Lost Girl

Ella was two years old when she was snatched from a holiday rental cottage, while the James's were on holiday at one of the better, still functioning coastal towns of Britain.

The minutes preceding her disappearance play in a perpetual loop inside Robin's mind, supported by additional memories of the first four years of his daughter's life. Some of these memories are permanent, vivid fixtures in his reveries, some appear from nowhere; memories he never knew he had. His conscience also talks to him in idle moments during his search along the mostly cold trail the kidnapper left behind. The night before I lost you, I did what I always did, I stood outside the door of your little room and I listened to you sleeping. Peering into darkness I heard you turn inside your bedclothes, I heard a puff of air, silence, then the deep steady breaths. From the day you came into my world, I did this every single night. I never missed a day of you.