THE DISAPEARANCE OF PATRICIA BURNS

Beep! Beep! Beep!

Harriet yawned lazily reaching out the side of the bed to slap the alarm clock off. She gave herself a good stretch before sitting up and rubbing her eyes. Once her vision seemed better she took a look at her wall clock, it was 6am, time to get up. She threw her legs over the side of the bed and slid down to her feet, dragging herself to the bathroom. In thirty minutes she was bathed, brushed, dressed and ready for work. Feeling less sleepy she proceeded to the kitchen to prepare breakfast. It was going to be pancakes since they were one of the few things she knew how to make without burning. While making the pancakes she brewed herself a hot cup of coffee and turned on the radio to listen to some music like she did every morning. Once done she served the pancakes on two separate plates and placed them on the dining table. She then strolled over to the bottom of the stairs to yell. "Patty! Time for breakfast."

Silence.

"Did you hear me? Get your lazy butt out of bed and come down for breakfast right now, you don't want to be late."

That wasn't true though. Patty was always late for school but she always left the house super early. This was so she could stop at the park and feed the ducks that usually swam in the pond, there was no way she was still in bed. Harriet had never had to wake Patty up, not since the fifth grade but she still loved these morning calls all the less.

"Patty!"

Silence.

"That's strange." She muttered. Usually by now Patty's tired voice would draw some kind of reply from upstairs. "She couldn't still be in bed, could she?"

Harriet climbed up the stairs. "Patty!" She called as she strolled down to Patty's room and knocked. The door creaked open and Harriet peeked in. The room was neat and organized just like Patty liked it. It was empty and its undisturbed state destroyed any hope that maybe Patty had left early to maybe get some exercise. Harriet felt her heart skip a beat as she hurried to her room and grabbed her phone from the bed. She quickly dialed a number and waited for the person to pick up.

Miss Lawrence was quick to answer. "Good morning Miss Burns." She said from the other end of the line sounding startled. "Is something wrong? Why are you calling so early in the morning?"

Harriet let out an uneasy laugh. "I'm sorry Lydia, no nothing is wrong. You don't happen to know if Patricia slept at the library again do you? She's always getting herself locked in."

"No she didn't. I double-checked before locking up yesterday no one was there. Not that I'm surprised, I saw her leave by 6:30pm yesterday. Why are you asking? Is she not home?"

"No she isn't but I'll ask Mrs. Crowther. She sometimes spends the night at her place." She hung up before Lydia could ask her any further questions and began dialing a different number.

"Hi Kim, Patricia didn't happen to spend the night at your place, did she?"

"No she didn't, why?" Harriet felt her heart skip a beat and swallowed as she replied. "She didn't come home yesterday so I thought maybe she spent the night at your place."

"Oh. Well she didn't. You called the library?"

"I have she isn't there."

"Have you tried calling her?"

"Her phone got run over by a truck by accident so we were going to get her a new one today."

"Check the park. The girl only goes to these three places on a daily basis."

"Thanks Kim I'll check it out."

Once again she hung up and stuffed her phone into the pocket of her jeans. When she was preparing for work this morning her stomach had growled loudly, now she suddenly doesn't feel as hungry. She grabbed a coat from her closet, threw it on and rushed downstairs to the car. She was at Silkfall Park in under six minutes.

"Patty!" She began to call the minute she stepped into the park. Her voice getting louder and louder as she ventured further and further in. "Patty!"

When she got no reply she began checking all of Patty's favorite spots. She checked them one by one and still no sign of Patty. The more time flew by the more her anxiety grew and soon she was sweating. Not because she had begun walking around the park for the last forty minutes but because she was beginning to panic. It was Saturday so once in a while a jogger with earphones plugged to their ears would jog past her. Her eyes were already starting to water even though she was trying to think that nothing bad would've happened to her daughter. She sat on a bench and tried to take some few minutes to reassure herself.

Calm down Harriet, nothing bad would've happened to your daughter. You know how she is. She probably decided to take a stroll and then dozed of somewhere. Maybe she's even gotten home right now and is in the kitchen munching on some pancakes. There's no reason to panic.

She sucked in a deep breath and let out all her stress with its release. It actually seemed to have worked but her relief only lasted a few seconds as a bone chilling scream tore through the air making her jump. "Patricia." She gasped quite unconsciously and raced in the direction of the scream. A group of people had gathered round a tree and there was a lot of muttering. There were staring down at someone that seemed to be lying on the floor. Her heart began thumping wildly in her chest as she walked towards them. Some people were trying to calm a blonde lady dressed in a tracksuit who seemed very distressed.

"I thought maybe he slept off so I shook and he was... he was..." The young lady was a wreck and almost knocked the bottled water someone was offering her right out of the person's hand. Harriet took a closer look at the person on the floor, it was a man and she couldn't stop herself from letting out a sigh of relief. The man seemed really old and looked really shriveled. He looked so dried out that his skin showed a perfect outline of his skeleton.

"Who would do such a thing?" One lady said.

"Not who, what." Another guy stated.

There was still a lot of mumbling but Harriet didn't pay any attention to any of it. Something had caught her attention. Two small holes at the side of the guy's neck, one above the other. "Hello Sheriff Cole..." The minute the woman standing next to her began calling the Sheriff she knew it was time to leave. She had her own problems to worry about.

It was 6:30pm when she called the police station. "Hello, this is Harriet Burns. I'm calling because my daughter has gone missing and I'm worried something terrible may have happened to her.

The following day was a Sunday and the entire town was quiet as more than half of the town gathered in churches. The rest of the townspeople who weren't in a church stayed home to watch TV and drink beer. Harriet tapped her foot restlessly on the floor and tried distracting herself by staring around the room. After her call the previous day Bobby had told her to come see him the following morning and she had arrived before even the cleaners did. Now she waited impatiently for Sheriff Bobby Cole to arrive. He came strolling in one hour later with a mug of coffee in one hand and a doughnut in the other looking quite surprised to see her sitting there frowning disapprovingly at him.

"Good morning Harriet. Aren't you here a little too early?" He asked settling into his own chair on the other side of the desk and taking a bite of his doughnut. This made her frown even more. "Well my daughter is missing so if anything, you're late." She scolded. Bobby shrugged and took a huge slurp from his mug. "So exactly how do you know your daughter is missing?"

"Well two days ago I got home from work early because I wasn't feeling too good and when I got back she wasn't there so I assumed she staying out late reading in the library like she usually does but when I woke up yesterday morning which was Saturday morning and checked her room for her she wasn't there. I called the library and the librarian, miss Lydia Lawrence, said she saw her leave by 6:30pm. So I called her old babysitter Kim Crowther since she sometimes spends the night at her place but she wasn't there. Then Kim suggested the park, Patricia had slept through an entire night at the park once when she was twelve. So I went to check, still no sign of her. She hasn't come home, she hasn't tried to reach me and I can't reach her because she doesn't have a phone. Please Bob you've got to help me find my daughter."

Bobby let out a sigh placing his mug on the table. He hated seeing Harriet in such a vulnerable state. He'd always known her to be a strong woman ever since they were in high school. She would beat up boys twice her size and made girls who attempted to bully her cry. When her boss became insufferable she quit and started her own business. When she got pregnant and the guy responsible took off, she rolled up her sleeves, birthed the baby and raised her herself. Nothing and no one scared Harriet Burns. Well, not until today. "I'll try to find her and bring her back home safe." He reassured. "This isn't the first time kids have gone missing, they usually come back on their own. There's always a reason, needed some time off to think or it could be a prank. Although Patricia isn't the kind of kid to do that so this maybe something different."

He noticed a flicker of fear in her eyes and immediately changed his statement. "But this is Silkfall she probably decided to take a walk through the woods and got lost. Don't worry we'll find her, I'll find her." He smiled warmly at her and for that moment she felt reassured. "I know." She breathed. Bobby's smile grew as she seemed more relaxed. "I just need to ask you a few more questions."

By the time she was done answering all his questions she felt a little more certain that he would find Patricia. On getting to her car though she felt the anxiety returning. "Don't worry Harriet, the police will find her." She blocked out her fear and climbed into the car.