Secrets Buried In The Snow

Red and blue lights spattered against the fresh, quiet snow that blanketed our normally boring neighborhood. These lights were different- harsh, urgent, and nothing like the twinkling Christmas lights that had promised a wonderful holiday. Cop cars were parked in front of the house across the street. My best friend’s house. Samantha’s house.

The sound of low voices and the squeak of the front door opening and closing is what had woken me up from my sleep. I sat up with a yawn, bleary eyes seeing that my clock read 2:13 A.M. The flashing lights woke me up further. I slipped out of bed, sliding my feet into my purple slippers and grabbed my polka dot blanket off my bed to wrap around myself. I tip toed over to the window to see what was going on.

The first thing I saw were the police cars, sirens off but lights dancing, with their uniformed occupants walking around the neighborhood with flashlights in their hands. Mrs. Kinley, Samantha’s mom, was in the middle of their snowy yard frantically talking to a woman in a long coat who was writing something down on a yellow notepad. Mr. Kinley stood beside his wife, one hand on the small of her back but he did not seem to be aware of what was being said in front of him. His eyes looked away, down into the dark neighborhood, as if he was seeing something hidden in the dark. They were both in their jammies. Didn’t they know their slippers weren’t snow boots?

I had to know what was going on.

Quietly, very quietly, I slid my window open so I could try and hear anything that was being said. I would be in big trouble if my parents caught me out of bed past my bedtime. A gust of freezing air sliced against my skin. As a few snowflakes fell into my bedroom, I pulled my blanket closer around my Barbie jammies. My parents stood on the porch a few feet away with our elderly neighbor Ms. Edith.

“-what time this may have happened?” My mom was speaking to Ms. Edith.

“They don’t seem to know. It started snowing a little while ago, but there aren’t any footprints in the snow. I can’t believe this- Christmas is in two days!”

“So they think this happened earlier in the night then? How could they have not noticed their daughter wasn’t in her bed?” My dad asked in a baffled tone.

“Quiet Murphy! We don’t know what exactly happened yet. Don’t jump the gun on the Kinley’s just yet,” My mom scolded, smacking her hand against his side. “They could have been asleep!”

“Yeah, a nice and heavy boozy slumber. You’ve seen how many beer cans they toss in the trash each week!” My dad shot back. Ms. Edith had her mouth pressed into a thin line. A loud wail flew across the sparkling snow. Mrs. Kinley was now on her knees, hugging herself and crying as Mr. Kinley crouched beside her to pull her into him. Faint calls of “Samantha! Samantha, where are you?” were echoing around the neighborhood as police and some neighbors searched.

“I’m gonna go check on Lizzie.” Mom said. She turned to head back into the house. I quickly and silently closed my window and hurried back into bed. I shut my eyes the second I heard my bedroom door open. The soft shuffle of my mom walking over to me had a urgent pace, like she half expected to find the bed empty of her own daughter. You could almost feel the relief seep from her when she found me tucked away. She sat on the edge of my bed and placed a gentle hand on my head.

“Oh my sweet Lizzie,” She murmured into the dark night. “Sleep soundly, my love. The morning is going to be tough for you.” She pressed a small kiss to my hair before getting up. The soft click of my bedroom door closing told me that she had left.

Samantha, my best friend, was gone.

~~~

Humidity was encasing everything like a suffocating pillow. This was the last week of school before summer break, and I was outside laying in the grass. My dad wanted me to be outside and get some fresh air before dinner. How this heat could be fresh I would never know. But, I spent my time practicing my gymnastic drills. I had a summer club coming up. Samantha and I were going to go together. Now I’ll go alone.

“You’re doing a great job sweetie!” My dad shouted from the porch, flashing me an encouraging smile with a tip of his lemonade. I wasn’t allowed to be alone outside anymore. There are creeps and bad people out there. The explanation my dad had given when I had asked why I couldn’t play outside alone.

I smiled back at him, before rolling over onto my side. I faced the Kinley house. Even though summer was just a few days away, Christmas decorations were still adorning the home. Mr. Kinley tried to take them down a few weeks into January, but Mrs. Kinley had screamed at him for the whole neighborhood to hear. Samantha had helped put those decorations up, and she will help take them down when she gets back. Frosty should have melted away by now.

The police could not find a reason as to why Samantha had disappeared. They had theories, but no proof. I recalled a conversation I shouldn’t have been listening too, but I was too curious to hear what the adults whisper to each other when they think the children aren’t looking.

My ninth birthday party was tomorrow. My Aunt Jill had arrived a few days ago with her two little ones, Preston and Alex. They were here for the celebration and she was going to be making my birthday cake. A surprise flavor, she had told me.

It was 10 P.M. My cousins were already knocked out in sleeping bags on my bedroom floor. We spent hours playing games. They were exhausted, but I was not. I crept into the hallway, sticking to the shadows as I neared the wall the separated the hall and living room.

“I just can’t believe the police haven’t found anything yet!” Aunt Jill was speaking. “Nothing! No trail, no notes, no fingerprints, no body! What could have happened?”

“The police don’t know how to do their damn jobs!” My dad this time, answering his sister. “But this goes deeper then just the police. The Mayor is a fool, and he appointed a dumbass police chief into power. I didn’t vote for this idiot!” It seemed my dad was sipping on some hard liquor. He starts rambling about people in power when he gets drunk.

My mom, ever the calm one, stepped in. “Now hold on, the police did find some things. Her jacket and winter boots were gone, which means she couldn’t have been snatched out of her bed. Her mother also noted that Samantha’s favorite necklace was gone too. The one with the gold elephant charm. She always wore that necklace except for bed. Now that must mean she had to have been meeting someone. Probably someone she knew. Kidnappers won’t waste time letting children get dressed.”

“My money is on the creepy bastard a few houses down.” My dad started to speak again. “This man moved in a few months before Samantha’s disappearance. He is unmarried, no girlfriend to be seen, and he’s always sitting on the porch ‘reading’. I know he’s using that as an excuse to watch the children. He’ll smile and wave at them when they walk by his house! That man is one hundred percent a pedophile!”

“Now Murphy, the police checked him out! They didn’t find anything out of the ordinary with him!”

“Yeah, because they're incompetent, Dorianne!”

~~~

High school graduation was a few weeks away when the news broke. Some workers clearing the woods to expand the local park to have a baseball field made the discovery. A small skeleton had been buried underneath a large honeysuckle bush. It took a few days before it was confirmed what everyone already knew. It was Samantha.

I smoothed out my white gown while my mom fixed the matching cap on my head.

“Are you ready sweetie?” She asked, her aging eyes crinkling along with her smile. I nodded, careful to not tip the cap she had just corrected. I stepped out of my home with my parents, and they were already bickering that they were going to be late thanks to my dad needing to use the bathroom one last time before we left. Didn’t they know they wouldn’t start the ceremony without having the valedictorian ready to go?

Something caught my eye while I walked to the car. Across the street, at my best friend’s house, Mr. Kinley was outside. He moved a little bit slower now, since age did that to you. He was taking down the Christmas decorations that were now bleached after years in the sun. Frosty was the last to go.

When my name was called as valedictorian and I walked across the stage to give a speech to our graduating class about how we have the rest of our lives ahead of us, my hand snaked into my slightly heavy pocket. I stood in front of the microphone, staring out at my classmates. I gave the small, gold elephant charm in my pocket a little good luck squeeze. My secret. I smiled at everyone, then started speaking.