Chapter 187 - Please Come Back!

After the initial angry expression, sadness clouded Mike's features.

"Since, when did your wife disappear, son?" Susan asked gently.

Mike raked his fingers through his hair in frustration, his jaw tightened.

"I was still talking to her at noon today. I was expecting that when I returned from the airport I will find her waiting for me here in our home. But when I entered the door, it was quiet and nobody's home. I thought she was just sleeping or taking a shower in the bathroom, but when I enter the bedroom, her clothes were already gone along with her traveling bag. She left the brown envelope containing the letter along with my car keys beside the lamp in the bedside table. That's all," Mike narrated the happenings earlier with a dull expression on his face.

Susan fished out her phone from her shoulder bag and tried calling Caroline's phone several times, but failed. "It's either Caroline turn off her phone or change her number, that is why we can no longer contact her. That goes to show that she doesn't want to be bothered or doesn't want to be found," she explained her theory of her daughter-in-law's sudden disappearance.

"But I don't understand why!? Why she's doing this to me? I love her so much, why she has to hurt me this way? I can't go on living like this, I'm going crazy if I don't know the reason why!" Mike said furiously.

John sighed deeply. He can very well understand his brother's agony. At some point in time in the past, Catherine disappeared too without a trace and he nearly went crazy. The good thing is, there's his son baby James to remind him every day not to lose his sanity every single day.

He patted his brother's shoulder. "We will just hire a private investigator to locate Caroline's whereabouts. What do you think of my suggestion guys?" He looked at his mother and his brother.

Susan nods her head in approval of John's suggestion.

Mike chewed on his bottom lip contemplating what to do next.

"We'll just wait for a few days or up to one week before we make a move, maybe Caroline will return one of these days, hopefully." Susan throws another suggestion on the table.

"That's also a good idea, Mom," John agreed.

"Besides, police officers have already lots of cases on their hands. A missing person who left a letter explaining why she leaves is not gonna be their priority," John said, remembering so well that when his wife was gone missing the police officers were not able to do anything to help him find his wife.

"Agree," Susan responded quickly and added. "I will hire the best private investigator that we could find..."

Mike already retreated into a troubled silence burying his hands on his hair.

Susan was wondering if Mike is even listening to their suggestion at all, he seemed to be transported to another world.

"Does Caroline had any friends besides her family that she was regularly seeing?" she asked her son.

Mike shook her head. "My wife never mentioned any friend. As far as I know, she seldom goes outside, only if she will go grocery shopping or go with her family in the mall and other public places. While we were together she made me feel that her world only revolves around her daughter, her family, and me. That's all I know, maybe her mother or sister knows something..."

The door opened and George entered the living room.

"Boss, here's the letter that Ma'am Catherine instructed me to give to you," George handed the envelope to John.

Mike looked at the envelope, eyes gleaming.

John put the envelope on his brother's hands.

"You go and read them first, brother. My wife told me that Caroline sends her mother a text message earlier at noontime telling her to check for the letter she left beneath her old clothes in the closet of her bedroom. Caroline left two letters, for her mother and her sister," John explained.

Mike wastes no time and began reading the message for Thelma, it was short, there's no clue in the letter.

He starts reading the letter addressed to Catherine.

It's the letter that her wife made for her twin that piqued Mike's interest the most.

He read it ten times...before everything gradually sinks in his mind.

~~~

Dearest Sister,

When you read this letter, I'm already gone far away.

I'm sorry I was not able to say goodbye to you before I decided to leave.

I'm experiencing a difficult problem right now. I'm trying to sort it out all by myself.

It has nothing to do with my husband, the problem is all about me. But I can't reveal my problem to you, to my husband and mother.

I will try to find a solution to my problem in the best possible way.

Once I already solved this problem, that's the time I will come back to my husband and never leave his side again. Please don't judge me yet.

Please take care of our mother, Lily, and Jacob during my absence.

There's nothing more to say, except that I'm very sad and sorry for hurting my beloved husband. Just that... there's no other way.

After you read this letter, please dispose of it right away, do not tell John and Mike that I leave a letter for you.

Don't worry, I will try to call or contact you once a month, don't change your number!

Take care of yourself, sis!

Yours truly,

Caroline

~~~

Again and again, Mike rereads the part where Caroline told her sister that she will contact her once a month. Why contact her sister? Why not him?

"This is getting ridiculous!" he said in a loud voice. He almost crumpled the letter and throw it on the floor.

John took the letter from his brother's hands and began reading them. Caroline's letter to her mother is nothing, but it's the letter for her sister Catherine that tells a lot.

After reading the letter several times, John handed the letter to his mother.

Susan began reading the two letters, and just like John and Mike, she reread Caroline's letter to her twin sister several times. She revealed something interesting in there. Something serious is going on with her daughter-in-law.

"So...Caroline is planning to call her sister once a month? Am I right?" she asked her children for confirmation.

Both Mike and John nodded.

Susan continues...

"We'll just wait...maybe Catherine can persuade Caroline to reveal to her about the problem. We will analyze the problem, and we will start from there. As of now, we don't have any idea where Caroline is hiding. It's obvious in her letter that she wants to be alone for the time being, instead of finding her all over the place without a valid clue where, to begin with. We will just have to stay vigilant and wait for the first call, we can trace her whereabouts by then. What do you think guys?"

Mike smiled a bit. "You're idea is brilliant, Mom!"

John agreed and gave his mother a thumbs up.

Susan looked at her son closely and made a suggestion based on his well being. "Son, why don't you go back to live in our house for the time being? This place will remind you so much of your wife. Her disappearance will consume your whole thoughts rendering you hopeless, irritable, and unproductive. Think about that..."

John agreed. "I think, Mother is right bro. You need a little change of atmosphere to cope up with the initial feeling of loss," he reinforces his mother's suggestion.

Mike nods his head.

"Sounds a good idea, I'll leave this place temporarily for the time being. But I just want to be here for a few days to..." his voice trailed off.

John and Susan looked at each other. They both know that it's very hard for Mike to accept and digest everything right now. He needs a few days to be alone, to gather his thoughts and process everything slowly and make a thorough understanding of his current situation right now.

"Alright, son. We understand what you are trying to say to us. Just remember our house welcomes you anytime. No need to go through it all alone, we are here to help you cope up with your pain," Susan said gently coupled with a gentle sigh.

"Bro, all this shall pass away one day. You'll survive this," John said and patted his brother's shoulder, giving him comfort and brotherly affection, the only way he knows how.

"Thank you, Mom and bro," Mike said sadly.

Susan rose to her feet. "I guess we have to leave now," she said. "Call us anytime if you need anything, son."

"Bye bro, call me anytime if you need my company," John offered.

Mike nodded his head and watched as his brother and mother walked towards the door and made an exit, as soon as they were out of his sight the loneliness was starting to suffocate him.

Caroline's sweet voice echoed in his mind.

He can see her everywhere in this place, in the bedroom, in the kitchen, in the bathroom, in the pool area, in the living room, her memories are everywhere causing his tears to emerged from his eyes, and they fall in torrents wetting his face. He wants to see his wife again, but sad to say she's no longer here physically... just her memories.

Mike gripped hard the letters in his hands.

He rose to his feet and sauntered towards the bedroom.

Once he was already inside the bedroom, he put the letters in the bedside table.

He lies on the bed imagining Caroline lying beside him.

They were so happy together.

How it ended in a nightmare all of a sudden?

Why did he fail to see that his wife was having a problem?

She never shows him her problematic side, she's always smiling and laughing, she cried once when she told him about Bernadette and Mike's story. But that's the only time...

Or maybe she was already showing signs when they were together but he never pays attention or never notices those telltale signs at all.

How can he be so stupid to not see that his wife was facing an internal struggle on her own?

"Sweetie...where are you? Please come back to me...I'm going crazy!" he groaned agonizingly, his voice laced with pain echoed inside the room.