Chapter 1 Before the Storm
"Ben! Come get these logs before it starts raining!" I yelled as birds whistled around me and the wind swept through the trees.
"Yes, Father! Let me go get those," Ben replied as he stepped out of the little farmhouse and headed toward the pile of logs.
As Ben went outside, Lucy walked up to me.
"Papa, can I go play with the dollhouse outside?" she asked innocently, so full of life.
"As long as your brother goes with you," I said.
She ran off, calling, "Brother! Brother! Come with me so I can go play with my dollhouse!"
Afterward, I sat down on the couch. Before long, I realized Ben hadn't come back yet. I stood up and headed toward the front door. I could hear the rain beginning to fall.
I opened the door and stepped onto the porch. A storm had rolled in.
"Ben! Come on, it's pouring! We need to get the logs inside!"
There was no answer.
I stepped out into the rain and told Lucy and her brother, James, to go back inside and get ready for dinner.
Then I started searching around the place where the logs were supposed to be. They were still there, but Ben was nowhere to be found.
I kept shouting.
"Ben! Come on, son! Where are you? This ain't funny!"
I searched and searched, but I found nothing.
Eventually, I gave up and went back into the house.
"Honey, I sent Ben out to get the logs, and he hasn't come back. I went looking for him, but I can't find him," I said.
She looked at me in complete horror.
"Oh, Bill... where could he have gone? That boy gets into too much trouble," she said, tears beginning to fill her eyes.
"Hey, hey... I'm sure he'll turn up. If he isn't back tomorrow, I'll head down to town and talk to the local police. I'll send James with them to help look for him. Just go ahead and serve dinner, all right?" I said.
"Okay," she replied, wiping away her tears.
The rest of the night went by smoothly enough. We ate dinner, though it was oddly quiet, mostly because Ben wasn't there to talk our heads off. Lucy kept asking where he was.
Soon, morning came.
I woke up, climbed out of bed, and went straight to Ben's room.
He still wasn't there.
That was when I heard a knock at the door.
