"Daddy, can we play on the swing?" Lisa asked.

I adopted her when she was five and even now, it warmed my heart to hear her call me dad. "Sure, pumpkin. First one there wins!" I called out.

The two of us ran to the swings. Of course, I let her wing. After giving her a few pushes, she told me that she'd swing the rest. Man, eight-years-old all already. I remembered the first time her mother had given me the papers to fill out. Lisa had been four at the time, missing her birth father and trying her best to avoid me. I had been a stranger to her for months, but one day she just let me in.

I stepped in front of my daughter and took a few pictures of her with my phone. She was so beautiful and just the joy of my heart. After a few more minutes, the cold October wind began crashing against my face. Being anaemic and all, I wasn't having it.

We got back home around seven and Lisa went to bed at 8:30. I decided to stay up and get some work done for the office. It took me about two hours to finish my assignments. Two long hours of legal documents to read over for work.

"Dad?" Lisa mumbled while rubbing her eyes. She began walking towards me.

"What's wrong, pumpkin?"I asked her.

"I thought I saw someone in my room, daddy. I'm afraid." She said.

This worried me a bit. In the four years she's lived with me not much had she mentioned anything like that. Lisa was never afraid of monsters, the dark and other things normal kids feared. I stood up then headed for her room, telling her I'd check around.

Everything was fine. I walked back into my room to inform Lisa that everything was okay. "Come back to bed pumpkin; there's nothing wrong."

She was already fast asleep.

...

The next day, Lisa and I decided to head to the park after school. As she played on the slide with a few other kids, I reclined on one of the benches while reading my favorite book: Freak the Mighty.

Suddenly, a man wearing blue shorts and a green T-shirt sat next to me. Other than the old fashion black hat that struck me as old, he had a nice trimmed beard and mustache. His nose was large, sprinkled with freckles. His eyes were dark brown, and he had thick eyebrows. Everything about him -in my opinion- was grim. He reminded me of one of those people you didn't want to find at the park. What can I say? The man gave me a bad vibe. I was ready to pick up Lisa and leave, that is, until the man looked at me and spoke.

"My, my, what a beautiful afternoon." He said.

I moved my book into one hand, closing it on a page I wouldn't remember later. I faced the slide and smiled as my little girl went down the slide. "Sure is."

He sighed. "I never thought I'd see her this happy again. You're doing a great job."

My heart stopped. How the hell did this guy know Lisa? I tried to calm down. He could have been talking about another kid. Maybe he had a child named Lisa too. I thought.

"John." He said my name. "You're doing a great job with her."

The wind knocked out of my chest I stared at him firmly and placed my phone in my pocket. "I'll call the cops," I said, now afraid. This guy knew my name and my daughter. He could have been some psycho stalker, and I couldn't have let him hurt my little girl.

He let out a laugh. "Relax, John. I'm Jack. Lisa's real father."

I stared blankly at him. I couldn't believe it. This was the guy who abandoned his daughter when she was only 3-years-old. Part of me wanted to slap him, but God knows I would if Lisa wasn't around. His face and appearance sickened me. I didn't see a man in him. I saw a coward who abandoned his child.

"Her father..." I nodded slowly. Saying that felt so unreal.

"I know you weren't expecting this. I've called the adoption agent. We talked things over, and if all is good with you, I may have permission to see my daughter," Jack gave me a half-hearted smile. "I know it wasn't right. Leaving her. But I want to make it better. You believe in second chances, right?"

"Okay," I could only say. "Well, I'm glad you made a turn around your life." I didn't mean those words. I could care less about this guy. I didn't believe him. Jack, if that was his name, was a fraud. A punk.

Just then Lisa came running over to us. "Hi, daddy." She said smiling at me. Boy, was this awkward. Jack took a card from his pocket and handed it to me. "If it's not too much of a burden, please do give me a call." He smiled at me then looked at Lisa. I watched the two of them stare at each other for almost a minute. "See you around, beautiful."

He turned to me. "Good day, John."

Lisa climbed onto my lap. "Who was that man?" She asked.

I gave her my best smile, however, I couldn't help but think things were about to change. "Just a friend," I said.

...

It took me a few months to come to my senses. Who was I to keep the truth from my Lisa? I told her who Jack was and she had so many questions. She deserved to know her parents, and she was old enough to know.

Two weeks after telling her, I invited John over for dinner. He accepted. Lisa was more than excited. I stumbled upon her drawing a picture. I sat down next to her and took a look at the picture she was drawing. I smiled. It was just like the one she drew at school and the top of it said, 'I love you, daddy.'

"That's a beautiful picture," I said.

She smiled. "Thanks, John."

This shocked me. She never called me John! However, just before I could say anything, the doorbell rang. I went to open it. Sure enough, it was Jack. Lisa scribbled the rest of an uncolored section then got up. She ran towards the door and gave Jack the picture.

I was crushed. Sure it was childish of me to feel the way I felt, but I couldn't help it. First, she had called me John; now she was giving Jack drawings and telling him that she loved him. It all happened so fast that my emotions were sprawled all over the place. Again, I felt immature.

Jack walked inside, shutting the door behind him. "Did you draw this?" He said ever so amazed. Lisa giggled and shyly nodded her head. The both of them sat on the couch and talked about the picture. I, on the other hand, prepared the table for dinner.

When I stepped out from the kitchen, I walked into the living room to see Jake resting his hand on my daughter's thigh. This made me very uncomfortable for I didn't know him very well. I immediately cleared my throat and told them dinner was ready.

The both of them talked the whole time at dinner, while I was the third wheel. After eating, Jack asked if he can visit two times a week. I told him that it was too soon and I had to make sure everything was 100% okay. He told me he understood and asked if they could email each other.

I said okay to that.

...

I had to show Lisa how to use an email. Hers was . Her father's was . A pretty odd name, but sounded familiar.

Her hands froze in front of the keyboard.

"What's wrong, sweetie?" I asked her.

She shrugged. "It's kind of weird with you standing behind me."

I stared at her. Maybe she needed her privacy. I respected that. I nodded my head. "Okay. Just tell me when you're done."

She smiled. "Okay."

Ten minutes later she came running to me. I was reading a book in the dining room. I didn't like the thought of leaving her alone to message Jack, however, if there was going to be trusted then this had to be it.

"What's taking him so long to write back," she said.

I took off my reading glasses and placed them on the table then closed the book. "He could be busy or out working, dear. Just give it some time." She didn't respond, only skipped back into my office.

...

They had been emailing each other the whole day. I couldn't even get Lisa to watch a movie with me. My little princess was becoming distant, avoiding me as if I was an annoying friend. That's how I think she saw me as too. A friend. Our connection was slowly fading.

Things even carried on like this the next two weeks. I was glad to see my little girl so happy, but things got out of hand. At school, she got in trouble for using the computer while the teacher was away. She did this in front of all her classmates. I was so shocked. It wasn't like her.

At home, of course, I had to talk to her about it. I lectured her, explaining to her to never do it again. The whole time she looked away from me with her arms crossed and her lips poked out. I sat on her bed and hugged her. She pushed me away and said four words that made my heart stop.

"You're not my father," he said running out of the room.

As the days passed, Lisa has treated me like I was nothing to her. How could she act like this? What was happening to us? She's changed so much, and the only thing she talked about was Jack. Jack this and Jack that and Jack sent me flowers and shit. I was so tired of hearing about him. I wanted to tell her to stop emailing him, but that would only make her dislike me even more.

Whenever Jack asked to visit, I allowed it because if I didn't or explained to Lisa that I was too busy, she would throw tantrums. Harsh ones too. When he got here, I welcomed him in and returned over to my seat in the living room to read a book while the two of them talked on the sofa. They talked, play fought, played games, told jokes, and all of that stuff. The stuff I missed doing with Lisa.

After an hour, Lisa walked up to me and asked if Jack could take her for some ice cream down the street. To me, this was a terrible idea. I told her sure, but I'd be coming. As I expected, she threw another tantrum and yelled words of hatred at me, crushing my heart. She didn't want me to go.

Jack calmed her down then stood up to talk to me. "Please, if we're going to establish trust, let it be now. Please. She's my little girl. I barely see. I love her as much as you do. Let us just have a little walk down the street for some ice cream, and we'll be back here before you know it. I promise," he said softly.

I gave in. "Okay, but if she's not back here in ten minutes, I'm sorry, but I'll be sure to call the cops."

...

As soon as they left, I walked into the computer room and did something I wanted to do since day one. I read their emails. The thought came to me, but I didn't find it necessary. Now that they were out, I found it unavoidable.

The first few messages I read they were normal and cute. He sent her pictures of him with animals. Apparently, he lived on a farm. Lisa talked about things she did at school. I scrolled down to the most recently sent and received emails. None of them had subjects. I clicked one of Lisa's sent ones.

"Why do you have to kill him?" Lisa said.

My eyes widened at that email. I looked at the previous messages above.

"You don't need him anymore. You have me. We can live on my farm. You'll make lots of new friends. There are so many girls your age you can play with here." Jack's email said.

I reached for the phone and called the cops. After that, I stepped out of the house to find my daughter. She was not down the street, and the ice cream man said no one with a little girl came this way. I then got a phone call that made my knees weak. I could not possibly describe how I felt, but it seemed like someone was squeezing my heart none stop.

Stupid. Idiot.

How could I have let this happen? I thought. I would never forgive myself if anything happened to her.

I went back to the house and found the police outside. I told them everything. It was when I described the man is when everyone stopped to look at me.

"His name was Jack?" a cop asked.

Another cop went to the car as I nodded my head. A few seconds later, the cop that had gone to the car brought back a sheet of paper with a picture of some guy on it. It was a mug shot. A mugshot of Jack.

"Is this him?" The cop asked.

"That's him," I then swallowed. Then and there, I knew something bad would happen to my little girl. A cop informed me about one of Jack's past killings in 1996. One of his victims got away from where she was held captive. She said that Jack was kidnapping little girls and sexually harassing them. She was one of them. Age 11. He kept them in his cellar. As for Jack, he was like a shadow. No one could catch the guy.

"Could it be him?" One cop raised an eyebrow at another cop. "Jack the Ripper."

After informing me, the cops were told to check the area and the abandoned farm that hadn't been used since 1996. The police went to investigate but didn't find anyone there. There were no animals, no water, no food in the place. It was just an abandoned farm. The only clue we found were pictures. Pictures of Lisa. They were mostly pictures of her sleeping. There were pictures of her taking a bath. There were pictures of her using the bathroom. The part that disturbed me the most is that she was looking into the camera in almost every picture. Her face, afraid and worried.

I could only remember that one night when she told me someone was in her room. He was there. He was always there. Jack the Ripper.