When The End Comes Too Soon

*

Lily Thompson was well known around town. When asked, people would often describe her as an adventurous, fun-loving and kind-hearted little girl. A little spit fire whose heart was as tender as the flower petals she made her wishes on.

To know her was to love her, especially her playful side.

She was as beautiful as she was sweet. Her hair was the color of freshly drilled coal, dark and shiny black wisps with random strands of auburn. When she smiled, her hazel eyes flashed a hint of red and orange that framed her ivory skin like a picture. It was obvious when she was feeling especially ornery, as her cheeks would turn the softest color of pink, similar to the roses that grew along the white picket fences, near the lake where she played.

She was born the youngest of four, her brothers; Bret, Bobby and Bartholomew, (Bart Jr.), so, as the Thompson's tiny tomboy, she knew no fear. Though she barely weighed sixty pounds, she was more than capable of keeping up with whatever the boys were doing, usually pushing the envelope of what her mama thought was appropriate for such a petite little girl.

She was Bart and Pam Thompson's only baby girl, though, on occasion, she would challenge the toughest boys in town, for the fun of it.

She had just turned seven the weekend she went missing.

For her birthday, her mother had planned a small party at the house. She made frilly party favors and filled the backyard with ribbons and balloons. Lily was disgusted.

"I want to go fishing and swimming at the river, like Bart Jr. got to do last year," she argued.

"But honey," her mother prodded. "None of your girlfriends want to play in that mudhole, get upstairs and put on that dress I have laid out for you."

Lily began to complain, when the tone in her mother's glance, suggested otherwise.

"FINE!" she shouted, as she stomped out of the kitchen.

When her father arrived home, he had brought a beautiful arrangement of roses and daises in a Snoopy vase, (Lily's favorite) that he had found online. Knowing this would thrill Lily, he made his way to her door singing Lily's favorite cartoon theme song, from Phineas and Ferb:

"There's a hundred and four days of summer vacation , 'till school comes along just to end it . So, the annual problem for our generation , is finding a good way to spend it.... Like maybe, "

As he swung open the door, wearing his biggest, goofiest smile, he realized, Lily was not in her room.

He hollered down to his wife, "Pam, where is Lily?"

"She'd better be getting her dress on; her friends will be here anytime." She answered, a little irritated.

He walked into the kitchen and put the vase on the counter next to her cake. "I'll check the basement." A few minutes later he growled under his breath, "let me look outside."

Pam furrowed her brows and in her motherly tone mumbled, "that girl, I'm gonna...." Before she could finish her comment, Bart was back in the house yelling at the boys to come help him find the birthday girl. There was a slight hint of panic in his voice. This was not like Lily.

As the party guests began to arrive, everyone searched around the house calling for Lily to come out.

Bart and Pam made eye contact, "it'll be ok honey, I'll check the treehouse."

Bart ran down the narrow, gravel path, through the birch trees, to the clearing under the big oak where they'd built her fort last summer. He climbed up the wooden ladder and crawled into the structure and yelled Lily's name forcefully. But there was no answer, no sign of her anywhere.

About forty-five minutes had passed when Pam called her brother, police chief, Danny Boren. Although it was too early to make an official report, Danny gathered as many people as he could find. By nightfall, the entire town was scouring the neighborhood to find Lily.

How could a child simply disappear?

The boys went to all of the hiding spots Lily liked to use when they played hide and seek. The Thompson's neighbor took searchlights on his boat and trolled the little inlet where the river came to shore, out behind the neighborhood.

Lily's mom sat alone in the kitchen holding Lily's birthday dress in her hands, tears blinded her sight. As she sobbed, Pam thought she saw someone in front of her, a dark figure, she was sure she heard them whisper, "it's ok, she is safe now."

She bolted out of the house calling for Bart, she screamed what she'd heard, trying to make sense of it all. No-one else saw or heard anything, so Bart asked the paramedics to administer a light sedative to help her relax, All the while, she kept trying to tell them about the blurred figure in the kitchen and what they had whispered to her.

As the sun began to rise, the police dogs alerted to something just steps away from the treehouse in the flower garden.

*

Her tender breaths escaped toward heaven

a soft gentle smile remains there on her lips

The flush color of pink visible on her pale skin

A tiny tear lingers, puddled under her lids

Her short life was taken, long before they intended

Along with her future and sweet innocence

A friend of the family, he pretended

Lured her into his car at just a half past six

The beast deep inside him demanded a treasure

Craved the goodness she held with no regard for her life

With nowhere to hide she pleaded for answers

It crawled out of his shell and looked her straight in the eyes

His skin bubbled and stretched like some sort of cancer

It twisted and distorted him like Jekyll to Hyde

From the deepest dark caverns stood before her a monster

The devil himself, no remorse for her cries

They found her that morning in a mountain of petals

Roses and daisies covered her head to toe

They never discovered who buried the angel

Or why she was taken, heaven only knows