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This wasn\u2019t the first time that Emily wasn\u2019t home. Being a teenager who wanted to hang out with her friends and attend parties, she sneaked out before, but Laura\u2019s gut was telling her that it was different this time. \u201cRick, wake up!\u201d Laura returned to their bedroom and tried to wake up her husband, who was Emily\u2019s stepfather. \u201cEmily\u2019s missing!\u201d \u201cLet me sleep, Laura,\u201d Richard replied with groggy. \u201cShe\u2019s a teen. She must have snuck out to meet those friends of hers. Relax. \u201cThis is serious, Rick. Her room is spick and span! This isn\u2019t like Emily! \u201dRichard, however, didn\u2019t seem too concerned probably because he believed Emily would appear any time soon. But Laura knew something wasn\u2019t right, and just when she returned to the kitchen she received a text message which read, \u201cIf you want your daughter alive, bring $100,000 to the address\u201d The entire situation went from bad to worse and everything felt like a bad dream.<\/p>\n
Laura immediately called the police. In no time, a group of cops and detectives were at Laura\u2019s door. She explained to them what was going on and they assured her everything would be alright and that they\u2019d do all in their power to find her daughter. When the cops arrived, Richard woke up and went downstairs. \u201cLaura? What\u2019s going on? What are cops doing here? \u201cSomeone kidnapped Emily!\u201d she replied tremblingly. \u201cThe kidnapper is demanding ransom. \u201cAre you sure it isn\u2019t one of Emily\u2019s games?\u201d he asked as he joined her in the living room. \u201cOf course it\u2019s not, Rick!\u201d she cried. \u201cWe have to find her! \u201dThe cops, Laura, and Richard entered Emily\u2019s room. \u201cAnything missing from here?\u201d Detective Harris asked Laura and Richard. \u201cThe carpet!\u201d Laura now noticed. \u201cIt\u2019s not here. \u201cYou got any idea about it?\u201d Detective Harris looked at Richard. Uh, yeah, I took it to the dry cleaner,\u201d Richard replied. Detective Harris made a note. \u201cI\u2019ll need the dry cleaner\u2019s address, please.\u201d Yeah, I\u2019ll get it. One second,\u201d Richard said and left the room. At that moment, Laura received another text message that read, \u201cIf you involve the cops, you\u2019ll never see your daughter again. Let\u2019s drop the ransom, Mrs. Dennings,\u201d Detective Harris suggested. \u201cWe can set up around the drop-off location. It\u2019s the best chance of getting your daughter back and catching the kidnapper. \u201cNo way!\u201d Richard protested as he returned with the address. \u201cThat\u2019s too risky. We should just give the ransom, and then maybe the bad guys will let her go. \u201cBut Richard, what if they take the money and run away?\u201d Laura shook her head. \u201cNo. I think the detectives are right. A decision was made for undercover officers to be positioned around the ransom drop-off point. The following day, Laura drove to the drop-off point and her only hope was to see her daughter. She waited and kept looking at the rear-view mirror of the car, but no one approached the oak tree where she placed the money. When the night came, the detective knocked on the car\u2019s window and told Laura to go home because the kidnapper probably change their mind. Devastated, Laura returned home and went straight to Emily\u2019s room. She then noticed the carpet was there. \u201cDoesn\u2019t the carpet look like it\u2019s new?\u201d her husband asked her. Laura kneeled on the carpet. It was a carpet Emily chose herself just a few months ago. \u201cHow could it be so new?\u201d Laura asked confused. \u201cA good cleaner can do wonders, honey,\u201d Richard replied almost too quickly. Ten years have gone by, and there was no sign of Emily. Everyone moved on and got used to the fact that she won\u2019t be coming back. Everyone but Laura. This mother could never stop hoping that she would see her daughter again. She never stopped trying and praying to God for Emily\u2019s safe return. One day, Laura got the idea to place banners with Emily\u2019s face on them around the city. She visited an agency and told the woman working there her story. The two agreed to place three huge banners at the busiest streets in the city. \u201cThe design was simple\u2014a blown-up version of Emily\u2019s photograph, her smile frozen in time, and the words \u2018Forever missed, forever loved\u2019 in bold, impossible-to-ignore letters. Beneath that, \u2018If you know something, say something,\u2019 followed by a hotline number.\u201dRichard wasn\u2019t happy that Laura placed the banners. He accused her of wasting their money. \u201cAll our savings are gone, Laura! Just because you plastered her face all across the city!\u201d he told her. But at that particular moment, there was a knock on the door. Laura went to see who it might be. The moment she opened the door, she was left completely stunned. A young woman was standing on the front porch. Although ten years passed by, she immediately recognized her daughter.\u201cYeah, Mom! I\u2019m home!\u201d Emily said and then pulled away and raised her one arm to show the carpet she was holding. \u201cThis was all I had, Mom,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd I kept it.\u201d \u201cWho\u2019s there?\u201d Richard\u2019s loud voice could be heard from the inside of the house. As he approached the front door and noticed Emily standing there he went pale. \u201cWhat\u2019s wrong, Richard?\u201d Emily sneered. \u201cYou see a ghost? He\u2019s the one responsible for my disappearance, Mom!\u201d Emily pointed at Richard. \u201cWhat? That\u2019s nonsense!\u201d Richard cried in his defense. \u201cCome inside, Emily,\u201d Laura said. As Emily entered, Laura closed the front door. She looked from her daughter to her husband. What was going on? \u201cShe\u2019s lying, Laura!\u201d Richard yelled. \u201cDon\u2019t listen to her! She\u2019s trying to tear us apart! \u201cTell me everything, Emily!\u201d Laura insisted, ignoring Richard. On the day of Emily\u2019s disappearance, Laura was on a business trip and she was left with Richard. When she returned home from school, Richard was watching TV and invited Emily to sit next to him so that they could watch the show together. She didn\u2019t want to, but he insisted. Scared, she sat next to him, but she then became aware of her stepdad touching her skirt\u2019s hem. \u201cNice skirt,\u201d he commented, and Emily became even more scared than before. At one moment, he offered to unbutton her shirt and said, \u201cCome on, Emily. You\u2019ve grown, and it\u2019s not like you don\u2019t want me. \u201dEmily yelled \u201cGet away!\u201d and ran straight to her room but Richard followed her. \u201cYou don\u2019t need to be scared, Emily!\u201d He smirked. \u201cWhat are you doing here? Get out! This is my room!\u201d she cried. \u201cLeave, Richard, or I\u2019ll tell Mom everything! \u201dRichard burst out laughing. \u201cAnd who do you think she\u2019ll believe? A grown man or her over-imaginative daughter? \u201cShe\u2019ll believe me! I know my mom!\u201d Emily confidently yelled. She then rushed to grab her phone, but Richard pushed her away. Emily felt sharp pain in the head and saw blood dropping on the carpet. The next moment, she blacked out. Without even checking if she was still alive, Richard wrapped her body in the carpet and placed her in the back of his truck. He then started the truck and when he reached the river, he threw Emily there. When he returned home, he cleaned the place so that Laura wouldn\u2019t suspect that he\u2019s involved in her daughter\u2019s disappearance. \u201cA couple of fishermen found me, Mom,\u201d Emily continued. \u201cI was in a neighboring town. A kind family there took me in. They also tried to find my family, but I didn\u2019t remember my past. It was only when I returned here and saw my face on the billboards that I recalled everything\u2014My home, you, and the terrible\u2026night! \u201cStop it, Emily! You\u2019re accusing me after all I have done for you guys?\u201d Richard screamed. But Laura was certain her daughter was telling the truth. She called the cops and a DNA analysis was later done to determine of the blood on the carpet was Emily\u2019s. It didn\u2019t come as a surprise when the results confirmed it was. Some months later, Richard was sentenced to prison.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This wasn\u2019t the first time that Emily wasn\u2019t home. Being a teenager who wanted to hang out with her friends and attend parties, she sneaked out before,… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7868,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7867"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7869,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7867\/revisions\/7869"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourtimenew.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}