Addressed to Laura

Not much happens in a small town. The most exciting thing that people look forward to, is the small town festivals and family gatherings. You don’t hear of anything terrible happening in these towns outside of family losses. For years and years, the small town of Dana has not been any different. For you to understand, it’s important that you know a little bit out Dana, Indiana. Comprised of about 100 people, a fire house, a water tower, the only suspicious thing in Dana is what the fish is made out of during the annual fish fry. This was going to be just another day of the same ins and outs of day to day living.

‘Ding Dong’, “Oooh I’ll get it” says Lucy. Little Lucy whose about 6 years old opens the door to find a suspicious brown paper box. Filled with excitement, she screams “Mom my package is here, my package is here. Can I open it?” Stacy has a confused face as she was not expecting any packages today. She comes to the front door and tells Lucy to step away and this is not for her. She debates opening it. As she investigates the box she notices that there are no logos on it and not return address. There isn’t even a stamp. It is simply addressed to Laura with her address underneath. Stacy finds this concerning and asks Laura, “Who’d be sending you a box?” Laura is just as confused and advises she has no idea who’d be sending her anything. Stacy is hesitant to let Laura open it. She puts it aside and says “We’ll look into this later.” She puts it in the garage for later.

Due to the hustle and bustle of ever day living, this gets forgotten. A couple weeks later, another brown paper box appears at the door step. By this point the mother wants to involve father, and hides this in the garage as well as not to hype up the kids. When the kids go to bed, Stacy brings it up and they go into the garage to open it, only to find the boxes missing. They give each other a concerned look, look around to make sure nothing else is missing, and talk about asking the neighbors the next day to see if they’ve seen anything suspicious.

The next morning as they’re leaving for work and school, they noticed both boxes are at their front door again. This time the father is there and he takes them inside to address after work. While Laura is at school, she’s telling her friends of these packages that came for her, but that her parents won’t let her open it. She’s wanting to skip school the rest of the day and go home see what’s inside. Her friends convince her this is a bad idea, as she’ll get into trouble if she gets caught.

When the family arrives home, both boxes are missing from inside. Now the family is worried that someone is breaking inside their home. They call around to neighbors, but no one has seen or heard anything. They call the police station to report the break in, but nothing is missing. When the police leave, they say advise to let them know if it continues and they’ll have a patrol car circle by the area more frequently.

The next day, not only are the 2 boxes back on the front porch, but now there is a third box with a letter. The parents immediately call the police. They wait to open the box until the kids are at school and police arrives. When they open the first box, there is a pallet of make-up and a simple pair of heels. In the second box, there is a dress that looks to be something you’d see a girl on Easter wear with some simple jewelry. The third box, has the letter and a porcelain doll matching the items that were sent to Laura. They didn’t even bother to read the letter as they were disgusted about someone sending these items to their daughter. The police advised that these items did not go through the postal service as there is no stamp or markings on the boxes. Someone is hand delivering these to your door. Even further when the boxes weren’t opened, they were retrieved, and re-distributed. This has the parents in a panic. Now the police decide to station a patrol car out front in the event the suspicious person returned.

The kids are oblivious to what is going on. All they know is there is a cop car parked out front. This has Laura’s curiosity peaked. A few weeks had went by and no other packages were left. This time she doesn’t tell anyone, and decides to skip school and go see what is in those boxes. When she gets home, she locates the boxes and sees the gifts left for her. She also reads the letter.

Dear Laura,

You are the light of my life, the perfect girl for me. You are so radiant and filled with beauty inside and out. I got you a present that I want you to have. O how I wish you would dress up, and meet me one day. I would love that. I even made this doll as a model of you! If you’re ready to meet me, put these on, and meet me at Ruby’s Diner. I go there every night from 7-8. You can always find me in the back corner booth. You truly are beautiful and I hope you give me the chance to show you how special you truly are.

Dan

Laura is filled with excitement and curious to know who has a crush on her and who would go to these lengths to show her. She decides that she’s going to give fate a chance. She dresses up in the outfit and jewelry and does a little bit of make-up. She sneaks out before her parents get home. When it’s 6:45 she heads to Ruby’s Diner. She walks to the back corner booth, and to her surprise it’s on older gentleman. She looks confused for a minute and says “Oops, I think I have the wrong booth, I’m sorry to disturb you.” The man looks at her and before she walks away he calls out “Laura!” She turns around and he points for her to have a seat. She’s drawn in by his harmless looking nature and sits down.

They talk for a while, and she notices that it’s getting late. She lets him know that she needs to leave and head home and that she’s not even supposed to be out and her parents don’t know where she is. He says “I’ll drive you home, I’m the truck right out front.” She agrees to go with him. When she gets in the truck she was oblivious to her surroundings at first. As they are driving, he’s passing her street and she starts to correct him. He ignores her and keeps driving. By this point she’s getting scared, and tried to get out of the truck. There is not a door handle to open the passenger door or window. She starts to panic and scream.

The parents arrived home around 6pm. They thought it strange that Laura was not home with Lucy. They had been calling her and texting her, but she did not reply. When it was turning 9pm, they were severely worried that something had happened to her. They call the police to report her missing. For days and weeks the neighborhood had search parties and investigating what she’d done on the last day she was seen. The parents never stopped searching, but as few months had passed with no break in the missing persons case.

Life had started to go on and it had almost been a year since Laura went missing. ‘Ding Dong’ Lucy jumps up to get the door. To her surprise there is a brown paper box.