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Little Child Lost

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By GaylePublished 2 years ago 7 min read
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Grandpop's Story

"The cabin in the woods had been abandoned for years, but one night, a candle burned in the window." Jake whispered to his sister as they walked towards home, “The spirits return every year at this time”.

The smaller child of ten short years looked up at her brother scowling. He was two and a half years older and responsible for walking her home from school. “Grandpop told you that to scare you, it is not true,” Mandy made another face at her brother.

Jesse tried to hide a smile, “Well if that is your opinion then we should go there tonight and find out.” He was goading her and never expected her to take him up on it. Jesse was head and shoulders taller than his sister, she had her head down thinking, and her soft golden curls bounced as she walked. Suddenly she stopped and turned around.

“Sounds like fun” another voice behind him stopped Jesse in his tracks. His heart was pounding, and his mouth suddenly went slack.

“Will you go with us Sarah?” Mandy asked smiling up at the older girl. Sarah was almost as tall as Jesse, the same age, and the object of Jesse’s heart. She smiled, her green eyes sparkled, and her long golden hair slipped off her shoulder as she leaned in close to hear Jesse’s answer. He swallowed hard his voice left him with her so close.

Mandy knew Jesse had a huge crush on Sarah and if Sarah agreed to go then she was sure Jesse would too. Sarah was also aware of Jesse’s crush, and she was beginning to like the attention he lavished on her. At first she didn’t care, he had liked her since kindergarten, only in the past year had she made up her mind to encourage him. “Are you bringing Zander?” Jesse asked drily. Zander had been doing everything in his power to steal Sarah’s attention from Jesse, he was a year older and a complete jerk.

Suddenly it all made sense, Jesse had been pulling away lately and Sarah couldn’t figure out why, he never spent time with other girls, or even other guys, he left school and walked his sister home. Before he would let her tag along when they stopped at the old five and dime and got a soda or ice cream. He didn’t have baseball practice anymore and he had been ducking out right after the bell. Scooting around in front of Jesse, Sarah grabbed his shirt and pulled him closer, he looked up into the bluest eyes he had ever seen. “I have zero interest in that loser, I like being with you, so what gives you the idea that I want him around instead?”

Trying hard to think with her so close his voice failed him. “Gina said you was passing notes with Zander and you was going to go to the kissing tree with him.” Mandy piped up.

Both Sarah and Jesse looked at her in surprise. Jesse never expected Mandy to tell Sarah what he had told her was the reason Sarah didn’t walk home with them anymore. Sarah furrowed her brow. “Gina huh well that is a bald face lie. Sure, he passed me notes and I told him to kiss off. If he told Gina that then he is lying through his teeth. I have half a mind to knock them out for him.” Sarah said anger clear in her voice. She then looked at Jesse, who still hadn’t said a word, “You believed those liars?” Her face was one of hurt and disappointment. “Why not just ask me about it?”

Jesse sighed softly, “I didn’t want to believe it, but I did see you pass him a note and you were smiling, and he was too when he read it. I guess, I just didn’t want to hear you say it.” His auburn hair shining like copper in the late afternoon sun slipped over one eye, he was badly in need of a haircut.

Letting go of his shirt Sarah gently pushed the hair back, she let her hand linger a while as she thought this through. “If he smiled it was to cover the rude remark I wrote. I told him if he was the only boy in town, I would choose another girl over him. I have zero interest in him and besides I am not ready for all that kissing stuff, and when I am ready, I will let . . . you . . . know.” A smile played on Jesse’s lips, and he nodded. Then Sarah shocked him when she stepped aside and slipped her hand in his, they began walking again. “I will meet you at seven tonight” she said looking at Mandy, “I am curious about this cabin too.”

When they reached Sarah’s driveway, she squeezed Jesse’s hand and trotted off toward home. For a long while Jesse stood watching her until he couldn’t see her anymore. Mandy giggled, “you got it bad brother.” He didn’t care right now, he had just found out Sarah wanted to be around him, no one else, just him.

At seven sharp, Jesse and Mandy were waiting at the end of the drive. Jesse smiled when he saw her hurrying out. “I told momma that were had to finish writing our English paper.” She grinned at him. “How did you and Mandy get out?”

“We turned Oyster loose and set him on a rabbit. Momma gave us lanterns and told us if we didn’t find him by nine to come home without him, she wasn’t losing her kids over some idiot dog.” Jesse said as he held up a sack. “We figure that if they are ghosts, we will get a picture with pop’s old polaroid.” Sarah nodded and they started off for the cabin in the woods.

“Not sure if you can get pictures of ghosts,” Sarah said softly. The trail to the wasn’t that long, but it was hard to navigate, the lanterns helped a lot since the clouds were hiding the moon right now. As the picked their way through the thick brush Jesse began to tell Grandpop’s story.

“See there was a little family that lived here, they were the grandchildren of some slaves that escaped from this big plantation over in Mississippi. Grandpop said the slave owners kept on trying to hunt down the ones that escaped even after the war and Grandpop’s daddy helped these folks hide. When things settled the family built this here cabin and waited for their grandpop to make his way down from Virginia.” He hesitated then and Sarah looks at him closely.

“What happened did the grandpop make it down here?” Sarah was not liking the face Jesse was making, he looked over at little Mandy.

Mandy remembered what her grandfather had said, “He come down and found that all the family was killed there in the cabin, all but one,” A little tear trickled down Mandy’s cheek.

Jesse hugged his sister, they had almost reached the cabin, “Yeah there are five graves in the back of the cabin, plus the grandfather’s grave. Grandpop said he lived there in that cabin for ten years and every night he put a candle in the window for his missing granddaughter to find her way home.”

Sarah stared at him and then looked around, where does this path come out?” She asked edging a little closer to Jesse.

The big trees were old and filled with moss, even a slight breeze made it appear as though spirits were moving among them. The moon still behind the clouds made a very dark and spooky, it was difficult to see the path. Jesse set his lantern down and turned it up a bit, he then lit Mandy’s and handed it to Sarah. Mandy walked between them.

Suddenly Jesse stumbled into a clearing and almost into a wooden cross. He looked around and there were more crosses. Sarah grabbed his hand, “look she hissed.” Jesse looked up and in the window was a small red candle burning. Now Sarah grabbed tighter to him dropping her lantern. “I – I t-thought you s-said there were o-only fi-five graves.” She hissed. The lantern had spilled out and one of the crosses caught fire and in its glow – there were now five other graves, the nearest one looked fresh and the others looked new, like they had just been dug.

“Mandy,” Jesse cried, “She’ gone, MANDY” he screamed MANDY she had vanished!

Mystery
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About the Creator

Gayle

Grammy and just love to write here in sunny Florida.

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  • Yuley Burrow2 years ago

    How do you just change the name of the boy in the first two paragraphs?

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