Unsolved

It was irresistible, that unguarded clubhouse lit up like a beacon in the night. The legal term later brought up was ‘attractive nuisance’, like a pool left unfenced for any small child to wander up to and fall in. The children in question were all at least fourteen, old enough to know better, but children still.

Piecing it together after the fact was hard enough without the parents insisting that they and their lawyers be present for any questioning, which led to constant interjections and sidebars. “Why are you asking Timmy about that? He doesn’t know. Right, Timmy?”

Two of the boys insisted Alicia had been wearing a green shirt while everyone else said it was striped blue. She had maybe been down at the shoreline or maybe gone into the small grove of trees at the base of the larger hill. They all agreed on the arrival of the UFO, the one part that couldn’t have happened.

Their parents had been quick to block any damning blood tests, though the empty bottles and tiny baggies had spoken eloquently on that point. The working theory was that they’d seen something, though obviously not aliens come for their friend. The lack of tire tracks, corroborating CCTV footage, or really any evidence was troubling, but if no-one else had been involved then where was the body? The kids’ cars all tested clean, nothing had been transported in those.

The management had allowed her mother to put up flyers for the first few weeks, but eventually they’d had to put a stop to it. It wasn’t as if there was anyone who didn’t know by then, unfortunately. And, after all, they’d hired on a night guard. What more could they do?

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Written for the #365daysofwriting challenge by @mydivathings from the Day 255 photo prompt.

Photo by bady qb.