Jackson's story

Prologue

"Lying is done with words and also...with silence."

Everyone's told a lie before. And I'm not talking about the lies you told as a kid telling your mom you "didn't get into the cookie jar." I'm talking about a straight up lie to someone you care about, to someone you love. But why? Are you trying to protect someone or just protect yourself? Do you lie because you care about them? I mean, if you cared about them, why would you lie in the first place?

My name is Jackson Daniels. I live in a small Texan town, living the life a twenty-year old would. Or at least I used to.

It all started on peaceful, regular morning when I was on my way to the store to pick up food. I'd like going because it was how I stayed in the loop. In other words, gossip traveled fast. As I walked down the grain aisle, I heard people talking.

"Yeah, the old farmer Joe is claiming he's missing one of his sheep," gossiped one mother to another.

The one who had just heard the gossip rolled her eyes in disbelief, "He's crazy!"

They then went on to talk about the recent episode of The Bachelorette and I stopped listening. I wasn't really worried about some farmer missing his sheep, even it was coyotes the old farmer would take care of it. And he was getting old anyway and probably miscounted one of the two-hundred sheep he had.

Then other farmers and people started losing animals. Dogs, cats, ducks, cows, horses, sheep, lambs, pigs, llamas, goats, birds; any animal that anyone could own, stolen. Suspicions rose, but nothing was done. Not until there was a house broken into. Tables were thrown, the place looked like it had been raided, and the owners were nowhere to be seen..

I admit, I was getting a little worried, but I owned a couple guns so I could take care of myself if the need arose. The mayor organized search parties and asked for volunteers since he was too cheap to actually pay a sheriff. Long story short, I ended up getting signed up for the search party.

That fateful first night of searching would change my life forever.