Chapter 1: And she never came back
Greenwood was a small village. It was very charming and everybody knew each other. This village had all the characteristics of a hamlet: there was a church, St Williams, a small market on Mondays and even Mrs Potts, an old lady who knew everything that happened in Greenwood.
Evangeline Potts was a 71 year old retired teacher, who lived in a lovely house with a garden, just next to the market. She had a dog, Lucky, a brown French bulldog. You could always find Mrs Potts and her dog at the terrasse of the café, and on Mondays she would always be at the market, chatting to everybody who walked by. Lucky would often wander off between the stalls, looking for food, food that every seller would give him. Mrs Potts would always say “Lucky! Come back here! We have food at home.” and when he finally came, she would congratulate him: “That’s a good boy.”
Greenwood was a perfectly normal village, but, as Mrs Potts would say in her high pitched voice, chatting to her neighbours, “There’s this house with blue shutters.” Everyone who lived in Greenwood for more than two months knew about this house with blue shutters on the edge of the village, in the dark forest. This house was feared by the inhabitants of Greenwood. Nobody knew who lived here. Those who were brave enough to go near the house could see the name Jefferson written on the letter box. And actually, there had been a girl in Greenwood School named Texas Jefferson. She was 10 and never said a word, even to teachers. She was a cute little girl with light brown hair, blue eyes and freckles. Her hair was always up in two ponytails on both sides of her head. It was rumoured she lived in the house with blue shutters, but that rumor went unanswered, and no adults were ever seen with her. The teachers, Mrs Potts was one of them at the time, didn’t know anything about her. She was a mystery. The only thing she ever said, on the first day she arrived in Greenwood School was “My name is Texas Jefferson.” and on parents day she was all by herself.
But except that, all had been perfectly normal in Greenwood. Until the 4th of July 1981 when Texas never showed up for school. And the rumour, with Mrs Potts’ help, started spreading. It was on the Greenwood Times. Texas Jefferson had disappeared.
