The Girl In The Window

Read this. Lane DeGregory: PLANT CITY — The family had lived in the rundown rental house for almost three years when someone first saw a child's face in the window.



A little girl, pale, with dark eyes, lifted a dirty blanket above the broken glass and peered out, one neighbor remembered.



Everyone knew a woman lived in the house with her boyfriend and two adult sons. But they had never seen a child there, had never noticed anyone playing in the overgrown yard.



The girl looked young, 5 or 6, and thin. Too thin. Her cheeks seemed sunken; her eyes were lost.



The child stared into the square of sunlight, then slipped away.



Months went by. The face never reappeared.