Tom's heart was racing as he watched his daughter enter the abandoned house. He knew he couldn't just let her go in there alone, so he followed her silently.
As he stepped inside, he was greeted by a musty smell and the sound of creaking floorboards. He saw Emma standing in the middle of the room, talking to someone he couldn't see.
"Who are you talking to, Emma?" he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
Emma turned around and looked surprised to see her father there. "Daddy, what are you doing here?" she asked innocently.
"I followed you. I had to know where you were going every night," Tom said, his voice shaking slightly.
Emma looked down at the ground, then back up at her father with tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry, Daddy. I didn't mean to worry you. I just wanted to talk to Grandma and Grandpa."
Tom's heart sank as he realized what was happening. Emma's grandparents had passed away years ago, but she had never had the chance to meet them.
"I understand, sweetie. But why didn't you tell me?" he asked gently.
Emma shrugged her shoulders. "I didn't want you to be mad. And I didn't think you would believe me."
Tom hugged his daughter tightly, feeling guilty for not realizing what was going on sooner. "I'm not mad, Emma. I'm just glad you're safe."
They walked out of the abandoned house together, Tom holding his daughter's hand. As they made their way back to their own house, Tom couldn't help but wonder how Emma had managed to keep her secret for so long.
He later told the police about what had happened and they investigated the abandoned house, but found no evidence of anyone living there.
Tom and his wife made sure to talk to Emma about her grandparents and show her pictures of them. They even took her to their gravesite so she could say goodbye properly.
As for Emma, she never snuck out again. She knew that her father would always be there for her and that she didn't have to keep secrets from him.
Looking back on the whole ordeal, Tom realized that he had learned an important lesson about the importance of communication and trust between parents and their children. He made a vow to always be there for his daughter and to never let her feel like she couldn't talk to him.
Emma opened the door and walked into the old building. Tom, her father, acted quickly and opened the back door as quietly as possible to see what was happening. He could hear his daughter talking to someone. It was a woman's voice, but Tom couldn't see who she was talking to. He stood outside the room against the doorpost and tried to catch a glimpse of the situation inside.
Tom heard many footsteps, but not only those of his daughter and the mysterious woman's. And then Emma suddenly opened the door! Tom disappeared just around the corner before his daughter ran out of the room again. She left the house and was probably going back home, Tom thought. He could follow his daughter in that moment, but first he had to find out what it was that made this woman so special to his daughter.
He threw open the door and was startled when he saw what was in the room. The room was filled with over 20 dogs, and in the corner sat the woman he was looking for. "WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE?!" Tom exclaimed.
The woman was clearly frightened and tried to get away quickly, but Tom stopped her. "You're going to tell me what you're doing here and why you're meeting my daughter every day in secret!"
The confused woman burst into tears and sat down in her chair again. She took a deep breath and explained her sad story to Tom.
If my wife and I had discovered this sooner, we would have intervened immediately, Tom later told the media. The woman was very old and had seen all her friends and family die over the years. She was left alone and lived in an old people's home near Emma's school.
"It was a lonely existence," the old woman told Tom. And just after her 80th birthday, she couldn't stand it anymore. "I decided to escape from the institution, but no one could know, because then they'd put me back in there."
The woman had been living on the streets with all her stray dogs for over a year. She was very malnourished, but then she met little Emma. "The dogs were the only family I had left, but in a short period of time, they had lots of puppies." The old lady soon found it hard to keep herself and all her dogs alive and she was nearing her end. Until Emma met the special woman during her break at school.
Emma told her about the house on their estate and that she could live there safely and secretly. "I've lived here for about a month now," the woman told Tom. "But soon my food ran out, because I had to share it with all my animals."
"But then your dear Emma decided to help me again!" For the past week, Emma had come to see the old lady and her dogs every day. She played with the dogs and asked if they were okay. But when the food started to run out, the little girl couldn't possibly do nothing. She took as much food as she could from home every day and gave it to the old woman and her dogs. "It wasn't much, but just enough to survive," the old woman told Tom.
Tom burst into tears after hearing her sad story. He quickly ran home to talk to his daughter. Once he got home, Emma was already sitting on a chair in the backyard. Tom ran towards his daughter and gave her the most intense hug. He told his daughter that he had followed her and that he knew everything about the old woman and her dogs. "You're absolutely not in trouble, honey, but please don't keep any more secrets from me, okay?"
His concerns that day had turned into tremendous admiration and pride for his little girl. And when he told his wife the story, Emma's parents did
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