The Abandoned Farmhouse
“Good Morning Dallas!” I exclaimed. “This is detective Barbra Jones, coming for you live from an old abandoned farmhouse, that seems to have been left in a hurry. Sources tell us that there was a family. Yes, you heard right viewers! A family. A mom, dad, and a child. Let’s take a closer look, shall we? But before we do, I would like to say that we have put down reinforcements, so this is completely safe!”
As I went closer near the rubble, what I found amazed me! There was a bed so long I was sure it couldn’t have belonged to a child. Could it...possibly..belong to the man? I ventured closer being more careful now, and my eyes fell upon a dusty Bible in the corner. “The man must be religious,” I thought. “But is it even...man?” What I saw next confirmed my suspicions. There was a pile of broken dishes, but it was the shoe next to it that sparked my confusion. It was a big shoe. Maybe it belonged to a troll!
But there were no trolls here because this was the real world, and it wasn’t a story inside a storybook. But..what about the others? The woman? Or the child? I know they were here...or so I was told by my boss. I saw a pair of rickety old stairs, missing a couple of steps now and then, but otherwise considered safe. I made my way up the creaking stairs, and there was a bedroom, papered with lilacs. The mom must have been here. I open the drawers and cabinets, but I found nothing and decided to move on. I found nothing of the child but when I saw a sandbox made from a tractor tire, I knew this was evidence
that the child had lived here. As I turned to my right, I saw a cellar hole, sealed tight.
The dust surrounded the cracks, and there was something sticky that held the door so tightly in place. I took a good grip, and forced open the door. Inside, there were jars of plum preserves and canned tomatoes. This led me to believe that they were poor. As I left the poor old house, I saw dusty, old rags in the window frames. They must have suffered in the cold winter days. Walking from the old farm, I realized one thing. The still-sealed jars in the cellar. The toys that were thrown around in the yard. Where had this family gone? Surely they wouldn’t have just left their precious food still sealed!
I went over to the FBI, curious about what had happened to the family. As I approached the station, I noticed a burly looking man sitting behind a desk.“Hi! Um..I’m Barbara Jones, and I’m investigating a family who went missing. Could I please speak to the person in charge?”“A reporter??” said the man. “All the files are over there, now don’t bother me again, please!”“Oh..thank you!”As I made my way toward the files, I noticed that one of them had papers bulging from the sides. “This must be it,” I thought.I took the folder carefully, making sure to collect all the papers, and began the long drive home.
Upon reaching home, I grabbed my laptop and noticed that there were many articles about this family. But they all contained one thing. Family reported missing. Location: Unknown. Another dead end. I slammed my laptop in frustration, but something caught my eye. It was at the bottom of the page, and the link was...unusual. The title was, “The Anderson family disappearance.” Was their last name Anderson? I clicked the link and read the entire page. The mom was Linda. Their father Dave. The child Lily. I need to find out who wrote this, because they might know where the “Andersons” went!
I quickly found out that the person was Rebecca Anderson. Why would she have the same last name? I put out a google search and found out that she lives in 786 Hylid Ave. Luckily it was in Dallas. I put on my reporter outfit and went over to her house. When I arrived, I saw a woman sitting in her front yard.“I’ve been waiting for you,” she says ominously.“Okaaay...um...sure?” I said, clearly spooked out.As I followed the creepy old woman inside her house, I felt like I was in one of those horror movies. The one where you tell the character not to go into the basement, but they do.
She grabbed a book that was on her shelf and beckoned me closer. Totally feeling the creepy vibes now.But she pointed to an old photo of her and a woman. “Who’s she?” I questioned. “She’s my daughter.”The lady then told me the entire story. It seems that her daughter, Linda had gone against her wishes and married Dave. They were already suffering enough, but when they had, Lily, Dave spiraled into anxiety and got involved with some shady people. It seems that he tried to back out, but he was in too deep.
The leader of the gang sent some people after his family, and they had to escape for their lives. But I still had one question: Is the family still alive?The lady considered this, wondering if she could tell me, but finally admitted, “They are. They live in Austin. I sent them there, concerned for their well-being, but I don’t know if they’re still alive…”I bid the lady a good day and set off to Austin, Texas. When I arrived, I had no clue where to start. The nice lady had forgotten to tell me where they lived! I went over to a nice man and asked him, “Hi! I’m not sure if I can trust you but--”“The Andersons?” he questioned. “Right this way, ma’am.”I was surprised that he knew I was coming, but knowing the old lady, she probably realized that she forgot to tell me and told this guy to help me out.
After a couple of minutes, I arrived at their house. It wasn’t too clean, but it was rather shabby. Leaves were scattered across the front yard, and the door was thrown wide open. There stood a young woman. “I’m Lily Anderson. I’ve heard you’ve been looking for me…” she said, rather confidently.“Oh!” I exclaimed. “Where are your parents? You know..Dave and Linda.”“My parents are long gone, but I can tell you whatever you need to know.” It seems that when the shady people came after them, they all decided to move to Linda’s mother’s place.
When they arrived, Jillian, Linda’s mother, told them that they needed to move to Austin, Texts. But they shady people found them and they killed Dave and Linda. Jillian guarded Lily and took her to Austin, Texas. After Lily was old enough to take care of herself, Jillian moved back and published an article about the Anderson family. But still one question remained: Why did Jillian tell me that Lily’s parents had died? She simply said, “They live in Austin. I sent them there, concerned for their well-being, but I don’t know if they’re still alive…” Why would she lie? Lily said, “She’s pretty old, so she probably forgot...or she didn’t want to tell you because it would be like remembering what happened that night…”I quickly said good-bye to Lily and went back home to Dallas. I had a long night ahead of me because I was going to report my findings to the Police, or even the FBI!!
I woke up early the next day, and went down to the police station. After answering the questions, they finally said, “Thank you, Ms. Jones. We will seriously consider this!” “Ok..but when are you going to publish the article?”“Oh, I’m not sure...we have to find someone to write it.” he said thoughtfully.“Well what about me? I know EVERYTHING!” I said raptiously. I quickly got to writing and before I knew it, my article was published for everyone to see. And as I was doing some digging, it turns out that Mr. Anderson had Marfan Feet syndrome. It causes your feet to enlarge, and your body to stretch.
It was hard to cope with this, and he tried to fix it with a surgery, but it didn’t work and that was how they got poor in the first place. I soon went to the old lady’s house once more, and told her everything that I did. She told me that what I did was the right thing to do and I continued my career as a detective, solving mysteries one step at a time.
