I will never forget that day as long as I live. It will always haunt me no matter how many years have gone by. I may have only been five years old but a child never forgets disappointment. And that's exactly what I felt when my mom came home without my baby sister. The look on her face is seared into my brain. Her tear streaked face and the unbearable hurt in her eyes. My mother and father were always the strongest people I knew and it was completely foreign to me to see them in so much agony. My grand parents swarmed in behind them taking me and my sister Michelle into our bedroom and setting us down on my bed. They explained to us that our baby sister Bella wasn't going to be coming home yet. And that we shouldn't mention her around our parents because they were sad. Now being five years old whenever our grand parents told us anything we didn't question it. We didn't see our parents for the rest of the day. That night Michelle and I snuck out of our room when we saw blue and red lights flashing through our windows. We slipped down the stairs staying hid behind a wall seeing two police officers talking to our parents. Which just confused us even more. We crept back into our room to try and figure out what was going on.

" somebody stole mommys happiness" was Michelle's response. Assuming that's why the cops were there, because someone stole our mothers happiness literally. My once jovial mother who seemed to always have a song to hum and a smile on her face had become disheveled and depressed. She didn't sing anymore and she didn't smile. My father did the best he could to put on a front for us and smile even though he wanted to cry. The years passed by and no one dared say a word about Bella. Michelle and I didn't understand what had happened and our grandparents wouldnt budge on the subject. On me and Michelle's fourteenth birthday our mother sat us down at the kitchen table.

" I want to apologize for being so selfish, I can't take it back but I can try and explain. She wasn't just my daughter but she was your sister as well" she choked out trying her hardest to fight back the tears that welled up.

" Bella" I said in a whisper, even though i knew thats who she was talking about. I wish I hadn't though, when I said her name I saw the agony creep into my mothers features as the tears she fought back streamed down her face.

" Yes baby, Bella" she paused taking a deep breath. " while she was in the nursery one of the nurses took her away and never came back" she struggled to get the words out, reliving the memory once again. Michelle and I were speechless, we both placed our hands on our mothers trying to calm her nerves.

" They don't know where she took her, but I'm not going to stop till I find your baby sister girls, ill never stop" she cried as Michelle and I got up to hold her as she sobbed. I shudder even now almost twenty years later looking back on that day, finding out the truth and seeing my mother with so much pain in her eyes. But also so much determination to get her family back once and for all. My parents spent thousands of dollars going through private investigators and all other sorts of different channels to find Bella. As far as the police were concerned it was a cold case and Bella would be an adult now so they pretty much washed their hands of it a long time ago.

" girls I have great news!!!" My mom belted as Michelle and I walked into the house, caught a little off guard. We hadn't seen our mother like this in years. She grabbed us both in a hug before either of us could ask her what was up.

" I think they may have found Bella!!!" She sang bouncing all three of us up and down as we hugged.

" They are trying to get in contact with her, so once they do they will let me know" she rambled clapping her hands to her cheeks in excitement. I couldn't help the giggle that escaped my lips as Michelle and I smiled to each other. We loved that our mother was so happy again. I just prayed this was going to work. I don't think I could handle seeing my mother crumble again.