Three girls have disappeared in the small Town of Clear Springs.
At first, they were suspected of running away, bored with small town life.
But then the body of the mayor's daughter is found in the forest with no apparent cause of death and no DNA...
We were a wealthy family. My father was a doctor, and my mother was a medical researcher. My sister and I had everything children could want, except love. We were never neglected or abused, however, our parents did not shower us with affection. There were no bedtime stories from them, nor a mother's cool, gentle hand on a feverish brow.
My father must have cared for us to some degree as he sometimes sneaked a candy bar or a quick, awkward hug. Mostly, only our Nanny, Miss Doris gave us the love and affection children should receive.
Always in secret. Always while Mother was away.
Mother was a strict woman, no one dared cross or question her. I often found myself wondering about my parent's loveless marriage. They did not openly hate each other; they just had no love for one another. Sometimes I wondered whether Father would someday decide that he has had enough and leave Mother, taking us with him.
My aspiration was to become a psychiatrist or psychologist in order to understand human nature better. I became a scientist instead.
My sister, Cassie, was the only life in our house. She sang and danced, picked pretty flowers and presented them as gifts to Mother. Mother never scowled or frowned at Cassie the way she did at me or anyone else. I'm sure I once even saw her smile slightly at my sister.
Mother loved Cassie. She loved her the way a collector would love a delicate, rare doll.
Sometime after we turned 14 years of age, Cassie became ill. She did not sing and dance anymore and she was always too tired to pick flowers. She slept for longer and longer periods until she was rarely awake.
My mother proclaimed Father a failure as he brainstormed with his colleagues for a diagnosis and a cure. Eventually, some answers were found. Cassie had a very rare condition called Kleine-Levin or Sleeping Beauty Syndrome. Rarer still, the onset and progression were aggressively fast.
Cassie changed and aged as she lay still in her bed and would become distressed when awake. One day, she simply stopped waking up.
Mother became obsessed and for the first time in my life, there were the raised voices of my parents in our house. Cassie's room became a hospital room complete with tubes and machines to sustain life.
A life wasted while she slept.
Years went by and I went off to university, leaving my dear sister behind until Mother phoned me one night telling me that I had to come home. Of course, I complied and left the very next day.
She asked me to meet her in her private laboratory as what she had to tell me was confidential. Nervous and equally thrilled at the prospect of seeing where she spent most of her time, I made my way there as soon as I arrived.
Mother was agitated and with good reason. She'd overheard Father planning with a colleague and close friend to end Cassie's life. We made plans of our own. It took a few days of preparation; I could not allow Father to do this unspeakable thing. Cassie was a part of me, the only good part.
Mother smiled at me then, when I served my father tea infused with the drugs she gave me as part of our plan. She patted my shoulder when I rolled him into the grave I'd prepared earlier that day.
When we drove away, she told me that she was proud of me.
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