“Hello mister. Would you like to swing with me,” She asked?

“Sure little girl. What’s your name,” he asked?

He had a deep voice, brown eyes, and a big face with a scar above his left eye. “Samara,” She says, “What’s yours?”

He says, “I don’t have one.”

They start walking to the swings.

“Why don’t you have one,” she asks?

While she asks, the man grabs her and puts his hand over her mouth.

“I was never givin one,” he whispers in her ear.

She tries to scream, but she is too scared. She kicks and scratches him to get away. She throws her leg back into his knee. He drops to the ground, letting go of her. She springs up and starts to run. She trips over a blue denim jacket that was left, probably from the other day. The man gets up and runs towards her. She gets up and runs towards the street. The man picks up a big clumpy rock and throws it at her. It hits her in the head. She falls to the ground. The gravel on the street sticks to the gash in her head. She loses one of her flip flops.

The man runs over and picks her up. He hurries to a black van, which is parked across the street. He goes around to the back of the van opens the doors and shoves her into a dog cage. Blood runs down her neck. There is a gash on the right side of the back of her head. She then passed out. The man gets into the drivers seat and drives away from the park.

A couple of times Samara woke up, but fell back to sleep. When she was able to stay awake, she found a dirty towel and put it on the little gash on her head. The van seemed to drive on forever. Her head throbbed. The man had just driven by a dealership. Samara remembered this particular car store.

Her mother would tell Samara, “Your father worked there. It took him an hour and a half to get home. I hated that he worked so far away.”

This scared Samara, because it meant that it had been at least an hour and a half. They pulled up to a warehouse, and then everything went dark. The van stopped, and she got ready for what was to happen.

The back doors of the van opened, but she could barely see anything. It was completely dark. The man opened the cage door and grabbed her. She couldn’t see much, so she stayed quiet. He carried her to a door. He punched buttons, and the door opened to a small room. He walked in and sat her on a torn and stained mattress. He turned and left. He closed the door; then a dimmed light came on. She looked around the room. It was cold and dirty. The floor was concrete. There was a dirty toilet in the left corner of the room. On the mattress was a blanket that looked worn out, along with a small pillow. The walls were filthy, and the door had no door handle on the inside. Where am I? She thought to her self.

“I should have listened to my mother,” She said quietly.

After a couple of minutes she fell back to sleep. When she woke up, there was a tiny plastic mirror on the ground, towels, and a bucket of water. She sat up and walked over to the towels and water. She got a towel wet and put it on the gash on her head. She pulled it off quickly. It stung badly. Tears started to come out of her eyes. She patted the towel on the gash, and again took it right off. She took the mirror and tried to look at it, but it was too far on the back of her head to see. At least it had stopped bleeding. She wiped the blood and dirt off the rest of her face and neck. She noticed a tray with a bruised apple and a cup of water on it. She was starving, so she ate the apple. After she ate the apple, she took a drink of water. The water tasted stale from sitting out to long. The door to the room opened and the man came in. He had a bag full of something in his hands. He sat it down, grabbed the tray, and walked out. He was creepy and mean. Samara thought, I hate him; he is a creepy man.

While Samara was stuck in a small room, her home became an increasing hive of activity. Samara’s mother, Sarah, came home around one a clock, and found Betty, Samaras grandmother, making lunch.

“Hey mom, what’s for lunch, and where is Samara,” she asked?

Betty answered “Hello sweetheart I’m making tuna sandwiches and salad. I think Samara is in the sun room.”

“Well, I’ll go get her for lunch,” Sarah answered.

Sarah walked up to the sun room, but didn’t find Samara. So she walked to Samara’s room. She wasn’t there, so she searched around the house. She became worried and ran to Betty.

“She isn’t here,” she cried.

“What? Oh my goodness. Did you look in the back or front? Maybe she is on the deck. I’ll look on the deck. You look outside.” Betty replied.

They both went off looking. A couple minutes later, they found each other with no sign of Samara. They called some friends, but they had not idea where she was.

“She might have gone to the park, even though I told her not to go.” Sarah said.

She started to get queasy. She couldn’t believe this was happening.

Why would Samara disobey me, she knew this would worry her, Sarah thought.

They grabbed their jackets, and hurried to the park. The park was deserted. Sarah and Betty looked everywhere. When Betty came to the side of the other road and saw a white flip flop, and blood on the ground. She knew Samara had white flip flops. She picked it up, looked on the bottom, and sure enough. There was a S. Last year Samara went to a camp for girls, and wrote her initials on the bottom of both flip flops. Betty started crying. This had to be Samara’s shoe.

“Sarah… over…here,” She said, tears coming faster. Sarah came running.

“Oh my god, she was wearing those shoes this morning.” Sarah yelled, also crying. Betty called the cops, and reported Samara as missing.

“Calm down ma’am. Are you sure she isn’t anywhere at your house, a friends house?”

“No, we searched our house, and called friends, no one has seen her since yesterday,” Betty replied.

“Where there any problems at home which would have caused her to run away?” The woman on the other end asked, calmly.

“No, she was a happy child, she would never run away. We found her flip flop at 58th Avenue Park, there is some blood also.” Betty replies loudly, while crying.

“I need you to calm down ma’am. Someone will be there in a couple minutes. Do not touch anything else,” The lady on the other line tells her.

Betty shouted “Do not tell me to calm down one more time! My granddaughter is missing.” Then she slammed the cell phone shut. Then she flung it to the ground. Sarah was running around screaming Samara’s name. Betty picked the phone back up and shoved it into her jacket. She rushed over to Sarah.

“The cops will be here in a couple minutes, we can’t touch anything.” Betty reports.

“Thanks mom,” Sarah responded, and then hugged her.

As they waited for the cops, Betty and Sarah sat on the curb. Ten minutes later, a couple cop cars pulled up to the park. Betty and Sarah stood up and walked over to the first one. A medium sized man with a goatee, brown hair, brown eyes walks up to them. Behind him came a young lady, brown hair. She was wearing shades over her eyes. Both of them have a frown set on their faces.

“Hello, my name is Officer Greene and this is Officer Harper of the Arvada Police Department, we received a call that a little girl is missing, and you found something of hers here.” He says.

Sarah replied, “Yes my daughter is missing, we found her flip flop that she was wearing today. I told her not to go to the park, but she did.”

“Ok, do you still have that flip flop,” He asks?

“Yes, I have it right here,” Betty replied, while she handed it to the officer.

He quickly slid on some clear gloves. Then he grabbed the flip flop and put it into a bag.

“These Officers are going to look around and see if they can find anything else that will help us,” Officer Harper says.

Another Officer came over and asked if they could show there exact steps.

“Of course, anything to help,” Sarah said.

After a half an hour, cops were all over the place. Neighbors were being questioned. Officers were questioning Becky and Sarah. After another half hour, Betty and Sarah were back in there house, while officers searched around the house. Some where on the first floor, but most of them were looking around in Samaras room.

“Can you come with me to the police station, Sarah,” Officer Greene asked, when he walked up to her.

“Yes, would you like Betty to come also,” she asked?

“Yes,” he said.

Sarah went to find Betty. Officer Greene followed. She found her talking to another police officer.

“Excuse me, Betty we need to go to the police station for more questioning,” she said

“Ok, I figured we still had a lot more questioning,” she replied

Sarah grabbed her keys and Betty followed. They got into Sarah’s Black 2003 Hummer H2.

Samara sat on the mattress wondering if she should open the bag which the creepy man gave to her. After five minutes, she came up with enough courage to open the bag. Inside the bag was her stuff. There was her MP-3 player, a pink hoodie, some dark blue jeans with sparkled gems on the back pockets, a couple other shirts, and a pair of white tennis shoes. There was also a Disney coloring book, with a box of crayons. At the very bottom of the bag was a Christmas photo of her family taken when she was just a baby.

“How did he get this stuff from my house?” Samara wondered out loud.

She grabbed her stuff, leaving the bag, and went to the corner of the room with it. She picked up the picture and looked at it. She started crying. Her nose was runny. And her eyes burned. Crying led her into a deep sleep.

Later in the night she woke to the slamming of a door. When she opened her eyes the man was coming toward her. She stood up from the mattress and moved further back until she hit the wall. Her body shook from fear. He went over and grabbed her by the shirt, and flung her into a wall. As she hit the wall, a shriek fell from her mouth. He grabbed her and threw her across the room. He was having a hard time walking. He was screaming, but his words slurred, and she couldn’t understand what he was saying. As she tried to get up he hit her in the face. He grabbed her head and slammed it into the toilet. She couldn’t figure out what the smell was that reeked on the man. Every thing was blurry, and she started to scream and cry. She kicked and hit the man, to get away. Her body was shaking so hard. Then Samara blacked out.

When Sarah and Betty arrived at the police station, they had been asked a variety of questions, and then sent home, with a “go home and get some sleep.” That night Sarah could not sleep. She tossed and turned. She was worried about Samara. Se walked down stairs and went into Betty’s room, where Betty sat up in bed. She walked to the other side of the bed and sat down.

“Hello sweet heart. Couldn’t sleep,” Betty asked?

“No, I’m so worried for her,” she said.

“I know me too,” Betty replied.

That night, Betty and Sarah had the worst sleep ever.

In the morning, Sarah was woken from a phone call.

“Hello” she answered with a hoarse voice.

“Good morning Sarah, this is Officer Greene from the police Department. I have some good news. A camera at the park caught your daughter and her kidnapper on tape. He was driving a black cargo van. We could not get a good picture of the license plates. Only a FBX4 and the rest is out of view.”

“I don’t know anyone who drives a black van. I will keep my eye out.” She says.

“Alright, I will call you right back when I find anything else.” He replies.

“Ok, thank you so much.” Sarah says.

When she hung up the phone, she turned and woke Betty up. She told her what Officer Greene had said.

“I’m going out to look for her. You stay here so if Samara calls, or Officer Greene calls.” Sarah replied

“Alright. You be safe. We will find her,” Betty assures her.

When Sarah left, Betty went over to the phone and grabbed it. Then she walked over to the TV. As she watched TV, she knitted. She was making a blanket for Samara. A couple hours later, it was lunch time. Betty went into the kitchen to make something to eat. She then remembered the salad and the tuna sandwiches. They had been in the fridge since yesterday lunch. She took them out, leaving Samaras sandwich in the fridge. Just then, she heard the back door slowly open. She walked over to the doorway and saw a man with a bag sneaking up stairs.

She yelled “Oh my god, what do you think your doing? Get out of my house! I will call the cops.”

The man ran down the two steps, and knocked Betty over. She hit her head on the table while going down. When the man noticed she was knocked out, he hurried back up the stairs, went into Sarah’s room, and grabbed money and jewelry. He ran back down the stairs and the front door opened. Cops came into the house.

“I’m sure everything is fine,” One of the cops said.

When they saw the man coming toward the door, they yelled, “Stop right there! Put your hands above your head!”

One of the cops knelt down beside Betty.

“Knocked out cold, and there is blood. She will need stitches,” She said.

The man got down on his knees and sat down the bag of jewelry and money. Then he put his hands above his head. The cops approached him, guns raised. One of them went behind him, grabbing both wrists and putting handcuffs on him. One of the cops read him his rights, and then they walked him out. An ambulance was already on its way. Officer Greene was called and on his way. While Officer Harper stayed with Betty until the ambulance arrived, she called Sarah. Sarah was devastated; she didn’t know why this was happening. Money maybe? After her husband had died she inherited a lot of money. Maybe this was someone she knew. A neighbor, someone she worked with, a family member, or even a friend. It was so confusing.

When Sarah arrived home, Betty was being loaded into the ambulance. She hurried over and climbed in.

“I’m staying with her.” Sarah said

Officer Greene said he would meet her at the hospital. There were neighbors coming to see what was going on. The ambulance doors closed, and they were off to the hospital.

Eleven minutes later, they were at Lutheran Hospital. As they hurried Betty into the hospital, Sarah followed. Officer Greene was right behind her. He received a phone call from Officer Harper.

“This is Officer Greene” he answered.

“Hello Officer Greene it’s Officer Harper. We found out some information. The man who broke into Sarah’s house seemed to be stealing for some guy named Jackson Miller. He said the guy has a drinking problem. His daughter died two years ago, and it tore him apart. He lost his job and needed money. He also said the man wanted some clothes out of a little girl’s room. He wasn’t sure why. He said he didn’t know anything else. He was supposed to leave the stuff in an alley, over by a grocery store.”

“Alright, thanks. I’ll let Sarah know what is going on,” Officer Greene said, and then hung up the phone. He went over to Sarah and told her what Officer Harper had said.

“Do you think this man will hurt her,” Sarah asked?

“We can not be positive on that. We will find her though,” he assured her. “But we will need to say something to the press, and see if anyone can help us.”

When Samara woke up, light shone through the crack of the door. She did not know how long she had been here. There were a couple bruises on her arms and legs. And her head hurt. She went over to her things, grabbed the picture of her family. The door slammed open to the room she was in. The man came in and laid a boy on the ground. He looked at Samara. She backed up to the wall as far as she could go. He came up to her, grabbed her hand, and took her to the door. He brought her to another room. It was a bathroom, with a shower. Everything was cement. And there was no soap. He turned and sat down some clothes and a towel, then left hurriedly.

She quickly took a shower, her head burned and the water stung from the still oozing gash. When she was done, she put on a purple shirt and jeans. She sat by the wall, where there wasn’t any water. She thought about her mother and grandmother. What were they thinking? Was she ever going to see them again? Then she started to think about the man who kidnapped her. What did he want? Will he treat me like this forever?

A while later, the door opened and the man came and grabbed her. He took her back to the room she was staying in. The boy lay on the mattress. He had short brown hair, and he was very skinny. He was wearing a ripped shirt and pants. There was a hole in one of his shoes. She went over to her stuff and sat down. The boy woke up a while later and looked around. When he noticed her, he turned quickly. Almost ashamed to look at her. Samara stood and walked over to him.

She said “Hello, my name is Samara. What’s yours?”

“Jimmy,” He answered quietly.

He had light blue eyes, and they were full of tears.

“What happened? Do you remember anything? Do you know what he wants?” Samara asked.

Jimmy answered quietly, “My mother left my father when I was little. I was living with my father on the streets. One day we couldn’t get money to get a place to sleep, so we walked over to an alley with heat flowing through vents. A guy and his daughter walked over to where we were. He told us that the alley was his place, and that we couldn’t be there. My father said to the man that it didn’t belong to anyone, and he wasn’t going anywhere. The man took out a switchblade and I screamed at my father to be careful. They fought, and the knife fell by the little girl’s feet. She picked it up and ran over to her father, who didn’t see her. My father slammed into the man, who slammed into his daughter. The knife went into his daughter, and killed her.

My father saw what happened and he grabbed me, we started to run, when the man grabbed another knife and threw it at my father. It went into his back. He fell to the ground, and told me to be strong and run. I couldn’t leave him. I cried and cried until tears no longer would come out of my eyes. Blood spilled everywhere, blood spilled out of his mouth. The man grabbed me and threw me into a dog cage. He collected his daughter and put her into the back of a van. He went off for a long time. When he came back, he took me to a trailer. There was a secret room under the closet where he put me. That was two years ago. He has been using me to steel and clean up his messes.”

“How do you know how long it has been,” Samara asked?

“Because I grabbed my fathers watch. It shows the time and date,” He answered.

He took it out and showed her. It was a black watch with a Nixon logo. It showed the time, date, and climate out side. She looked at the date. It had been missing two days now.

“I’m so sorry about your father. I didn’t do what my mother said. She said to not go to the park while she was gone, but I did. The man took me, and brought me here. How old are you?” she asks.

“I’m almost ten, and you,” he asks?

“I’m nine. Do you think there is a way to get away,” Samara asked?

“No, I have tried for the last two years.” Samara shook at that.

Samara shivered at those words. What if she never saw her mother and grandmother ever again? What if they didn’t find her? Questions wheezed through Samaras head. She started to cry. Tears streamed down her face.

Jimmy stood up and walked over to a corner in the room, letting Samara have the mattress to herself.

“He is very quiet, and doesn’t talk unless spoken to,” Samara thought to herself. Just at that moment, the light went out. Jimmy hurried over to Samara.

“Light must have gone out,” he assured her.

“What do we do,” she asked?

“I guess we should get some sleep. You take the mattress; I’ll sleep on the floor,” He said.

“No, let’s split the mattress, the floor is cold,” she said quickly.

“Ok. I mean, if that’s ok with you,” he answered.

Samara stood up and made her way to the corner of the room. She reached into her things and found some white socks and white shoes. She made her way back and gave them to Jimmy.

“I noticed you don’t have socks, and your shoes have holes in them. Take these. They’ll keep you warmer. Sorry about the shoes, at least I didn’t get a girly kind. Hopefully they will fit,” Samara said, kindly.

“Thanks,” he said.

He put the socks and shoes on. The shoes surprisingly fit him, but barely. They lay on the mattress, side by side. When they went to sleep, the man opened the door. He walked in and replaced the light bulb. When he was done, he threw the bad light bulb at the wall, shattering it everywhere. Samara and Jimmy both woke up instantly. Moving back as far towards the wall as they could. Then he walked out, slamming the door.

“What is wrong with him?” Samara asked stunned at what just happened.

“He does that sometimes. At least we have light, and he didn’t throw the light bulb at us,” He answered.

A few moments later, Samara asked, “Do you think we will ever be found?”

“I’m not sure” Jimmy said.

Later in the afternoon, Betty woke up.

“Hey mom, are you feeling ok,” Sarah asked?

“I have one heck of a headache. What happened,” she asked?

Sarah responded, “Well, while I was gone, a man broke in. He pushed you, and you fell down and hit your head. That’s all I know right now. You needed stitches.”

“Oh, I don’t remember it, did they catch the man? What did he want?”

A second later Sarah said “Yes. They’ve got him at the police station. He was working with the person who kidnapped Samara.”

After she said this, she explained what Officer Greene had told her.

“Thank heavens; she’s still alive if he is sending someone to get her clothes, right,” Betty said?

“I think so. Officer Greene wants us to talk to the press, and get the story out in the news. Someone may no something,” Sarah said. Then she added, “He wants to do it as soon as possible. I told him if you were feeling ok, I would go and do it, but you need to stay here until your better.”

“That is nonsense, I will come with you. I would like to get a few words out there myself,” Betty replied.

“You need to stay here. I will be back in a little bit. I don’t think the doctors are letting you out of this room. You may have a concussion, and you just had stitches.”

“Fine, you go ahead and go,” Betty said annoyed.

“I’m sorry if you’re mad at me,” Sarah responded, and then walked out.

She walked through the hospital. The walls were all creamy white. She went out the front doors of the hospital, and then walked out to her car. Once inside her car, she drove to the police station, to tell Officer Green that she would do the broadcast, and that Betty was going to stay in the hospital. Officer Greene called someone that he knew. Sarah was told to sit in a room to wait.

Inside the room were two vending machines. She walked over and bought a Pepsi and some ruffles. She sat in a green chair, which was in the corner of the room. The walls were a peachy color. And there was a brown table, a green couch, and desk in the room.

Officer Harper came in and said “The press is here. It’s time to go outside.”

“Ok, what do I say,” Sarah asked nervously?

“Just tell them about Samara. We will handle the rest,” Officer Harper answered.

Just then Officer Greene walked in. They led Sarah out of the room, and out to the front of the police station. People had already crowded around when the press arrived. Everyone looked anxious to hear what was to be said.

“There is still five minutes until we go live,” Officer Greene said.

“Ok,” Sarah said.

Five minutes felt like five hours. She continued to look at her watch. When it was time to go live, Officer Greene stood next to Officer Harper, and Sarah stood next to her. Once the red button came on, there was no turning back. Sarah had a stomach ache. She was so nervous, her hands were sweating.

“I am Officer Greene with the Arvada Police department, and here with me is Officer Harper. We are investigating a missing child case. We are hoping someone will be able to help with the investigation. The child’s name is Samara Bern, and she is nine years old. Sarah Bern is Samaras mother, and would like to say a couple words.” Officer Greene stepped aside to allow Sarah room at the microphone.

Sarah steps up with some hesitation. She reminds herself that this is for Samara.

“I’m Sarah Bern, and my daughter went missing three days ago. Her name is Samara Bern. She has blonde hair and blue eyes. She is about four foot six. She was wearing a long velvet dress the day she disappeared. She is a happy child. Please help us find her if you know anything.” Sarah broke into tears.

Officer Harper walked Sarah into the police station. She sat Sarah in a chair near the entrance. Sarah could still hear what was being said outside.

A reporter asked, “Do you have any leads on Samara?”

“Yes, FBX4 is part of the license plate number of a black van. We also believe the kidnapper had something to do with a murder, and a kidnapping, that happened two years ago. The man we believe to have done this is Jackson Miller. He is tall, skinny, long black hair, brown eyed, and there is a scar above his left eye. He also has a deep voice. If you have any information, please contact me at the 480-219-5237. Thanks,” Officer Greene answered, and then walked away.

Sarah was angry and confused. Why hadn’t they said anything about this guy?

When he came in, Sarah asked “Why didn’t you tell me about this Jackson Miller?”

“We just started looking into it; we were going to tell you about him after the press meeting.”

“Ok, so what do you know on him,” Sarah asked?

Officer Harper walked over and said, “Jackson Miller is a suspect in a murder two years ago. He also is suspected of kidnapping a boy. The boy’s father, Brian Lamar, was found dead in an alley. The boy was missing, and there were two bloody knifes found. The prints on one of the knives were Jackson Miller’s. The other knife had the prints of his daughter, Layla Miller. She was only nine years old at the time. She also went missing. We later found her body at a church cemetery. We believe that Jackson Miller kidnapped your daughter. We have been looking for him for awhile. We have almost caught him a couple of times.”

“So, this man has killed two people, and kidnapped a boy and my daughter?” Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing.

“Yes, but we don’t have enough evidence that he killed them, only prints on the weapons. We don’t know for sure if he still has the children either.

“What about the guy who broke into my house?”

“He was put in jail after questioning. He swore he didn’t know anything else. Why don’t you go home and get some sleep?” Officer Greene responded.

“Ok, I haven’t slept very well the past couple days anyways.” She said, while grabbing her purse, turned and walked out the door, mumbling a “Thanks” on the way out.


Sarah couldn’t believe what she was hearing. What if we never find her? She didn’t want to go home. She wanted to go back to the hospital. She drove back to the hospital and went to her mother’s room. She sat down in a chair. There was a table on the other side of the bed. A dozen blue roses sat on the table. They had been there for the past two days, and were starting to die. Betty was asleep. And Sarah started to drift. She was so tired. Her head begun to spin. The smell of the room overwhelmed her. Her eyes fluttered open and closed. She then fell into a dreamless sleep.