Finding Anna Charles
Prologue
1972
It was always me that was told to go check on the young girl, the only patient we had now that liked to roam the institution at night. She claimed she liked to listen to the rain on the tin roof from inside the garden shed around the back of the main building, and probably would have stayed there all night if we’d let her. She was a sweet, simple girl, who found many joys in life. I liked that about her. Sure, she was insane, but she was just as normal as I was in a way. She still laughed at my lame jokes and smiled as I tucked her in at night before locking the door to her room.
She told me quite frequently of the future, and of this person she was connected with in a way she wasn’t sure of. She just was, apparently. I was beginning to believe her, in part, but I knew deep down that it had to be complete and utter nonsense. No one could see into the future. There was a place for people like that, and I was working in it.
I was running down every corridor now, even the ones that were poorly lit and usually avoided. I never checked those corridors but after failing to find her in the garden shed, I became a little worried. The feeling only strengthened with the longer I searched without the aid of bare feet against the tiled floor or those girlie giggles from around the corners I’d just passed. There was none of that tonight. There was nothing at all.
I rounded the corner and found myself back where I was, in her room sitting on her bed with my clipboard in my shaking hands. Her details remained missing below her name with the date of November 10th, 1972 scribbled at the top of the document.
That was the day she disappeared.
I had to find her. I had to find Anna Charles.
It was always me that was told to go check on the young girl, the only patient we had now that liked to roam the institution at night. She claimed she liked to listen to the rain on the tin roof from inside the garden shed around the back of the main building, and probably would have stayed there all night if we’d let her. She was a sweet, simple girl, who found many joys in life. I liked that about her. Sure, she was insane, but she was just as normal as I was in a way. She still laughed at my lame jokes and smiled as I tucked her in at night before locking the door to her room.
She told me quite frequently of the future, and of this person she was connected with in a way she wasn’t sure of. She just was, apparently. I was beginning to believe her, in part, but I knew deep down that it had to be complete and utter nonsense. No one could see into the future. There was a place for people like that, and I was working in it.
I was running down every corridor now, even the ones that were poorly lit and usually avoided. I never checked those corridors but after failing to find her in the garden shed, I became a little worried. The feeling only strengthened with the longer I searched without the aid of bare feet against the tiled floor or those girlie giggles from around the corners I’d just passed. There was none of that tonight. There was nothing at all.
I rounded the corner and found myself back where I was, in her room sitting on her bed with my clipboard in my shaking hands. Her details remained missing below her name with the date of November 10th, 1972 scribbled at the top of the document.
That was the day she disappeared.
I had to find her. I had to find Anna Charles.
♠ ♠ ♠
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