The Night of the Last Disappearance

Hector Ventura had always found it hard not to believe in monsters. Not because he was an impressionable child, but because the image of a weird creature that couldn't have been from this world still chased him, even after 25 years. The thing was as small as him at the time, but with pointy ears. Its skin was rough and reminded him of a rock, slightly greenish; its hair was wild and as dark as the night. The scariest of all were its big shiny red eyes.

Obviously, no one ever believed him; after all, he was only five years old with a vivid imagination. However, it was impossible for Hector to ignore the truth after having seen that thing with his own eyes. It had been such a devastating experience that he couldn't sleep for days, but with time that became just a blurred memory; sometimes he would even question if it were real or not.

After so many years, the event had become unimportant; his daily life problems helped him forget his childhood nightmares, especially in that Saturday afternoon at the park, looking for his daughter. Hector and his brother met there playing with their kids and left them at the swings; two seconds of distraction were enough for them to lose sight of the kids.

At first, the brothers didn't worry a lot, only got up and left the picnic table to try and spot them. They only found empty swings squeaking, tousled by the wind, no bush or tree leaves rustled with sign of life. Since they weren't successful, they called out their names. Still not able to spot them, the two of them decided to split up and look for the kids.

Hector tried not to think about anything bad; it was usual for kids to move away while playing. However, it was unavoidable thinking about the picture of the latest missing child. What would he do if he ended up joining the desperate parents from the news? How could he get distracted like that when there were so many cases of missing kids? Questions and guilty thoughts were already bombarding his mind when a voice drove them away.

"Daddy! Daddy!" His daughter came running and her cousin was right behind her.

"Nadine! Where have you been? I told you not to leave my sight!"

"I'm sorry! Daniel was showing me something."

"Yeah, uncle Hector! That's true! There's a weird hole over there." He pointed to the trees in an unvisited area since people said it was dangerous for being a place known as a point for drug addicts to spend time.

"You guys can't go there. Now come, I'm gonna take you to your dad, Daniel. Henrique is not gonna like to hear that you guys were wondering around over there again."

"But it's true! There's a hole on the roots of one of the trees! I already showed dad but he didn't believe me..."

"Yes, but let's go now." Hector took the kids' hands in his own and lead them back to the playground, where Henrique was still looking for them. The relief of seeing them again was as huge as the scolding the cousins got for disappearing.

They continued to enjoy the lovely afternoon, but when it got darker, both brothers decided it was time to take their children home. The five-year-old girl chose what they were going to have for dinner and Hector bought it on their way home. After eating and showering, he put her to bed.

"Daddy, when is mommy coming back?"

"On Thursday, honey. Grandma needed her help. I know it's a lot of time but this week is gonna end very soon, you'll see."

"Okay..."

"And it's not that bad to hang out with dad for a week, right? We had a lot of fun today."

"It's not bad, but I miss mommy."

"I know. I do too. But now it's time to sleep. We can go to the zoo tomorrow, what do you think? Would you like to see the animals?"