REMEMBER HOLLY JACKSON? - PROLOGUE

2007

A group of small children chased a slightly deformed classmate around the playground. The colourful autumn leaves were lifted up by the sudden gust of wind, twisting and swirling them in the air before blowing them across the ground.

"Holly, Holly," one of the small boys chanted.

The group manages to corner the slightly deformed little girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes. She had a cleft lip deformity, where the upper lip revealed her teeth.

"Come and play with us," one of them, a little blonde girl with green eyes, said gently. She came forward and reached out her right little hand towards her. "It's OK, we're not going to hurt you."

The cleft lip little girl named Holly looked up at her then looked down at her hand. She slowly reached out and took the other girl's hand.

"Leave her alone," the blonde girl told her friends firmly. "She's playing with us."

The group of ten-year-olds walked to the centre of the playground.

"What should we play?" a brown haired little girl asked with brown eyes.

"Hide and seek," one of the boys with dark brown hair said.

"No, something easy and gentle for Holly," the blonde girl replied.

"But Melody, hide and seek is easy and gentle for this monster," one of the boys said.

The blonde girl named Melody turned to him frostily. "Don't call her that, Caleb!"

"Monster! Monster!" he taunted.

Holly became sad and tears began to well up in her eyes.

Melody pushed him to the ground startling him. She turned back to the others. "We will play, 'Ring-a-Ring o' Rosies'. Everyone Agree?"

The other little kids nodded their heads.

Caleb gets back onto his feet again and joins hands with his friends in a circle as they start to walk around in a circle and begin to sing the nursery rhyme together; as another gust of wind swirled and twisted in the air.

"Ring-a-Ring o'Rosies, a pocket full of posies, 'a-tishoo! A-tishoo!' We all fall down!"

The children fell to the ground.

"Where's Holly?" Melody asks her friends, she looks around them at the playground. Her eyes scanned around by the see-saw. No Holly. She gazed over at the swings. No Holly. Then moved her eyes over to where the teacher and the other kids by the school entrance were. No sign of Holly.

Her friends were looking around as well.

"Where did she go?" Caleb asks.

The young female teacher walks over to them. "Where's Holly? Her parents are here," she told them.

The children looked at each other in confusion and panic.

"We don't know," Melody replied.

"You don't know?" A confused look crossed over the teacher's brow. "I just saw you playing with her five minutes ago. Where did she go?"

A man and woman walked over.

"Where is our daughter?" the man asks them. He is tall with dark hair and eyes and wears a beige jacket.

"Holly was playing with us and then she disappeared," Melody told them in a little voice. Her green eyes welled up with tears and her bottom lip began to quiver. "She was just here!" she started to cry.

The father gets out his phone and calls the police.

Where did Holly Combs go? What happened to her?