LOST

My poor, neglected, web-child! About time I wrote again. 

Here's something that I scribbled for a writer's group I'm in on the theme of 'lost', to fill my recent cyber gap:

Once, in a crowded city shopping centre, I reached up to hold my mum's hand and tell her something - but she wasn't there!

Instead, an unfamiliar, bemused face stared back at me. It can't have been a kind face either - but that may have been just because I didn't know it.

I wanted to see my mum's clear blue eyes, creamy cheekbones, lipsticked smile and neatly powdered nose. I felt utterly lost and panic-stricken.

I searched round, frightened, with all sorts of 'what ifs' going through my head as I wandered amongst grown up legs. I was bewildered.

More than anything, I wanted her hand to hold mine again. She had this way of clutching our palms together but stroking the side of my hand with her little finger. I found it comforting and would later mimic it with my own children. One of whom got lost in a shopping centre for the longest 2 minutes of my life! 

So I knew exactly how he felt and how my own mum must have felt that day with me.  Fortunately, in both cases, we were reunited within a short space of time.  But it always feels like hours when someone goes missing.