Going Home

Lorelei gazed across the lake. Fireflies dotted the sky over the water as the last piece of the sun faded from the horizon. Tall trees with long branches and green leaves surrounded the lake where Lorelei stood. She knew that she shouldn’t be there - not with all the deaths lately. But the view was so beautiful, and it had been such a long time since she had been to the lake. It wasn’t long after the first girl turned up dead that Lorelei’s father forbade her from going to the lake alone - especially after dark. Tonight was the first time she had disobeyed her father. Lorelei always had longed for excitement. Village life for her was dull. Cleaning hides. Cooking meals. Washing clothes. Helping with the young ones. She wanted more, but certain things were expected from young girls in her time in her village. And a life of excitement was not among them. Lorelei was standing behind a tall oak, as if hiding from whatever terror awaited unsuspecting girls from the village who ventured off at night by themselves. The scenery was so serene that Lorelei had trouble believing that anything bad could happen to her. But that’s what all the girls at the village said. A year ago tonight, Lorelei’s best friend, Adelia, said that there was no way that anything bad could happen to her. I’m always careful, and I never go out at night, Lorelei remembered Adelia saying. Two days later, Adelia was gone. They found her body a few weeks later in the middle of a dandelion field just outside the village. Adelia was the fifth victim, and there had been five more after her. The scenario always was the same. The girl would first vanish for a few weeks or months and then, someone would find their bodies in a remote spot outside the village. There would be no marks on their bodies, and no one could figure out how they had died. It was as if their hearts just stopped. But these were young girls, and all were very healthy before they disappeared. Many from the village believed that the Hill People were kidnapping and killing their daughters. But there was no evidence that any outsiders were responsible. Some wanted to attack the Hill People, but the tribe to the north was too strong - and with no evidence, there was little unity in this plan. The village elders tried to maintain calm, and the men from the village began conducting regular patrols. But it didn’t stop the vanishings. Life in Lorelei’s village was calm before the girls started vanishing. Strock, Lorelei’s father, was an elder in the village. His word carried much weight with the rest of the people in the village. Strock organized many of the hunts, and he often would bring home the largest kill from the hunt. All the food was shared, but Strock’s prowess as a hunter allowed his family certain privileges. One of those privileges was his place among the village leaders. And as the daughter of one of the leaders of the village, Lorelei also held a place of prestige among the girls in the village. Although all the girls of the village were forbidden to venture out after dark, Lorelei had planned to use her station in the village to convince any patrolling elders who might have spotted her that her father had instructed her to go to the lake for fresh water.