Rain clung to window panes in small droplets, like the sky was crying with her. "Yes they've been missing for 48 hours." The woods that encased the house were dark and mysterious, uninviting to anyone who dared to enter. "Their names? May Allen-Bird and Lawrence Allen." Her grip on the prescription bottle tightened just a little bit more. "They left a daughter behind, 14 years old." Lucille tried not to let the detective see her tears, instead she looked straight ahead, through the rain, and into the woods beyond. How could they do this? Her parents just disappeared, leaving her all alone.
"Miss Allen-Bird, if you could get some belongings together, we will be leaving for the police department. Your aunt will be picking you up there to stay with her." The detective stated. "Please be quick. I don't want to waste too much time." Lucille frowned as she walked blankly up the stairs, it was like this was a dream, a very, very bad dream. She just wanted to wake up.
She closed her bedroom door firmly behind her and glanced around. Book of all sizes lined her walls, some lay in piles on the floor. The sight of everything made her sick. These were the books she read with her father when he wasn't away on business. On her bed stand, she pushed aside the brightly painted rocks that she had made with her mother earlier that week. Earlier, everything was normal. Lucille pulled out a small duffle bag from under her bed and placed it on her bed. She didn't quite understand everything that was happening, but then again how could any fourteen year old try to understand something this complicated.
Lucille turned her back on the duffle bag and made her way to the closet. At the bottom, was a bow full of paper that had long since turned yellow, and other odd and end objects. This room had once been her mother's and now everything was in this box. She began to dig through the old pictures her mother had scribbled as a child. They depicted off creatures and far away lands. Lucille noted the appearance of a lopsided pumpkin-headed monster throughout all of the pictures, but she quickly brushed it off and dug deeper. At the bottom of the box, tucked deep out of sight was a thick woolen shawl, moth eaten and slightly moldy after years of being in the damp closet most likely. Lucille pulled it out and rubbed it curiously between her fingers.
"Why would mom hold onto this?" she muttered to herself.
"Lucille? Lucille?" Lucille straightened and snapped her head around, but when she glanced around her room, she saw nothing. She shook her head and frowned, turning back to the box. It was crazy. She could have sworn she heard her mother calling her name.
The lights flew by the windows in a blurred mesh as rain pelted the windows. It was well into the night by the time they had left White Moss Manor. The detective didn't speak. He didn't try to console her. Perhaps that was a good idea. Lucille didn't want to believe all of this was real. The car sputtered and Lucille heard the detective cuss under his breath as he began to pull over to the side of the road. Dense forest framed both sides of the road, they were truly in the middle of nowhere. "You stay here, the engine is acting up again." the detective ordered gruffly as he quickly ran out into the pouring rain. Lucille sighed and wrapped the shawl around her shoulders. She had chosen to take it, perhaps it would be good luck. Granted. Lucille didn't really believe in luck right now.
She watched as the detective fumbled with the engine and cussed even louder now that he was out of the car, though she could still hear him. "Lucille." The woods seemed to beckon, as Lucille turned in the direction of the voice. Again, she saw no one. "Lucille." The voice repeated itself, this time it sounded more distant as if it were running into the forest. Lucille strained her eyes to see through the rain and darkness, it was difficult, but she could make out the muddy images of the dark forest just several paces off the edge of the road. But as she continued to look, Lucille noticed a glowing light emerging from the trees, faint, like a ghost.
"What the-" Lucille blinked and turned back to the forest, the glowing figure was still there, shrouded in the trees. She glanced back at the detective. He was a little ways down the road trying to get reception from his cell phone. He didn't pay any mind to her. Quietly, she pushed the car door open and stepped out into the pouring rain. She took a minute to look back at the detective, he wasn't even looking her way, then she glanced back at the forest. The figure had moved deeper into the trees. Inhaling sharply, Lucille stuck her hand into her pocket. The prescription bottle rattled, and her heartbeat slowed. Without looking back, Lucille ran into the trees.