Chapter 20: Missing Piece

Lief decided that this morning, he would wake his children himself.

He remembered doing it all the time when Karen and Karl were younger, and he figured he'd try to revive an old tradition.

Lief made very sure he didn't wake Josefin.

As he made his way upstairs, Leif sighed in nostalgia. He remembered doing it when it was just him and Karen. Now it appeared he had five children to try it with.

He didn't mind, however. The more, the merrier. It wasn't as if he were going to dive into their chests to wake them up.

"Karen~! Time to wake up!" Lief was used to a dark room. When he received no answer, that was what he was not used to.

"Karen? Are you still mad about last night?" Still no answer.

Lief wasn't getting angry at his daughter's silence, merely worried. He then turned on the light, and realized why she was so quiet.

The sight of a made, yet empty bed caused Lief to assume the worst.

"She didn't...!" Lief then ran back downstairs, and in what only seemed like a few moments, was in his outerwear and running outside.

Thus began the father's search.

Lief honestly had no idea where Karen could be. He knew for sure that she would not be at her mother's.

Immediately ruling out that option, he then went to any other places she would hide.

"Karen? Karen!" He could almost hear his voice ring out in the early morning. Surely, someone would come out and ask him what was wrong.

Or they'd tell him to quiet down. But neither happened.

"Karen...Where could you have gone?" Lief was starting to wish he'd brought Josefin to help him look. He didn't want to worry her so early in the morning, though.

Not seeing her at the pool, or the movie theater, he moved on.

At one point, he ran into his boss from work, out on a morning walk.

"Uh...Hi, Mister Adamsson. Uh...Can you help me?" Lief was oblivious to the fact that the snow was melting around him.

"Sure thing, Lief. How can I help a fellow business worker?"

"Well, the thing is..." Lief cleared his throat before continuing. "I can't seem to find my daughter. Do you have any idea where she might be?"

"Remind me again. Which daughter is she?" Admittedly, Lief was a bit offended by his boss' attempt to turn a serious thing into a joke.

"The older one. My younger one is barely old enough to walk. But have you seen her around?"

Lief's hopes were dashed when his boss shook his head. "No, I haven't. Sorry. But I'll keep an eye out for her. Any idea why she's missing?"

"Oh...I'm guessing she's upset that I'm getting married again. Just...if you see her, please let me know?"

"Sure thing, Lief." With that, Lief was off searching again.

But as the morning dragged on, Lief's hopes of finding Karen were diminishing.

He continued to search for her, even as the morning transitioned into afternoon. But the longer he searched, the less hope he had of ever locating his daughter.

By the time Lief returned home, exhausted, it had already become nightfall.

"Lief! Where've you been? What's going on?" Josefin was understandably worried at Lief being gone for nearly the entire day.

"Josefin...Went looking...Karen...Don't know what to do..." Lief was becoming so distraught, he was unable to form complete sentences.

"Calm down, Lief. Just calm down, and tell me what's going on."

"What is going on, Lief?" Arvid was unaware that his innocent question hurt more than he thought.

"Arvid..." Lief swallowed, before trying to find the best way to break the news.

"Karen's gone missing, and I don't know where to find her."

"What?! Missing?! For how long?" Lief was shocked at how loud and high-pitched Arvid's voice could get.

"I don't know how long. She was missing when I went to check on her this morning. I've been looking all day for her."

"You sure you looked everywhere? Did you look at all the places she likes going to?"

"I did, Arvid. I looked in all the places I could think of. There was no sign of her."

Arvid was becoming as frantic and panicky as Lief had been. "Well, you gotta go back out and keep looking! She could be hurt or something, and--"

"Arvid!" Josefin's voice was stern enough to stop her son's worry-born ranting. "That's enough. There's no need to worry Lief even more."

Josefin then approached her other son, who had kept his cool throughout the whole thing.

"Edvin, do you think you and your brother can stay with Lief while I go out? I'm going to go look for Karen myself. Something tells me Lief can't handle going out again."

"Sure thing. Any idea where she is?"

"Not a clue. But I'm willing to look everywhere, and see if Lief missed a few places. I'll be back as soon as I can."

Josefin now herself walked out the front door, ready to take her turn in searching for the missing girl.

(End of Chapter 20.)