A Picture is Worth a Thousand Words

       One picture I found on a subway. One story I had to uncover. The back of the photo read "New Orleans Trip, 2012, last time I saw my family." "Sarah in black, Mom in white, and Dad in brown." This was last time this person saw their family!? It is 2062 right now. I assumed the girl in the gray was the owner of this photo, because she did not identify herself on the back. Was she on a quest to find her sister? Or her parents if they are still alive? Either way I now have to find her. She deserves to find her family, and how can she without the most recent photo she has of them? 

       Immediately after finding this photo I scanned it into my computer. Technology these days is very useful. I was able to use "face detection" technology and find a Facebook account linked with this girls face. It was hard to tell she was the same person though, because she was now closer to 70 than 20. Her name was Rachel Funkhouser. I was very hesitant to click on this suspicious girl's page. What if this wasn't her and I just turned out to be a huge creep? But on the other hand, what if this is her and I can help her find who she has been searching for the past 50 years of her life? "Click." "Gosh, I did it, I can't believe I did it." My hands were shaky as I crept through this complete strangers profile. I looked at the "about" section on her page and scroll down to the family part. She has a sister, but I am so confused. The picture that shows up by her sister's name looks like she is the same age as she is in the picture I found. It is almost as like she has not been on Facebook for fifty years. I check my Facebook every three hours, there is no way she has gone fifty years without updating her profile picture. Then it hit me. Her sister is missing. Her whole family completely disappeared. I think this poor girl has been searching for her family for the past fifty years not because she lost contact with them, but because they have been either taken or worse, killed.

       After this realization I did more research on Rachel Funkhouser. 109,030,284 results. I have my work cut out for me. But wait, all of these stories are related to one another. "Family Killed in Car Crash; One Survivor." "Funkhouser Family of Four; Only Youngest Daughter Lives." I don't understand. Dead? I was so wrong. I thought she was looking for her family for the past fifty years, and she carried that photo around to show to people. Did she carry this around as a reminder of her beautiful family? I have to find out more.

       Scrolling through more search results I came across a local newspaper article. The article read "Dangerous Woman on the Loose; Many Psychological Problems. If found please call the police department." On the article was a picture of Rachel Funkhouser. The same Rachel Funkhouser I had just felt sympathy for. Now I am so scared that the girl I just felt bad for is some crazy lady that is on the loose. What does this mean? I picked up my cell phone and immediately called the number on the bottom of the article. "Helloooo", said a very rude receptionist, "what is your emergency?"
       "I have a question about an article in your local newspaper, I said, "the one about Rachel Funkhouser."
       "O yes, that poor woman that needs some professional help?"
       "Uhhhh, yes I guess that is her."
       "Do you know where she is at?"
       "No I do not, but I just found a picture that I believe belongs to her on the subway today, and I was just looking to learn a little more about her and what is wrong with her."
       "Well you see, this woman was just a child when she lost the closest people to her. Ever since she has went off the deep end, trying to find her family. She is not psychologically stable to handle the events that happened in her life. She needs to be found so she can be treated and go through some therapy."
       "Okay well thank you for that. I really thought I could help this woman find her family, but now I know I can't. Thank you for your time."

     A psycho on the loose. A woman I thought I could help. I've heard people say "a picture is worth a thousand words", but now I know that the words they portray aren't always the whole story.