Safe Spaces

The stars dance across the sky as the young girl lies on the cool ground. She watches as they twinkle and shine. The moon is bright and big tonight and the sky clear. She loves it when it is like this. She can smell the wet moss and damp leaves all about her. Nights like this have always been her favorite, at least for as long as she can remember. As morning comes she rises with the sun. She doesn't really sleep but she doesn't seem to need too. She's never tired. She sits or lies in her favorite spot and watches the dark sky turn to a mix of orange and pink, then to a lovely bright blue, depending on the day.

She has a predictable daily routine. She starts by watching the sky and the things around her, wondering and wandering and trying to remember things she knows but that feel distant and lost. Everything kind of runs together in her mind. She walks about these woods that she calls home. She watches the birds sing and fly about. She watches the bugs crawling through the dirt and over the fallen limbs and leaves. Occasionally, she comes across a deer or fox, maybe a raccoon. She remembers her mother telling her to never approach them, watch from a distance. They could bite or attack if they feel threatened. Which seems so silly to her now. How could little her be perceived as a threat to anything. As many times as she has ran into these creatures, they've never acted afraid of her. They don't even seem to realize she's there. Her mother must have just been being overprotective. She misses her mother, when did she see her last? Every day the image of her mom gets more and more blurry, her voice like a faded dream. Her home, her family, she can't even remember her own name at this anymore. She does remember her age. She is 8 years old. She just turned 8 and there was a fun party. All her friends where there. She also remembers that she loves school, though she feels like it's been forever since she's been. Hopefully they aren't mad at her about that. She loves animals and music too.

She doesn't like the feeling of forgetting so she tries to concentrate on the now. How pretty the flowers are and how nice the stream sounds as it flows over the small rocks. The same walk every day. The same trees and plants. It's quite peaceful actually. On some days, she walks through the woods to a small back road at the far side. It's never really busy but she likes to watch what cars do go by and sometimes a bus or firetruck will pass. She loves those the most. The days blur together as she follows her simple little schedule. How long has she been here again? No, no, don't think about it. It's to confusing. She hates being confused.

As the day starts to shift to night again, she makes her way back to her special spot. It's a dried up part of the creek. it looks as if some bigger rocks fell in at the fork of it and blocked off that part of the creek that eventually dried up over time. It's a bit of a steep ditch now. A bit of ways down that empty creek bed is a shiny metal box. It's a pretty big box, it looks like something she's seen before on the back of the trucks that sometimes drive by on the little back road. It's just a bit rusted from the rain. She doesn't know where it came from, how it got here. It looks heavy but It's been there for as long as she has, at least. But she likes this box, it's different and it feels familiar to her some how. More familiar then the rest of area anyways. It's perfectly positioned with enough of an opening above to see the night sky. And it's hidden in the dried up stream surrounded by big stones and shrubs, so it's secluded and calm at night. Hidden away from all. You probably couldn't find it if you didn't already know it was there. It's her special spot.

One day, as the young girl was going about her normal walk, she heard an unfamiliar sound. It was like a loud bang, that echoed through the whole forest. And then after, the faint sound of people talking. She followed the noise, away from her usual path, a different part of the wooded area a bit farther out. She never walked out this way. She didn't want to get to far from her safe spot. But she had to know what was happening. It feels like to long since she's talked to anyone or even seen a person up close.

She jumped as another bang rang out. She walked a bit faster until she was full on sprinting, pushing through the thicker trees and bushes. Finally she found them, the people she heard. They were sitting up on a weird platform in the trees. There were two men and two younger boys, one looked to be her age and the other maybe a teen. These people were dressed strange, from head to toes in a weird green colored clothing. She can't remember what that type of clothing was called. But she had seen it before. They had guns. That was the sound, a gunshot. She had never heard one before, in person, but remembers her mother warning her about them and how dangerous they could be.

For the next few hours she sat nearby the tree with the people in it and she watched. She didn't get to close because she remembers being told not to talk to strangers. That saying makes her stomach twist. Strangers are dangerous. So she sits and watches from a far. They sit up there, watching and waiting for something. Occasionally, one of the grown men shoot at something in the distance. A deer, she thinks. Whatever it was, they kept missing and then immediately after they would talk a bit, the kids would laugh. They all seemed to be having fun. She wished she could just go up and talk to them. But at the same time, she was a bit afraid. The sun starts to lower in the sky. The group comes down from their tree tower. She watches as they shove there guns and bags into boxes in the back of their truck. The boys are goofing off and chasing each other. The girl giggles a bit as she watches them. She must have made to much noise because the younger boy stops and looks at her. She stops and ducks down a bit. She doesn't want to get into trouble.

The boy seems to be staring right at her. He doesn't say anything though, just stares. He glances back at the others and then back at her. It wasn't until he started to move in her direction that she panicked. She didn't want to get into trouble so she ran. She ran through the trees and brush. She jumped over fallen tree limbs and stones. The sun is barely in the sky anymore so it is getting difficult to see. But she can hear him behind her. Why is he chasing her? Why did she stay there and watch them? They are going to be mad at her for spying. She could hear her mother's voice, telling her to not be so nosey. People don't like it.

She sees the familiar creek and knows she's close, close to her safe spot. If she can just get to her hidden place, she can hide and everything will be okay. She can't hear him any more but she knows he's still behind her. She tries to dodge behind some big trees and run around to her special spot, without being seen. Maybe she's lost him. She sees her shiny metal box and climbs down into the dried up, hidden crevasse. She curls up as small as possible against the side of her box and she waits. She hears him. He's breathing heavy as he paces around. He can hear the men calling in the distance. James!!, they scream. Why doesn't he listen to them? Why doesn't he go away? Why is she so scared?

She jumps as she hears a slight scream and a thud into the ditch on the other side of the box. It's gotten to dark, he must have not seen the drop and has fallen in. She peeks over the edge of her box and watches, shaking in fear, as this stranger grabs ahold of her box to help lift himself up. He doesn't seem to notice her now, so she stays down. The men are closer, still yelling for him. He yells back a bit more afraid now, startling her yet again. His voice is filled with the pain of the fall and he's panicking a bit, as well. What does he have to be afraid of? He's the one that chased her? He's the one that's in her special place?

The men have found them now. They are standing above the ditch and the metal box, breathing heavily. But they're gasping and gagging now too. Do they think she's that disgusting? Why on earth are they acting so rude? One of the men grab the scraped up child out of the ditch. They are all holding their nose and looking down at her and her box.

What is that smell? Is there a dead animal nearby? What is this doing out here? Why did you run off, James?

She doesn't smell anything. She hasn't seen any dead things. What is wrong with these people? The girl tries to respond to some of the questions. But they seem to ignore her and the girl is tired of it. They won't acknowledge her and she's tired of them being there. So she stands up and yells at them to go away! But they don't. Instead, still ignoring her, they are reaching for her box. They are pushing away bushes and plants and dirt. They are pulling at the rusted latches that are locking the box closed. It doesn't want to budge. The girl's stomach is in knots. She doesn't know why but she really doesn't want them to open it. She doesn't want them touching it at all. Just go away!

Stop!, She cries out. She tries to get there attention but still no one listens. Finally one of the men pull out a large knife. He wedges the latches open and the two men open the box as the boys stand above them, watching. She's in tears, shaking. She's both terrified and angry. The two men step back, gasping. One man is cussing and pushing the two boys away, trying to block their view. But they have already looked, and the color has drained from their faces. The other man is shaking and has stumbled away from the box. He pulls a phone out of his pocket and starts tapping at it. He's stammering on while he talks to the person on the other end of the call. The girl moves past him and approaches the metal box, her metal box that she spent so many nights with. Her safe space, wide open for the first time. She peered inside and immediately her heart sank. It... was her. She looks down at her small frame, curled up and decaying in the bottom of that metal box. And then it comes flooding back to her, everything that happened hits her at once. Tears fill her eyes as the memories return and she lets out the most pain filled scream she had in her. A scream that shook the whole forest.

Moments pass and the police have arrived, though to her it felt like hours. The quiet, beautiful forest is now cloudy and noisy and broken. The peace is gone. The confusion is gone. It's nothing but sadness and pain now. Someone is taking pictures of the area. Police are talking to the men and children and other people have pulled the girl's remains from the metal box and put them in a bag. The news article read the next day:

Missing Kentucky Girl Found

Missing girl Lena Maria Torez, (age 8) remains have been found. Lena went missing 7 months ago, May 3rd, 2021, two days after her 8th birthday party. She was last seen with her mother in Louisville, Kentucky at a local park. Her mother stated she had looked away for a moment to check a message on her phone. When she glanced back up Lena was gone. Another woman and her daughter claimed to have seen Lena walk off with another child towards the parking lot before losing sight of them. Authorities believe Lena and the other child had gotten into a blue 1999 Ford F-150 with an older male. The truck was seen leaving the park shortly after.

The girl's remains were found in a secluded, wooded area two counties over, by a group of hunters. She was found in a truck bed toolbox that matches the one seen in the truck that was witnessed leaving the park. A suspect is being questioned and we will update as more information is found.

Lena was there when they took her body. Lena was there when they informed her mother. She watched her mother fall apart as they explained what had happened to her. Kidnapping gone wrong, they said. Her skull was fractured during a struggle and she bled out in that toolbox. She was there when they arrested the man. The man who used his young nephew to lure her to his truck. As they drove away she tried to escape, tried to jump from the truck. She hit her head hard in the process. He could have drove away. She could have been found and taken to the hospital where she could have survived. But he stopped, afraid, he shoved her into his trucks tool box and then abandoned her in the woods... where she died. She was there when he plead guilty and was granted life in prison, instead of the death penalty, which her mother and so many others fought so hard for. She was there for her funeral, as they lowered the shimmery blue coffin into the ground. An upgrade from the rusty, cold metal box she was in before. They even buried her with her favorite stuffed toy, in her favorite blue dress.

Lena watched as her mother, her friends, her family, and complete strangers gathered around and cried for her. They prayed for her. They loved her. She was never alone. And then, just like that, all the fear, sadness, confusion, and loneliness was replaced. She felt something pulling her on and she knew it was finally done. She had peace at last.