Chapter Twelve - A owl sees all, tells nothing
The pinpoint beams of many dancing flashlights, along with the moon overhead cut the night’s pitch blackness that was holding the large lake. Councilors and police had fanned out over Camp Pawa like a blanket of humanity, searching high and low in ever conceivable place for any signs of the missing girl.
From the boathouse into the gentle hills that led down to the crystalline waters of Pawa itself, the people searched hard as the heat of the night stuck to them all. Calls to the girl echoed through Pawa, and each were coming back unanswered as the men and women kept at it. Talk about bringing tracking dogs by the police on scene were now becoming more frequent as no sign had been found of the girl by one thirty.
Mandy had teamed up to search with Sunny, Karen and two Police Officers. They were sent out just past the stables where the horses were, intently picking there way through light brush paralleling the athletic field. The dark made it hard going, but the group of four seemed to be making a strong try at locating the girl.
As they went along, Mandy could see the face of Sunny by the light of their flashlights and could not ignore it. The look Sunny had was one of worry and fear... and showed her franticness to find out just what my have happened to the missing girl.
Mandy stayed close to the very worried Sunny, holding the woman’s hand tightly as they searched. By the tightness Sunny was gripping her hand back while they went along the brush, it was appreciated by the woman.
“ Where can Tabitha be?” Sunny said, her eyes searching the darkness frantically for anything..
“ We’ll find her...” Tried to comfort Mandy, but her mind flashed back to things from her past... and found her own hope was waning a little to find Tabitha, but she needed to keep that to herself..
The tall woman let a small sob go, as she looked around herself.
“ I should have stayed back in camp tonight...” Sunny said, her voice trembling as she spoke. ” This would not have happened if I had.”
“ You cant lead them everywhere, what were you going to do? Go into the toilet stall right with her and wipe her ass to make sure she was going to be safe?” Mandy pointed out to the distraught woman.
“ But I...” Sunny blathered immediately, then the words simply trailed off.
Mandy shook her head at the girl, hearing how she was blaming herself for the girl vanishing.
“ It was your time for a break from work, and you had a competent Councilor also in charge so you could go out for coffee with Karen and I... What you did to make sure of things was all you could have done. You put into place what you needed to have in place so you could go.“
” I know that in my head...” Sunny admitted, after about thirty second of thinking it over. “ I feel though if I was here in camp instead of having coffee...” She shook her head. “ I know I can’t follow them twenty four seven, but There must have been something I could have done... I was intrusted with their safety...”
Mandy made the lady look at her, as she seemed to be shaking like a leaf. She could see the deepness of her emotions right there in those eyes. She could not help but feel her own level of hope for this missing girl somehow was somehow being bolstered inside of herself.
“ Look at how she disappeared... It happened right in the middle of our Camp, close to many councilors and Campers that were all around reading for bed or doing routine checks of Pawa’s grounds... She may be just hurt or even lost somehow, and it happened all in plain site it seems.” She said. “ You being here, would not have changed that. We need to find her... then take the steps to not let it happen again.”
Sunny paused for a second then nodded. She took a purposeful and calming breath in, Mandy’s words seemed to have been getting through.
“ Thanks.” She smiled at the young lady, squeezing Mandy’s hand gently.
“ No problem...” Mandy said, trying to give the woman a look of understanding. “ I can see how you might start thinking like that, but it does us no good in the long run if you descend into that.”
“ Your right... We should get back to searching then...” The lady said, her voice still holding a little bit of a waver in it.
“ Lets just think positive here... We have to...” Mandy said with a thankful tone, having a renewed sense of hope now starting to spread through out her mind. “ Tabitha really needs that.”
“ I know she does... We’ll find her...” Was the only thing Sunny said back.
Sunny nodded, her face now had a distinct light of determination on it, a light that Mandy fought to use against her own hidden doubts and wavering determination. In seeing the woman set things in her mind, made her feel much stronger again. She smiled and let it sink in, grateful for that.
Silently and now focused, the two young women went back to searching through the thick brambles and brush for any signs they could find of the missing girl. They kept within sight of the officer in charge of their search team. The only words any of the team spoke were to call out to the missing Tabitha in hope that she would follow their combined voices back to them.
They had searched for about a half hour more when they finally had made their way over to the stables. They started an intense search of the area just in front of the brick and wood building... but it seemed like all the other places that they had combed.... empty.
There was no real marks on the dust and dirt gin front of the building that would mark someone being here in the past little while, and the only thing that they heard while searching was the mournful call of a lone hooting owl that could be heard somewhere close to the group.
“ Creepy...” Muttered Mandy, hearing the bird and feeling the hairs standing on her arms. “ Really creepy...”.
“ Yeah... just like those old horror flicks...” Agreed Sunny, trying to keep her mind on what they were doing.
Ignoring the bird’s woeful nocturnal song the best that they could, the two continued on as they noticed the Officers had not even noticed the bird’s call. Inside of Sunny and Mandy, they hoped that this lone bird of the night’s call was not going to be a forecaster of something that could be right out of the some slasher film.
The group stopped when they ventured a look right at the large building that housed the riding steeds. As one, they moved to enter the dark shrouded horse house. They could see that the main door was ajar about three feet, against the camp’s policies. Each member of the search party felt a huge welling of hope come in to their hearts... the possibility that the girl was there had to be there, even if it was low.
The inside of the stables was very still and dark. A few of the horses made grunting noises as the searching team entered. The horses stayed relatively calm, probably not understanding why their nighttime had been disturbed by these people invading their home at this time of night. One horse in particular whinnied rather loudly, obviously this was the leader of the group of horses, and it was announcing that he was the top of the heap around here. He pawed the ground a few times then stopped, probably satisfied that he had made himself very clear to the interlopers that had awoken him.
Mandy started her search down the far rows of stalls at the far end of the stables, checking each one for any signs or clues while trying not to startle the enormous beasts any more than what they were. Each one of the stalls so far, had seen in place and undisturbed... not even a stick of straw seemed to have been out of place. She was unsure of whether or not this was good or bad, but just took it as it was and moved on to the next stall.
As she neared the end of the long isle of stalls that lined the long interior of the stables, something had caught her eye in the beam of her flashlight. It was chalky white in color, and almost seemed to glow inside the scope of the beam. She stopped the circle of light on the thing, and took a very careful look, as whatever sat on the ground seemed to be very much out of place amidst the straw and dirt that covered the floors.
The object was a small white shoe resting in the hay in the very center of the walkway. She could make out the vibrant pink trim on the shoe’s side, making it very clear that it was a girl’s shoe that layed there. She gasped and hurried down to where the shoe layed, her mind was almost instantly filled with horrible thoughts.
“ I think I have something here...” She called out as she moved through the darkness to the running shoe.
As she stooped to pick up the shoe, a small noise from her right side made her heart nearly stop. The noise was like a little moan and a cry rolled up in one, and her heart instantly sank again. Glancing over, she could see the open gate of a stall, showing boldly the pitch blackness of the emptiness inside. She straightened up from stooping over and hesitantly shone her light in while hearing people’s feet beginning to hurry to where she was.
Laying a pile of hay at the very back of the stall she was lighting up, was a very still figure. The light showed that the it was a fragilely small person , who seemed to be half clothed. Mandy gasped, spotting blood that she could see on the carpet of hay under the form, and where the crimson pool grotesquely colored the wooden flooring under it. There was also blood that stained the pale white skin of the person who lay so very still on the hay. She stepped in quickly, her heart racing in her chest.
The beam of the flashlight then gave a name to the face for the horrified Mandy. It was now more than just clear that the face was that of the missing Tabitha.
“ Sweet mother of God!” Spat Mandy, scrambling like crazy over the floor, to get to the girl.
The petite girl on the hay looked so pale, her face streaked down the left side by a light river of blood. Black and blue marks could be seen developing all over Tabitha’s, the deepest of them were darkening blotches on her thighs. Mandy reeled a little, as she could also see that there were fragmented remnants of clothing strewn everywhere inside the stable stall, obviously having been ripped from the girl’s small frame in a sadistic cacophony of pure violence and control.
Making herself move to the girl’s side, she was sickened to see there was a pair of ripped panties, barely recognizable for what they were, stuffed deeply into the girl’s mouth. She felt a wave of revulsion hit her, as this was a scene, that Mandy had seen before... and had lived through so many years ago.
She got down on to the hay and cradled the girl’s head in her lap with as much gentleness as she could while removing the ripped panties so Tabitha could breath easier. The white shirt the thin girl had on was ripped up very severely as well, but the printing on the front which said ‘Urban Teen and Pre-teen Rainbow program ‘ was still clearly marked in very bright bold red lettering.
Stomach clenching to keep from throwing up at the moment, Mandy was horrified to see this the shirt Tabitha wore... and knew what the lettering meant. The shirt was from the program she had started with a group of like minded people when she was in her first year in law school. It was a program she had spearheaded that was tailored to support and lend information to kids like she had been.... A Gay teen.
Mandy now was almost in tears as she had not made the connection with Tabitha’s picture the police had given her as a reference when they started to search. The girl cradled in her lap, she had seen in that program on more than a few occasions, but never had ended up even knowing her name or anything. She could remember the girl now, and how frightfully shy the girl always seemed to be... but that was not unusual in a program like hers.
She lifted the girl’s head so she could look at her, eyes were now welling up as she tried to stay calm for the young one..
“ I’m here...” She said softly.
“ Miss Thayer?” The girl said with great effort, her eyes showing that she knew exactly who Mandy was. “ Your here?”
The girl’s face turned into a mask of fear and pain, her body started to shake violently as tears flooded down her face.
“ A man... hit me in the head... took me here an’...an’ kept calling me a dyke whore as he... as he...” She tried to explain frantically, as a wave of loud sobbing cut off her words. “ He did things...”
“ Your safe now, Tabitha..” Mandy cooed lowly, trying to help calm the girl a little.
The tall and very thin officer that was the leader of the team got there at that moment. He looked at the girl as he kneeled down, his professionalism could not hide the pure horror he was feeling. For a moment or two, the officer seemed to be as affected and anyone there with seeing the young girl in this state.
“ God please help this girl..” Mandy could hear the Officer say under his breath.
The Policeman seemed to gather up his wits with in moments. He quickly assessed the situation almost in that second, the Officer was quick on his radio almost , calling in that they had found the little girl and asking for medical personnel to be dispatched there right away. Mandy just stayed with the girl, focusing in on Tabitha, as her cries filled the stall.
“ The officer has called for help, Tabitha...” Said Mandy, trying hard not to cry at the moment.
“ Stay with me...Please... he might come back for me!!! PLEASE!!” The young girl desperately screamed as she turned head so her face was buried into Mandy’s stomach.
“ I will, Tabitha, I will...” She whispered, continuing to stroke the girl’s blood matted blondish hair, listening to gut wrenching cries.
Sunny was standing in the doorway of the stall, her own eyes were now filling with tears as she watched the horrible scene. She seemed to almost be praying, her body vibrating every time the young girl’s cries echoed through the stables.
No one there seemed to be able to do anything other than what they were, as the sounds of an ambulance began to be heard of in the distance.