Maaze Part-1

Kate came out of Mr. Andrews' room and everyone could tell by looking at her face that she had just managed to control herself from punching her boss in the face. She dropped the file onto her desk. Her face was red.

"What happened?" Her friend Richard asked.

"Who does he think we are, huh? Robots? The last time I checked it wasn't possible for humans to finish a week's work in a single day." Kate screamed.

"Are you talking about that report he gave you yesterday?" Emily asked.

"Yes, can you believe it?"

"He's absolutely nuts!" Emily said.

"I've already written a complaint to the board. We're not supposed to be taking orders from extraterrestrials." Kate said.

"Ok, cool down now. Here, I had your coffee ready. I knew you were going to need it." Emily said.

"Thanks. Just leave me alone for a while."

Everyone went back to their work. After finishing off her coffee, she turned on her computer. She decided that she would spend the rest of the day shopping online. Even if she somehow managed to complete her work in a day's time, her boss would still complain that she could've done it better. So, she decided not to work for the rest of the day.

While she was shopping online, an ad on the shopping website caught her attention. She froze. It was an ad of a new website called missing.com. Through the website, people could search for any missing person. After looking at that ad, her anger disappeared and her mind drifted to the past. She couldn't understand if she was happy or sad. Her eyes were full of tears. She now had a way of finding her. Someone she had never met. Her mother.

How can I look for her? I don't even know her name or how she looks like.

The website was a database of missing people from all around the world. People could search for the missing person by typing in their name or uploading their photo. There were many filters like age, country, native language etc. Kate had no idea what to enter. A glimmer of hope that she saw disappeared. She now felt even more helpless. The people using that website at least knew the basic details. She knew nothing.

The only thing she knew was that her mother left her dad soon after she was born. Her dad died in an accident when she was 3. Her uncle and aunt raised her like their own child. They knew nothing about her mother. Kate always had dreams about her mother. She tried to look at her face but always woke up before she could.

 

She left for home early that day. She said she was sick.

"You're home early today. What happened?" Kate's Uncle asked.

"Actually, I wasn't feeling well. I was feeling a bit tired."

"You did the right thing. Don't sacrifice your health for you work dear. Take some rest." Her Aunt said.

"Yeah."

She went inside her bedroom and closed the door. She opened her almirah and took out a key hiding underneath a pile of clothes. She unlocked the bottom drawer of her desk and took out a sketchbook. She sat on her bed and started going through that sketchbook. On the first page, she had two photos pasted. The first was a photo of herself and the second was a photo of her dad. The rest of the pages were filled with sketches of how her mom could look like. There were more than 50 versions in that sketchbook. She didn't know which one was real.

After dinner, she went to the balcony and gazed at the night sky. The cold winds had no impact on her, as usual. Kate looked up at the star which her aunt told was her dad. She looked at that star every night. Every night, she asked her dad the same question.

"Where is my mom?"

She believed that she will get the answer one day.

Kate decided to watch her favourite childhood movie. The movie she always watched when she missed her mother. The movie's main character is a seven-year-old boy named Tom, who gets lost in an unknown city. Kate feels that the actress who plays Tom's mom is like her mom. She hasn't seen her mom but she feels that's how her mom would be.

She laid down on her bed and turned on the movie. Halfway through the movie, she fell asleep.

She woke up to the noise of her aunt banging at her door.

"Kate! Kate!"

"Damn it! I forgot to set the alarm."

She opened the door.

"Aren't you getting late dear?"

"Yes, I need to hurry. I have an important meeting today."

Kate quickly got ready and rushed to the underground station. She quickly finished her presentation work in the train.

She reached her office ten minutes late.

I am going to get yelled at by that moron for sure. She thought.

When she got to her desk, her boss was standing there with a man who looked like was in his forties.

"Ah, there she is. Kate, there is someone who wants to speak to you."

"Kate Sandler?" The man asked.

"Yes?"

"I think I can help you find your mother."

  

To be continued…