Chapter Ten: Who's There?

Samantha was worried beyond all belief when her father didn't come home. She had lied to Toby and said that their father was at a friend's place. Since it was on a Friday night, Toby didn't question it.

Samantha sighed as she sat on the couch listening to the storm rumbling on outside. She was scared. Her mother had gone, and besides Toby, he was the only family she had left.

Samantha stared at the phone. Waiting for anyone to call. She wanted someone to call in with any information about her father; good or bad. She was desperately not waiting anything bad happening to her father. The last thing she wanted is for her father to think that she hated him for being disappointed in her.

Samantha tried her hardest to make it seem like she was affected by her father's disappointment, but giving him the cold shoulder said differently.

As the seconds turned into minutes and the minutes turned into hours, Samantha felt herself get even more restless without her father here with her. Sure she had looked after her brother for whole nights when her father goes out for a few drinks with a few work mates bit today she didn't have a clue for where he was. As the minutes ticked on Samantha felt her eyes slowly close. She tried her hardest to keep her eyes open to see or hear if the rung or her father came in through the door. But Samantha fell into a peaceful place called sleep.

Samantha woke with a start as she heard the phone ring. Hope filled her like a balloon.

"Hi, Samantha speaking." Samantha said with a smile.

"I'm Darrel, I work with your father." The man introduced himself.

Samantha felt her heart leap and she smiled a great big smile. She was hopeful that they had some news about her father.

"I work with Patrick." The man said through the phone.

"Oh yes he is my father." Samantha said with her voice filled with hope.

"Um, yeah well..." The man said as he stalled. "He didn't report back this evening." He carried on.

Samantha felt her whole world crumble around her. Her father was missing, gone, nowhere to be found. She felt like she couldn't breathe and she felt like the walls of the house were closing in around her, trapping her into a box that she could never get out of.

"Do you know where he is?" Samantha asked once she had recovered herself.

"I'm sorry," The man said with regret in his voice. "We currently do not know where he is."

"What happened?!" Samantha exclaimed. She was scared and she need to know where her father is.

"We were fixing one of the fences, and he didn't head down the mountain when we were going down." The man explained.

After a stressful conversation with the man, they weren't going to search for him until the morning as it was raining and they weren't going to lose more men. Crestfallen, Samantha went to sleep in her father's bed. It offered little comfort throughout the night.

When Samantha woke up she thought that it was all a huge nightmare. But it was not. Her father still wasn't home, or at least she thought. Samantha looked throughout the house to see if her father had walked in during the night but when all the rooms were empty besides her brother's bedroom, she came to realise that she was intact living that nightmare.

During breakfast Toby had asked where their father was, Samantha just replied that he had gone to a friend's house. Samantha was going to do some investigation of her own. All she had to do was send her brother somewhere so her brother doesn't get suspicious for where she had gone to.

Samantha had luck on her side and Toby had to go to a friend's house to work on a project for school. After Toby had gone, Samantha started to get ready to find her father. She packed a backpack with everything that she needed: food, water and a spare change of clothes. And headed out to find her father. She wrote a quick note and stuck on the table and walked out of the door. Samantha knew that Toby would use the spare key if she doesn't answer the door.

Samantha walked down the street and to her father's work. She looked to see tracks made by a horse so she followed them. Even if the tracks don't led to her father they will lead to someone that might know where her father is. She smiled at this and walked up the path.

She made her way to a paddock that looked like it was recently repaired. This gave her hope as her father was near. She walked around the area and found more tracks, like the other tracks at the bottom of the mountain were washed away. She got even more hope and followed the tracks.

Samantha looked at what was left of the tracks up ahead, they disappeared into a forest. She felt her fear skyrocket. She didn't know what was in the forest. For all she knew there could be a tiger in there. Samantha's imagination ran wild with all possibilities for what could be in the forest.

Samantha literally swallowed her fear down and walked into the forest. She followed the tracks deeper into the forest.

Samantha looked around and realised that the place that where she was currently it looked familiar to her. It was like she had been here before. She thought of her friends and realised it was when hse had gone up to the castle with Michelle and Harry.

With that thought in her mind, Samantha broke out into a run towards the castle, paying little attention to the tracks on the forest floor. Samantha was filled with joy. She finally knew where her father was. She could take him home. 'And all before lunchtime.' Samantha thought to herself as she checked her watch. As she checked her watch she tripped over a branch and landed on the ground, but Samantha picked herself up and kept on running.

Samantha made it to the castle's front door. She tried to open the door, but it was locked. She could of sworn that this could be the only place that her father could be. Samantha wasn't going to give up. She remembered that she heard someone when she was last there and decided that someone must of let her father in. Thinking that the same person would let her in she knocked at the door.

Samantha waited. No came to answer the door. So she knocked on the door once again. Samantha waited, and still no one came. Samantha had mainly given up by this time but decided to knock on the door one last time. 'Third time lucky.' She thought to herself as she knocked on the door again. Still no one came. Samantha had ultimately given up and wasn't going to try again. That was until someone opened the door.

Samantha smiled as she was one step further to finding her father. She turned around to greet the person that opened the door, but she held back a scream as she saw a big, blue, scary monster staring at her with annoyance on his face.

"Hell-" Samantha didn't get to finish her sentence as she was roughly brought inside the castle.

Author's Note: So it begins... I'm so sorry for the late update! I've just move houses and started a new job! And school has given me homework D:. The updates might be a bit all over the place, but I'm going to aim to have a chapter up every Saturday morning. Funny fact: I'm literally writing this during my music class. (We're suppose to researching about a band). I hope your are all well and are having a fabulous day!

Ashley