The sky was oppressively grey and a brisk wind cut through Janna Karlson’s jacket, chilling her as she walked into it. The time was only five but it felt like it was at least nine, but the time always felt later during the long Minnesotan winters because of Daylight Savings time. She zipped her black sports jacket up to her chin and shoved her hands deep into her pockets. The wind seeped through her jeans and her legs ached with the cold. It was only mid-November but there had already been snow, most of it had melted leaving just a little as a reminder that winter was coming.
Janna reached for her cell phone wedged into her back jean pocket, then remembered that it was dead and sighed. She was almost home anyways, another mile. She had been dropped off at her best friend’s place a couple miles from her, after school to do homework together. Their parents were gone so Janna had decided to walk home after, it was only a little over two miles and she figured she could make it before dark. But dark was approaching fast and she knew she had another half an hour walk at least. She picked up her pace to a quick walk, despite feeling numbed and fatigued.
Her mom had warned her against this, walking alone after dark, especially on this road, it was remote and hardly populated, you could walk a mile without running into any traffic or houses, out in the middle of nowhere. So many times she had argued with her mom,
“Nothing would ever happen mom! And if anybody stopped, I’d just run or beat them up or hide in the ditch.” She felt confident in her abilities to escape. “Mom! Just chill! Those things only happen on TV shows or in books, what are the chances that I’ll get abducted, raped, murdered? What are the chances?”
“As good as any other girl’s chances.” her mom had insisted but she wrote her mom off, what did her mom know? She was just overly paranoid! But now she was starting to get nervous, she kept checking behind herself, scanning the woods around her, all the horror stories she had ever read or watched started playing through her mind. She blocked them out and pressed on towards home, but she wished that she had at least thought to charge her cell phone.
A car came around the corner making her jump and scream. She laughed at herself still a bit shaky as she watched the taillights of the car disappear around the next bend. It was now completely dark and freezing cold. She was just about to turn into her driveway when she heard something behind her. She froze, holding her breath, straining to hear the noise.
“It’s nothing, Stupid! Quit being so paranoid!” she muttered to herself, moving forwards again.
Darwin Clinton stepped out into the frigid night air, sometimes he wondered if his habit was worth it since his wife refused to let him smoke inside especially with the new baby and all. He sighed, lighting his cigarette he pulled in a long drag and let it out slowly, the white streaming through the dark night air, illuminated by the light from the window behind him.
He watched as a car drove around the circle drive that he lived off of along with several neighbors, and suddenly the lights turned off and a moment later he heard the engine turn off at the other end of the loop next to the Karlson’s. He figured it must be a visitor, but he thought it weird that they’d have company when no one was home. He’d stopped by just earlier and they’d been gone and he could see all the lights were still out. He wasn’t snoopy though and he quickly forgot about it, his mind mulling over more important things, like his job and being a dad now.
A terrified scream pierced the biting winter air jerking Darwin back to the present. He tossed the remainder of his cigarette over the porch and listened again. He heard the engine of the car and without thinking started running toward where the scream had come from, all the while cursing himself for not taking note of the unfamiliar car and the weird behavior.
He reached the spot but there was no one there, the car was gone. He pulled out his phone and shone around on the ground looking for evidence, fresh tire tracks, not like that was evidence, he knew it had been there. Then in some snow to his right he saw something dark. Blood. A trail of it to where tracks showed the car had been parked, like someone had a bad nose bleed or a minor cut. His numb fingers fumbled to dial 911.
“They were just here within the last ten minutes. I saw the car come through here, turn off his lights about there and then kill the engine in this spot. I thought they might be a visitor of the Karlson’s who live right here but a few minutes later I heard a scream, it sounded like a girl’s and she sounded pretty scared.” Darwin told the police pointing out the Karlson’s and his own place, “By the time I got down here from my place just up there, they were gone.”
“Do you know the Karlson’s well? Do you know where they are tonight or have any clue who the girl might have been if it was a girl?” The officer questioned, his flashlight beam made a large light patch on the frozen gravel at their feet.
“Yeah we’re pretty good friends, I’m not sure where they are tonight, I know they do have a daughter but I’m not sure if it was her or not. You want me to call Karlson’s right now?”
“You could do that. We’re going to investigate a little.”
Darwin walked off a few feet, scrolling through the contacts in his phone and selected Mason Karlson’s cell phone. It rang three times before the line clicked and a deep male voice answered,
“Hello, this is Mason.”
“Hey Mason, this is Darwin, is Janna with you guys?”
“No. She should be home. She was going over to her friend’s after school and was going to get a ride home from her friend’s mom.”
“Well, I’m standing outside your house right now and it’s pretty dark in there. Looks still to me.” Darwin turned to look at his neighbor’s quiet house.
“Really? Maybe she stayed at her friend’s, I don’t know.” Mason sounded a little annoyed now and Darwin hurried to explain.
“I’m sorry I sound rude, but the only reason I called is because there are police out here investigating what looks like it could have been a kidnapping out in front of your place and I was hoping your daughter was safe.”
“A what?” Mason’s voice had a hint of panic in it now. “You know what? Donna and I will be right home, we’re only a couple miles.”
“Alright. I’ll talk to you then.” Darwin hung up.
Before too long, more headlights showed up. Mason parked in front of the garage and a very distressed Donna hurried from the passenger side,
“We called her cell phone and it’s off, so we called her friend and she supposedly left a couple hours ago before dark.” Donna called anxiously, her stiletto heels making it hard for her to hurry across the icy pavement. She looked around the grim group of men and all of her hope faded. “What are we going to do Mason?” she whispered, reaching for her husband’s arm to steady herself. He wrapped his arms around her,
“I don’t know darling. All we can do at this point is pray, let’s get you inside then I’ll talk to the officers and see what can be done.” He lead her slowly towards the house. She seemed dazed and cooperative. Darwin watched the couple go, grief and sympathy for them searing his heart like the hot pain of a torn muscle.
“Is there anything you can do?” Mason later beseeched the officers after his wife was safely settled inside.
“There’s really very little we can do with so little evidence, we have no way to know anything about the abduction if that’s what it was. I’m sorry. We’ll do what we can though. I promise that.” And they left. Darwin put his hand on his neighbor’s shoulder.
“I’m here man, whatever we can help with my wife and I will do!” Mason nodded numbly,
“Thanks Darwin.” They went their separate ways, Darwin walked back through the biting night air to his warm house, his wife and brand new baby girl, but Mason stood for a long time staring at the night sky. Praying for the first time in a long time, praying that God would bring his baby girl back to them safely.
But the desperate prayers and all the worrying and waiting and looking were pointless. When Janna was found, all they found was her mutilated, lifeless body, frozen stiff in a ditch, half dressed and beat up.
A week of sleepless nights had gone by. A week of worrying, praying, tears, and then her body was found, hardly ten miles from home.
The funeral was held that weekend.
Mason looked down into the angelic face of his sleeping daughter, tears filling his downcast eyes, tears of regret, he felt he could have stopped it somehow, if only he had investigated before the scream, tears of pain for the Karlson family, and tears of fear of the world that his innocent child had to grow up in. A soft, unsure, female voice brought his eyes back to the stage.
“First I want to thank everyone for the support that you have given my husband and me in this horrifying nightmare of losing Janna. And secondly, I want to say something for Janna. You can never be too careful! You girls who think that something like this would never happen to you, that’s what Janna thought. We had so many fights over her safety. I am a mother so I am paranoid, but I only wanted to protect my baby from the people I knew were out there. You think that you could fight off an attacker, but more likely than not you couldn’t! Please don’t make the same mistake that Janna made! Please, please watch yourself and stay safe!” Her voice was tearful and beseeching, full of passion, pleading with her audience. Girls were crying, a couple of Janna’s friends huddled in a front row, crying and hugging. Silent tears coursed down Mrs. Karlson’s face as she finished,
“You’re not invincible! It happened to Janna, in a small town, and she thought she was invincible!”
Janna reached for her cell phone wedged into her back jean pocket, then remembered that it was dead and sighed. She was almost home anyways, another mile. She had been dropped off at her best friend’s place a couple miles from her, after school to do homework together. Their parents were gone so Janna had decided to walk home after, it was only a little over two miles and she figured she could make it before dark. But dark was approaching fast and she knew she had another half an hour walk at least. She picked up her pace to a quick walk, despite feeling numbed and fatigued.
Her mom had warned her against this, walking alone after dark, especially on this road, it was remote and hardly populated, you could walk a mile without running into any traffic or houses, out in the middle of nowhere. So many times she had argued with her mom,
“Nothing would ever happen mom! And if anybody stopped, I’d just run or beat them up or hide in the ditch.” She felt confident in her abilities to escape. “Mom! Just chill! Those things only happen on TV shows or in books, what are the chances that I’ll get abducted, raped, murdered? What are the chances?”
“As good as any other girl’s chances.” her mom had insisted but she wrote her mom off, what did her mom know? She was just overly paranoid! But now she was starting to get nervous, she kept checking behind herself, scanning the woods around her, all the horror stories she had ever read or watched started playing through her mind. She blocked them out and pressed on towards home, but she wished that she had at least thought to charge her cell phone.
A car came around the corner making her jump and scream. She laughed at herself still a bit shaky as she watched the taillights of the car disappear around the next bend. It was now completely dark and freezing cold. She was just about to turn into her driveway when she heard something behind her. She froze, holding her breath, straining to hear the noise.
“It’s nothing, Stupid! Quit being so paranoid!” she muttered to herself, moving forwards again.
Darwin Clinton stepped out into the frigid night air, sometimes he wondered if his habit was worth it since his wife refused to let him smoke inside especially with the new baby and all. He sighed, lighting his cigarette he pulled in a long drag and let it out slowly, the white streaming through the dark night air, illuminated by the light from the window behind him.
He watched as a car drove around the circle drive that he lived off of along with several neighbors, and suddenly the lights turned off and a moment later he heard the engine turn off at the other end of the loop next to the Karlson’s. He figured it must be a visitor, but he thought it weird that they’d have company when no one was home. He’d stopped by just earlier and they’d been gone and he could see all the lights were still out. He wasn’t snoopy though and he quickly forgot about it, his mind mulling over more important things, like his job and being a dad now.
A terrified scream pierced the biting winter air jerking Darwin back to the present. He tossed the remainder of his cigarette over the porch and listened again. He heard the engine of the car and without thinking started running toward where the scream had come from, all the while cursing himself for not taking note of the unfamiliar car and the weird behavior.
He reached the spot but there was no one there, the car was gone. He pulled out his phone and shone around on the ground looking for evidence, fresh tire tracks, not like that was evidence, he knew it had been there. Then in some snow to his right he saw something dark. Blood. A trail of it to where tracks showed the car had been parked, like someone had a bad nose bleed or a minor cut. His numb fingers fumbled to dial 911.
“They were just here within the last ten minutes. I saw the car come through here, turn off his lights about there and then kill the engine in this spot. I thought they might be a visitor of the Karlson’s who live right here but a few minutes later I heard a scream, it sounded like a girl’s and she sounded pretty scared.” Darwin told the police pointing out the Karlson’s and his own place, “By the time I got down here from my place just up there, they were gone.”
“Do you know the Karlson’s well? Do you know where they are tonight or have any clue who the girl might have been if it was a girl?” The officer questioned, his flashlight beam made a large light patch on the frozen gravel at their feet.
“Yeah we’re pretty good friends, I’m not sure where they are tonight, I know they do have a daughter but I’m not sure if it was her or not. You want me to call Karlson’s right now?”
“You could do that. We’re going to investigate a little.”
Darwin walked off a few feet, scrolling through the contacts in his phone and selected Mason Karlson’s cell phone. It rang three times before the line clicked and a deep male voice answered,
“Hello, this is Mason.”
“Hey Mason, this is Darwin, is Janna with you guys?”
“No. She should be home. She was going over to her friend’s after school and was going to get a ride home from her friend’s mom.”
“Well, I’m standing outside your house right now and it’s pretty dark in there. Looks still to me.” Darwin turned to look at his neighbor’s quiet house.
“Really? Maybe she stayed at her friend’s, I don’t know.” Mason sounded a little annoyed now and Darwin hurried to explain.
“I’m sorry I sound rude, but the only reason I called is because there are police out here investigating what looks like it could have been a kidnapping out in front of your place and I was hoping your daughter was safe.”
“A what?” Mason’s voice had a hint of panic in it now. “You know what? Donna and I will be right home, we’re only a couple miles.”
“Alright. I’ll talk to you then.” Darwin hung up.
Before too long, more headlights showed up. Mason parked in front of the garage and a very distressed Donna hurried from the passenger side,
“We called her cell phone and it’s off, so we called her friend and she supposedly left a couple hours ago before dark.” Donna called anxiously, her stiletto heels making it hard for her to hurry across the icy pavement. She looked around the grim group of men and all of her hope faded. “What are we going to do Mason?” she whispered, reaching for her husband’s arm to steady herself. He wrapped his arms around her,
“I don’t know darling. All we can do at this point is pray, let’s get you inside then I’ll talk to the officers and see what can be done.” He lead her slowly towards the house. She seemed dazed and cooperative. Darwin watched the couple go, grief and sympathy for them searing his heart like the hot pain of a torn muscle.
“Is there anything you can do?” Mason later beseeched the officers after his wife was safely settled inside.
“There’s really very little we can do with so little evidence, we have no way to know anything about the abduction if that’s what it was. I’m sorry. We’ll do what we can though. I promise that.” And they left. Darwin put his hand on his neighbor’s shoulder.
“I’m here man, whatever we can help with my wife and I will do!” Mason nodded numbly,
“Thanks Darwin.” They went their separate ways, Darwin walked back through the biting night air to his warm house, his wife and brand new baby girl, but Mason stood for a long time staring at the night sky. Praying for the first time in a long time, praying that God would bring his baby girl back to them safely.
But the desperate prayers and all the worrying and waiting and looking were pointless. When Janna was found, all they found was her mutilated, lifeless body, frozen stiff in a ditch, half dressed and beat up.
A week of sleepless nights had gone by. A week of worrying, praying, tears, and then her body was found, hardly ten miles from home.
The funeral was held that weekend.
Mason looked down into the angelic face of his sleeping daughter, tears filling his downcast eyes, tears of regret, he felt he could have stopped it somehow, if only he had investigated before the scream, tears of pain for the Karlson family, and tears of fear of the world that his innocent child had to grow up in. A soft, unsure, female voice brought his eyes back to the stage.
“First I want to thank everyone for the support that you have given my husband and me in this horrifying nightmare of losing Janna. And secondly, I want to say something for Janna. You can never be too careful! You girls who think that something like this would never happen to you, that’s what Janna thought. We had so many fights over her safety. I am a mother so I am paranoid, but I only wanted to protect my baby from the people I knew were out there. You think that you could fight off an attacker, but more likely than not you couldn’t! Please don’t make the same mistake that Janna made! Please, please watch yourself and stay safe!” Her voice was tearful and beseeching, full of passion, pleading with her audience. Girls were crying, a couple of Janna’s friends huddled in a front row, crying and hugging. Silent tears coursed down Mrs. Karlson’s face as she finished,
“You’re not invincible! It happened to Janna, in a small town, and she thought she was invincible!”
You write as if this actually happened to someone you know... So vivid, clear... Somehow you put the reader IN the story! It's really neat.
ReplyDeleteWOW! This is really good!!!! Is there gonna be more to this story? I really like it! ~Lavina Martin
ReplyDeleteThank you guys! I don't know Lavina. I guess I wasn't planning on any more. :)
ReplyDelete