The Hide and Seek game

I wrote this years ago, when a friend's small daughter disappeared from her home while playing. She has never been found. My friend ended up killing herself.

 

    Winter came early to the little town of Crosscreek, Wyoming. Everyone said it was the coldest winter ever, even though it wasn’t scheduled to officially start for another month. The elementary school was closed because the pipes had frozen and burst. We kids said it must have been a miracle because we had been praying for one. Thanksgiving was just another week away and we were eagerly looking forward to it. That was the year I turned fifteen and my daddy decided I was getting too old to climb trees or horseplay with the boys anymore. He said that a girl has to start acting like a young lady sometime, and now was as good a time as any. That was also the winter two kids were killed by Mr. Benson, who owned the construction site. All I know is that I didn’t like the way he always used to watch us kids as we would pass by his house on the way to school each morning. It was kind of creepy, him watching all the time. Practically made the hairs stand up on your arms and gave me goose bumps. That was 3 years ago and people are still talking about the awfulness of those crimes. I remember it like it was just yesterday.

    We kids liked to play around at the construction site after closing. We always played there before the killings started. It was our favorite place for hide and seek. There were always some neat places to hide and not be found right away. Sometimes we just climbed and played daredevil. We would bet on who could climb the highest and not chicken out. Most of the time it was my brother Raymond. He wasn’t scared of anything or anybody and was the bravest one of all of us. Toby Wilson, on the other hand, was a big chicken. He always teased me at school and made fun of the way I walked; said I walked like a duck. He’d go around quacking and walking that way til my brother would threaten to beat him up. He teased all the other kids too, making fun of Sandy’s stutter, Kenny’s limp and even the way Teddy preached all the time. Raymond would say that some folks couldn’t help it. It was just in their nature and was their way of trying to make themselves seem better in comparison. I thought it was just plain mean.

    Toby was the first to go missing. Three days before Thanksgiving, he just didn’t come home for dinner. None of us kids especially missed him or were particularly saddened by his disappearance, but all the same, it was a shock to discover that he had vanished. On the day it happened, we were playing and it was my turn to be it, so I covered my eyes and counted while everyone else went to hide. I spotted Kenny behind an old trashcan and gave him a head start to base because of his leg. I found Teddy climbing out of the cement mixer. He was too fast for me and got to base in a hurry. Lucy and Mike were in the tool shed. They were always the easiest to find. All you had to do was listen for the noise. Those two had been going together since the 5^th grade. I thought Mike was really cute. Everybody thought that they would either end up getting married or Lucy would end up pregnant. It would probably be the latter since Lucy’s father had long since left her and her mother for greener pastures and she was thought by some to be a little on the wild side. I decided to leave them alone and kept searching for Toby, who I couldn’t find. That wasn’t unusual for him though. He had a knack for hiding so well, that we usually gave up and went home. It was like that today. It grew late and we all had to get home for dinner, so we left him. That was the last time we ever saw him.

    Tobys’ mom and dad looked for him and when he didn’t come home, they called the sheriff, who in turn called all of our parents to see if we had been with him. We said that we had been playing at the site, and figured that he was acting his usual anti-social way and went off to play somewhere else. They checked the construction site and found nothing. We were told to stop playing around that place because it was way too dangerous. Thanksgiving came and went, and soon Toby’s parents started to give up hope of ever finding him. They told the sheriff that he had always been a troubled youth, and maybe he had finally decided it was time to leave home and strike out on his own. It hadn’t been the first time he had run away in the past few years. And so the search went on sort of half-heartedly and everything seemed to be okay. That was until the next kid turned up missing.

    It was about 2 1/2 weeks later and everyone had just about decided that Toby had run away when Lucy Meyers disappeared from her back yard after school. She had last been seen playing on her swing by her mom, who happened to catch a glimpse of her through the kitchen window. One minute she was there, the next, she was gone; vanished without a trace or so much as a scream. Her mom had gone to call her to put her backpack in her room. She looked out the back door and called and called. When Lucy didn’t answer, she searched the entire backyard. Not finding her, she became panicked and checked the neighbors, who had not seen her. Mrs. Meyers called the police and waited for them to arrive. The police were there almost immediately, and while Sheriff Wilson questioned her, other officers were out combing the area.

"When was the last time you saw Lucy, Mrs. Meyers?" he asked.

"It was about two hours ago", she tearfully replied.

"Was she alone in the backyard?"

"As far as I know, she was. I didn’t see anybody with her and I’ve always told her not to talk to strangers. Find my little girl sheriff. Please! She’s a good girl, not bad. Who would do such a thing?" she sobbed openly into her hands.

Sheriff Wilson tried to console her as best he could, promised to do everything in his power to find Lucy, then left to join the search. He couldn’t quite figure out what was going on. First Toby disappears, now Lucy is gone too. What was going on in his little town?

    There was a blanket search for Lucy that turned up nothing. Mike was questioned but knew nothing. Lucy was gone and nobody had the slightest clue as to her whereabouts. After a week, school let out for Christmas holiday. A curfew was issued for Crosscreek, making it effective immediately that everyone under the age of eighteen, had to be in their homes by 5pm. Anyone caught outside would be detained at the police station until their parents came to pick them up. All of us were upset by Lucy’s disappearance, but we were more upset by the curfew. Here we were on Christmas vacation, with no outlet for all our stored up energy. I got on my mother and brother’s nerves with all my moping. Raymond hogged the phone, so I couldn’t even vent my frustrations to my friends. It was a sad and miserable Christmas.

    Nobody else disappeared, and when the break was over, we kids sadly returned to school and books. Our little group would get together during lunch and sometimes discuss Toby and Lucy. Mike left the school and he and his family moved to another state, because of all the uncomfortable stares and whispers. I’ll really miss him. Soon it was spring and everything began to thaw out. The guys started working at the construction site again and as they were digging, came upon the graves of Toby and Lucy. Mr. Benson was arrested for the crimes, tried and convicted in record time. Everybody thought he was guilty but me. Like I said, that was 3 years ago. I’m eighteen now and soon I’ll go away to college.

    I went to visit Mr. Benson at the prison. He looks really bad but was pleased to see me until I told him I killed Toby and Lucy. It doesn’t matter anyway, cause nobody will believe him, but I told him I killed Toby because of his meanness and Lucy because she liked Mike and he should have liked me. He looked at me with disbelief, but… I said I was sorry. I waved, wished Mr. Benson well and as I left the prison, smiled when the sun came out to greet me. Life sure is great.

 

 

 

Reviews

[M. Amphet Salt]

This is good story Angie. Good form and structure, some parts are passive, but I always think it adds effect. I didn't notice any grammer error. GOOD JOB, can't wait for the sequel. Villians can't get away with murder forever!