“Alexis Camp!” Mrs. Riley, the teacher at Lawson Academy, called. Approaching her, I replied, “Yes, ma’am?” Mrs. Riley is our reading and writing teacher; the only instructor in which people liked. “You have been chosen as the Author of the Year and here is your certificate.” She handed me the paper. Yes! I thought. RING! The school bell rang louder than a fire truck siren. School was out for the summer, and children began rushing through the doors into the warm, summer air. My friend Jenny Bull met me on the sidewalk and we walked to my house together. “Why do you have to spend the summer with your dad?” I asked. “You know the judge said that I have to spend the summers with my dad from now on. Besides, I’m sure that the summer camp courses will be fun. Maybe you’ll find a new best friend!”
“You can’t have two best friends.”
We walked home in silence after that. The thought of losing her for a whole summer made me shiver.

The sun shot its powerful rays against my face and I daydreamed about how glad I was that my mom had made me wear sunscreen. Lucky I have a pool. I thought. The suburban neighborhood was in view now and I could see my mom in the front of our bright yellow house motioning for us to come quick. “Why does she want us to come so fast?” Jenny wanted to know. “I don’t know. I guess we’d better hurry.” Rushing into the house, my mom shut the door abruptly behind us and sat us down at our round mahogany dining room table.
“Girls, a prisoner has escaped from the county jail and just to be safe I would like you to stay in the house as much as you can. I also want you each to carry around this pocket knife just in case.” Mom explained as she handed me the knife. “Sure, I guess I could do that.”

The next few days came and went and then everything went back to normal. Jenny had left to go and live with her dad in Ohio for the summer, and I was lonelier than ever. Why couldn’t have her dad just come here to Tennessee? Grumpy is the perfect word to describe me right now. “You are an eleven year old acting like a two year old.” Mom always says. “Why don’t I take you to the movies and you might meet a new movie buddy?” She asked one Saturday morning. “I thought I told you that movie buddy isn’t cool. And sure I’ll go to the movies but only if you stay away from me and not act like my mom. Deal?”
“Deal,” she answered. I bolted upstairs and threw on a pair of blue jeans and a T-shirt.

On the way to the movies, I saw a muddy girl about my age trudging down the street looking hopeless. “Mom, look! We should give her a lift!!” Mom pulled over and asked the girl if she wanted a ride. She didn’t say anything as she climbed into the car. That’s when I noticed the huge bump on her head. She apparently didn’t know anything. Mom led the girl into our car. We drove back to the house and let her take a shower. She was a beautiful girl with wavy brown hair and sparkling blue eyes under all of the mud. We drove back to the movies once she was dressed.

It was a striking day and the sky was cloudless. I rolled down the window and a warm breeze blew my short brown hair into my face. I looked at the side view mirror and glimpsed a blue Volkswagen following us from behind. Surprisingly, if we turned, he turned. I wish I could have gotten a license plate number just in case he was that criminal. I asked, “Mom, what was that prisoner put in jail for? And did they catch him?”
Just then I heard the girl talk for the first time. “Where am I? Who are you? Why am I here?” Fortunately, it was my mother who spoke up. “Honey, I am sorry, but it looks like you bumped your head on something and forgot everything. Your name, your home, and your friends. We’ll call you Laurie. You will be staying with us for a while. This is Alexis, my daughter. Coincidently, you look like her age, so you girls will get along just fine.”
“Mom, you didn’t answer my questions.”

“Oh yes, that jailbird was evicted of killing a man. A bitter, crisp chill ran up my spine. A murderer could be following us! I thought. But why would they want to take me, anyway? Then I forgot about the whole thing.

Finally, we arrived at the movies. Mom and I were planning to see Rainbows in Heaven. Staggering over to the lengthy line to get tickets, I recognized my crush from school staring straight at Laurie and smiling. I’m gonna kill her!!!! I told myself. “Oh, look Alexis, there’s Jonathan! Go talk to him!” She urged. “MOM!” My cheeks were flushed and I couldn’t eliminate the picture in my mind of how he looked at her.

We were walking to the movies when I saw Johnny walking towards Laurie.

He stumbled towards her as if embarrassed and shy whereas in school he was always the popular talkative boy that every girl liked. He mumbled to Laurie, “Hey. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you around. You new?” He tried to keep his cool but I knew that inside he was dying of timidity. My face red hot and my fists clenched I heard Laurie reply, “I guess I’m new.” She had a confused look on her face and I knew that it wasn’t Laurie’s fault that Johnny liked her. But what was I supposed to do, start yelling at him? Instead, I blurted, “I think we’re going to miss the beginning of the movie if we don’t get in there now.” Luckily, my mom added, “Yes, we better get going. Nice seeing you Jonathan.” We walked inside Room #4 just in time for the previews to end.

The movie went by faster than a lightning bolt strikes the ground. Most of the time during the movie I sat thinking about the stupid stuff Johnny had said to Laurie. It’s like all of a sudden she comes and steals everyone’s attention. Well, if you ask me, she isn’t gonna fool me.

We drove back home with Laurie saying how fascinating love is and how cool rainbows are and mom gawking about how sensitive she is. Laurie doesn’t even know what love is, you dimwit. I wanted to say. But of course, that would be stupid, because mom would slap me all the way to Australia for calling her a dimwit.

One Monday morning, my dad was out in the front yard raking, my mom was at the grocery store, and I had been told to play with Laurie inside. Immediately, when my parents left the house, I dashed to my room, shut the door, and locked it so that Laurie couldn’t come in. Please don’t follow me. Please don’t follow me. I thought. She followed me. “Alexis?” she called. “Alexis?!” Staggering over to the door, I unlocked it, opened it just a little, and coldly said, “What?”

“Aren’t we supposed to play together?”

“No.” I stated flatly.

“Oh. Okay then. Where do I go, then?”

“Away from me. Go help dad in the yard or something.”
I slammed the door and turned on my CD player loud. If it wasn’t for the high pitched scream, I never would have known that my stove was up in flames. Abruptly, when I heard the scream, I bolted downstairs as fast as a spotted cheetah. “What did you do?!” I yelled at the tops of my lungs to Laurie.

She stood in the middle of my kitchen screaming her head off. “Dang! How do you shut this thing off?” I said, startled. Bright red and flaming orange fire decorated the stove and was burning it more and more minute by minute. I darted toward the fire extinguisher and sprayed my heart out, ordering Laurie to run to dad and tell him to come as fast as he could. Oddly, although she’s is as skinny as a stick, she could run faster than a cougar after its prey. Soon, dad was in the kitchen staring at the burnt, black pile of ashes that used to be a modern-day stove. “How dare you let this happen, Alexis?!” He scolded finally. “It isn’t MY fault that Laurie practically burnt the whole kitchen down.” I sassed. “YOU were supposed to be playing with her, but NO, you had to go up to your room and listen to your damn music!”

“Fine! I’LL just take the blame for what SHE did!” I said sarcastically as I stomped upstairs to my bedroom.

“It’s not my fault that she burned the stove, is it?” I said to Jenny over the phone that night after we had told each other about our day. “Of course it’s not!”

“I miss you so much! Having a fake sister is stupid,” I continued, “I might just come to live with you and your dad.” I wished that more than ever.

Ring! Ring! Ring! Suddenly, the phone rang. “Hello?” An eerie voice said, “Meet me at five at the pretzel stand in the mall tomorrow with Laurie. Come alone. ” Then he/she hung up the phone. How does he/she know who Laurie is? Why does he/she want me and Laurie? I thought. Darting downstairs, I grabbed Laurie and went into my mom’s closet. “Laurie,” I whispered, “Someone called and told us to meet him or her at the mall at five tomorrow. So I was thinking we could have mom drive us there and pretend to drive off, but really just enter another part of the mall. Then she could go to where we are to meet this mystery person and just in case it’s the murder---”

“A murderer?! I’m not going.” She crossed her arms to her chest like a three year old. “Listen, we have to go. Don’t you like mysteries?” I persuaded. “What’s a mystery?”

“Well a mystery is like a type of book, movie, or something else that makes you want to read or watch more because you don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

“Fine, I’ll go, but only if mom’s watching.” Don’t do it Alex, don’t do it! I told myself. Furiously, I screamed, “MY mom is not YOUR mom! As far as I know, you don’t have a mom. So from now on, you call her Mrs. Camp. And that’s final!”

I stomped up to my room and locked the door so that my mom and/or dad couldn’t come in and start yelling at me. She was probably down there crying her head off like a two year old.

The next day my mom pretended to drop me and Laurie off. We staggered in slowly, unsure of what was to happen next. “Do you think that’s him?” I asked Laurie as we approached the pretzel stand outside of the BELK Store. “Maybe.” As we walked closer and closer I began feeling butterflies emerge in my stomach. A tall, thin man with multiple tattoos walked up to us.

“You’re alone?” The creepy man questioned. “Does it really matter? What you say to us isn’t going to change if there is someone else here is it?” I sassed impulsively. “Come on,” he instructed as he grabbed and dragged us across the slippery mall floor as fast as possible. Luckily mom was there to the rescue! She quickly lifted her purse and smacked him as hard as she could in the side of his head. He instantly dropped to the floor and we ran faster than we’d ever run before.

When we got home, mom told us that we would only be going to and from our summer camp classes. She made us promise that we would always lock the door behind us and never open the windows without permission.

Days passed without any exciting events. Until May 28th. The day everything changed.

Laurie and I strode down the sidewalk towards my house after a cool health lesson. We were a few blocks away when I was pushed from behind. I fell flat on my face, and I am guessing so did Laurie.

The next thing I knew I was looking into a dark hole of emptiness. The only trace of existence was the car engine roaring as (I’m guessing) we drove across the highway. I could feel a human stuffed up against me, so I guess Laurie was there with me, wherever I was.

Creeeeek! The car stopped suddenly. Pretend you’re asleep. I thought to myself. As I closed my eyes tightly, the trunk door opened, and the sunlight revealed itself. Out of the corner of my eye I glimpsed the man taking ropes of string out of his pocket. Then he picked us up and carried us to a small abandoned building. There lied two chairs that he threw us in. We were then tied up with unbreakable rope.
I opened my eyes. “Good afternoon. Did you have a good sleep?” Said the man in his sinister, fake voice. “Not really, but thanks for asking,” Replied Laurie.
Laurie’s chair was moved to about six yards in front of me. Then he asked her very sternly, “Who is it?”

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about?” Laurie explained.
Slap! The back of the eerie man’s hand hit Laurie’s face. Hard. I mean really hard. “Come on, tell your brother who it is,” he said in a fake voice. “You are not my brother!” replied Laurie. Oh my gosh! My knife!
Swiftly, I managed to pull the handy pocket knife out of my pocket, and cut the ropes off of my hands, then legs. Before the kidnapper/murderer could turn around and see me, I ran up behind him, closed my eyes, and stabbed the sharp devise into his back. Blood gushed from the man’s punctured flipside as he dropped to his knees. Multitasking is something I’m not very good at, but hey, what else am I supposed to do? So I cut off the ropes entangling Laurie while I pulled Laurie’s so-called brother’s phone out of his blood-stained pocket.
Quickly, I called my mom and soon enough she was there. The police also showed up, blinking their red and blue car lights all over the place! The cool thing was is that Laurie and I didn’t get into any trouble for killing a man. I had mixed emotions about the whole thing. I mean, sure, I don’t like him and all because he kind of kidnapped us then started hitting Laurie, but I felt kinda bad…
The next day mom told me she had decided to take Laurie to the doctor and see if her memory-loss was just temporary or permanent. As soon as she left I ran to the bathroom. Dad was at work, and mom was gone with Laurie, so I could sing in the shower without being judged on my pitch. I turned the knob that turned on the water and went to my room. As I waited for the liquid to get warm, I undressed. I trotted into the bathroom and stepped into the shower. After such a long day the past day, it was nice to relax. When I got out I dried myself off on the mat and looked out the window. It was another gorgeous day and I decided that after I got my clothes on I would go outside and play. So I did.
I walked along the street slowly, just thinking. I still had about 1 month left of summer. I was thinking this when I past by my true love, Jake’s, house. Not paying attention is something I can easily do, so I passed by his house without passing out. I’d never walked through this part of the neighborhood. Then I heard a voice.
“Hey,” Jake, who was standing behind me muttered. “Hi!” I giggled a little too obvious. “So I was wondering, um, is Laurie still living with you?” Ugh! What? He came to me to talk about her? “Yeah, why?”
“Well, if you really wanted to know, I was going to ask her to ask you out for me.”
“What?! I thought you liked Laurie!” I mumbled confusedly.
“No, I like you!” Is this just like the best day ever or what? “Well I think I like you too, Jake.” That came out a lot more smoothly than I thought it would! “Well then, would you like to go out with me?”
Uh, duh. “Sure!” And I left.
Laurie and mom were already home when I got back. Before I knew whether this whole memory-loss thing with Laurie was gonna last forever, mom gave me a huge lecture on why it is important to stay in the house when no one is home. I kind of forgot about that rule. “But anyway,” mom continued, “the doc said that Laurie would remember everything in a few days. So she’ll be going home soon. But in the meantime, you two need to spend more time with each other. Now I’m going to go cook dinner. It will be ready in an hour.”
Laurie and I went into the guest room where she slept every night for the past two weeks. We had really become good friends, and I didn’t despise her anymore. After I told her about me and Jake, we decided to go to the skating rink, where all of the cool kids hung out, especially Jake.
The next morning I put on makeup for the first time! My mom let me and Laurie borrow hers, just for today, because she said that after what we’d been through we deserve a nice treat. Mom drove us to the skating rink and dropped us off.
We were skating and having fun when all of the sudden there was a scream in the food area. Laurie and I ran to that area and found out that someone was choking on a nacho. This brought me back to one of the lessons that I learned in Health. Think fast. I bolted over to the middle-aged woman, and demonstrated the Heimlich maneuver. The salty, sharp chip was choked up, and people began clapping. I used the skating rink’s phone to call me mom and tell her to pick us up early. All of the sudden, Laurie turned to me. “Alexis! I remember who I am! My name is Mindy Callahan!” Just then my mom drove up. We hopped in the car and she gave us more valuable information. Her address, her phone number, her parents’ names, and more. “Josh, my brother, the one who kidnapped us, wanted to know the name of the boy his previous girlfriend was cheating with. I confronted his ex-girlfriend about a month ago when they were together, and told her to stop cheating. But she pushed me down, and I hit my head on the wall. That’s probably how I got this bump on my head.”
That night ‘Mindy’ and I wondered whether Josh was the prisoner that escaped from jail. I guess we would just have to see.
The next morning my dad drove Mindy and I to the address she gave us. Surprisingly, there were lots of cars surrounding her house. As we knocked on the door, a woman came up behind us wearing all black. “Were you all friends of Hank?” She asked. “I am his daughter,” replied Mindy. “Well I am terribly sorry dear. I worked with him and this is a tragic event.” We walked inside confusedly. Everyone there was wearing black and when we walked into Mindy’s room there was a big casket. Inside was what Mindy said was her father. She ran outside crying. We asked a nearby man how Hank died and he explained, “Josh was just a troubled kid. I am definitely not surprised that he killed Hank.”
So, that was it. He was the murderer that escaped from prison. I felt so bad for Mindy. I mean she had just lost her brother and dad in a week period. I went there and thought about something as I comforted her. You can have two best friends.