What Happened to Tommy?

The Johnson family; how would I describe them? Well, in 3 words actually; mysterious, rich, and famous. A reporter named Donna Cross, obsessed with finding the truth about what really happened to the youngest member, came from the next town over. She introduced herself to the Johnsons. The family consisted of 6 people. Sarah; the mother. Joseph; the father. Then there are the kids; Janice, Stephanie, Harry, John.

There used to be 7 members, but the youngest member mysteriously disappeared.

Tommy was just 4 years old when he went missing. After several weeks, his disappearance became a story of the past. Nobody questioned it but everyone in the town suspected one of the kids murdered him. Most of the kids were in line to take over the Johnson family business, but one stood out from the rest. Harry; he used to go around town looking for trouble. He didn’t fit in with the rest of the family and everyone knew it. It was probably because Harry wasn’t biologically a Johnson.

Harry was adopted at birth. His mother was a mental patient and his father was her doctor. When the Johnsons’ adopted him, they knew it was in his DNA to eventually snap, but they weren’t prepared for what happened all those years ago.

The Johnson’s lived on the top of a hill, overlooking the town. They had a nice lake in the back, an indoor pool for the kids to play in. Things for the Johnson kids couldn’t be better. All of the kids were now grown up. After several weeks of Tommy’s disappearance, the case just disappeared as quickly as he did.

Donna was a young reporter when Tommy disappeared and she was drawn to the investigation from the start. Everyone else forgot about it but she didn’t. She saw as everyone else forgot about poor little Tommy. She didn’t want to give up on him. Something happened to him and Donna was going to figure it out. She went to her boss after all these years and asked for the job. They were trying to get her to quit or find an excuse to fire her, so with a crooked smile, he agreed. He didn’t think she would come back with a story so he was already writing her termination letter.

Donna headed her way to the town 3 hours away.

And now we're back where we started. She got to know the family. Stayed there for a few nights to get a feel for them. Her intuition told her to leave the minute she shook Harry’s hand. She should have listened to the voice in her head but she failed to acknowledge it.

You see, Harry went back to his normal self until Donna came around. Everyone else had been paid off years ago, Donna was in another town so they didn’t notice her until she just showed up at their doorstep. In the back of her mind, Sarah Johnson was worried that their secret would get out. Or worse, her son would strike again. So Sarah went into her study and grabbed her checkbook. $10,000 should do the trick. She wanted to protect her son. She knew it wasn’t his fault. Donna grew angry as Sarah clicked her way into her room. Sarah grew teary as she walked closer to the room because Donna was staying in Tommy's old room. It brought dread and sadness as she breathed in the air her son once breathed.

As she handed Donna the check, there was a sense of shame in her eyes. She felt sorry that she had to protect Harry, but the Johnson family name would be disgraced if the truth got out. And by now I think you know what happened. Tommy went missing that fateful day on the 6th of May. At least that’s the story that everyone knew. But it wasn’t really the whole truth. Sarah thought back to that day. The kids were playing by the pool. Most of them were finished playing by 3 o’clock but Harry and Tommy were left. Harry tried to get Tommy back into the house. Harry was only 8 at the time, so trying to lift a 4 year old to get him back into the house was a pain to begin with. However, Tommy didn’t want to go back in the house. He screamed and kicked so hard that Harry accidentally dropped him into the pool. Tommy couldn’t swim yet and Harry was mad at him so he just wanted his brother to suffer for a few minutes.

He regretted it when his brother started to sink to the bottom. He quickly jumped in to get him but it was too late. Sarah worried as they tried to revive him but he swallowed too much water. He was dead and they buried him in an unmarked grave. Sarah had half a mind to send Harry to the mental hospital where his birth mom was but she couldn’t. She didn’t have the heart to and she thought he just slipped up. It took several years for her to share that story with anyone. She shared the story with Donna, only because she was tired of lying and Donna didn’t accept the check. The next day, she checked with all the other people in the family except for Harry. She was going to talk to him last.

She spoke with the eldest Johnson. Janice talked about how from the minute he was brought home from the hospital that she got a bad vibe from him. He was a calm baby. A little too calm for her liking. When her sister, Stephanie was born, she cried all the time. It was normal and when she was told that their parents were going to adopt a new baby, it was only a few months after her sister was born. She found her brother's quietness a little odd. Even as they grew older, and the second youngest was born, he was distant from the whole family. He even lashed out at his mom when she was pregnant with John. He hit her stomach and caused John to hate him even before he was born. Same with Tommy too.

Over the course of 3 days, she almost had enough knowledge for her article. She only needed to get Harry’s side of the story. Unfortunately though, their story would end with her. They went to the family room to talk. Harry gave Donna everything she asked for, and then ended her life just like that. She finally finished writing everything she needed down in her notebook and she got struck in the head by a bust Harry grabbed in a panic. He thought she would publish it and everything would be out in the open and he would go to prison. Instead he killed her and the family covered for him yet again by hiding her body and getting rid of the evidence. They burned all of her work and got rid of her car to make it look like she went back home. She was buried in the backyard where Tommy was. Her boss reported her missing about a week later and Sarah paid everyone off again like she did years ago. Donna’s disappearance became a mystery just like Tommy’s and nobody will ever find out thanks to the power of money. They also finally broke and took Harry to the mental hospital where he started getting help. It would only be a matter of time before someone starts to ask questions about the reporter who went missing. The Johnsons only hope that they won’t have to cover up a 3rd murder for Harry’s screwups. The first one they could have just said it was an accident, but Donna’s death was intentional. He can get into way more trouble if Donna’s death becomes public. Everyone in the family would too since they covered for him. Joseph also admitted to Donna as they had their interview that he regrets adopting Harry. He knew adopting a baby from a mental patient was not a good idea, and he was right. Harry would eventually become better but it wasn’t until after he went to the mental hospital that he did. Does he regret what he did? Maybe. I wouldn’t be able to tell you. He wouldn’t even tell the truth if you asked him. He had been lying for over 10 years. And whose fault was that? His mother’s; she didn’t want to ruin her precious reputation in the small town so she bribed all her kids and everyone else to lie about the situation from the start.