Grace's Blog Post

For an audio version of this post, click here.

I've taken the liberty of copying Grace's blog post.  What follows is her creation:

There's something wrong in Fair River Forest, the woods that surround the town where I live.  I've felt that way ever since my family moved here, but it wasn't until I found the camera that I had the proof to back up what I've been thinking all these years.  Once you see the pictures, you'll understand.

There's this little garden that borders the edge of the forest.  A few days ago I was walking along the edge of the pond, which is toward the back of the garden, when I saw a decent camera lying by some trees at the end of the garden.  I hadn't been that far back before because that's where the garden meets the woods, but I didn't want the camera to get ruined, so I walked over to pick it up.

As I was walking toward the camera, I saw something shiny beside it, a sparkly black high heel.  There was a second one not too far away from the first.  I didn't really think much of it because every so often a shoe or shirt or even underwear will turn up somewhere it doesn't belong, like along the side of the road.  There isn't much to do around here, so people get drunk a lot and sometimes lose their clothes.  A lot of people who aren't 21 yet drink out in the gardens after dark so they won't get caught.  It didn't seem that weird that there would be a random shoe lying there.

I bent down to pick up the camera and I felt a pair of eyes on me.  I didn't see anything, but I grabbed the camera and got out of there as fast as I could.  Fair River is the sort of small town where everyone knows everyone else, so I figured that there was a good chance that I knew whoever owned the camera.  It was dead, so I took it home and charged it.  I turned it on to see if I recognized anyone and I saw Willow Howard's face looking back at me.

Picture of Willow Howard, the first one from the camera.

Willow and her boyfriend, Collin Phillips, went missing a couple of weeks back.  I didn't know them well, but I'd recognize her anywhere, especially since her face had been plastered all over my social media feeds ever since she went missing.

I don't know how long I stood there, staring at her picture.  I felt like I was seeing a ghost.  She was gone, but somehow she was here before me, full of life.

Without even thinking about what I was doing, I moved on to the next picture and then the next one.  There were a few shots of flowers, but most were pictures of Willow.  Willow posing with flowers, Willow on a bench, Willow on a set of stairs, you get the idea.  There were hundreds of pictures.  I'm not even exaggerating.  I almost gave up, but something told me to keep going.

Then I got to this picture:

This is where things started getting weird.  Look at that wooden structure in the background.  Willow's blocking it a little, but you can tell it's not natural.  It looks like something you'd use for summoning demons or ritual murders, not the kind of thing you expect to find in your local garden.  I've been in the garden a hundred times and I've never seen it before, although I've always avoided the back part of the garden.  Now look at this next picture.

She looks a little worried, I think.  I don't know what's going on exactly, but that's not the picture of someone at ease.  And then there's this one:

It looks like she heard something.  I wish I knew what.

I don't even know why this picture exists.  Why would Collin take it?  Like if they hadn't gone missing, I'd assume it was part of some photo shoot.  But she looks genuinely afraid here.  And then there were these pictures:

The one with the shoe was the last picture on the camera.  I'm guessing the camera must have been on a timer, or maybe Collin had his thumb on the shutter or something, but I don't know.  I'm not one hundred percent sure what's happening there, but with the way she has her arms raised over her head, it looks like maybe she's trying to fend something off.  It must have something to do with her disappearance.  I'm sure of it.

I know I should probably turn the camera over to Sheriff Mitchell, but it seems like he doesn't even care that Willow is missing.  I don't trust him to do the right thing.  I know that sounds bad, but if you lived here, you'd understand.

Anyway, I'm posting this because I don't know what else to do.  Willow and Collin deserve justice.  Mrs. Howard deserves to know what happened to her daughter.  I just don't know how to make any of this happen.  If you're reading this, please share with anyone who might know Willow or Collin.  Maybe if we all come together, the sheriff will have to do something.

We'll see if anything comes of Grace's little blog post.  Out in cyberspace, the odds of anyone connected to Willow or Collin happening upon it are small, but she's thinking about creating a fake email account and sending a link to everyone she knows.  Right now, she's Googling how to make an email account untraceable.  Poor child doesn't even realize that anyone from around here who reads this post will know it's her within the first few lines.  Not many families move to Fair River, especially not these days.

While Grace is working out what to do with her post, I think we need to get some things straight about Fair River and its vanishing residents.