cup to her mouth.
"Ugh... why am I so dizzy?" It seemed like she hadn't been noticed.
Nancy finished her coffee, rubbed her head, and leaned against the wall. Then she closed her eyes and soon started to snore softly. Ellie glanced at the window in the door while eating her muffin.
When will the police officer come? When will Daddy come? Should I go outside and ask? But Nancy is asleep...
"Don't you dare take a single step out of here. Or you'll never see your mother again."
I don't believe Nancy. Nancy is a liar.
Ellie, who had quietly stood up without making a sound, hesitated.
"Daddy will come find you. Don't cry and wait."
Daddy told me to wait. Ellie sat back down, eating her muffin, and glanced at the closed door and the sleeping Nancy.