Caitlen Thomas was bored.
Her grandmother, Sadie, having both a thirteen year old and a seventeen year old to worry about, didn’t quite know what to do with her young charge. So, she did what busy women often do – she allowed the girl free reign. Her grandfather, Robert, more worried about the crops in the fields than the entertainment of a five year old, mostly kept to himself. The two boys, after working hard in the field, were not interested in amusing a five year old. This left Caitlen on her own.
The huge house was the perfect place for a five year old to explore. Built in the 1800s, it had the big and ornate design of the Victorian age. The home had two stories, not including the cellar and attic. The ceilings were unusually high.
Since arriving at the beginning of summer, Caitlen had explored nearly every floor. She had rummaged throughout the basement, breaking a jar of her grandmother’s canned tomatoes in the process. She ran through the first floor, until her carrying on had finally disturbed her grandmother enough to banish her to the outside.
Today, however; the rains had come, making it impossible for her to be outside. Even her grandfather and two uncles, after tending to the farm animals, were shacked up. The two boys were playing chess. Her grandfather was catching up on some paperwork.
Caitlen decided to amuse herself in the attic. She quietly walked up the stairs, careful not to disturb anyone, lest they inform her that the attic was off limits. She opened the door at the top of the stairs, a blast of trapped summer heat caused her to take a step backward. She moved back up the stairs and closed the door behind her.
The attic was loaded with boxes and trunks all covered in a heavy layer of dust. The place smelled of mothballs. Caitlen found it difficult to breathe, as the air was heavy with heat. She sneezed and then held her breath, hoping no one in the house below had heard her.
They hadn’t.
Caitlen began her walk through the stacks of boxes and trunks. She dragged her hand through the dust as she made her way to the other side of the attic. The flurry of dust particles brought on another sneeze. Again, she paused and again, no one heard.
Once reaching the far side of the attic, she came to an old wardrobe. Standing beside it was an old full-length mirror. Caitlen admired herself in the mirror for a moment before pulling on the wardrobe’s handles. The wood creaked as it stuck in place. Caitlen put all of her five-year-old strength into it. The door finally gave, causing her to thump on the floor in a pile of dust.
There was no response from downstairs.
Caitlen stood up and brushed herself off. She looked into the dark wardrobe and wished that she had a light. She pushed the doors open even farther. She could see something glitter on the bottom shelf. She reached in and pulled it out. It was a small tiara.
Caitlen squealed with joy at her discovery. A real tiara! Now, she could look like the princess she was. She placed the tiara on her head and danced around in front of the mirror. The mirror, being covered in a layer of dust, didn’t reflect her image back to her as brightly as it should. Caitlen reached out her hand to clean the mirror and vanished.
Hours later, Sadie began to call for her. Daylight had faded and the rains changed to a bad storm. When Sadie could not locate her energetic granddaughter, she sent Robert out to look for her.
Robert grumbled about children wandering off, but he went. He checked the hayloft first. Caitlen knew better than to climb the rickety old ladder to the top and play among the bails of hay. But, Robert knew that a playhouse such as that would be irresistible to an five year old.
Robert called her name, before resigning himself to climbing the ladder. Once at the top, he called her name again. “Caitlen, now you come on out of there.” He received no response. He heard a noise toward the back. Grumbling about Caitlen’s obvious disrespect, he pulled himself the rest of the way up. He walked to the back of the loft. “Caitlen, you come on out of there!”
There was no answer, just the rattling of the wind and the tapping of the rain on the tin roof.
Robert moved a bail of hay and was startled as a young bird took off flying. He dropped the bail, as he turned to watch the bird soar out of sight. Peering over the rest of the stack, he saw no sign of Caitlen.
Robert climbed back down the ladder and searched the rest of the barn. No sign of Caitlen. He began the walk through the pastures, but didn’t make it too far. The wind shifted into high geared and buckets of rain fell down upon him. He headed back to the house, cursing the bad weather and wondering just where his small grandchild ran off.
Robert was surprised to find the sheriff’s car in his driveway. He rushed into the house, just in time to hear Sadie say that Caitlen had vanished into thin air.
"Vanished? Little girls don't just vanished, ma'am,” the sheriff's deputy said. "She must've wandered off and gotten herself lost." He closed his notebook and tucked it inside his jacket. "With this rain, it'll be pretty hard to find her, but I'm sure she's probably all right."
Sadie spotted Robert. “Did you find her?”
Robert shook his head. “She’s not out in the barn and the rain prevented me from going to far out into the pasture.”
“I’ll keep a look out for her,” the sheriff said. “She probably ran to the Thompson’s when the rain started getting bad. I’ll check with them.”
"Thank you," Sadie said. She was trembling with fright. How in the world could she possibly tell her daughter that she had lost her only child?
"Well, better get on back out there," the deputy said. "Let us know if she wanders on back home."
"We'll do that," Robert said. "We'll be sure to do that."
The deputy turned back around. "Don't worry, ma'am. I'm sure she'll show up."
She never did.
¶ 10:38 AM
