Officer Hara turned the corner and prepared himself for his favorite part of his route – waving back at the peculiar girl who was waiting on him every day. His eyes scanned the unkempt front yard and made their way towards the second floor window.
Only this time, his cheerful wave was met with emptiness. The young girl that he had been waving at for months wasn’t behind the window in her regular spot. It was a routine he had followed for so long without fail. Alarm bells went off in Sebastian’s head. Something was wrong.
Against all protocol he stopped his car and started to approach the house. Something ominous hung in the air as he got ready to knock on the front door. When it slowly opened the blood drained from Sebastian’s face…
Sebastian was a trusted and well-loved cop in the town who had been on the force for the better part of two decades. He was dedicated to his job, respected by his peers, and maintained good relations with the locals he served.
Many people around the town had called him a hero and his encounters and track record had given him quite the resume. Sebastian had worked hard on the force and had been a part of many dangerous assignments, but he’s left most of that behind now.
He had gotten older and had too many responsibilities now. As he had moved on from being a street cop, he worked behind a desk. Once a daring cop who used to ambitiously tackle every assignment, he was now seen doing paperwork most days.
However, despite his seniority in the force and age, one thing that Sebastian still loved doing was his patrol rides with the rookies. He loved meeting the familiar faces of the town and teaching his rookies a thing or two about the job.
Along the route that he would take with the rookies, he’d gotten to know most of the people. Some of the locals would talk to him and others acknowledged that they saw him. Most of them were kind shop owners and further down the route, homeowners.
They didn’t mind having the police patrolling around, in fact, it made them feel safer, especially with Sebastian’s friendly demeanor with the residents. Some of the regular folks he met on the route had grown very special to him.
One of such special strangers was the girl who used to wave at him every day from the big house on the corner of the street. It was one of the few houses that Sebastian had no idea who the owners were.
There was never anyone outside and he almost thought it was abandoned from the sight of the front yard. The only thing to show that someone lived there was the girl standing in the window on the second floor and waving to him.
Always the same girl. Always the same window. It never changed and she never failed to show up when he came around. Waving to the girl had become one of the most endearing parts of his patrol and he often looked forward to it.
Sebastian had secretly hoped that one day he’d be able to meet her. After all, they always waved to each other and he was curious about her. He hoped that maybe she’d come outside when he drove by and he could get to know her and her parents.
He wanted to be sure that she was doing alright. Looking at the state of the house from the outside, Sebastian often wondered whether the girl was alright. If her parents were looking after her properly, they certainly weren’t looking after the yard, that’s for sure!
After one day of driving along the rookie route and waving at the girl, Sebastian’s curiosity got the best of him. He couldn’t resist not knowing anything about that big house or its residents. So he did what any good cop would do and started investigating.
Sebastian began with the police database. It held the answers to pretty much everything in their town. It could look up the house, the owners, the neighbors, the history, everything. Sebastian’s desk position gave him more access to the records.
After a search of the address in the database, he found out that the house had been purchased almost 50 years ago. The owners of the house had died 25 years ago and left the house to one of their children, a son. There was nothing about a girl anywhere or why she was there.
Still curious about the identity of the girl, Sebastian decided to look for the son in the database hoping to get a lead. He found the name and some basic information about the man, but nothing truly helpful. Sebastian was stumped.
Could it be the son’s daughter he saw waving from the window? Maybe she lived there alone? Sebastian had too many questions and not enough answers. He checked the background information of the son but still came out with nothing.
Scouring through the internet, Sebastian couldn’t find the mention of any female resident of the house or the fact that the man had a daughter or a kid at all. If she was his kid, the man didn’t have her registered anywhere, not even a school.
This made Sebastian confused and concerned for the girl he waved at every day. If the girl wasn’t registered for school that could be counted as a criminal offense. But he couldn’t just go to the house and start demanding answers for this.
Technically, the man had done nothing wrong. The girl could be registered under a different name or maybe she was homeschooled. With no way to prove that anything dangerous or criminal was happening, Sebastian had no choice but to leave this rogue investigation behind.
He was sure as long as the girl was waving to him she was fine. He still went on patrols with rookies and still waved to her every day, just as normal. Until one day, something happened that he didn’t expect at all.
It had been a day like any other. Sebastian was on his patrolling route with a rookie who was nervous about being on the route for the first time. Sebastian was doing his best to keep him calm and collected. After all, it was just a patrol ride and nothing ever happened on this route.
Sebastian looked out the window and greeted all the familiar faces that he usually passed by on the way. A lot of people were out and it put him in a fairly good mood. He passed through the shop owners and made his way towards the residential area, looking forward to waving at the girl.
As he rounded the corner towards the big house, Sebastian noticed something amiss. Scanning the second floor of the house, he looked towards the window expecting to see the girl, but she wasn’t there today! Nobody was there at the house, this had never happened….
At first, Sebastian brushed it off, telling himself she couldn’t always be at the window. Maybe she was visiting a friend or grabbing a drink in the kitchen. But as the day wore on, her absence gnawed at him, unsettling him more than he cared to admit.
By the time his shift ended, the feeling of unease had only grown stronger. Unable to shake it, Sebastian decided to stop by the house after work, out of uniform, just to check-in. Something about the missing girl felt too wrong to ignore.
He stood outside the car, staring at the house, debating his next move. He had no valid reason to knock, no cause for concern beyond his gut feeling. But as a father himself, he couldn’t just walk away.
With a heavy sigh, he walked toward the house. Each step felt like it took an eternity as doubt gnawed at him. What if nothing was wrong? But what if something was? He reached the door and knocked, heart pounding.
A few seconds later, the door swung open to reveal a tall, scruffy-bearded man with a stern expression. His size alone made Sebastian uneasy. “Can I help you?” the man asked, his voice low and gruff, sizing Sebastian up.
Sebastian cleared his throat and introduced himself. “I’m Officer Hara. I patrol this route daily. There’s a girl in the window upstairs—she waves to me every day. But today, she wasn’t there. Is she alright?” he asked, voice steady.
The man frowned, his confusion obvious. “Officer? I don’t see a uniform or a badge. Do you have a warrant?” Before Sebastian could even say a word, the man rudely slammed the door shut in his face. His anger flared up, but he decided to keep his composure and knock again.
The man opened the door and snapped again, “What now?” But before he could shut the door again, Sebastian grabbed the door and asked again, “I see her every day. She’s always in the same window on the second floor,” he insisted, pointing towards the house.
The man shook his head. “I live here by myself and have no children,” he replied, crossing his arms. “There’s no one upstairs, officer! Now get off my property!” The certainty in the man’s tone only deepened the frustration swirling in Sebastian’s mind.
For a moment, Sebastian felt the tension rise between them. He wanted to argue, to push for answers, but without a valid reason or warrant, he knew he was overstepping. Reluctantly, he stepped back, unsure of what to believe.
Returning to the car, Sebastian’s thoughts raced. His gut screamed that something was wrong, but there was nothing he could officially do—no proof, no reason to act. As he drove away, the empty window haunted him, leaving questions he couldn’t shake.
Sebastian couldn’t shake the feeling that something was terribly wrong. The girl had been there every day for months—why would she vanish now? His mind raced. He hadn’t imagined her. She surely wasn’t a ghost. Something was hiding beneath the surface.
Sleep eluded him that night as he stared at the ceiling, the empty window haunting his thoughts. The girl had been there every day—why was she gone now? A chilling fear crept in: had the man he’d seen earlier today harmed her?
Doubt twisted inside him like a knife. What had he missed? The man had seemed so certain, yet everything inside Sebastian screamed that something was off. The girl definitely existed, he had seen her with his own two eyes, every day, for months. So where was she now?
Sebastian woke the next morning with a fire in his chest, determined to find out what had happened to the girl. The man’s insistence that no one lived with him only deepened his conviction. Something was terribly wrong, and he couldn’t let it go.
On his usual patrol route, Sebastian approached the house. His eyes locked onto the second-floor window. Empty again. A wave of concern gripped him. Something wasn’t right. He needed help—and he couldn’t do it alone.
Grabbing his radio, Sebastian called his longtime friend and trusted colleague, Officer Mark Davis. They’d been through years of service together, and Mark knew Sebastian’s instincts were rarely wrong. Despite this being off the books, Mark agreed to help without hesitation.
Sebastian’s reputation as a dedicated, thorough cop had earned him Mark’s trust over the years. They both knew Sebastian wasn’t one to act on impulse, but when his gut told him something was wrong, Mark knew it was serious. This time, the feeling was unmistakable.
Though fully aware it was against protocol, Sebastian laid out the situation to Mark—something about the house and the girl’s disappearance didn’t sit right. Mark listened intently, trusting Sebastian’s instincts. It didn’t make perfect sense, but Mark knew Sebastian well enough to believe him.
As they met up, the tension between them was thick. They devised a plan to enter the house and search every room, determined to uncover the truth. They both understood the risks—explaining this later would be a nightmare—but at that moment, neither cared.
This time, he wasn’t leaving without answers. Sebastian strode up to the front door and knocked forcefully. The man answered, his face showing mild surprise, then annoyance. “Officer, I told you before—there’s no girl here,” he said, voice tight with irritation.
But Sebastian wasn’t going to leave just yet. He ordered Mark to enter and search the house for the girl. Room by room, they combed through the house, methodically searching for any sign of another person.
But there was none. No clothes, no extra shoes, no belongings that could suggest a girl has ever lived there. Sebastian couldn’t even find a hair clip in the house that could suggest the presence of a girl.
The tension in the air thickened with every step. The house was eerily quiet, too still. Sebastian’s heart pounded as he opened doors, looked under beds, checked closets—anything that could give him a clue. But nothing was there. No sign of the girl.
The man’s protests grew louder as Sebastian continued his search. “You’re wasting your time! I live here alone!” the man insisted. But Sebastian pressed on, determined to find the smallest hint that the girl had been real, that she had existed.
As the final room was checked, Sebastian’s face fell. Him and Mark shared uneasy glances. There was no girl, no sign of anyone else. The search had come up empty. The man had been right all along. Sebastian was left standing, speechless.
Back at the station, the fallout hit hard. An unauthorized search, no evidence, and a gut feeling weren’t enough to justify his actions. The department had no choice but to suspend him for some time. Sebastian accepted it in silence, though inside, he was reeling.
As he walked out of the station, shame and confusion twisted in his chest. He had followed his instincts, and yet he was wrong—or was he? The girl had been there, he was sure of it. But now, it seemed like nothing more than a fading memory.
At home, the week-long suspension felt like an eternity. His thoughts kept circling back to the house, to the man’s firm denials, and to the girl who had waved at him every day. She couldn’t have been a figment of his imagination—could she?
Sebastian knew he couldn’t just sit around and wait for his suspension to end. He had been wrong—officially—but the mystery of the girl wouldn’t leave his mind. He needed answers, even if he had to find them on his own.
Determined, Sebastian set up a stakeout. He couldn’t rely on the force, but he could rely on his instincts. Parking discreetly near the house, he watched the man closely, hoping to catch something—anything—that would explain the girl’s disappearance.
The first day, the man left his house in the afternoon, just as Sebastian expected. He headed to his job at a bar, worked until late into the night, and returned home in the early morning. A routine. Nothing suspicious.
On the second day, Sebastian’s frustration grew. The man followed the same exact pattern: leaving for the bar in the afternoon, working late, and returning to his empty house. No strange detours, no unusual behavior. Sebastian’s nerves were wearing thin.
By the third day, the predictability was maddening. The man left the house, bartended, and came home. He spent his mornings sleeping, and his afternoons working. There was no trace of the girl, no hint of where she might have gone—or if she had ever been there.
On the fourth night, something strange happened. Sebastian had been dozing off in his car when a movement caught his eye. A figure darted across the road toward the house. Startled, he checked the clock—3 a.m. His instincts flared, and he decided to investigate.
Sebastian carefully got out of the car, watching the figure closely. It moved swiftly and quietly. As he followed from a safe distance, his heart raced as he saw the dark figure climbing through the kitchen. Was someone trying to break into the house?
He didn’t call out to the person. Instead, he observed silently, determined to find answers. As the person crossed the front yard, Sebastian realized something — it was the girl! It was the girl in the window! Sebastian stayed hidden, following her as she rounded the house’s backyard.
To his shock, the girl climbed through a broken kitchen window. Sebastian froze—was she breaking in? Why would she sneak into a house where she supposedly lived? Confusion churned inside him as he watched from a distance, uncertain of her intentions.
Peering through the kitchen window, Sebastian saw the girl move around casually as if she belonged there. She opened the fridge, grabbed food, and made herself a meal. It was all so normal—except for the fact that the man had denied her existence.
This didn’t make sense. She seemed to be completely at home, moving around the house with the familiarity of someone who had been living there. But then why was she sneaking in? And why did the man deny her existence?
Sebastian’s mind raced with questions, and he knew he had to confront her. He was about to speak when something made him stop dead in his tracks. He heard a car pull into the driveway. The man had arrived home early, an hour before his usual time.
Sebastian was ready to retreat when he noticed the girl’s reaction—she froze, clearly panicked herself, quickly putting everything back in place. He watched as she hurriedly grabbed her belongings and ran upstairs, disappearing from sight.
Watching the entire scene unfold, the pieces finally began to fall into place for Sebastian. The girl’s sneaking, her panic at the man’s return—it all pointed to something he hadn’t considered before. He quietly rounded the house and approached the front door.
Knocking firmly, Sebastian waited. When the man opened the door, his expression was furious. “Again?” he spat, clearly exasperated. But before he could say more, Sebastian asked calmly, “Have you ever served in the military?” The question froze the man mid-sentence.
The man’s anger faltered as he nodded. “Yeah, I served. Why?” His tone was softer, caught off guard by the unexpected question. Sebastian pressed on. “Does this house have an attic or a basement?” The man hesitated, then answered, “Yes, an attic.”
Sebastian leaned in slightly. “I know where the girl is. Let me show you.” The man’s eyes widened in confusion, but curiosity outweighed his frustration. Silently, they made their way up the creaky stairs to the attic, tension thick in the air.
When they reached the attic, the man pushed open the door. There, hidden behind boxes and clutter, was the girl. She sat on a makeshift bed, surrounded by scattered wrappers and personal belongings. Her eyes widened, caught off guard, as she met Sebastian’s gaze.
Sebastian finally had his answer. “You’ve been living here, haven’t you?” he asked quietly. The girl nodded, her expression defeated. “I’ve been squatting here while he was deployed,” she admitted. “I had nowhere else to go, and the house was empty for years.”
The man stood in stunned silence, realization dawned on him. “You were living here… all this time?” His voice cracked slightly. The girl nodded again. “When you came back, I hid. I’ve been sneaking in before you get home, using the attic to sleep.”
Sebastian asked her about the waving, and she smiled sheepishly. “I waved to you every day because I wanted to make it seem like I lived here. If anyone saw me, they’d assume I belonged. No one would question me that way.”
The man, still processing, asked softly, “Why didn’t you just ask for help?” The girl shrugged. “I thought I’d be arrested if I confessed now. This was the only place I felt safe.” Her voice was small, filled with years of quiet desperation.
Sebastian, his heart heavy with the truth, nodded slowly. The mystery was finally solved, but it was bittersweet. The girl wasn’t in danger, but her story—her quiet struggle for survival—was heartbreaking. She’d waved to him every day to protect her secret.
Sebastian turned to the man, asking softly, “Are you going to press charges?” His heart hoped for mercy. The man looked at the girl, her vulnerability laid bare, and sighed deeply. “No,” he said quietly. “She’s been through enough already.”
With relief, Sebastian led the girl from the attic and brought her to a reputable homeless shelter. There, he helped her get admitted, promising that he’d do more than just leave her behind. “I’ll help you find a job, get you back on your feet.”
As Sebastian walked away, a sense of quiet fulfilment settled over him. The case had unraveled into something far deeper than he expected. What began as a pursuit of truth had turned into an act of compassion, restoring hope where it had once been lost.