Page 190 of Joker
And I turn to answer. Then turn back. And the space beside my leg is empty.
The world doesn’t stop. That would almost be kinder. It just narrows all at once into one violent, blinding point of panic.
“Lexi?” My voice comes out too sharp. Too fast.
Mac’s head snaps up instantly.
I turn once. Then again. Like she might just appear if I move fast enough.
She doesn’t.
The little aisle between girls’ tops and toddler pajamas is suddenly too empty, too open, too full of strangers moving around me like none of them understand that my whole fucking life just disappeared between one breath and the next.
“Lexi!” That one’s louder.
Heads turn.
Mac’s expression changes instantly.
No hesitation. No confusion. No wasted motion.
She drops the sandals and moves. “I’ll take the front,” she says sharply. “You take the back and do not leave this store.”
My body is already moving before she finishes. Panic burns hot and white straight through my bloodstream, every cell in me screaming the same horrible thing over and over again.
He found us.
No.
Not her.
Not my baby.
Please God, not my baby.
I shove past a rack hard enough to make hangers rattle and nearly collide with an older woman holding a shopping basket.
“Little girl,” I snap, breathless and wild. “Dark hair, pink shoes, bunny, have you seen her?”
She startles and points vaguely toward the back.
“I think she—”
I’m already moving.
The stockroom hallway. The bathroom doors. The little toy bin near the clearance rack.
Nothing.
No Lexi.
My breathing turns ragged. My vision tunnels. Everything in me is coming apart so fast I can barely feel my own hands.
“Lexi!” I scream this time, full panic ripping the sound straight out of me.
And then…a tiny voice. “Mama?”
The sound hits so hard my knees almost give out on the spot. I spin so fast it hurts.
