The Perfect Solution-A Suspense of Choices by Ey Wade Page A

meet her and her workers at the center." Catrine got up and paced the room. "Do I look as crazy as I feel?" Stopping in front of the mirror, she wiped her nose and the tears that were sliding down her face.
    Phalene stared at her younger sister. Catrine, normally a very thin delicate built person and even thinner since becoming ill, was wearing purple leggings that clung to legs that seemed to have lost quite a bit of weight and a rugby styled oversized green sweater. She looked as if she were about to collapse from the strain of living with the very real possibility of losing her only child.
    "You look fine. Get your coat and hat so that we can leave."
    "Okay." Catrine took her coat from the closet and put it on.
    "Button it up, for Christ's sake," Phalene snapped. "Do you want this cold of yours to turn into pneumonia?” Catrine ignored the briskness in Phae's voice as she automatically followed her orders. She had been snapped at by Phae all of her life. At least, from the time she made twelve and after the death of their mother. Since there had been no father around, eighteen-year old Phalene became both mother and father.
    "No, Mother." Cat tried to smile. "I'm just so afraid. I don't want to be living in 'cases like these'." I just want my baby home and this nightmare to be over." She nervously forced the buttons through their holes and pulled on her gloves.
    "I know how you feel. Grab your purse so we can leave."
    Austin stood and adjusted his jacket.
    “Shouldn’t you stay home? What if someone calls for a ransom or something?"
    Do you think I'm doing the right thing about going to The Center, Phae? "
    "I don't know. If it were I, I would go. I wouldn't be able to just sit and do nothing. I don't even know how you're handling this. I could barely control myself while driving here. I would go everywhere. I would be running up and down the streets like a mad woman right now wondering if my baby is being taken care of."
    "That's exactly how I feel. I wonder if Brhin has his coat on. I wonder if he has eaten."
    "We can only pray that the person who has him is a decent individual."
    "I know. Do you want me to drive?"
    "No." Phae shuttered dramatically. "The way that your nerves are at the moment, I would never let you drive me around town in that little sports car and I sure as hell do not have the nerves to drive it myself. We'll take my SUV."
    "Fine I don't want my car wrecked and I don't want to lose two of my loves on the same night."
    “What about me? I want to go to the school and see who the person is that gave my child away.”
    “Hey feel free to ride with us. That’s alright with you, Cat?”
    “I don’t have a choice do I? Or you can just stay here and wait.”
    “I can always drive my own car. Just know I’m not staying here. I’ve been left out of enough things.” Austin sounded irritated, but determined.
    "Okay then let’s go. We will get Brhin back I just know it.”
    As Phalene drove her SUV through the streets Catrine searched the empty sidewalks anxiously. The passing each block without any sight of Brhin, made the muscles of her stomach knot tighter and tighter.
    "Phae, pull over." Catrine mumbled through the bile rising in her throat. “I think I'm going to be sick."
    Catrine rolled down the window and put her head out so she could suck in deep cool breaths. The damp breeze on her face calmed her nerves and abated the queasiness that was attacking her stomach.
    "Geeze, Cat. Hold on a minute." Phalene slid the car next to the curb and shoved the gear into park before jumping out and running around to the passenger side. "Breathe slowly. That's good. Do you want to go back home?"
    Catrine swallowed hard a couple of times before answering. "No, I'm fine. I guess I shouldn’t have taken that drink." She pressed the heel of her palm into her eyes and held them there. "My head is killing me. I don't think I've ever felt this bad. Besides the headache, fever, coughing, and runny nose, my heart