Where have the Children Gone?

The wind chime hung from the roof of the abandoned house , it swayed calmly and slowly against the wind , everything seemed peaceful . We - my father and I - sat on the porch of the rundown house that only we knew about . It was dark and I wasn’t the biggest fan of the night , the night is unpredictable but yet so beautiful .

The book “Where are the Children?” by Mary Higgins Clark starts out on a late October day. The main character Nancy is a young mother of two young children named Michael and Missy, her husband is Ray Eldridge. Because it is one of the last “good” days of Fall Nancy lets her children play outside while she changes laundry and does other household chores. That is when her children are taken without a trace of anything left behind except a red mitten. Immediately the police start searching for the children with Nancy as their number one suspect, there is also a lot of media coverage at Nancy’s house because of Nancy’s past tragedies that have made everything seem like she did in fact take the children. Because of all this stress Nancy becomes delirious and is unable to help the police, but she eventually works through it and gives

“I don’t know,” I told her. It was an easy way out, a way to not have any more worries pile up. She shot me a look, that I unfortunately

The days seemed to go by slower and slower each day. Empty dark rooms are

The mouldy, rotting, brown house stood in front of Emily, only fear keeping her feet planted to the ground. Moaning and creaking noises being projected from the house. The grass was damp from the evening fog and every time she took a step the mud squelched. The bottom step squeaked as she applied pressure with her foot, she let out a sigh of relief as the old structure hadn’t swallowed her up. The door, slightly off colour from the rest of the house, loomed over her like a giant as he reached for the brass door handle. A shiver ran through her body like an electric current, the musty smell of a house that had been long abandoned filled Emily’s nose. It was dim and uninviting. The furniture dusty and old, looking as if it would crumble to dust if she was to touch it. Mould ate away at

In the video “The Lost Children of Rockdale County” produced by Dretzin and Goodman in 1999, portrays the life of teenagers engaging in peer delinquency, sexual behavior, and drugs and alcohol consumption. The video portrays the life of Nicole a 14 year old female who had engaged in sexual behavior, delinquent activity and lived under lack pf parental supervision. The General Theory of Crime and Delinquency is defined as “Motivations for crime include reinforcements for criminal activity, exposure to successful criminal models, learnijng beliefs favorable to crime” (Frailing & Harper, 2013. p.156). Robert Agnew’s theory can be related into Nicole’s life, because the environment in which she grew clearly affected the five domains explained in the theory. The family domain was affected because Cindy’s (Nicole’s mother) lack of parental attachment during Nicole’s infancy affected the relationship. Nicole argues that she started to engage in a risky behavior because she wanted to obtain her mother’s attention because her mother worked full time and didn’t had time to monitor her behavior.

Today has been a long day, but I felt the need to come back and write something down in this journal before retiring for the night. I thought this place was creepy during the daytime, but that is worth little when compared to how eerie the nights are. Everything outside is pitch black, with no moon to break through the dark void.

The atmosphere is gloomy, with several references to a dying civilization. First, the story is set in November. It is the beginning of the end. Secondly, Bradbury describes walking through Mead's neighborhood as "not unequal to walking through a graveyard" (104). Another reference to the doomed society is Bradbury's description of the houses as being "tomblike buildings" (104).

“I am not too sure,” she said quietly. “I have not been able to examine her or speak to her about that.”

The stone streets were a veil at this time of night, with who knows how many menacing horrors hiding behind the curtain. The lingering gas hovering over the ground was timid, dispersing at the sight of anyone who strayed near. The moon tried to pry into the city’s shadows, but it was too thick to cut. The buildings were nothing but faded memories: gray, eroded structures that once boasted splendor and beauty. Street rats, both rodent and human, scuttled about in the alleyways, knocking assortments over and fleeing if anyone walked past, just like the gas. A dog barked in the distance. Car horns blared on 5th Avenue nearby. Tank sighed. No place like home.

After evaluating the work of Edgar Allan Poe’s The Fall of the House of Usher, he utilizes with imagery to build up the feeling of terror. First of all, the passage is about an ill man, Roderick Usher, who invites his old friend of his to come meet him. In this passage both him and his sister, Madeline Usher, are the last remaining of the Usher race and is diagnosed with an unnatural illness. The narrator begins to feel terror with the supernatural things going on in the house of Usher and the illness of the Ushers. Although the narrator feels the sense of terror from the moment he entered the house, through the use of imagery, Poe is able to bring emotion to the reader. Throughout the passage, the author continues to build up the sense of terror by asserting the image and setting of both the passage and the atmosphere. For instance, he starts the passage by stating “a dull, dark, and a soundless day...clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens” (Poe 194). In relation to the previous quote, the quote illustrates the image of the atmosphere and the setting of the story. In particular, because Poe expresses the sense of terror by describing the atmosphere as dark, quiet, and gloomy, the reader can get an image of the surroundings and get the feeling of the darkness and horror. In addition, according to Poe, during the first glimpse of the house of Usher, the narrator describes it as gloomy and unpleasant. In particular, Poe states “the shades of the evening drew on… a sense of insufferable gloom” (Poe 194). Additionally, the description of the house adds on to the sense of terror that Poe established in the beginning of the story. Based on the past two quotes stated by the author, the reader can begin to picture a dark and dull day with a gloomy house adding on to the darkness. Lastly, in regards to Edgar Allan Poe, the house of Usher is

“I really don’t know but I do know that I’m really scared right now.” I said in a shaky voice.

“Do you know who I am?” The woman said in a voice that echoed through the chamber.

It is dark. There is the musky smell of wood and concrete, the dust that can be seen when the lights turn on, the creaking from the footsteps above, but most of all, there is the darkness.

“I should know what,” I had asked, a concerned look formed on my face. Giovanna darted her emerald green eyes back and forth.