Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Chapter 2

The sun burned on pale, untouched skin. The "missing girl" papers freckled the almost deserted streets of the small town. Sad faces crossed the damp streets as everyone mourned the missing Parker Brown. No one knew where the fragile girl was but it was certain that she was either kidnapped or dead.

    Her mom continued to staple the depressing "Have you seen her?" pages on any tree or lamp post they walked past. Horrid people who didn't care about others would tear down the bad news and throw them into the river of a street.

    "Have you seen my missing girl? Her name is Parker B-"

"I'm sorry, lady but I haven't seen that missing girl..."

Every time. That's always how the conversations go. Kaylie Brown, the mother of Parker, had been out in the town for almost four hours. She was covered in dirt and soaked in her tears. She was finally starting to realize that her sweet little girl might not come back home. It broke her heart each time she thought of it.

She dropped to her knees and cried again. Those walking down the street knew why she was crying and only a few stopped to say they were sorry for her loss or that there was still hope. No one offered to help her though. They didn't want to get tangled in the crazy mourning lady's web of "what if she's still alive?", "we need to go find her!", or "will my baby ever come home?"

What made it worse is that there was no Mr. Brown to tell her to let her go or to dry her tears. She was left alone with her thoughts. Alone with her tears and her knowledge that her baby might never come running back into her arms. Two sleek shoes came into her blurry view.

"Miss? Miss, are you alright?" A mans voice spoke.

Kaylie looked up to see a tall man in a suit and tie. He had a soothing smile. His greasy black hair was pushed to the side of his face. She wiped away her tears and stood.

"Yes...." She laughed at her disgusting self. "Yes, I'm alright."

"Are you certain?" he offered her a handkerchief to wipe her eyes and blow her nose. She took it and patted her tears.

"No... no, I'm not certain at all. The missing girl is my daughter. She has been missing for a week." Her sniffles drowned out her sentence and she had to stop to compose herself before speaking again. "Have you seen my little girl? Her name is Parker Brown... she turns 16 years old in a week."

"Yes, ma'am, I have seen her.. I saw her recently too!" He spoke with a strange optimism.

Her face lit up as if he just told her she had won the lottery. She dropped the staple gun at his feet. Her jaw dropped. She had never gotten that response before and she didn't know how to respond.

"You... you know where she is?" She was almost holding back tears from how much relief she felt when the tall man nodded. Her legs felt like jello. A tsunami of relief pounded down on her.

"I can take you to her if you'd like, ma'am...?" He offered his long hand to her.

"Yes! Yes please!" She eagerly grabbed his hand and walked with him down the streets of sad faces. She realized how much her news was depressing everyone else. No street lights were on. There were only a few cars driving down the roads of sadness. No one was walking their dogs today. She hadn't even realized it was raining until the tall man retrieved his umbrella. He opened it and held it up so both of them were shaded from the tears of the crying clouds above. They knew the fate Parker was tortured with and knew the fate Kaylie was about to suffer as well.

After about 20 minutes of walking, the man had walked her to the poor side of town where the people could barely afford a mailbox in their front yard. It was like a parking lot of broken down cars that people have turned into "houses for one". Kaylie felt bad for everyone she saw in the little town of people. He looked at her and smiled to reassure her.

"Just a little bit further, miss." He said.

She nodded as she walked past all of the sad faces she saw in the small town. She only realized he wasn't safe until it was too late. His hand grabbed her arm and forced her into the furthest house from the town. She fell on her back and groaned in pain and fear.

"Where am I?!" She yelled, looking around the dark room. There was a horrid smell. It smelled like something died in the room she was in. She could no longer see the expression on the tall man's face but the tone of his voice made her skin crawl.

"I brought you to your daughter..."

She felt sick to her stomach when the man turned on the light. He slammed he door and locked it. Parker Brown had been stringed up by her wrists. She was in a pretty white dress, her entire bottom jaw missing. There it was: that pretty pink liquid falling from the agar face of the one she loved more than herself. The man quickly bagged Kaylie's head and covered her mouth.

"Shhh.. Don't scream. It'll only be worse for you if you scream." She couldn't breathe in the bag and flailed to try to get away from him. He dodged her hands and continued to suffocate her. His soothing voice sent chills down her spine. His words scared her with how calm he sounded.

"Why are you afraid? Isn't this what you wanted? You found your daughter and now you will be with her forever!"

He laughed maniacally as her body became limp and she passed out from lack of oxygen. He let go of her and removed the bag.

"Finally." He smiled. He picked up the limp body of Kaylie Brown and carried her to her deathbed where she will lie until she wakes. Then, the process must start again.