Vanished

• Michela Noble, Grade 11
• Short Story
• 2011

Vanished

Lilly was a little girl of 8 years; she lived in a house with blue shutters and door with a window on the top. There was a tire swing in the front yard. And behind the house lead to a path that lead to the woods.

But Lilly’s big brother Mark was a bad boy, he hurt the next-door neighbors cats and poisoned Lilly’s fish. He was a bad boy, and one day he didn’t come home. Lilly’s parents were worried and called the police, for days and days they looked, but no one could find Mark. He’d vanished without a trace…

Lilly’s parents were devastated but they vowed to be strong for their now only child

Four years later, Lilly was turning 12, she was excited because her parents were giving her a party, in the backyard with all her friends, but most of all she was excited because her crush Danny was coming. It was to be a great day.

And it was, Lilly had a lot of fun and her and her friends had a great time. But Lilly was secretly upset, Danny hadn’t come. But still Lilly was happy. Later that night when all of Lilly’s friends had gone home and Lilly was getting ready for bed. Lilly’s parents got a call. It was from Danny’s mum, she was very worried, because Danny had not come home. Lilly’s parents told Danny’s mum that Danny had never come to the party. But Danny’s mum told Lilly’s dad that she had dropped Danny off at the front door.

So with a new mystery on their hands the police showed up at Lilly’s house again with Danny’s mum who the police called Mrs. Brown. This brought up many memories of Marks disappearance and Lilly’s parents got very upset. Together everyone looked for sign that Danny might have been there but they found nothing…
Danny had vanished without a trace…

For Lilly who had seen this twice now, everything seemed to happen in fast forward, until the day that Lilly’s parents announced that they were leaving, moving into the city, away from the woods. And Lilly’s parents seemed happy there, where people disappeared on a daily basis, but they didn’t care because none of these people were Lilly.

Four years later. “Mummy, why did we have to move here, the woods look scary”, said a little boy called Alex who was only 7 years old. “that’s cause there’s ghosts here”, said Janey, Alex’s big sister who laughed then went back to the car. But for the little boy who stood staring at a house with blue shutters and a tire swing in the front yard and a door with a window in the top. It was the scariest thing he’d ever seen.

Later that week, Lilly who was now 16, was watching the news when she saw a picture of a little boy flash up on the screen. A missing little boy called Alex.
Vanished without a trace…