Before She Was Found - Heather Gudenkauf Page 0,32

dragged his daughter away and told Joseph that if he ever came near Lucy again he would kill him.

That made me start thinking about the school project and how in the world we are going to give a report about two teenagers doing it by the railroad tracks. Somehow I don’t think Mr. Dover is going to let us talk about that. I wonder if it’s too late to change our topic to Johnny Appleseed or Sleepy Hollow.

Just then Kendall’s friend Emery came into the room and wanted to know what we were talking about. Kendall filled her in, making me look like a stupid idiot, of course, and Emery jumped on the bed and said, “Oooh, this story is so scary.” Emery, when she isn’t totally ignoring me, is actually pretty nice. She has really long, thick brown hair that Kendall says she flatirons every day. It takes her like an hour each time.

Kendall kept telling the story and said that, one night, Joseph and Lucy made plans to meet down by the tracks near the train depot but Lucy didn’t show up. Lucy’s family just up and moved away and she never got a chance to say goodbye to Joseph.

Emery takes over the story and says that Joseph was devastated. He couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep. He wouldn’t go to school. Emery’s eyes got big and excited and she started talking in a whispery, ghosty voice, so I knew she was getting to the good part of the story. She said that Wither started hanging out by the railroad tracks, just sitting there waiting for Lucy to come to him. Then one night his house was burned down with his family inside and he disappeared. I can just imagine it. Joseph Wither walking along the railroad tracks going from town to town searching for his lost love. It was very romantic.

I wonder what it’s like to be so in love with someone that you would do anything to be with them.

Emery said that the sheriff was sure that they were going to catch him but they never did. That’s what everyone thought at first. They thought he would come home eventually, but he didn’t. One night, a few months later, two sisters were walking home from a church meeting. There was no moon and no stars out so it was pitch-black. The girls couldn’t see anything but they walked that same route all the time and they were together so they weren’t scared. It got later and later and still the girls didn’t come home.

Finally, their dad went out looking for them and a few hours later he found the body of one of his daughters by the train tracks. She had been beaten to death. I wanted to ask her what happened to the other sister but I didn’t want Kendall to yell at me.

It was getting dark outside and Kendall’s room filled with shadows. The branches from the big tree outside started tapping on the window like long fingers. I wanted to turn on a light but I didn’t want Kendall and Emery to think I was a scaredy-cat so instead I picked up Skittles and started petting her. I pressed my face into her silky fur and started to feel better right away.

Kendall said they never did find the other sister; she disappeared into thin air. And then she said a year after the first girl died another one died. And then another, and another. All found by the train tracks. One beaten to death, one strangled, one stabbed and one drowned. All killed by Joseph Wither. She said that every few years or so a girl would vanish. Those were the girls he loved and took with him.

I didn’t realize I was holding my breath until Skittles scratched at the back of my hand because I was holding her so tight. I let her go and she ran beneath the bed. I asked them how many girls Wither killed and how many he ended up taking. Kendall just shrugged her shoulders and told me to get out of her room. They had stuff to do.

Emery told Kendall not to be so mean. That Wither gave her nightmares when she was a kid. Like I said, Emery can be nice. I wish some of that would rub off on my sister!

Anyway, I found a weird website called DarkestDoor that’s all about urban legends and myths. All you have to do is post a question about your