7/19/2011

Like That, She's Gone

Story Sent in by Hugh:

Sharon and I had been dating for a couple of months when she invited me to her uncle's house for a weekend alone.  This house, which was on a lake in the middle of the woods, was large and beautiful, and was in an area down a dirt road and far from the nearest town as well as decent cell service.

We drove up there in my car and arrived with some sunlight left. Down at the lake, we jumped into the water and then sat on the dock together.

She leaned over to me and asked if I wanted to have sex right there, on the dock. I did, but I wanted to grab a condom, so I ran back up to the house, where we had placed our bags, and grabbed one.

When I returned, she wasn't there. I looked around, dived into the water, called for her, searched for footprints, dived into the water again, and called for her some more.

I walked into the forest near the dock and I found her bikini strewn across a bush, as if she had thrown it there. I called for her several more times, then waited at the dock for about a half-hour.

At that point, I shouted, "If you can hear me, I'll be back up at the house!"

I went inside, changed into jeans, and searched around the house for her. No sign. I went outside again. It was darkening, and I had a bad feeling. I called and called and checked once more down at the water. I didn't have cell phone service there, but I did have my car. I jumped into it and drove to the nearest town, where I called Sharon's family with the few bars of signal that I had.

I asked them if she was in touch with them, and they said that she wasn't. They advised me to look for her a bit more, that she was probably playing a game, and that I should leave the house doors unlocked that night.

When I returned to the house, there was still no sign of Sharon. I walked back down to the dock, shone a flashlight on the water, searched in the forest, called and yelled for her, returned to the house, and promised myself that I'd call the police if she wasn't back by the morning.

I woke up the next morning, and there was still no sign of her. I went back down to the water, and back to where I had found her swimsuit. It was still there, but there was no sign of Sharon at all.

I drove back to town and called her family. Her mother said that I should wait another few hours before calling the police, but I was very concerned. I returned to the house, searched it and the area around it another time, and called for her down at the dock.

After some minutes of that, I went back up to the house to prepare to head to town to call the police. That's when I noticed that something was different.

Sharon's bag was gone.

I ran out of the house and yelled up and down the property for her. No answer. I jumped into my car, thinking that she had walked off of the property and towards town for some reason. I drove to and from the town, but there was no sign of her, at least not on the routes that I took. I felt relieved, but also creeped out. Why would she come out of hiding long enough to grab her bag, but not reassure me that she was okay?

I called to let her parents know, and they thanked me for looking for her. I went back and forth between the house and town close to a dozen times for the rest of the day, but there was no sign of her. I called her parents each time, to give them an update.

Around sunset, I called them up and they told me that she had arrived back at their home. I asked them what had happened to her and if I could speak with her. They said that she hadn't opened up to them and that she had gone straight to bed.

I returned to the house, packed up my own stuff, and drove home. I called her and left a message on her voicemail. I also called her parents the next day, but they weren't at all forthcoming with further details, and it sounded as if their tone towards me changed from worried and grateful to annoyed and angry. I left them alone, tried Sharon a couple more times, but never heard from her again.

16 comments:

  1. Howie, where have you been? I've had to rely on Nikki for banter during your absence, and let me tell you, that was no picnic.

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  2. I was on vacation at the cottage for 2 sunshine filled-lake cooled-beer ingesting weeks!
    Did nobody at ABCotD get the open invitation to join me? I wondered why nobody showed up? How sad I had to do jello shots off my own body.

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  3. ^^^ Also, how flexible.

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  4. I would have called the police anyway, despite what her parents said. I suspect they knew exactly what happened. Why else would they insist the OP not call the police when their daughter went missing in the woods?

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  5. Much as I want to believe OP, I suspect there is more to this than mentioned.

    Any normal person, after her bag was noticed missing, would have driven down and up the road looking for her, once or twice, maybe even 3 times.

    'I went back and forth between the house and town close to a dozen times for the rest of the day'

    Yep, sounds like OP is a bit obsessive. I think maybe he came on really strong, and she agreed to have sex, with a condom, just to get rid of him so she could escape...

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  6. I want her side. It might go like this:
    Thought I met a great guy. Took him to cabin. When he got really creepy I decided to bail. Wasn't quite bad enough to involve police. Told my parents I was taking friends car home. Told them if he called to placate him. When I got home told them to brush him off. Will never invite man to cabin again.
    Makes more sense than his story. No offense OP.

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  7. ^ All the would make sense if not for the fact they had been dating for a couple of months.

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  8. What is it with saying, "Oh, this guy tried more than a couple of times to reach/find her so he's an obsessive nut"? OP was in a relationship with this nutjob and obviously cared about her. He was *afraid* for her--probably panicking a little-- and driving up and down was the only thing he could think of to do.
    I'm with Baku-chan--the parents were way too calm about their daughter being missing. Maybe this is a habit with this girl and she thinks it's funny to scare people who care about her. I would have called the police that night; if she was hurt, she needed the help and if not she deserved to get in trouble.

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  9. ^What momghoti said. Sounds like she pulled that kind of crap before, and went home to tell her parents that OP tried to abuse her or something of the sort. Some people love any kind of attention that they can get.

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  10. I think it seemed like he was worried that he might be blamed for her disappearance, so that explains his looking for her obsessively. However, of course, we'll never know more than is presented here. His side is plausible because if she was in trouble, why didn't she bother to call her parents to let them know what happened before arriving back home? It seems to me that she pulled a disappearing act as some kind of test, he failed it somehow, and she fed her parents a line of bs to explain why she didn't want to date him any more.

    Any way you slice it, the OP dodged a bullet here, so no harm, no foul.

    He should have called the cops or emergency services immediately though. Then after dozens of people spend hundreds of man-hours looking for her, it becomes _her_ problem to explain why she just vanished into thin air in the middle of the day with no warning.

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  11. ^ Nah, wouldn't have worked - they wouldn't have started searching for her till 72 hours had passed.

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  12. Is it just me that find it odd he wants to use a condom after dating for months?

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    Replies
    1. Why is that odd at all? It's birth control as well as disease control. Why not use a condom?

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  13. I know, right? You'd think that since they'd been dating for a few months, he'd want babies already.

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  14. I think Coherent is right that it was some kind of test. If the OP had just creeped her out or she was bored or sick or something, why would she toss her bikini? That makes no sense.

    I think she was playfully hiding from him and the bikini was a clue to the direction she went. After awhile she went from playful to annoyed to angry when he didn't find her, so she left.

    I also think the parents knew more than they were letting on, as every parent in the universe would want the authorities called if their daughter was missing overnight in the woods, not keep telling the OP to wait.

    The real mystery is how the hell she got home.

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