T he screen is still here. It rises up at end of the the massive
field, still stretched on its frame like at any moment the
projector will kick on, and a film will play. Part of me
waits for that to happen, for this whole thing to turn into
a horror movie and the screen to start showing the gruesome final mo-
ments of one of the missing children. But the screen stays still and blank,
and I can turn my attention to the sea of cars spread across the field.
The clamshell ramps of the original design of the drive-in are still
evident; only now, the cars filling them are in various stages of damage,
decay, in a tenuous, tipping balance that threatens to topple at any sec-
ond. In others, adrenaline-fueled teenage sprees have left windshields
smashed in and pieces of trim scattered on the ground. My breath rattles
in my chest.
"How are we supposed to know which car it is?" I ask. "There are
thousands."
"We just have to start looking," Sam says. "That's all we can do."
He turns to the cars of search party members and officers who needed
his call to come to the old drive-in. People spill-out, armed with bottles of
water, flashlights, and long sticks. Some put on rugged work gloves and
secure them around their wrists with Velcro straps. They're preparing
to dismantle the tangled caresses of the vehicles to search for whatever
was left for us by hand.
Another car skids into place, diagonally blocking the way of one of
the squad cars. Before the engine is completely silent, the door opens,
and Caleb's mother jumps out. Her feet touch the ground in a full run as
she descends the small hill toward Sam and me.
"Where is he?" she screams. "Where's my baby?"
"Kendra, you need to calm down," Sam says, holding up his hands to
stop her progress.
"Don't tell me to calm down. I heard you were out here searching.
You're searching for Caleb. You're searching for my baby."
"We don't know what we're searching for right," I try to tell her.
"The tip we got didn't provide any information. We don't even know for
sure anything is out here?
"You don't really believe that. You found that little girl. Did you get a
YOU ARE READING
The Girl that vanished
Gizem / GerilimA ten year old girl has vanished on her way home from camp. And things took a turn for the worse when another child, a child that Emma knows, goes missing. Disappearances death and tragedies have followed Emma Griffin throughout her childhood. Her o...
