The Wail of the Silver Willow

On one pleasant Friday afternoon, I decided to take a stroll through the park. I sat down on the park bench next to the children’s playground because watching these young children laugh and play warms my heart. As I was watching them play, a thought occurred to myself, Oh! How I missed being a carefree child who enjoys every second of every moment, but oh well, life passes us by and those good old times are now nothing but a memory. All the children in the park were playing except for one; a little girl sat on a bench across the playground underneath the willow tree. She sat all by herself and in her arms was a ragged old doll. The little girl had the most beautiful brown curls I had ever seen and lovely hazel eyes that shone beautifully under the bright sunlight.

I however, stopped staring as I didn’t want to frighten her. I looked around and decided to sketch random scenes but none of them were good so I thought why not sketch a portrait of the little girl with her doll from across the playground. There was something about her that was not ordinary: a dull and faded look that would catch anybody’s eye. A little while later, another child sat beside her playing with his own toy. From afar it looked like they were having a conversation with each other, playing with their toys. Seeing this, I smiled.

As the sun was about to set, I glanced back at the willow tree and saw the empty bench but yes, it was a time when parents were coming to pick up their children. Nevertheless, I completed my sketch as I watched the sunset and headed back home at dusk. After a long and tiring day, I decided to go to bed early and as I lay my head on my soft pillow and closed my eyes, alas! I couldn’t fall asleep. I felt a presence like someone was watching me but then I guess it was just overthinking on my part. I woke up the next morning with a really bad headache so I decided to grab some coffee and head off to the park early.

The park, on Saturdays, usually filled with happy faces all around, never fails to make me smile. I was drawn towards the willow tree like something was pulling me back there and I saw the empty bench. Wait! That’s strange! Could this be the first time that I didn’t hear the faint wailing sound which would otherwise be at the back of my head every time I passed this way?

Seeing those little children play yesterday reminded me to call my friend up, 

“Hey Colin, can we meet up at the park today?”

“Hey! Sorry, but not today, my stomach is acting up again.” He replied with a sigh.

So I decided to go to his house instead which was just a few minutes from the park. Knocking on the door, Colin answers, and his face lit up.

“You really think I’m going to let you be alone on a Saturday? huh? Not a chance!” On saying that, we did our secret handshake.

“I’ve missed you, you know.” He said with a big smile on his face.

“Yeah same here! And do tell me about your trip to London.” Colin had just come back from London so there was a lot that needed catching up. We ended up talking for hours. Then suddenly I remembered to show him my recent sketch and said, “Here take a look, I saw this little girl in the park yesterday and she was ridiculously beautiful.”

“Woah! this is amazing! You do know that I’ve always been a fan of your art but I somehow feel like I’ve seen an old picture of someone like her in one of my mom’s old files.”

“Hmm, your mom?! Yeah real funny Colin, why would your mom ‘the detective’ have a picture of this girl?”

“I’ll make it my mission to find out” said Colin with a chuckle

“And I’ll grab some ice from Hades in the meantime. Take care and let me know if you need anything.” On saying that I left.

On my way home I suddenly remembered that I had a project deadline and since it was rather late, I took a shortcut through the park. I passed by the willow tree and saw the little girl siting alone in the same place like she did yesterday. This time weird noises echoed from the tree but, then again, it could have been the wind as I always thought it was.

A sense of concern with seeing the child alone, I sat down next to her and said, “Hi, I’m Darla, have you come here with your parents?” No response.

“Are you okay?” Nothing again. She still didn’t utter a single word which made me think she could probably be hearing impaired and unfortunately I’m bad at sign language. So, I took out my sketch of hers and showed it to her hoping that it would break the ice. I felt a few eyes on us which was disconcerting. I just left that drawing on the bench and jogged on home as I was already running late.

Luckily, I was able to finish the project and submitted it a few minutes before the deadline. Just as I was stepping into the shower, the phone rang and it was none other than Colin.

“Hey miss me already?” I coyly asked.

“Hey, I actually need to tell you something…..” he said it in a serious tone.

But I thought it was one of those silly prank calls we did as kids so I said, “Whatever it is, it can wait because I’m about to take a shower.”

He then says, “Darla, please this is urgent….” And I reluctantly listened to him.

“Remember the drawing you showed me earlier? I went through my mother’s old files and you’ll never guess what I saw….”

“Stop with the suspense and tell me already!” This caught my attention as fear and curiosity now started creeping in. “Colin if this is some kind of a joke, just know that I’ll get back at you.”

Then Colin says, “It’s not a joke trust me and hear me out, it says right here that the girl’s name was Samantha Smith, she went missing at the age of 8 years old and the place she was last seen was in the park, near the silver willow tree. Darla I have to say this, when you said you saw her, I decided to ask around if anyone saw Samantha again at the park or anywhere near. But, nobody has actually seen her ever since the last 10 years…..”

It suddenly dawned on me why the people stared at me while on the bench and I remembered the eyes that looked at me and the children’s giggles. I didn’t realise that I had been alone on that bench then. An unsettling feeling fell like a shadow over me and left me wondering whether I see the dead or the living.