Chapter One

Chapter One

‘Mum, I’m taking Sammy for a walk, I’ll be back in about half an hour!’. I called up the stairs, though I didn’t get a reply. She was probably getting ready for work. Mum was a night nurse and since this whole Covid pandemic hit our country, She has been completely swarmed. Grabbing the dog’s lead, I poked my head around the front room door and held it up. ‘Walkies?’ His ears instantly pricked up and he came bounding towards me, his tail wagging in excitement. I couldn’t help but chuckle as I hooked the leash up to his collar and we headed for the door. 

Stepping out, and under the protective covering of the porch, I zipped my jacket up and pulled the hood over to cover my hair before we set out on our evening walk. 

We have had almost constant rain for days now, you wouldn’t think it was nearly summer, would you? 

Sammy was already ahead of me by a good few meters, but he was a good dog and no one was around. He had pretty good road sense too, but I could always call him back to retract the lead to bring him closer. For now, he can explore. 

Turning out of our road, We headed left up towards the old pub, which was completely crowded outside in the beer gardens, and then down into the park. It amazed me, just because lockdown was over, people felt the need to rush out and get drunk... Why? 

The park was pretty empty, because of the weather, so the only people around were other fellow dog walkers. I smiled as I passed, Sammy already halfway across the field having a good time. 

I went and sat down on the bench and just let him play for a while. I felt confident enough to let him off his lead. 

‘Hello?’ I jumped and let out a surprised little yelp, hearing a voice so close to me. I looked up and saw Sammy bounding back over to see what was going on, but when my attention turned to the person who had spoken, I was surprised to see a young girl stood there. 

‘Um.. hi? Are you ok?’ I asked, looking around quickly to see who she was with, but besides some people in the very far distance, it was just the two of us here. ‘Are you lost?’ She shook her head and smiled. 

‘Do you have the time, please?’ I checked my watch. 

‘Yeah, it's a little after 7, where are your parents?’ I asked, a little more worried this time. A girl her age shouldn’t be out here by herself. Sure, it was still light, but it was pouring down and well…. She didn’t look like she was much older than about 11… It wasn’t safe. 

‘My dad is at work’. That was all she said. 

‘Ok... Do you live close by?’ She shook her head again. ‘Do you need help?’ Again, no. I was running out of things to say here. 

‘I’m just out for a walk’. I looked her over, she wasn’t dressed appropriately for this weather either. She was in what looked like a nice, slightly fancy dress, tights and dolly shoes, only covered by a thin looking jacket, no hood. ‘My name is Margaret, but everyone calls me Maggie’. 

‘Margaret, that’s a very grown up name for a little girl’. She smiled, as if proud of my comment. 

‘What’s your name?’ 

‘Ginny’. She gasped and told me Ginny was the name of a character in her favourite book. ‘You really should be getting home... It's going to get dark soon and you’ll catch a cold in this weather’. I told her. 

‘I’ll be fine.’ With nothing more than another smile, she skipped off. I was going to call her back, not wanting her to just head off alone, I could at least call her a taxi or walk her to the bus station or SOMETHING, but she was suddenly just...gone before I could even attempt to stop her. 

That was so weird. 

I looked down at Sammy who seemed as stiff as a board next to me and patted his head. He looked up at me with his big eyes, almost with a sad expression, I knew what he was thinking. He was worried about that little girl too. 

I just couldn’t leave her out here. 

‘Shall we go and find her?’ Sammy barked and I put his lead back on and we rushed off down the way the little girl had gone. 

She couldn’t have gotten far…

We looked for what seemed like hours, I checked my watch, it was half 8 already. It had been over an hour, but there was absolutely no sign of her either in the park or the surrounding areas where I thought she’d have gone. Not even Sammy could track her down. 

Eventually, I had to just give up, the rain wasn’t letting up at all and poor Sam was absolutely drenched. I wasn’t much better, He would need a blow-dry and I would need a shower. Mum would be gone by now too, so I’d be going home to an empty house. 

I felt guilty, leaving without knowing for sure Maggie was ok, but what more could I do? 

Signing sadly, We turned back and headed home. 

‘Come on, boy. She’s probably home safe and sound’. He whined but followed me as we walked back through the park. It had gotten slightly darker now too, so I kept Sammy close to me, just for my own feeling of safety and within 15 minutes, we were walking up our pathway to our front door. 

My uneasy feeling returned and I turned around, scanning the street, but no one was there. I laughed it off as just being my own paranoia and unlocked the door before heading inside. 

*******

After drying Sammy off and giving him his dinner, I headed upstairs for a nice hot shower and once that was done, I climbed into bed, under my freshly washed sheets and sighed. Today has been so strange! 

I turned over and looked out of my bedroom window, the rain was pounding against the glass, but it was really relaxing. Closing my eyes, The darkness took over and I drifted off to sleep…