A gentle breeze blew through Jennifer's hair. The golden red sun was setting. She was on the beach, looking up at the fiery ball. She was amazed by its color, deep red in the middle, softly fading into yellow. She could hear nothing but the waves and the seagulls flying up above in the sky.
The atmosphere relaxed her. After all she had been through, this is what she needed. "It's getting late," she thought, "I must go home, my parents will be wondering where I am."
She wondered how her parents would react, when she got home after the three days she was missing. She kept on walking, directing herself to bungalow 163, where she spent every summer holiday. The road was deserted. She walked slowly and silently. Just in a few hundred meters she would have been safe in her house.
It was really getting dark now, the sun had set a few minutes before and it was getting cold too. She wished she had her favorite jumper on: it kept her really warm. She imagined having it with her. This thought dissipated when she finally saw her front door. It seemed different. Nobody had taken care of the outside garden for a few days. She was shocked: her father was usually so strict about keeping everything clean and tidy, and now... It all seemed deserted. She couldn't understand what was going on.
She entered the house. First, she went into the kitchen where she saw a note written by her father. It said: "Dear Ellen, there is some coffee ready, I went looking." Ellen was her mother but - where was she? On the right side of the hallway was her parents room. She went in. Then she saw her. Her mother, lying on the bed, sleeping. Her face looked so tired, as if she hadn't slept for days. She was really pale. Jenny would have wanted to wake her up but she looked too tired to force her. So Jenny just fell asleep beside her. When Jennifer woke up something was different...she wasn't in her mother's room and she wasn't wearing the old clothes she ran away in. She was in her cozy bed in her pajamas.
It felt so good being back home. Suddenly she heard a voice. "Are you feeling better now, dear? You know you got us very, very scared."
一陣微風吹過詹妮弗的頭發，金紅色的太陽即將落山。海灘上的詹妮弗望著那火紅的圓球，不禁驚異于它的顏色：中間是紅彤彤的，向外柔柔地變成黃色。她只能聽到海浪的聲音，還有在天空中高高飛翔的海鷗。
眼前的景象使她放松下來，出走幾天的經歷，讓她感受到這才是她所需要的。她想：“天晚了，我該回家了，父母會惦記我在哪里。”
她在猜想自己離家三天才回來，父母會做出什么反應。她一直走著，徑直走向163號平房，每年暑假，她都是在那兒度過的。一路上空寂無人，她慢慢地、靜靜地走著，再有幾百米就能安全到家了。
天色完全黑暗下來，太陽幾分鐘前就落山了，外面越來越冷。她真希望自己穿著最喜歡的那件套頭衫，那該多暖和啊!她想象著自己正穿著它呢。可是一看見她家的前門，這種想法就煙消云散了。眼前的一切有些異樣。外面的花園好幾天沒人照料了，這讓她非常吃驚――她父親平時處事嚴謹，每樣東西都要求干凈整潔，而現在呢……花園好像一片荒蕪。她不理解發生了什么事情。
她進了屋，首先到了廚房，看見父親留的一張字條，寫著：“親愛的埃倫，這是煮好的咖啡，我出去找找。”艾倫就是她的母親，但是――母親在哪兒?走廊的右邊是她父母的臥室，她走進去就看見了母親，躺在床上睡著了。母親的面色異常蒼白，看起來是那樣的疲憊，好像多日未眠。詹妮真想把她叫醒，但是母親看起來太累了，真不忍心叫醒她。于是詹妮也躺在她身旁睡了。詹妮弗醒來時發現有些異樣：她不在母親的房間里了，穿的也不是離家出走時的舊衣服了。她是穿著睡衣躺在自己愜意的床上。
回家的感覺真好啊。忽然她聽見一個聲音：“親愛的，你現在感覺好點了吧?知道嗎，你讓我們多擔心、多害怕啊!”
