Darkest of Fridays

"Well, tell me..how was Thanksgiving?" Sara wanted to know, over the phone(after all, Sara was on her honeymoon). Actually, Daisy was too frazzled to even think. She'd spent way over 12 hours at the department store. She felt weak at the knees as she looked down at her swelled ankles. She was in an old gray sweater of her father's and Max's gym shorts. Finally, she was home after the Black Friday Rush.

"Oh, you know." She sighed, trying to think back to Thursday. Derrick cooked the turkey, Max helped out, with the sides. They'd all met up at Josie's parents for the meal, since Camille had the biggest table for a crowd.

Daisy was sleepy, but she was afraid to rest.

"I got to see Josie and Henry's baby. She's adorable!" She'd meant to visit them, but there never seemed to be the time. "We have Rosie, you know." Daisy doubted Sara would know Max's niece, but she was a great help with the baby, and she'd stayed over at Rossi and Derrick's on Thanksgiving night.

"So is everything going... OK?" Sara's question, only made Daisy all the more quiet. Sure, the weather was cold, but good and it had been very quaint at dinner, with lots of fun talk about the past and how Thanksgiving used to be. It was all..all right.

"I guess." Daisy first said, then paused. "Well, something..something happened, right around the corner. You know, a couple of streets down from us." Daisy winced. "The cops came. It was really crazy in the neighborhood." Daisy shook her head, wishing she could forget the frantic faces. It was a holiday. "Some..some guy, abducted his kid." Daisy couldn't forget hearing the news about it. "There was a fight..and Rosie knows this little boy."

Daisy felt the worst for Rosie. Something had happened to her best friend. Rosie had been uneasy, ever since.

"Its just..nothing terrible like this.. has ever happened, like this.. in our neighborhood." Still, Daisy remembered it like yesterday, when they lost Rosie's mother Amanda. She really hoped the holidays would be better this year.