“Mommy! I made a new friend today at School!”
My daughter had just turned 5, and it was her first week of kindergarten. She was so excited to meet new people, always with a smiling face and so ever-trusting.
“Oh, that’s great darling, what’s their name?”
“Walter! Walter Wobble!”
She giggled. It’s the same giggle she made whenever she found something really funny. The same giggle I heard every time I made a silly face. As a parent, you treasure these giggles.
“Did you meet them in the playground like Finn?”
“Noo, I met him behind School, he’s super tall,”
At that point, I almost crashed the car and I slammed my foot on the brakes.
“H-how did you meet him Z-Zoe?”, I stammered,
I always stammered when something made my heart drop.
“He’s the cleaner at school. He said that I needed to clean up my mess. He said he would help.”
“What mess Zoe?”
“I spilled my strawberry milk when I was playing with Finn…”
I didn’t realize I wasn’t breathing until relief opened my airways again, it was as if someone was clutching my brain and then suddenly let go. The pressure was gone.
“Zoe, next time please just stay in the playground. I don’t want you to go behind the school, you hear me??”
And that was that. We drove back home, and as usual, she went straight to the couch and passed out.
How a child can go from being a ball of energy to seemingly dead so quickly amazes me.
She was a really bright child, but she was also really curious. It’s so hard to try to encourage that curiosity but also tell her not to explore the wrong things. And going out of sight from people who could protect her was one thing that I did not want her doing.
That night, I opened my laptop and searched for the school’s employee list. Typing in the name of the person my daughter had met.
W-a-l-t-e-r- -W-o
And sure enough, he popped up. Walter Wobell. A man that looked to be in his mid 70’s, with pale gray skin but held a comforting face. The face that looked like he’d instantly be your friend or your favorite grandpa.
With that, my worries shrank. This man was no longer a complete stranger, and no longer an unreachable threat. I slept soundly.
The weekend had arrived, and I had planned a fun day with Zoe.
We were going to the state fair which arrived once a year, a fair that my own mother loved to take me to, but I had overslept and we were going to miss our bus.
“Zoe! We need to get ready quickly! We’ll miss our bus!”
Zoe was up, and we were out the door in 30 minutes- I’d call that pretty fast, when my husband was alive he’d always call me the slowest dresser in the world, but here I am, on time.
Although, In the haste of things, I had to put on my makeup as we were leaving. And in the mirror of my kit, I thought I had seen Walter, peeping out from my daughter’s bedroom door, which was left just slightly askew. But I blinked, and he was gone.
Then we were gone too.
The familiar smell of popcorn filled the air as we left the bus, it felt like I was a small child again jumping around, impatient to get on a ride and eat the candy.
Which was exactly what Zoe was doing.
“Mommy please please please can we go on the Ferris wheel!!”
“Yes honey of course, and then we’ll go see the band, and then we’ll get cotton candy!”
On the Ferris wheel, we could see the country for miles. Watching Zoe stare in awe at the view as the wind blew lightly against her hazel hair reminded me of how much I needed her in my life.
How much I loved her.
My life isn’t much without her.
We then went to a little stall that sold burgers. After all, watching the band play without food seemed like a crime.
Then, Zoe was gone. I had left her out of my sight for 1 minute, and she was gone.
My eyes frantically searched the crowd, but without success and panic soon overwhelmed me.
“Zoe! … Zoe!”
I was beginning to feel the tears well up in my eyes, how could I have let this happen, the crowds seemed endless and consuming. I was in such panic that I almost did not notice the little tug on my thigh.
“Zoe! Oh my god, where were you!? You scared me!”
“I was here Mommy, you told me to stay here…”
“Why didn’t I see you here then?”
“Maybe you just didn’t look down enough!”
And she giggled again. How could I stay mad at her giggle?
The rest of the day was good. It was really good. So good that we had missed our bus home, and had to walk to the nearest motel to spend the night.
“Mommy why can’t we go home, I’m tired”
“Darling we’re just going to spend the night here, then we’ll catch the first bus back ok?”
“Oh! Alright! Can we go see Walter??”
“What do you mean Zoe?”
“Walter! He’s here. I saw him. He walks funny.”
I could not leave the place, it was the only motel around for miles, and we couldn’t sleep on the streets. I believed my Zoe did see Walter, I believed he was after her, and I needed to protect her.
“Zoe just, please don’t leave our room until morning.”
Both the brown wallpaper and crusty smell of the reception room were perfectly fit for a motel, I almost laughed at how perfect it was.
We checked in and as soon as we entered the room, I locked every lock that was on the door. Then I pivoted towards the bed and passed out. I had finally found the secret to sleeping quickly, and that was utter exhaustion. No wonder children sleep so easily, they burn everything out, leaving no fuel left.
The night was silent.
“Mommy! Help Me!”
The screams of Zoe echoed through my dream as if only to be part of it. These screams only reached my consciousness after what felt like a few seconds but could have been hours. I instantly stood up, it was still the dark hours of the night and Zoe was gone.
I sprinted to the bathroom. I felt such intense nausea that I was going to be sick,
I opened the door and there she was. My little Zoe, laying in the bathtub. Motionless in a pool of her own blood. Mangled.
I couldn’t bear to see it, I turned to the sink and there he was, Walter, staring back at me in the mirror. His friendly face now twisted into a sinister grin.
Walter had done this. Walter did this. Detective, I couldn’t do this. Not to my own daughter. She was my life.
“Amanda, Walter couldn’t have done this, the person you’re describing has been dead for 50 years and no one alive right now shares his family name.”
“That’s impossible- that’s…we saw him… I saw him.”
“Amanda, you’re going to have to tell me what really happened yesterday. There were no signs of forced entry into your room. Cameras showed that the hallways were empty all night.”
“Detective?”
“Yes, Amanda?”
“Don’t you find it amazing how fast a child can go from being this bright ball of energy, to being dead?”
This was an interrogation transcript I had found in my Dad’s collection. You see, he was the detective in this, and he kept a transcript of all the people he had interrogated.
I read some of them out of interest, the famous cases usually, but this one had just caught my eye.
I wouldn’t normally pay too much attention to them, but my son recently found a new friend, and his name is Walter.