There was a sinister silence in the air that night. As the fogged rolled in slowly from the mountain tops, cascading down to the small town below; not a single soul walked the streets. Not one except… for little Abby Warner. According to what the CCTV cameras captured at least.
We lived in a small town so, word got around pretty quickly about the little girls disappearance.
That, and the fact that it was printed on the front page of our local paper.
You see, back in those days, we didn’t have fancy smartphones in our pockets that gave us the news whether we wanted it or not.
Everything was in black and white or on the news on TV if a story gathered enough attention.
I remember glancing over at it as I waited in line with all of the other working class slaves… I mean heroes.
The headline read “Our Little Abby” in big black bold lettering.
It caught my eye and I hate waiting in line so I figured I’d grab one and read it until I was able to make my cup of coffee.
“Our Little Abby” “page 6”.
I turned to page six and began to read to myself,
Police are desperately trying to understand the disappearance of little Abigail Warner (age 5), that took place just last night. As most of us were home sleeping in our beds, little Abby was reported having a ‘terrible nightmare’ by her neighbor, who had contacted her mother.
“I didn’t think much of it at the time. It was so late and I was so used to her having night terrors, as was Mrs. Smith (neighbor),” Abigail’s mother told reporters. “So, I had Mrs. Smith send Abby over to me as she usually does when this kind of thing occurs. Abby can only calm down after having a night terror when she’s at home, where she feels the most safe and secure,” she added.
Abigail had spent the night at her friend’s house after school, as she often does.
With Mrs. Smith being very close to the family and their daughters being best friends, she had been very much aware of little Abby’s night terrors. Both parents had already devised a plan for Abby to come home in such a scenario.
Mrs. Smith would walk Abby out of the door, stand on the porch and watch her walk just four houses down, to where her mother was waiting on her porch.
“She was there one moment then… gone the next. I don’t know how to describe it. I don’t understand it.”
Mrs. Smith told reporters.
Police hav…
“Next!”
I heard the cashier yell out to gain my attention.
It took me a moment to notice that, I was standing at the front of the line, facing a now annoyed cashier.
I apologized to the cashier, as well as the people around me, paid for the paper and left.
I didn’t realize that, I didn’t even get what I went to the store for. I didn’t even mean to buy the paper at all.
Yet, there I was. Driving to work with, no coffee and a paper that would probably just end up in the trash anyway.
“Awesome,” I muttered to myself.
I went to grab some perfume from my purse that I had sitting next to me.
It was then that I noticed the little girl sitting in my passenger’s seat.
