Carrie laughed as John ran through the forest. It was getting dark, but they didn’t care. The date was the eleventh of November in 1978.
“Carrie, John, get in here!” Carrie looked back and saw her mom standing on the door step, looking round, rubbing her arms. It was pretty cold today, but then again, it could just be the shock. The neighbour’s kid disappeared about a month ago with no trace. They asked around, and nobody knew anything. This was a small town in Alabama, Natural Bridge was close-knit too, so if anyone knew about her disappearance, then someone would cough it up. Nobody would leave something like that a secret. Not for long, anyway – the guilt would eat away at them until they were forced to ‘fess up. And it isn’t like many people came through this way.
Carrie stood still and yelled at her brother, but he didn’t reply, just kept on running past the trees. He kept on laughing and running for about five minutes, with Carrie chasing after him, occasionally tripping.
“John I’m serious! Stop” Carrie had always been the more mature of the pair, but they were both childish and enjoyed playing in the woods. It had always been a fun little game for them.
John stopped dead in his tracks when he got near the lake. “Hey… hey Carrie!” He looked over. The lake was usually clear, but it was murky today. His eyes skimmed the trees again, searching for the person he just saw. “Carrie!”
“What?” Carrie stood next to him, out of breath. She looked up at him and rubbed her hands on her sleeves. “What’s wrong?” John smiled and kept searching through the forest. He swore someone was there… there had to be someone there… he didn’t just imagine them
“Nothing. Let’s go.” They turned back and when they got home, their mom was angry.
“Why the heck didn’t you come back when I told you?”
“Sorry mom…” John kicked his foot on the floor.
“You better be! Both o’ you – get to bed. It’s late.” Their mom went back into the kitchen and lit up a cigarette, looking at her husband who was sipping from a mug. “You’re useless. Why didn’t you get them?”
He put the mug down. “I didn’t need to, they came back, didn’t they, Jess?”
Jess took another drag of her cigarette before sighing. “I s’pose you’re right. But… it’s just… after she went missing… I just don’t trust them stayin’ out this late.” She sat next to Carl.
“Hmph. Well if you don’t soften up, you’ll never let ‘em out. Lighten up on ‘em will ya?” She sighed and rested her head on her hand.
Upstairs, the kids were getting changed out of their now-muddy clothes. “Hey John what was up out there? You seemed kinda… different.”
“Nothing. I told you. Eyes are plaiyin’ tricks on me.” Carrie flicked off the lightswitch when she was dressed and put a dim lamp on.
“You do whatever… I’m going to sleep. Night Johnny.”
“Night.” They both clambered into bed and Carrie shut her eyes and started to fall asleep, but John picked up his comic. He liked reading his comics at night because he could always get into them better. After ten minutes, Carrie was asleep and John was still reading.
He yawned and looked out the window. There it was again! He focused on the trees. There was a tall, slender man in between the two trees closest to the house. “Hey, hey Carrie!” He looked over at her. “Who is that?”
“Who’s what?”
He looked back out the window. “This… nevermind…” he’d gone again. He didn’t know anyone in the town who wore a suit like that. He turned off the lamp and pushed himself down into the blanket, shutting his eyes tightly.
~ *-*-*-* ~
“Where the fuck is my son? You better tell me damn it because I swear I won’t put up with your lack of evidence! Kids don’t just go missin’ here, and I won’t rest till’ my son is safe an’ sound back in his bed, you hear!”
Jess slammed the phone down and looked over at her husband. “And you! How the hell could you not notice someone come into our house and steal away our son?” He looked up at her and scowled.
“I was asleep damn it! Don’t pin the blame on me! If anyone shoulda woke up, it’s Carrie!” Carrie hugged her knees closer and kept crying.
Jess sat next to her and rubbed her arm. “Don’t you dare blame Carrie! She’s just a child! It’s ok baby, moma’s here…”
“Moma, are we gonna see Johnny again?”
“I don’t know sweetie… I hope so…”
~*-*-*-*~
In the course of five weeks, three more children had just vanished – including Carrie Madeline Porter. The parents were distraught. They refused to put up with the incolence of the police. But nothing helped. Meanwhile, in Iowa, twelve children had gone missing. One was found in the forests – but all they found of him, were bones. Nobody could explain the sudden surge in kidnappings, nobody could even attempt to. Children were warned in schools that they were not to leave the houses after dark, and they were all told never to go off with strangers. Two people were jailed for kidnappings, but there was little to no evidence, and most of it was fabricated by judges to put the townsfolk at ease. But there was little they could do…
Chapter 1
"Now can you please tell us where you last saw your daughter?" The phone beeped.
"I... I don't know we were playing at the park then... then she just vanished!" Jack was pacing around the carpark.
"Can you give us any more information, ma'am?" Jennifer drew her hand to the phone and sighed, looking back at her husband and furrowing her brow.
"Jack, what else?" Her voice trailed off and she stared blankly at him; he bit his thumb nail and watched the ground as he walked over to her and grabbed the phone, bringing it to his ear.
"Hello, this is Kasey's father - we were walking to the car and when we looked back, she was gone." He heard someone speaking on the other end but not directly over the phone, then slight static for a second or two.
"Sir, we're going to have to ask you to come down the nearest station." Jack sighed and agreed before hitting the End Call button and pushing his HTC into his denim jeans pocket. He looked into the car and saw his youngest daughter sitting there, as innocent as ever, simply staring into the vastness of the forest which enclosed the carpark.
"Jenny, we have to go to the cop station." He sighed and put his head down as he took out his cigarettes from his other pocket. "They have to talk to us." He opened the carton and lit one, looking back at his brown-haired, blue-eyed wife as she pushed her hair back.
"What? We're going now, right, we have to. We need to find our daughter!" Jenny had always been a doting parent, one who, no matter how stressful or impossible, would do anything for her kids, especially Kasey - Kasey had been the golden-child, the one everyone adored; and now she'd do anything to get her back.
They drove down a narrow road for about ten minutes before they even reached the police station, their daughter Lily, was asleep in the back, cuddling a pink fluffy toy. Both Jake and Jennifer were stressed, Jennifer had her head pressed against the window, and Jake had his cigarette in his left hand. He parked the car as it rolled up to the station, then flicked his cigarette out of the window.
When they got into the building, Jenny sat Lily on the desk and buttoned up her purple princess coat and allowed Jack to do the talking.
"Can we help you?"
"Yes. Our daughter, Kasey, went missing about half an hour ago - we called you up, we were told to come here, and we did." His eyes were full of both devastation and determination, and despite the detrimental events, he wasn't disheartened.
"Oh yeah we recieved a call about twenty minutes ago, head on down that corridor and sit in the seats, I'll alert the officer of your arrival, he'll be with you shortly."
"Thank you." The false appreciation in Jack's voice wasn't blatantly obvious, but it wasn't subtle, either. The woman went back to typing, and Jenny picked her daughter up and trailed behind Jack as they walked down the corridor, where a man wearing a brown suit was leaning in the door way.
"Mr and Mrs Clarke?" They nodded. "Come in." The room was a boring grey colour, with one window which was covered with black blinds. The officer sat down on one side of the table, and the couple sat the other side. The officer hardly looked pleased to see a young child with them. "I'm detective Troy. So, what's the problem?"
"Are you kidding me? Our daughter is miss-" Jack cut Jennifer off - her voice was full of anger, almost as though she was sick of the incompetence displayed, no matter how small it was.
"Our daughter, Kasey, went missing about half an hour ago."
"Care to elaborate on that, Mr Clarke?" He leant back in his chair and watched the two cautiously.
"We were walking then she was gone." Detective Troy laughed a little. He shook his head then looked directly at Jack.
"What happened beforehand? There have been a few kidnappings over the year, which is pretty strange given that this town is quiet. Anything strange happen? Any strangers approach you or your child?" Jenny pushed her hair back and shook her head, mumbling the word 'no'.
Nothing strange had actually happened. It was strange, she had just... vanished. Just like that - no trace, no screams, no yells, no footsteps... nothing.
They spent a good hour in that cold grey room - when they finally got out, things seemed bleaker. Like they wouldn't see their beautiful daughter again... never hold her again, never tuck her back into bed... never...
It was unreal to the distraught parents, it was strange... so strange. They had, however, been given the telephone number for a group of families who had lost their children under strange circumstances. None of their kids had been returned, either; it was quite possible that Kasey would never return... and that thought shook Jenny and Jack beyond belief. Their little girl, their little angel, was gone.
Chapter 2
Jenny watched the harsh rain beat against the windows of her two-storey appartment. Her husband, Jack, had gone to his parents villa in Toronto for the month, leaving Jennifer alone. It had been two, maybe three months since their little Kasey had gone missing on the twelth of July, and hope was diminishing.
She sighed, pulling her black sleeves down over her delicate hands, and biting at the soft cotton fabric, looking down at the bright computer screen in front of her.
She had looked into so many things to do with the mysterious kidnappings, even the truly absurd. She'd taken the law into her own hands, since she felt the police department was incompetent, but it was of no use - she'd uncovered little, and had no leads. She'd given up her job in law to try and chase this absurd notion that she had... she'd been investigating certain things. Supernatural things. Notions that, even to many of the parents mourning the loss of their kids, seemed completely crazy. But it was the one and only thing she was able to discover.
Thunder clapped against the sky and she jumped, looking up. The room was entirely dark, the electric had gone off, and Jenny had always been afraid of the dark. It was a deep fear that she gained when she was ever such a young girl, playing in the forests. The dark was once a safe haven for her, but then... something happened. Her memory was vague, and whenever she tried to remember those days... all she saw was static, grey and fuzzy.
She stood, looking around, and grabbing her Zipo lighter from the desk and running to the kitchen, hearing the tap.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
"I'm ok. I'm ok. I'm ok." Reassuring herself had always helped when she was alone in the dark; despite however simple it may have been. She pulled open the door hastily, rifling through it, grabbing the candle she always kept for emergencies. It was a white pillar candle, and her grandmother once told her all about candles and how white pillar candles kept the "dark" away. Maybe dark was a metaphor for something, or the literal, pysical dark, Jennifer was unsure... but she always felt so safe under the bright flicker of the flames.
Drip. Drip. Drip...
Footsteps down the hall made her perk up and light the candle quicker, she turned, but found nothing but the dripping of the tap. Drip, drip, drip. She heard a buzz, and the lights went back on. She sighed, relieved, then blew the candle out, slamming it down onto the cold marble counter top then tip-toeing back to the lounge where her computer was still loading up. She looked at her phone, it was ringing, buzzing near silence. She grabbed it and answered it.
Bzz... static. "He-o? Is- a-yone there? J-ny?" Through the static, was the beautiful and familiar voice of Jack. Before she could say anything, it went off. The dead ringing pierced her as she pulled her phone down and threw it to the sofa, before she sat back onto the computer chair, dragging her knees up to her chest, biting on her sleeves again and quickly typing in the URL for Google, then searching hastily to get back to the website she was on before the power cut. In seconds, the dark brown page had loaded, and the text loaded within a minute.
"...this can't be real." She hit her head on her knees and then looked back up, this was some absurd, messed-up stuff she was reading, but... parts of it made... sense. Much more sense than a mastermind was going around stealing kids, leaving no trace nor evidence. Part of Jenny found this to be some-how strangely familiar, and through her vague memories of her childhood, she could remember her friends... vanishing, and only days before, they had mentioned a man in a black-as-night suit, tall as the trees, thin as anything, and most of all, seemingly without a face. She could slightly remember, but alas, her memory was probably failing her. Again.
She sighed, then yawned. She was so tired... so, so tired.
Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. It was getting louder. Her eyes shot to where she had just seen a black shadow, but there was nothing there, nothing to be afraid of. She stood up, leaving her computer on, then she walked up the stairs and into her room, where she just dropped onto the bed. Her daughter Lily was with Jack, so she had no responsibilities. The house was hers. She felt so cold. So... alone.
So very alone in that dark room, as the shadows chased the walls, and thunder pierced the sky, she felt alone, on the verge of madness. She was so alone.
Chapter 3
"Jenny! Stop chasing these fucking myths! You're OUT OF YOUR MIND! Kasey isn't coming back, and there's no such thing as this... this monster you keep on about! Jennifer... I love you, you know that - but I think..." Jack sighed, bringing his hand to his forehead. "I think we should take a break.""And do what, Jack?! Just forget about this?! Forget about our daughter?!"
"I didn't say that. Calm down! You need to stop thinking this magical fairy took our daughter, because some sadistic person took her, not some... some fairy tale! Our daughter won't come back, and there's nothing you can do now. It's been a year, stop fucking chasing the same goddamn shadows!"
A year ago on that day, Kasey Annabelle-Loua Clarke had gone missing. The search lasted all of four months, and since Jennifer had started chasing after ghosts, Jack couldn't cope. His wife was dealing with post-traumatic stress disorder, or so he thought; and this had gone on long enough. He'd accepted that his angel wasn't gonna come home, and he'd moved on, focused on Lily, tried to rebuild, even tried to have another child - but none of it was getting through to Jenny. She'd been stuck in the same room for days, weeks, just trying to learn more about... this... this thing which was known as Der Grosemann, and it had driven Jack over the edge. He'd missed his wife, but now, it was too late. The loss of their daughter had driven a deep wedge between the young couple - and that wedge wasn't going to be repaired any time soon.
"Look... I'm sorry but I think I'm onto something here! Look at these, look!" Jenny yelled, frantically rushing over, placing crumpled sheets of printed paper on the table. "Look! It's proof, baby, proof!"
"I- Jennifer... I think you need to see someone, on a professional level." Jennifer looked back up at him and seemed dazed.
"What? I'm not crazy!" She was furious.
"I'm not saying that, just you know, see someone, speak to them. Get rid of all this shit. I want my wife back, not some over-obsessed bitch." She was stunned by his cruel words. Why was he being like this? All she wanted to do was find her daughter. "I'm sorry. I've found you someone. Her name's Dr Thianka, I've arranged for you to see her tomorrow morning at the Clinic at 10am. Please, just go, try it out."
She sighed and sat on the table, tears streaming her cheeks. "Fine."
~
She was tapping the steamed-over window, watching the glass as it steamed. Tap Tap Tap.
