Sonia Henson went missing in the spring of last year. She went missing in April, on April 26th to be exact, one of the first days of the year that was finally beginning to get warm again. Spring was always a busy time of the year in Barlow, a time when teenagers were slipping from sweaters to t-shirts, when the stoners moved back outside from their garages, and the fishermen got ready for new shoals of fish in the bay.
Everyone sorta panicked for about the first two months after that.
Her mother said that Sonia had done everything she usually did that morning on April 26th. She got up early, far before the sun rose; did her hair, got ready for school, grabbed Lucky Charms for breakfast and…show more content… Like a ghost.
Sonia was someone who everyone knew, when she hardly knew a soul. She was boisterous, loud and happy and her name got around, she said hello to everyone and everyone said hi back. No one really hated her. Of course, there was jealousy, there is always jealousy when other teenagers are involved.
The police thought three things. They thought one, she could have run away. The overdrive of a rebellious teen might have been just enough to drive her to hitchhike to the next town over and leave Barlow, since hardly a thing came out of here other than highschool graduates and loads of fish.
Her mother said no. Sonia would never run away.
So, they thought she had been washed away with the tide. She may have rolled up her leggings and stayed just a moment too long, wandered an inch too deep. They thought she had been swept…show more content… There was no explanation from Sonia's mother as to why she couldn't have been.
So for five months, the case went unsolved. My mom and I attended her memorial, a rock with her name carved into it being set at McKenzie Point. It had been damp that day, foggy, but not rainy. I remember my coat clinging onto me, and my mom next to me, while Mr and Mrs Henson stood and began to light candles. The whole place was alight with gold and pink, the candles standing upright and evident among the dark clothes everyone wore that day.
And after that, no one mentioned Sonia Henson. No one really brought up how miserable her parents had to have been feeling, or how dreary the town felt without Sonia skipping down mainstreet with a grin on her face, down towards the beach, towards the water.
