Day 10-Duisdai, Augusta 18...Our first investigation

I didn't sleep well, if at all last night. Not sure if I was trying to avoid having another nightmare or was it because my mind was busy with Jakob's disappearance and what his poor family might be going through. Probably a little of both. I think Antonia was struggling to sleep as well. She was pretty restless in the bunk next to mine, tossing and turning all night. It was well before sunrise, and I sat at the edge of my bed and stared blankly into space for what seemed like hours before I asked Antonia if she was awake. She was, so we took advantage of our pseudo privacy and discussed what our plans for the day were going to be. We obviously wanted to go to the place where Jakob had disappeared. We weren't feeling very energetic, in fact, the whole situation had us both feeling a little depressed...okay a LOT depressed. Neither of us had any clue as to what we were going to be looking for when we got there, but we both felt so compelled to go. Maybe something will look odd or different to one of us that nobody else picked up on. Who knows...maybe we'll feel something rather than see something?

The smell of breakfast beginning to cook only livened our spirits a little bit, so we headed down to the dining area to eat. Jakob's parents were there; they were sitting in front of the fire place holding each other, staring blankly at the fire. Jakob's father, Emil, glanced over at us and then turned his attention back to the fire. Olin had followed us down and joined us for breakfast (he looked well rested). No words were spoken at the table, and when we were finished eating we silently followed Jakob's parents outside. Emil said he wanted us to follow them to their home, and then he would show us where Jakob was last seen. We did just that. What an excruciatingly sad, awful trip that was.

We arrived at the house, it was such a nice looking little place with a beautiful flower garden and bustling with all sorts of small farm animals. Something was definitely missing though, as if this picturesque little scene wasn't complete. It was Jakob. Even though I had never met him, I could sense that his presence was sorely missed. We were shown the gate where he was last scene, and like all the other stories we'd heard about, there was no physical clues of any kind. I stood there with my eyes closed for quite some time trying to feel something...anything. Nothing happened. We came up with nothing and it makes me so angry and sad that we couldn't help Jakob's parents in their suffering. I hate that feeling of hopelessness. We spent way more time there than we should have when Olin reminded us that we needed to keep moving. We left on our way and told Emil and his wife that we wouldn't give up, and that as soon as we found something we would send word to them. They graciously thanked us for our efforts and wished us well.

We continued on our way in silence until it got too dark to travel safely. We didn't quite make it to the next village so we had to set up camp. The three of us went to sleep without eating dinner, nor was anything said. What could be said? We failed in our first investigation...well, it sure felt like a failure.