Gone

Sitting on the back porch steps. It's a rainy day and there is nothing to do. At six she really didn't understand why no one was playing with her today. Just that she wanted to do things.  Go to the park, play with Janie next door, go see a movie with Momma, anything except sitting here watching the rain.  Momma was busy in the kitchen and Daddy had gone off to do something, she wasn't sure what.

Out in the rain she spotted her ball, laying on the wet grass, getting wetter as it rained.  Not thinking about getting wet she decided to go get it. She wasn't wearing a jacket or anything to keep her dry, Momma had said not to go out in the rain, "You'll get wet." she had said. Annie didn't think about that now, she got up and went down the three steps from the back porch and walked out onto the grass to get her ball.  As she approached the ball, bushes at the back of the yard rustled. At first she didn't see that, or hear anything, other than the rain that was coming down fairly heavy now.

She bent down and picked up the ball and when she stood up straight again, something caught her eye.  Bushes at the back end of the yard. They seemed to be moving as if it were really windy. Despite the rain there really wasn't much wind. Annie stood, in the rain, staring at the bushes and wondering what was making them move so much. All the bushes around that were still.  As she watched, they moved again, and she caught a glimpse of something blue within them.  Her curiosity peaked and, still holding her ball, she walked towards the bushes to see what was there.

A few steps away from the bushes she heard her mother's voice behind her.  "Annie! Come back here and get out of that rain.  I told you not to get wet!"  Momma didn't sound happy.  So, she turned around and ran for the back steps. A moment later she was inside and Momma was drying her hair with a towel, telling her she had to get out of those wet clothes right away.


A little while later she sat on her bed, dry and warm again, the bushes outside were forgotten now. She wanted Momma to read her a story. Momma promised to do that for her if she would try to take a nap after wards.  Annie said she would and so she got the story she wanted.  She drifted off to sleep a short time later, thinking about the story she had been told. 

The next day the rain was gone, Annie wondered about why it rained. She didn't know but she decided that the rain was not fun. It kept her inside and she couldn't do what she wanted to do. She didn't care about getting wet, but Momma seemed to.

Daddy was home today, this made her happy. She loved to play with Daddy, he always made her laugh and gave her lots of hugs.  She asked if she could have some ice cream and Daddy, who almost always said yes, did just that today. They got into the car and Daddy drove to the ice cream place that he always took her to. She could pick whatever she wanted and today the flavor was chocolate.

She sat in a chair just outside the ice cream shop licking her chocolate ice cream, not really thinking about anything at all, except how good it was. Daddy had gone back inside to get some napkins for her.  Annie didn't see the man in the parking lot watching her. He sat in a car that she wouldn't have been able to tell anyone what it was, just that the color was green. If she had seen him, but she didn't.   The man sat behind the wheel and stared at her.  Daddy came back with the napkins and the man in the car looked in a different direction, hoping no one would see he had been staring at the little girl outside the ice cream shop.

For several days after that, he followed whenever Annie went someplace. At a safe distance, in hopes of not being noticed by anyone.  He even watched her house when she was just at home.  If you were to ask him why he watched Annie, he probably couldn't have given a good reason, except that she was cute and he was drawn to her in some odd, unexplainable way.  He thought about the little girl almost constantly.  He had never talked to her or touched her or even approached her. But she consumed his thoughts, just the same. Such a beautiful, innocent little girl, he couldn't help himself.

A trip to the grocery store two days later.  Annie wandered away from her Momma. She wasn't thinking about Momma, she saw bright labels and food she liked, she was just looking at them as she wandered..  Hadn't even noticed yet that Momma wasn't still right nearby. And her Momma, busy talking with the neighbor lady in the aisle where the cereal boxes were, hadn't yet noticed that Annie wasn't still right near her.  By the time she figured it out, and went looking, Annie was no where to be found. She was frantic, the store manager had most of the employees looking for her too.  No one found her inside the store or out in the parking lots around it.  Police came and made a report, got a picture of Annie and told her mother they would do everything they could to find her.