When Lindsey watched her daughter Abigail play in their yard, she wasn't surprised when her child started playing with a person who wasn't there. She wasn't concerned when Abby would yell, "Higher! Push me higher!" as she swung on the swig set outside and laugh as if some force was actually pushing her. And she wouldn't intervene when she would talk to someone that no body else could hear the respond from. Children have imaginary friends. Nothing's wrong with that.

It wasn't until one day, however, when Lindsey was cleaning their house, that she found something strange. She always kept a picture of her deceased sister Susie, smiling and happy as she used to be, up on a shelf where she knew Abby wouldn't be able to see it. The reason for this was because she wanted something to remind her of her sister, but she didn't want to have to explain the death of a girl so young to her four year old until she was older. So on that day, Lindsey put the picture on a desk for a few moments while she dusted the ledge it was setting on. It was at that moment that Abby came running through the back door, covered in dirt from the backyard. She paused, however, when she looked into the living room her mother was cleaning in and stared at the picture on the desk.

"Mommy, why do you have a picture of Susie on the table?"

Lindsey froze. She turned towards her daughter and stared for a moment, bewilderment flooding her features. She never talked about Susie in front of her, never. Maybe she just overheard...

"Honey," she said softly, trying to keep the panic and sadness from entering her voice, "how do you know that's Susie?"

"She told me," Abby replied, not seeming at all to realize that her mother was becoming very uncomfortable.

Lindsey suddenly became angry. "Abigail! What have I told you about lying?" She couldn't believe her daughter was making this up.

Abby's face fell. "I'm not mommy! She told me! She told me!"

"When?" Lindsey questioned, crossing her arms, looking accusingly at her child.

Abby's face started to scrunch, which usually meant she was thinking. "Last December. It was the day before the calendar said something about a pearl."

"A pearl?" Lindsey questioned becoming very confused. Seeing this, Abby ran to the kitchen and pulled off the calendar on their refrigerator. She ran back to Lindsey and sat on the floor, and flipping through the pages of the calendar, she went to the month of December. Lindsey bend down and watched as her daughter searched for the date she was looking for and then tapped her finger on it when she found it. Abby handed the calendar to her. The date she pointed to was December 7, Pearl Harbor Day.

"So you met Susie on Pearl Harbor Day?"

"No, no, the day before."

December 6.

Lindsey's hands started to shake. That was the day Susie disappeared. Lindsey dropped the calendar and put her hands on her face. She could feel the tears forming in her eyes.

"Mommy?" Abby questioned, sensing her mother's tension. "Are you okay?"

Lindsey wipped the tears from her eyes and smiled at her. "I'm fine, baby. Why don't you go outside and play, okay?"

"Okay," Abby replied and she turned and walked back towards the back door. However, she stopped and turned around, facing her mother.

"Mommy, I almost forgot. She wanted me to tell you something." Lindsey froze, but spoke calmly.

"What did she want you to tell me, hon?"

"She wanted me to tell you that some man died..."

Lindsey paused and then started shaking all over, the tears now streaming down her face. She had a feeling she knew the answer.

"What man, baby?"

Abby paused before continuing.

"Some man named Mr. Harvey."

Hello everyone! This is my first Lovely Bones fic! I love the book and I hope you guys like my story!

As always, I own nothing!