Beware Of The Dark

Chapter Eleven

     As I was pulling up to the house, I could hear Kayla pulling in too. As I stood there, I took in the house. We were like an island in the middle of the sea. Our sea was the woods that surrounded us. The Victorian house sat upon a small hill. True to the era it was built in, it was a brick red with black trim. It stood majestically among the woods.

     I noticed a somber mood among the boys. It was their third day at a new school. There were going to be good days and bad days. Maybe today was a bad day for them. "Everything okay Dakota?" I asked him as we walked up the broad stairs.

     "Teachers were talking about an elementary student that went missing," he looked at me, sadness in his eyes.

    Landon spoke up, "But they said that his family wasn't the best."

     "So, they are assuming that his parents did something," Kayla shook her head. "Why do people have to be that cruel? Especially to their  children."

     "I wish I knew the answer," I hugged her as we reached the porch.

     I didn't want to tell them that there was a possibility that it wasn't the parents. The way the world is, it would be natural to jump to the parents. Hell, I remember reading a story about some parents up where my grandmother lived at. They killed their seven-month-old baby because they didn't want her parents to know that they had another child. That sickened me when I read that. Why the hell couldn't they be honest and put the child up for adoption?

    "Sis, where's Corey?" I heard Kayla ask me and I turned to look at her.

      She was old enough to know the ins and outs of relationships. "SIt down sis," I said as I took a seat in the wicker chair. For a moment, it creaked and I hoped that it wouldn't break on me. Her blue eyes looked at me as I took a deep breath. "Corey and I broke up. He cheated on me."

     "Why would he want to do that to a good person like you?" she asked me as she leaned back in the chair.

     "I wish I knew sis," I took out my cigarettes.

     "You look more angry about it," she pointed out and I raised an eyebrow.

     "I put my heart and soul into that relationship," I tilted my head back and thought to myself, "quite literally."

      She got up quietly to leave me alone with my thoughts. I wasn't thinking about what happened with Corey. It is what it is, done and over. I was more concerned that a child went missing. It could be his parents or it could be Jasper. Jasper reminded me of the fairy tale of the pied piper. But the pied piper used music to lure the children away to never be seen again. So, how is Jasper luring the children away?

    As I sat there thinking, a thought came to me. Then a light bulb came on inside my head. "What if he sings?" I asked myself out loud. If he did, that would explain part of it.

     I looked towards a gazebo that had a swing in the middle of it. It started moving though there was no breeze. As I sat there watching it, I heard young children laughing. Then the swing went still and there was no laughing. "I must be imagining things," I stood up and put my cigarette out.

     If I remembered correctly, the pied piper lured all the children in town away. No matter the age. Chesapeake was a big city, with a population of over two hundred thousand. How old was Jasper? All my dad and Jared said was that he was ancient.

     As I entered the house, I stood in the middle of the foyer looking around. My laptop was in my study and I was curious. The house was quiet without Mystic squawking or talking. "It is what it is," I told myself as I went into the study.