Tall, Dark, and Slender

It wasn’t the best of nights to be out looking for her. The smell of rain was permeating the air, and it threatened to come down any minute. I could practically feel the charge from the impending thunder and lightning. I shivered while aiming my flashlight through a copse of trees. I really shouldn’t be complaining. This was my cousin, after all. Her name’s Lucy, and she was playing with her best friend Trevor when they were called back to the house. Both children knew that it was getting dark, so it was time to get home. They decided to have a race.

Little Trevor was no doubt gonna show off his fast skills, but when he looked behind him, he couldn’t see Lucy anywhere. He figured she went home and so did he. This was the story straight from the little boy’s mouth. Lucy is only six. “Lucy!” “Luce!” “Lucccyyy! Where are you?” We practically had the whole town out here looking for her; all the men that was. And as a newly turned eighteen year old, I was counted among this party. All the women were in Lucy’s home with their children, and they were offering what little comfort they could to my aunt Tess.

“Blake, shine the light over there,” my father said, nudging me back into action. I was one of the ones with the heavy high powered flashlight. Following his direction, I caught a glimpse of pink. Mucking toward it through all the leaves and branches on the ground, I bent down and picked it up. It was Lucy’s pink tennis shoe.

Straightening up, I turned to look at my father. I handed the shoe over to him, and he inspected it with a sigh. “She was wearing her favorite shoes today,” my uncle said, practically breaking down at the sight of it. A light raindrop splattered against my hair, and I looked up, nearly blinded by the drops that were now pouring down. It was gentle, but it would pick up soon enough.

“Come on, Victor. Let’s get you home.” My father murmured, wrapping an arm around his brother and leading him to the edge of the woods. “You too Blake. This rain’ll hit hard in a moment.” I nodded and motioned to the other men to follow us. We’d start the search over again tomorrow.

I was the last one out of the woods, and I turned as the rain started falling harder. I shined my light at the woods and caught a flash of white just as lightning illuminated my view. Shaking my head and rubbing at my eyes, I stared back at the place I was looking before. I could have sworn I had seen an overly tall man standing there, with my cousin hugging his leg.

“You’re tired Blake,” I cursed at myself. “Time for some sleep before the search party continues tomorrow.” I made my way up to my house, just a few doors down from my aunt’s. My mother was there with my little brother, Remy. He was sleeping peacefully on the couch when I trudged in, probably looking like a drenched rat.

My mother gave me a tight smile full of hope before I shook my head. “I found her shoe,” I said softly, finally remembering to click off the flashlight before I set it to the side. My mother made her way to me and gave me a hug, despite my waterlogged state. I placed my forehead on her shoulder and sighed, taking shaky breaths. We were the closest to Lucy besides her own parents since we were family.

Finally, I stepped back from my mom and gestured to myself. “I’ll get changed into some pajamas and come back down to carry him to his room,” I said, looking over at Remy. I couldn’t even try to imagine what I would be feeling if Remy somehow disappeared. He was a little older than Lucy at eight years of age, but he was still too young.

“Don’t worry about that, Blake,” my mother said, smoothing my dark hair from my forehead. “I’ll take him up when I’m done cleaning in the kitchen.”

“Please, mom,” I pleaded with her, taking off my shoes and heading up the stairs. “You’ll have to handle getting dad to bed, trust me. None of us are pleased with the little progress we made tonight.” I took the stairs two at a time before my feet sunk into the plush carpet of my room. I tossed my drenched shirt over my desk and into the basket set next to it for clothes. Technically it was a ‘clothes hamper’, but it looked like a basket. So that’s what I called it. I mussed up my black hair to get the rain droplets off and stripped myself of my jeans. They clung to my skin in a way that didn’t feel too comfortable.

Foregoing the t-shirt, I tossed on a pair of sleep pants before I made my way back down the stairs. Remy was still dozing on the couch, and I caught a glimpse of my parents in the kitchen. My mom was just hugging my dad quietly, and I knew that he needed it a lot more than I did. I tiptoed my way to the couch before I lifted my little brother into my arms. He made a low noise in his throat before curling up into my embrace tighter. Little one was all tuckered out it seemed, and I didn’t wonder why. We all deserved a good night’s sleep.

I paused on the first step of the staircase to look over at my parents who were still in the kitchen. It appeared that my dad had put the coffee pot on, and they both were waiting for the great smelling brew. Dad caught my eye and gestured to the coffee machine. I was eighteen now, and I had no need to go to bed when I could stay up with the ‘adults’ as they so eloquently put it sometimes. I shook my head, gesturing to Remy and then feigning sleep. My father nodded in understanding before looking back at my mother.

I continued my way up the stairs and veered to the first door on my left. I noted that Remy’s nightlight was running low and told myself that I’d change it tomorrow. I laid him down in his bed and covered him up with his blankets, smoothing back his hair. It was as dark as mine was, something that we Swift brothers shared as a trait with our father. My little brother lucked out and got the forest green eyes from our mother while I took on my father’s icy blue. “Sleep well little guy.”

I straightened up and looked at his blinds that covered his window. Tilting my head curiously, I noticed that there appeared to be a shadow of someone standing there. Was that mine? Looking back at the nightlight, I bit the inside of my cheek and turned back to the window. The shadow was gone. I rubbed at my eyes and yawned quietly, turning and making my way to my room two doors down and on the right. I didn’t think seeing things was a bad thing, especially with how tired I was. Flipping off my lamp, I crawled into bed and stared up at my ceiling. Sometime between thinking about Lucy and college, I drifted off into dreamland.