Tabitha, Where Are You?

It was a regular day for Mary. She had to clean up the house and run a couple errands. She was a single Mother. She worked Monday Through Friday and had two Children....1

Tabitha was seven years old. She was  playing outside as Her Mother was doing dishes in the kitchen, watching Tabitha out the kitchen Window. It was an every Saturday  thing that she would let Tabitha play while she did the dishes and would watch her through the window. She had another Child who was twelve years old. His name was Jason. He was always playing video games. That's all he ever did. He was pretty much all to himself.2

Tabitha enjoyed playing on her tire swing and in her tree fort. She was used to not having anyone to play with her. She kind of liked it too. As Her mother was washing dishes, She had the radio blasted and Jason was overly excited about beating some game so she couldn't hear Tabitha. She assumed everything was okay. She took a break from the dishes to go put the Clothes from the washing machine, into the dryer. She had to go to the basement. " Watch Your sister Jason, I will be right back " She demanded. She didn't hear anything back so she assumed he heard her. She had asked Jason before to do things and he just didn't even bother. He could care less. He's just one of those Children who just want to play video games all day.3

Mary was shaking clothes from the washer and putting them into the dryer. When she was finished, She walked back upstairs to finish the dishes. Tabitha was combing her Barbie doll's hair in her little playhouse as Her mom stared out the window. Tabitha was her last Child and the most affectionate one. She loved her more than anything. Tabitha's Mom got out of her daze and stopped watching her daughter. She wanted Tabitha to have some fun while she could since She knew she was always at work. Later on she planned on taking her and Jason to chuckee cheese's, but she wanted to get all her house work done and run all her errands before she made time for play. She didn't want to come home to a dirty house.4

Jason took a break to go get a drink. After three straight hours of " Grand Theft Auto " he started to get thirsty. He went in the refrigerator and pulled out some Orange juice. He pulled a cup from the top cabinet over the dishwasher and noticed a blue car pulling out of the driveway. He looked around the yard, to see what he could see, and looked for Tabitha. He didn't see her. He didn't think much of it. He knew she was probably in her tree fort playing " House " like she always did. He opened the front door and walked over to the tree house. " Tabitha? " yelled Jason. " Are you up there? ". He received no reply back. He walked up the ladder to the top and saw that Tabitha was not in there. He walked back down the ladder thinking that maybe she was on the side of the house playing with the hose or something. She wasn't. She was no where to be found. 5

"Tabitha has been kidnapped Mom! I can't find her! I saw a blue car pull out of the driveway and I went looking in the tree fort to check up on her and I even looked to see if she was playing with the hose on the side of the house and she wasn't. I cant find her anywhere" Jason panicked.6

"What do you mean you can't find her!?, I just saw her in her play house like 20 minutes ago!", replied Tabitha's Mom. " Oh My God " She said. "We have to go find her!" Tabitha and Jason both broke down in tears. Before they went searching for her, she called the cops to report her daughters kidnapping.7

" Umm, Yes, My Daughter was just kidnapped from our front yard. My son saw someone in a blue car pull in our driveway"8

"Are you sure they took her?", said detective Michaels.9

" Are you sure the blue car took Tabitha?", Said Mary to her son Jason.10

" No, I'm not sure, I didn't see Tabitha in the car or anything but where else could she be?"11

" No, he didn't see her take her, but why else would a car pull in the driveway and why would my daughter be missing?"12

" I don't know ma'am, We will be on the look out for Tabitha but I advise you to put pictures up of her around town, I will call you if I hear anything. Whats your Number?"13

" 226-3295" replied Mary. "Please help, I need my daughter home."14

"We will do whatever we can ma'am and you will be the first to know if we hear anything" 15

" Thank you.", said Mary as she placed the phone on the receiver.16

" Come on, lets go Jason, We have to make copies of pictures of Tabitha and hang them up around town. The cops are going to try and do whatever they can to find her, but we have to do our part.", Mary said to Jason as she grabbed her car keys from the key hanger in the kitchen.17

Jason and his mom walked out the door to the car and got in. They drove to the three closest cities and hung up pictures at every gas station and convenient store they saw. They were hoping that someone, somewhere, would see Tabitha's picture and call the police station to report it.18

Mary drove all over Dallas trying to see if she could see Tabitha anywhere. She was nowhere to be found. Mary drove back to her house in tears, waiting by the phone anxiously, waiting to get a phone call from Mr.Michaels. She couldn't eat or sleep. She was too depressed.19

Ten days passed with no trace of Tabitha. Jason went into a deep depression, he stayed off his video games the whole time and wondered if he could do anything to help find Tabitha. He regretted not treating her like a sister and not ever giving her any attention. He felt like the worst brother ever and he pretty much was. Mary was getting sick. She couldn't stand the thought of not knowing where Tabitha was. So many things crossed her mind. She didn't know what to think anymore.20

January 16th, 1985, the phone rang. It was 7:45 A.M. The eleventh day Tabitha was missing. Mary awoken by the phone, picked it up and answered it.....21

"Hello?"22

" Mary? "23

"Yes"24

" This is Detective Michael's from the Dallas Texas Police Station, We have found your daughter Tabitha. A man saw her picture and called us to let us know that his neighbor has her. He says he saw him bring her in his house. We went out and kicked in the door and found your daughter tied up in the bathtub. She looks like she has been sexually and physically abused but she is safe now. Her kidnapper tried to escape and shot at one of our officers. I was the one who shot back, he was pronounced dead at the scene..."25