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"98, 99, 100! Ready or not here I come!" Sweet Grace, full of freckles and smiles and missing teeth takes off, her copper hair flying behind her, searching frantically for her playmates in the woods, one early spring afternoon.
"Come out, come out wherever you are!" she bellows, knowing full well how good her friends have become at hide and seek lately.
As she approaches the boundary of her papa's property, she stops for a moment, considering the strict rules her papa had laid in place for her safety. She hopped from one shoe to the other, weighing her options, and with a devilish grin, leaps over the invisible boundary line, in hot pursuit of Clara and Jonathan.
"I'm on my way! I'm going to find you!" She calls out, in a singsong voice. She ducks under logs, and even inside a hollow tree, but still, no friends!
Suddenly, Grace becomes aware that the woods surrounding her papa's house are eerily quiet.
She slows her skip down to a timid walk, suddenly feeling full of fear.
"Clara?" She calls out. "I don't want to play anymore- c-come out! I don't want to play!"
Before Grace can take another step forward, she notices a figure curled in a ball, a lady, she thinks, lying directly in front of her.
"PAAAPPPAAAAAAA!"
she drops the flowers she's picked along the way to seek out her friends, and races back to the cottage, tears streaming down her face.
She bursts through the door, her eyes wide with fear. "P=Papa you need to come, right now. She can barely breathe; she's been running so hard.
Jefferson looks up from his work, and notices his daughter's tear stained face. He can tell that these are not the tears of a game unfairly played, and races to cradle his terrified little girl
"Shh, what's happened, tell me. It's alright-"
"No, No you need to come now. There's someone out there," Grace babbles. "She's just laying in the woods! Papa! Hurry!"
Jefferson groans. "Grace. I'm sure there's no one out there. Come on. I've got to finish my work. You need to wash up, and finish your school work- we're not going out there."
"Papa! Please! I Promise! She's out there! She's hurt!"
By now, Grace is dragging her father out of the cottage with all of her strength. Jefferson can tell he's not getting out of this one.
As they hurry their pace, Jefferson eyes her. "You know you shouldn't be leaving the boundary line, Grace." He mutters.
"I know. I'm… I'm sorry Papa" she murmurs back, clinging to his jacket, slowing him down ever so slightly as they near the spot where she had seen the woman.
"There's nothing to fear. I'll take care of this" He assures her. He's certain her imagination has been playing tricks on her again; that the figure she had seen was just a cleverly shaped pile of branches. But he had never seen his fearless girl so upset before after a trip beyond their property. He can feel her trembling as he pats her hand, and tries to quicken the pace.
Sure enough, Grace was not a victim of her wild imagination.
"My god" Jefferson breathes, seeing exactly what his young child had seen. A woman, pale as bone china, lying curled in a ball, her face streaked with mud and grass. Her red hair matted and tangled around her.
Jefferson couldn't even be certain that she was still alive. He shields grace behind him, trying desperately to protect her.
"Papa! Go help her!"
He gulps hard, and steadies himself before kneeling down to Grace's eye level. He desperately wishes she had just stayed where she had been told to stay. Now, there was no turning away.
"Grace. I want you to stay back. I'm going to go look. I want you to stay here. Stay right in this spot. Do you understand?"
She nodded, her eyes still wide as saucers.
He carefully approached the woman, and breathed a heavy sigh of relief when he could see that she was still breathing. It was weak, and shallow, and irregular, but the woman was still, miraculously alive.
He looks back at Grace a moment later.
"Papa is she…dead?" Grace asks tearfully.
"She- She's alive" Jefferson answers back.
And though it would be easier to walk away from whoever this woman was, and tell his daughter they were going to leave her alone, Jefferson turns directly toward his young daughter.
"Grace. I want you to run to the neighbors. Tell them your Papa needs help. Do you understand? Run!"
And against his better judgment, he carefully scoops up the gravely injured woman, and carries her gently home.
