Take Her

Alone in the park near their house early one morning, a five-year-old girlpushes her little sister on a swing, as she often does when they go to the parkby themselves. It’s a cool, crisp morning and the only sound aside from theyoungest girl’s laughter is of the old swing chain creaking with each newpush. The heavy fog sits just above the ground and casts an eerie shadowthroughout the park. The older girl wishes that for once her mother wouldhave let her go to the park alone to enjoy the quiet morning by herself insteadof always having to drag her little sister along with her.As they laugh and play together on the slide, they don’t notice that the manwatching them from the edge of the forest on the far side of the park hasmoved closer. When they slip down the slide for the last time and delightin the feeling of their bare toes in the cold sand, they look up to see himstanding right in front of them.The man looks sweaty and nervous, and as his lips curl into a smile whenhe learns that they are there without their parents, the older girl immediatelyremembers that she’s seen him in the park before, many times, alwayswatching them.A moment later he’s gone and has taken one of the girls with him.Read more