The Corn Maiden

They would accuse her. In the tabloids they would crucify her.

Dial 911 and your life is public fodder. Dial 911 and your life is not yours. Dial 911 and your life is forever changed.

Suburban Single Mom. Latchkey Daughter.

Eleven-Year-Old Missing, South Skatskill.

So quiet! The mother, beginning to shiver, understood why the daughter hated quiet.

“Marissa? Aren’t you … are you home?”

“Marissa? Are you hiding?”

Marissa was eleven years old. Marissa had not hidden from her mother to make Mommy seek her out giggling and squealing with excitement in a very long time.