Tara's Story

Chapter 1: From the beginning

My name is Tara Green and this is my story. When I was just 15 years of age and my sister Emma was 13, my parents dumped us in a forest near Armindale, N.S.W (New South Wales). I still don’t fully understand why they did it ,but it’s easier to forget the past and move on. Years later, I wrote a diary entry of the events I could remember, of the terrible memories that would stay with me forever.

22nd March, 1993

I remember waking up screaming, being in total shock. 'It’s just a dream,' I thought, and it is just a dream. Emma was fast asleep on the other bed beside me. I tried to get back to sleep, but I couldn’t. I had millions of thoughts running though my head per second, it was driving me insane. It had been a whole day since we’d been abandoned here in the forest. I could still remember it crystal clear. Mum, Dad, Emma, and I were driving back from the shops. Dad drove down an unfamiliar road down and into a forest miles out from town. I don’t know why but I could sense something bad was going to happen. Then dad pulled up on the side of the road. I heard Emma ask why we were stopping, but he just ignored her. He and mum jumped out of the car and told us to follow. Then dad opened the boot and grabbed out a shopping bag and handed it to me. It had food in it. Mum gave Emma a big bag with blankets and two pillows. Emma cried, "Mummy, Daddy what’s happening?" I knew what they were up to, I just could just sense it, but I didn’t what to believe what I was thinking. I was right, they hopped back into the car and drove off leaving me and Emma alone in the middle of nowhere. I remember crying for what seemed to be like hours. Then reality hit me.

29th March, 1993

Exactly a week later, and we were still stranded here. Emma wasn’t coping well, neither was I. I thought they’d come back for us, that this was some type of cruel joke to punish us for always fighting with each other. I wasn’t that I didn’t love Emma, because I did, we just fought more than your typical sisters should. Maybe it was because we were so different, Emma was popular, and I wasn’t. I didn’t mind, only that she acted different when she was around her friends, becoming the main cause of our fights. It’s been challenging trying to fend for ourselves, today we had to go hunting for our own food, and let’s just say that was a fail. Some days we go without food, water wasn’t an issue as we’d found a beautiful waterfall that wasn’t too far away. Your probably wondering where we slept, well we found a hut. Emma noticed it first and scared me out of my day dreams. It wasn’t much, but it was shelter. We wondered if maybe someone had lived here as there were two beds made out of sticks and branches inside. We were yet to discover the truth.

3rd April, 1993

Five days later and everything still remained the same. Emma and I walked around for hours trying to find some type of route that would take us to a road, but we soon realized that we were walking around in circles, and gave up. I blamed myself for not taking notice of how we got here in the first place. Emma and I talked about what would happen to us if we ever got out of here. Would we go back to our parents, or would we make a life your ourselves somehow. No matter what, I would refuse to be separated from Emma, she was all I had. Emma told me it wouldn’t be long, she said one of her friends would notice she was gone and they’d find us. Poor Emma, she’d always tried to think of the most unrealistic outcomes to save the day.

Our family wasn’t what you’d called remotely functional. Ever since we were little we never got along with our parents. I’m sure deep down somewhere in their hearts they did really love us, but they had weird ways of showing it. Emma and I would’ve left long ago, but we didn’t did have any “close family” in the same town as us. When we’d lived in Tasmania, I was happy. As mum and dad were never around, we always went to our aunts and uncles. They loved having us at their house, and we loved going there. So when mum and dad told us we’d be moving, we knew that we probably wouldn’t see them again. We moved to a new town, and quickly made a new group of friends, but I’d always wondered about our aunt and uncle.

A year later mum got a phone call from my aunt; she had called to tell us our uncle had died. She said he’d died of a heart attack and that it was a total shock as he’d always been fit and healthy. My parents refused to go to the funeral, they’d never really cared. Emma and I begged them though blood, sweat and tears, but their answer still remained no. That was the day I started really hating my parents, seeing them as the cruel hearted people they really were.

6th of April, 1993

I thought I was just being paranoid when I heard sounds coming from the bushes nearby, but then Emma heard it too. It startled her making her let out a loud piercing scream. Before we knew it a man appeared from behind the bushes. He looked young and harmless, but in ways suspicious.

“God, calm down”, comes a voice from the man staring at us with angry eyes.

“Sorry”, Emma and I whisper before we sprint off into the distance.

I remember wondering how this man had found us, had he been secretly spying on us all this time.

“Stop running, please”, yells the man…

“Tara, I’m getting tired, can we please stop?",

“Emma! We have no idea what this man wants, he could kill us Emma. Do you want to die?"

“Well of course not, what a stupid question…"

We were running for a few minutes more before we’d finally out ran him.

“I’m scared Tara, what did he want?"

“I know Emma, me to, but we have to stay strong."

“Do you really think that will work?”

“Well, we’ll have to be careful”

We were yet to unravel this man’s secret, the one that would destroy everything….