The Legend Farm

The help of a pushover

I drove down the dim road, every now and again, a burnt out lamp post would brighten the way, but barely. As I continued looking back into my rear view mirror, there was the yellow Volkswagen, still on my tail. I gripped onto the steering wheel tighter with a hard gulp. My mother prepared me for many things in life, but never did I expect to experience these things. Driving down the dead road, I eventually met with a police station and quickly pulled in while the car behind me did the same thing. Sitting inside my car, I awaited for the strange woman to decide first, and she had with getting out of her car first. I sat up straighter before rolling down my window.
"Is there a reason you've been following me this whole way? Why do you keep asking for me at my workplace anyway?" I confronted the blonde haired woman before she could speak. She took of her black baseball cap to reveal her face, tired, yet shiny emerald eyes. Fine lines that came down her cheeks, but didn't sag. It'd seem the woman was just put through tons of stress all at once, but not aged quite yet. Her hair was pulled back in a tight bun, but that didn't help to hide the clear breakage.
"You're Alana Foster, aren't you? Please, just tell me." She pleads as her voice breaks softly at the end of the sentence, her arms resting on my car window.
"Yeah, that's me." I answered.
Her eyes widened for a moment, before she sighed lightly, relieved. "Thank you, now, I need your help."
"Uh, help with what?" I asked her, however, she just sighed heavily before placing her palms on her forehead as though she were trying to sustain a migraine.
"I got it, could you meet me tomorrow at the local coffee shop tomorrow morning, Mary's Mornings?" She questioned. I hesitated, my eyes examining her appearance. Her eyes were tired, but not just a sleepy tired. A tired of being in stress, kind of tired. She seemed hopeless, in which made me feel bad for the lady.
"Okay, sure. I'll see you tomorrow morning then." I replied back softly.
She smiled momentarily with a gentle laugh, "Thank you." Before she walked back to her car and left. However, I sat in my car for a moment longer, taking in the strange occurrence. As I did so, raindrops came gently falling to the ground, bouncing off the metal of my car. Despite the loneliness I started having, having a moment of peace was a nice change. Now, if it hadn't been for my thoughts and pacing questions in my mind, it'd be better.

Tugging my beige cardigan closer together, I spotted her sitting at a red and leathery booth. It was a silent day at the coffee shop, not like the others day had been prior. The days Sawyer and I visited the shop, it was always bustling with people who had work and teenagers, not so much now, seemingly since everything has happened. Once she spotted me back, she held her hand up and waved a friendly wave to me, making me wander over to her. As I sat into the snug booth, she smiled at me.
"Thank you so much, I know we barely know each other but I just need your help. I'm desperate." She explains with a weak grin before sipping onto her coffee.
"You've said that plenty of times, but I'm still confused about this entire situation." I confessed to her.
"Well for starters, I'm Gina Mill. I'm David's ex-wife, but we had a child together and last I knew, David was here, specifically at that Red Mann's forest." She informed me on herself.
"Well, nice to meet you Gina, I'm Alana but I suppose you already knew that." I scoffed to myself quietly. Once my coffee was finished being made, I got up to receive and before coming back to Gina and sipping on the black coffee.
"Oh, I know." She smiled at me.
I froze, holding my cup in mid air before touching my lips once more, "How do you mean, you know?"
"Ethan, he started talking to me when he traveled up here. He started confiding to me about you." She explained. I nearly choked on my coffee, causing some of it to spill out onto the top of the table. She began wiping it with a soft laugh at the mess I'd made.
"Wait, I think Ethan had told me about you. You left him when he was just twelve years old, didn't you?" I asked, and her smile had immediately faded into a tight line along with sorrow filled eyes as she looked down into her half empty coffee cup.
"Yes, that would be me. I'm sorry we never got to meet before now, but there's something seriously wrong," She pauses before looking up at me, "My ex-husband is now missing and so is my son, Ethan." As I grew anxious about the unbeknownst confrontation, I began to twirl my turquoise bracelet around on my wrist.
"Gina, people go missing in forests all the time, but everybody who works at Red Mann and the police, will do everything they can do to help." I reassure her, but she hadn't been amused by my response.
She crossed her arms, sinking back into the booth, "No honey, I don't think you understand what I'm getting at."
"I must not be the right person to help you then, so I sincerely apologize for that Gina." I apologized to her before I stand, but she quickly takes my arm and holds it tight, forcing me to sit back down into the booth.
"Do you know The Legend farm?" She inquired me. Oh no, I sighed heavily to myself as I thought carefully about what to say next. Do I deny that I know of the farm, possibly leaving a hopeless, desperate woman, even more hopeless?
"Uh, I've heard of it, but I don't actually know anything about the farm. Why do you ask?" I decided to play along with her.
She leans in over the table, whispering to me, "There's a family that lives there, a family of farmers. A family of farmers that I heard, seen my son last."
I shrugged my shoulders slightly, "I'm not getting it, Gina."
"It's so obvious! Yet the police are blind when it comes to them," She pauses a moment before she finally concluded, "They're the reason people are turning up missing." If I had been taking a sip of my coffee at that moment, I would've spat it all out just then. Just then, the door dings opened and as I turn around, It's Jack in a casual outfit instead of his uniform.  A blue and white striped polo sweater and a pair of jeans, rolled up with boots. His fluffy hair was messier than normal and this time, no glasses on, revealing his tired circles underneath his eyes. As he makes his way up to me, he slides into the open spot beside me.
"Hey, what're you up to?" I asked him.
"I have my day off from work and figured this would be one of the places to find you. Who's this?" He asked, pointing to Gina.
"This is Gina, Gina this is my friend, Jack." I introduced them to each other. As they said their hellos to each other, Gina began to ramble with her theory.
"So I've got a plan, we track down their farm and confront them, right then and there!" She exclaims in a hushed tone.
I shook my head rapidly, "No, no. That'll make things a lot worse."
Jack furrowed his eyebrows together, "Whose farm? The Legend's farm?" Unfortunately for me, that had gained Gina's interest much, much more.