Willow Howard and Collin Phillip's Disappearance

From the police interview with Francine Howard, the night Willow went missing seemed perfectly ordinary, but I suppose those ordinary nights are where most of the trouble begins.  On August 15th, 2020, Willow joined her mother and sister for supper at around five - an early meal in the Howard household, but Willow had requested it, and Francine "saw no reason not to oblige her."  Willow was in good spirits that evening, chattering away about the photo shoot she was going to do with Collin, and all the likes she was expecting to get on Instagram.  She loved feeling beautiful, but the feeling was fleeting, one she constantly needed to stoke by producing new photos for her small band of internet admirers to fawn over.

Collin arrived around five thirty, as the family was finishing their dinner.  Willow invited him in, but he said he would wait on the porch until she was ready.  There was nothing unusual about that either; the chill of Francine's glare can be nearly as intimidating as the woods, and Collin received nothing but cold looks from Willow's mother.  Jane went out to keep him company while Willow changed into her outfit for the photo shoot.

Collin didn't have anyone in Fair River except Willow; the two had met in a calculus class nearly three years before, and Collin had moved up this way for the summer to be near his love.  The only people able to provide information about Collin's disappearance were Francine and Jane, and Francine could say nothing more than she glimpsed him through the window.  Jane, however, offered a detail that went on to fuel many of the rumors surrounding the disappearance: Willow and Collin were thinking about marriage.

Jane was one of two people Willow had entrusted with the news of her engagement.  Willow had found a ring she liked, and if you look closely in some of her Instagram photos from the days leading up to her disappearance, you can see a diamond ring on her ring finger on her left hand.  She wore it when she was with Collin in semi-private settings, but took it off whenever others were around.  Francine might scowl any time she laid eyes on Collin, but her icy stares were nothing compared to Keith Howard's vitriol.  Willow was waiting to break the news until she had returned to school in September, where she would be miles from her parents' reach.

On that particular evening, Jane had sat with Collin on the porch swing, and had congratulated him on the engagement.  He had smiled and thanked her, although she noted to the sheriff that his smile seemed forced.  She had asked him if anything was wrong.  He had looked toward the house and said, "I don't want this to hurt Willow.  I know things aren't great between her and your parents, and I feel like I'm only making it worse by being here."

Jane tried reassuring him that he had little to do with Willow's strained relationship with their parents, but he seemed unconvinced.  "I should be on top of the world right now," he had said.  "But I can't help feeling like this whole thing is a disaster waiting to happen.  The moment we make the announcement, all hell will break loose."

Jane had asked Sheriff Mitchell to keep the news of Willow and Collin's engagement private, but he insisted that it was essential to the investigation.  When the sheriff asked Francine about the engagement, he jotted in his interview notes that her eyes widened as her jaw fell slack.  She was silent for a moment, and then said, "That boy must be dumb as a rock.  I don't know why he keeps wasting his time on a girl who's still hung up on someone else."

You see, Willow had externalized her grief over Cam's disappearance more than most folks do when suffering a loss.  Her semi-Gothic aesthetic had originated as mourning dress, and each day she donned a golden, heart shaped locket with Cam's picture.  She mentioned them on her social media accounts, and had commemorated the anniversary of their disappearance days before she too would vanish in a sentimental post.  Francine would say Willow had a "flair for the dramatic," but that wasn't quite right.  Willow felt her emotions deeply, and she was unafraid to bear them to the world, even if doing so made other people uncomfortable.  Part of her heart belonged to Cam, and it would so long as she lived.  But another part was devoted to Collin, and from the way she lit up when he came into the room, and the way she cooed about him to Jane, you could read her love for him plain as day.

Francine didn't think much of it when Willow failed to return that night.  Willow spent the night at Collin's place often enough.  But when the next day rolled by with no signs of her eldest daughter, Francine's concern started building.  She tried Willow's phone that evening, to see if Willow was planning on coming home for dinner, but Willow didn't pick up.  So she sent Jane over to Collin's to talk to Willow.

Jane arrived at Collin's apartment a little after five that evening.  Collin's truck was parked in the driveway, but when she knocked on the apartment's door, no one answered.  She then tried Willow's phone and received voicemail.  The gardens were in walking distance of Collin's place, so she headed over that way, but Willow wasn't there either.

Jane knew in her gut then that something was wrong, so she called Sheriff Mitchell.  All calls to the sheriff's office are recorded.  Here is an excerpt of their conversation:

J: Hi Sheriff Mitchell, it's Jane Howard.  Willow's gone missing.
M: Calm down, Jane.  What makes you think she's missing?
J: She never came home last night.
M: Wasn't she out with that boyfriend of hers?
J: Yes, but he's gone too.  She's not answering her phone.  And I went to Collin's house, and his truck is there, but no one's home.
M: Maybe they're out on a walk or somethin'.  You checked downtown?
J: She's not out walking.  Something's wrong.  She's not answering her phone.
M: Look, I can't open a missing person case until she's been gone twenty-four hours.  Go check around, make sure she's not downtown or somethin', and call back later, okay?
J: Okay.

The sheriff's wrong about the twenty-four hour thing, but Jane didn't know that, so she didn't push it.  She checked around downtown, asking everyone she came across if they had seen Willow or Collin.  As soon as six o'clock rolled around, she marched down to the sheriff's office and started her missing persons report.

"You know, Jane," the sheriff had said, as he was taking her statement.  "Most people who go missing, it's their choice.  They don't wanna be found."

"Willow isn't most missing people.  She wouldn't disappear without saying a word.  Something bad has happened to her.  I know it."

"What, like that shadow creature she was blubberin' about gettin' Collin ... uh no, the other one ... Cam?"

"I can't believe this.  My sister is missing, and you're over here poking fun at her for something she said after she lost her best friend.  The woods are strange.  You know this."

"I ain't never seen nothing strange in them.  The only monsters in this world, they look like you and me."

Sheriff Mitchell missed the mark there.  What goes on in Fair River Forest defies our current scientific knowledge.  However, in the case of Willow's disappearance, the monster may very well be human.  I think I've got an idea of what happened to her.  Jane has the same idea.  Let's hope she can piece everything together before it's too late.