This is a very short chapter. Bear with me but that is all there is to this part!
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"Tell Mom I'll be right in. Okay?"
"Ok." Dillan said as he went inside. He took off his little coat and dropped it on the floor. With his shoes still on, he walked into the kitchen. Maria stood next to the stove, watching a pot of water intently. Dillan walked over and tugged on her apron.
"Mommy? Vivy says she will be back soon."
"Where is she?" Maria leaned down to be level with her son. He long red hair made a curtain around the sides of her head. Her gray eyes stared intently at Dillan. Her features did not reflect her age of forty-three.
"She dropped her necklace Mommy. She went to find it." Maria straightened up and put her hands on her hips, turning her head to look at the door.
"I thought I told her to never wear that out. It's going to get her in trouble someday."
Maria didn't know that the day was already there and at work.
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"Vivy! Vivian?" Maria called into the darkness of the backyard. "Vivian! Dinner is ready!" She waited and tried again. Vivian neither responded nor came running. Something was wrong.
"Sissy?" Dillan called. "Mommy where's sissy?"
"I don't know Dillan honey." She took Dillan into her arms and waked into the living room after shutting the door.
"George?" She said. A middle-aged man of about forty-seven looked up from the magazine. His blue eyes were the shade of the ocean after a storm. His back hair had bits of gray here and there but was otherwise a very good looking man, despite his age.
"Yes? What's wrong?" He got up and went over.
"Vivian hasn't come back yet. Dillan said she went looking for her necklace. That was almost an hour ago." George paled a bit. Their daughter always came back to her parents' calls no matter what the situation.
"I'll go look for her." He said and went to grab his coat and rain boots.
"Me too Daddy!" Dillan said and tried to wriggle out of his mother's arms.
"Me too." Maria said and she went and got an umbrella.
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"Vivian!"
"Vivy!"
"VIVIAN!"
They walked through the woods. The rain had stopped but the path they were on was still full of mud traps. They scanned the ground with flashlights, looking for footprints. Maria came upon a spot where the ground had been trampled.
"George! George I found footprints!" He came running, carrying Dillan in his arms.
There were footprints all right; two sets of them. They recognized the smaller pair to be their daughter's. They were going towards the house but were followed by the bigger prints. They suddenly stopped the turned the other direction. Both did. Vivian had gone after the person. They were in bigger strides. Running. George, Maria with Dillan followed them until they found a big area where a scuffle had taken place.
"She must have caught him." Maria said.
"Or he caught her." George said and bit his lip.
"No. Look here." Maria pointed out a point where both peoples' momentum had suddenly been stopped. The smaller prints were in the back. "She caught him."
The prints turned into a large spot where the mud had been suddenly pushed aside. Someone had fallen in. It was a small body and next to it was an undefined spot of squished plants and bushes. Their daughter had fallen and had not gotten up since only one pair of prints went away from the area.
"Then where is she?" Maria turned to her husband.
"He must have taken her." The sky was getting darker. Long shadows turned into patches of black in the deeper part of the woods. They followed the prints when suddenly they just cut off as if the person had disappeared into thin air.
"George. We have to go call the police." He nodded and they headed back to the house with great fear for their daughter's well being.