When Shadows Come to Light: Missing

Cara had a happy and carefree childhood at first. She mostly played by herself, but all was well. She had a governess who came in and taught her, as well as took her to the park and on other outings. She never really realized how often her parents were gone, or how her governess always seemed to steer her away from other children at the playground. After all, she was only six years old when it happened.

Her parents were never home. They said they had busy jobs and always gave her gifts to distract her from the fact, but nevertheless, as she grew older, she realized how little they were home. They left at five o’ clock and came home at nine o’ clock, so she never saw them, not even on her birthday. She never realized that she had never seen them in her life. 

Every day, doctors came. It was a different doctor every time, but one thing was the same, they all wore white hazmat suits and breathed out of air tanks. It was as if they thought she was poisonous. They would examine her, stick needles into her, and take blood samples and leave until another one would come the next day.   

One day, she was playing “the hiding game”, a game where she would find a hiding spot and time herself to see how long she could last. Cara decided to hide underneath her parent’s bed, as it seemed like the perfect place to hide. When she crawled under the large queen sized bed, she found a box. When she opened the box, she saw papers, and they all said the exact same thing: 

MISSING: Cara Burke, assumed to be captured by EVIL (Engineering of Virtual Intelligence and Learning) for unknown reasons. Until now, there are no known causes of criminal activity from EVIL. Currently 6 years of age. We do not yet know what is special about her, but hope to find out before EVIL can do anything nefarious. If you find her, call 119 to reach the missing persons office. 

Above the text was a picture of her when she was about 2 years old. They had the same picture hanging on the wall, and it was one of her favorites. She didn’t understand what was happening. Why were there pictures of her under her parent’s bed? She could read the words well enough and knew what it said. She rifled through the box and saw posters dating back to four years ago, when she was two. 

Her governess called her from the living room where she was reading a book. “Cara, where did you hide this time?” she asked. “I hid under Mom and Dad’s bed.” The governess’ eyes widened in fear. “You are to never do that again, do you understand?” “Yes ma’am.” Cara said, wondering why it was such a big deal. 

The governess pulled out her phone. “I just have to make one quick phone call and I’ll be with you, okay?” She swiftly walked away. Cara followed and listened in. “…found the posters…dangerous…what will we do?…okay…keep her distracted…soon?…good…see you then.” She couldn’t hear all of it, but it was enough to make her think. “Why don’t I fetch you a snack? I’m sure you’re hungry from all that hiding.” Her governess asked. “Okay.” Cara said. She made sure to stay alert, as she didn’t know who, or what was coming. 

Two minutes later, there was a bang at the door. It was sharp and hard. A man’s voice yelled “Open up or we’ll knock the door down!” The governess opened the door. “Oh, thank goodness you’re here.” The men were wearing what looked like a cross between a hazmat suit and an army uniform. They had the white suit as the base, and they wore guns and packs strapped to their backs, and walkie talkies attached to the front. 

The men walked over, grabbed her arms and dragged her out the door. Before she could protest, she felt the world going black.