“So mrs…” says the police officer.

“Oh you can just call me Allison.” I say, trying not to strick any red flags. Even though I’m handcuffed to the table anyway. 

“Ok Allison lets get right into it.” He says as he sits down right across from me.

“So this is your daughter Sammantha. Right?” As he slides over some pictures one of her alive. It was her school picture… The one we have hanging on the wall in the living room right above the couches. But he also slides over one of her lifeless body… It was a picture of that night. The night Sammy ran out of the house and to the lake. That night is one big bler now…

“So this her?” he says calmly as if he’s trying to catch me on something.

“Oh.. sorry, yeah that’s my daughter…” I say trying to hold back my tears, because I know once I start I won’t stop. 

“Alright so what happened that night again?” He says calmly, but not like his curiosity. But like he just wants to see what I’ll say.

So I tell him everything that I can remember from that dreadful night, “That night Christmas Eve, I was putting the presents under the tree for tomorrow morning. But Sammy got out of bed and saw me with the gifts. I remember telling her to go to bed, then her running to her room. I thought that was it but… She came back out a couple minutes later, she was running to the door… She had all her winter clothes on. Her favorite purple puffy jacket, with her matching pants. She put on her matching purple snow boots and ran outside. I followed after calling her name, since she isn’t supposed to be outside alone. Especially at night… It was snowing so her foot prints were on the ground. So I ran after her… I though I would get her quick and come inside, so I didn’t think to put a jacket on… So I ran after her in my robe and some boots that I left at the front door. Then her foot prints stoped I thought I lost her. But I did find her foot prints again, but leading into the woods. I followed them to where I see her HAT! SHE WAS WEARING HER HAT TOO! So I continued to where I saw the lake… The lake… It was our favorite lake… We used to go there every summer with her Dad… But then he passed away so… We just stoped going… I… I remember seeing her purple tiny boots pop out of the water first… Then her cute tiny little puffy matching purple jacket… I did what any parent would do… I ran into the water hoping I wasn’t to late… And that’s when the house on the lake turned on the back lights…”

“Ok, is that all?” he says as if there was more to it. 

“No that’s it… Or at least that when the cops showed up…” I say knowing that was all… Atleast that I remember.

“So do you want to tell me why your daughter that you were holding when we pulled up has bruising around her neck?” He says sternly, or as if he was talking to a child murder. Which he’s not. 

“Are you saying that I killed my daughter officer?!?” I replie asking him if he really thinks I would do that.

“Well I mean do you want to explain this footage we have of you?” He relipes knowing he has something to one up me. He pulls out a small laptop with a hard drive plugged into it. It opens to footage from December, 24, 2022. It was footage from that night…

“This is trale cam footage from that night. Your husband didn’t tell you he had trale cam did he? Well are you sure there isn’t anything you want to tell me now?” He says as if after this he wont be mister nice cop anymore.

“No officer that was everything…” I say confused. 

He plays the footage it starts of with, Sammy ruuning down the path in the wood constantly looking over her shoulder. Like she was running from something or someone… She continues to run so fast her hat flys off… Then I come into frame picking up the hat. Which I do remember… But then I put it over the trale cams… That I didn’t even know my husband had. Then you can’t see anything else, as I put the hat over the trale cam… All you hear is heavy breathing and the crunching sound that snow always makes.

The cop looks over at me and say, “Care to explain this?” 

“I…” I’m speechless at this point. I don’t know what happened to my daughter, and I don’t know what the footage is… I’m just speechless. 

I sit here on the floor of the interrogation room. Staring at the the ceiling as if it’s staring back at me. My head it spinning as the thoughts race through my mind like a mouse runing from a cat. But maybe I am the cat… Did I do it? I couldn’t even fathom that idea. I don’t want to think about that anymore… Maybe I deserve to go to jail. The cops don’t believe me anyway. I mean I don’t blame them… They have me on camera doing things I don’t remember… I… I miss her… why do children get taken away from there parents so young… I love her so much… Or should I say loved… As tries run down my face as if I was dieing… Why does losing a child feel worst then death… Why couldn’t I have kept my happy ever after… What went so wrong… and how did it go so so so so so wrong… I promise him to watch and take care of her but here we are… I’m sorry… I’m so so sorry… 

I stand up and walk out the door, into the hallway where I’m stopped. But they can’t legally hold me, so I continue to walk to the exit. Everything is fuzzy. It feels like everything is in slow motion or even a dream… or nightmare. That I just can’t wake up from. But I walk and walk and walk. With no clear desanation in mind I walk… I walk for what feels like hours, maybe even days… But I walk. I walk till it feels like the ground is pushing against me LIKE I DIDN’T HAVE ENGOUGH BATTLES TO FIGHT ALREADY. So I walk… I walk on, with no stop. Not even when I feel the ice break underneath my feet. I walk… I walk even thought I feel the ice cool chill hit me. I walk even when the ground is getting to deep for me to stand in without my head going under. I walk until I breath… I breath even when I want to fight… I don’t… I have nothing… But I can have everything for just a little bit of pain… The pain will be everything just to see my family one last time… I would die for that… and just that… I did.  

I was sitting staring as the cars passing by, it was a foggy morning. Still dark outside, the street lights so bright and yellow that you could see the moths’ shadows in the street. The moon was full that day. It was quiet so quiet you could hear the crickets chirping besides the one or two cars that would fly pass every now and then. I could feel the air swish pass me as they would drive by. 

I sat there thinking this night is so peaceful it’s almost refreshing. I got used to the chaos of the city. It’s weird to not wake up and hear the train as they rush by my old apartment. It was an old apartment that had a smell to it, one you couldn’t forget. It smelled like dead, like somthing died in there so long ago. The celling was caving in and the floor would always squeak. There were vines growing on the side of the brick walls. It always had a strange feel to it, as if you were always being watched. 

I remember that one night… It was one night I will never forget. I was trying to sleep as I had a job interview in the morning but all I could think about was what do I say. As the time passed slowly so much so I thought that I was living in slow motion. I remember hearing banging, maybe it was on the wall I couldn’t tell. But after the banging stopped I hear something I will never forget… it sounded like a women screaming her lungs dry. As if she was dying I tried to ignore it. But I… I just couldn’t I couldn’t go to sleep I was shaking thinking what if… what if somethings wrong. What if they need help. 

What if… I slowly got out of bed. So terrified that I thought that there was something around every corner. I didn’t want to go to the door. I just… couldn’t. So I said “ If somethings there you better not be…” you could hear my voice shaking. I thought to myself “ I’ll just go to the door and look out if nothings there I’ll just go to sleep.” So I did. I tip toed to the door slid the door lock off. I slowly cracked the door open, you could hear it squeaking the more I opened it. I quickly looked left then right. I saw… nothing? So I closed the door and started going back to my bed. “I was fine” I thought to myself. But right as I say that I realize I left the door unlocked. So I walked back to the door locked it this time. But right as I was sliding the lock I hear running down the halls followed by heavy panting. So I open the door thinking it’s probably kids running around not releasing was time it is. I go to yell but right before I see a man running after or something. I see a glare of light coming from something in his hand. I was so tired I couldn’t make out was it was. Then right then as he turns the corner I hear more screams. So as a reasonably good person would do, I take my bat put on my slippers and start  to slowly creep down the hallway trying to  not make any noise. 

IThe Not So Perfect Life get to the turn right where I heard the screaming. So I listen closely to see if I hear anything. I heard something that sounded like weeping, and someone panting like a dog. I take a quick peek around the corner and see a guy that looks like he’s about to murder a girl with mascara running down her cheeks. I quickly turn around and think “What do I do… CALL 911 YES THAT’S IT CALL 911.” As I slowly turn around to go back to my room and call 911, I feel a hand cover my mouth. With a deep voice that followed after right in my ear “What do you think your doing.” it didn’t sound like a question but a command. I stand there frozen unsure of what to do. The deep voice whispers “Are you going to say anything?” I think if I’m going to get out of this alive I need to do something. But then I remember what my Dad taught me when I was a kid, and I elbow him as hard as I can. He lets me go but I could feel the knife as it hits my arm. I remember that there is another girl and if I leave he’ll kill her. So I pick up my metal bat and right as I was mid swing I see… 

I see red than blue flashing lights just as  I hear someone yell loudly “PUT YOUR HANDS UP AND DROP YOUR WEAPON NOW” I drop it and put my hands up. Next thing I know I’m in a police station being questioned about that night. Apparently, the crying girl told the cops everything. She had told them if it weren’t for me she’d be dead. I don’t remember much after that. But that night my Mom came to pick me up since I refused to go back to the apartment. As, for the guy well his name was David Montgomery he apparently had 1 daughter and a wife. Just your normal guy, but his wife was the first one he killed. He went on to kill 7 other women. That girl and I would have been his 10th. So he got the death penalty. But, now I live with my Mom in New Jersey. As I sit at a park bench every night because I just can’t fall asleep.

The sky was as blue as the ocean, the clouds looked like fluffy marshmallows, the sun was so bright I couldn’t even look at it. The bench was hard it was a quite peaceful morning. I could hear the birds chirping, the bunnies rustling thru the grass. I saw the water dripping off the grass. It was a really quiet morning, maybe even too quiet.

Mike, “ Veronica ready to go?” I quickly turn my head and say “Hmm, Oh okay yeah I’m ready.” I get up and start walking towards the car. The car still has that new car smell, I hate that smell. The car ride was so peaceful so quiet, so relaxing. I slowing wake up to Mike shaking my shoulder saying, “Come on you have to get up now.” I start to walk toward this big building with big doors, they were glass the windows had a cage looking thing on them. The doors open automatically like a grand entrance. There is a receptionist desk with and lady waiting. She says in her best receptionist voice, “Welcome to Washington’s Health Center. How can I help you today?” Mike says, “I’m here to sign someone in.” he says nervously. I don’t really know what they are talking about, but there’s a door with a big man standing in front of it. Some nurse walks up to me and says “Follow me Veronica.” As she puts her arms around me and starts to walk away. Away from Mike, away from the receptionist lady, away from the... door. “wait” I say quietly “wait” I start to panic trying to get out of the nurses grip I scream “WAIT DON’T LEAVE ME PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME!!!” as tears run down my face I frantically say “Please don’t leave me again..please.” Just then I feel a pinch and I’m out.

I wake up feeling drowsy, I try to move my hand to touch my face. But I can’t move my arms or my legs. I’m strapped down… again. It’s cold so cold they took my shoes and my clothes, but at least I got grippy socks; I guess. There’s one window with a cage around it lighting up the room. There were other windows next to the door like I was on display for everyone to see. I hated that. The bed I was strapped to was in the middle of the room. “Do they think I insane” I thought to myself. 

The door opened and a nurse came in. She said “All right, it’s time for you to eat.” as she takes off the cuffs around my wrists. She hands me a small cup with 2 little white pills and some water. “I hate this” I think to myself. I throw the pills and the water at the wall “I’M NOT TAKING THOSE, YOUR TRYING TO KILL ME! MY PILLS ARE RED NOT WHITE!” I scream, starting to panic again. The nurse says “I need you to calm down. We are trying something new to see if it works better, okay?” “NO NO NO NOT AGAIN I’M NOT DOING THIS AGAIN!” I scream, holding back the waterfall thats about to burst. All I can think about is how Mike promised me. He promised me he wouldn’t bring me back here. Especially after last time. I don’t want to remember last time, all I want to do is get home. Home to my bed, home to my cat Milo. Oh how I miss Milo. I need to see Milo. Mike told me we were going shopping. I love shopping, Mike lets me pick things I like out. He promised… I want to go home I want to see Milo. I can’t trust Mike anymore, I can only trust myself and Milo. I need to make sure Milo’s okay that Mike didn’t do anything to Milo. I need to keep Milo safe. I need to get back to Milo. 

I sit in the corner of my room nowadays, I don’t know how long I’ve been in here. They told me if I was good Mike would come see me. But I don’t want to see Mike. He lied to me. I just need to see my cat Milo,I need to. The doctors keep saying they are trying to help me not hurt me. But I can’t trust them, just look at everyone else they walk around like mindless slaves. I can’t let that happen. No not after everything that happen. The doctors keep talking to me about the past, they say writing things down would be good. But I think they just want to get inside my head. Know my next moves. I keep having to fake taking my pills, otherwise they force me to take them and I can’t let that happen. The doctors wont let go of the past; they say I’m the one that needs therapy. But I think they are. 

The doctor says,“So Veronica I think we need to talk, about what happened. Do you remember? There was an accident 10 years ago.” “We are concerned and just want to talk. We are here to help you, but we won’t get anywhere if you won’t talk… Okay then I’ll start; you were 15 at the time you and your mom were at home alone watching a movie. It was your favorite movie Scream. Your father came home late that night and told you to…..” “Stop” I say “Stop just stop, I don’t want to talk I just want to go home. Please just let me go home.” I doctor starts to say “Alright we can stop, but we have to talk eventually.” 

Couple days later “Alright Veronica lets pick up where we left off at okay? Do you want to start this time? Remember the only way you can go home is if we talk about this.” I think to myself “The only way home..” I look at him waiting for him to start. “Okay, now where were we.” The doctor says “Ah yes, Your father he had just gotten home it was late you mom had fallen asleep and you were rewatching the movie Scream. Your father reeked of alcohol and was stumpling everywhere. He was an angry drunk and got mad because there was no dinner on his plate, since you two ate out that night. He told you to get up and go in the corner and just sit there and watch, correct?” “He told you to watch as he beat your mother half to death” “Remeber Veronica we can stop at any time.” “Your father dragged your mother to the back yard and into the woods and you followed as he told you to.” “Please don’t call him my father.” I spoke shallowly “Okay” the doctor say as he continued to speek “David, then proceeded to tell you to get the shovel from the tool shed, and you did. He also then told you to start digging or he would do the same to you, right? After you dug the hole and covered it… would you like to finish it?” “I heard the sirens and saw the blue and red lights and as David panicked he took his hands and put them around my throat. He started to try and kill me as he did with my mother, or so I thought. They brought me to the hospital after I passed out and the cops questioned me. After they did an autopsy on my mothers body they found out that she didn’t die by the hands of her husband but was suffucated by the dirt I buried her under…” as a tear rolls down my face. 

It’s been what I think is a year, they let me keep Milo here since I’ve been doing better. They started giving me my red pills again, the good one that’s why I can keep Milo here and some other things they let Mike bring me. I still don’t think I can trust Mike, after all he is just my mom's best friend. She left me to him if anything happened, like she knew this would happen. Now, it’s time for bed. I have Milo sitting on my nightstand, he’s always there he must love it. I’ve had Milo through everything since I was 9 years old. He was always there for me. Always. 

Her room was huge there was so much stuff to pack. I start with the closet. I get all the things that were her favorite. They only allow two bags, so I can only pack her favorite. I get her favorite pink and purple clothes, some socks, her favorite sparkly shoes, and the pj’s she would wear every night if she could. They were made of silk and pink with matching shorts to go with them. I put all of this into one bag. The clothes bag you could say, which was just a dark pink suitcase. I then start with everything she needs like her toothbrush, toothpaste, and hairbrush. As that's all they will allow where she’s going. I zip everything up and start to head downstairs. Where the grand staircase leads to the grand front door, and there is a long rug leading to the kitchen which has four ovens and two fridges. I get her some goldfish for the ride with a bottle of water and her red pills of course. I look at the time and it says 10:45 am. “We have to go!” I say frantically as it takes two hours to get there, and the appointment is made for 1 pm.

I run outside frantically and put both of the suitcases in the trunk of the car. Then putting her red pills, water, and goldfish in the front. I look over and see her sitting on the bench peacefully and say, “Veronica ready to go?” she looks over real quick and says “Hmm, Oh okay yeah I’m ready.” We get into the car and start the long dreading drive. Veronica must have been really tired because after 20 mins of us getting into the car she fell asleep. I didn’t want to wake her as she got no sleep last night, so I couldn’t play any music. Also, music is a trigger for her. So I sat there driving, just driving. 

It gave me time to think. Think about Veronica’s mom Penelope. I loved the name Penelope, she was beautiful, intelligent, and talented. She just had a bad start. For starters her parents sent her off to boarding school every chance they got. Then when she was 17 they sent her off to get married. Where she meet Henry. He was a drunken mess, and on top of that he was an abuser. I wanted to punch him so hard when I found out. But I guess that’s why Penelope never told me, and I had to find out from the autopsy reports. I can’t help but keep replaying the moment in my head.

The moment when Penelope told… told me to meet her at our favorite spot. The boardwalk where we first met. It was a cold breezy night. The boardwalk lights were on, and you could see the ferris wheel no matter where you were standing. The bright pink stripes and the blue circled around it. It was beautiful. Like nothing you have ever seen before. I was leaning up on the railing looking off at the shore. When Penelope says “BOO” trying to scare me every time but never does. And we talked and talked for hours. She said that “My mom is watching Veronica for the night. Wanna get a drink?” and of course I say “Yeah, why not.” So we went to Joe’s bar that was right around the corner from the board walk. And we got shot after shot after shot. Until she said drunk “Mike if something ever happens to me, promise me that you will take care of our baby.” I just looked at her. Like what did you just say. I didn’t know if she was saying look out for Veronica or saying that Veronica was my child. I mean we were sleeping together and all. But she never mentioned something like this to me before. And Penelope isn’t one to keep a secret… Or so I thought… I mean she never told me that Henry was abusing her. But she was an ex-model so she was really good with make-up. Boy did she love to wear her make-up. I never could tell if Henry was forcing her to or not. But I guess that doesn’t matter now. As he got the death penaty and he just died yesterday. 

We finaly reached the place. Washington’s Health Center told to be the best place for the mentaly ill. I pull up to the front and put the car in park. I go the other side of the car where Verionica is sleeping. I gently shake her shoulder as to not be to rough. I say “Come on you have to get up now.” as I don’t want to be late otherwise they may not take her, and she needs help. We start to walk into the building. There’s a women at the receptionist desk waiting to check her in. She says in her best receptionist voice, “Welcome to Washington’s Health Center. How can I help you today?” “I’m here to sign someone in.” I say nervously as I don’t really want to leave her here. But I know she needs the help. They can do what I can’t. I start to sign all the papers. I also give them her red pills with all her bags. A nurse walks up to Verionca and says “Follow me Veronica.” As the nurse puts her arms around Verionca and they start to walk away. I hear her start to scream “WAIT DON’T LEAVE ME PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME!!!” As she looks at me with the biggest sad eyes and tears rolling down her face. I look away as if I don’t, I wont want to leave her. I just want to take her home and tell her everything is alright. But it’s not that’s why she’s here after all. I can fainty hear Veronica say “Please don’t leave me again..please.” making me have to hold in my tears so hard my face is starting to turn as red as a crab. 

One day later, I called to see if or when I could vist her. But they told me I wasn’t allowed until she was stable. 

Weeks go by, I continue to call every day just to see when I can vist her. But they give me the same answer every time, “Sorry Sir but the answer is still no. I’m afrad the doctor has not cleared her for visits just yet.” and every time I say “Oh… okay thank you though.” and I hang up. 

Seven months later, They say she’s finally able to see visitor now as she’s doing better the doctors say. They said she wanted me to bring her favorite book. So I did “The Little Red Riding Hood” So the first time they let me see her I brought her that book and read it to her. I saw her eyes just glow up like someone put sparkles in her eyes. Or she was a kid in the candy store. I smiled just a bit. As I haven’t seen her glow like that since her mom passed. It was tragic what happend. I wish I was there to protect her. But I’m here now and I’m not going anywhere this time. As she’s the only thing left that I have of her mother. Now that I see her smiling like that. She really does look just like her mother. But with my golden brown eye’s.

 It was October 10th, 3010 everyone was marking down the days to their birthdays. But I… I was dreading it. I didn’t ever want to turn 18. Cause when you do the government forces you to marry someone. No matter if you like them or not. Ever since the metro shower back in 2887. When over half of the human population was wiped out. The government made people that were still alive move to space. As it wasn’t safe to live on Earth for a while. So for years, the government made everyone have kids to repopulate the world. No matter your sexuality. Then they made the first person go to earth and rebuild it. As it was safe again but not safe enough for a baby. So the women stay in space to take care of and have children. But me that’s not the life I want. I don’t want to marry any man. Let alone have a man’s kids. This isn’t the life I want. My ideal life is marrying Mary Mortimer and having a black cat named Salem. But that was only ever going to be a dream…

 Back to reality, there were girls using nail polish to mark off the days to their 18th birthday. But me no. That was never going to be me. No matter how hard others want it to be. I got up off my bed. I began to walk over to the automatic doors that lead to the outside. Where there is a shopping area, a 24-7 food court, a gaming area, and a socialization area. I go to the socialization area as there isn’t anyone in there ever. So that’s where I and Mary always meet. Every day at 10 am I get there first every day. I see her run up to me and jump as I swing her around. As she’s 5ft tall and I’m 5’7ft tall. Mary has beautiful blonde hair, blue eyes, and freckles all over. But of course George Smith the guy that works for the government walks by giving us a nasty glare. As he knows me and Mary are dating. We instantly stop hugging and wiping the smiles off of our faces. We look at each other as the mood is ruined now. I take Mary's hand and start to walk toward the entrance of the room. I looked left and right making sure there wasn’t anyone there, and we walked down the hallway hand in hand. It was like a fever dream. But of course, nothing is perfect and something had to ruin the mood once again.

 But this time it was my watch. It was buzzing. I looked down at it and saw that it was my parents. They’re calling me. Why? I thought to myself. They don’t ever call me. As they have five other kids right now. So there aways to busy to bother with me. Expectedly, since I’m almost 18 now. But they called that means I have to go. I look at Mary and see her smile fade.

 I tell her, “Sorry my parents are calling. But it shouldn't be too long. I’ll call you when I’m finished, and we can meet in the garden. Okay?”

 Mary looks at me and says “ Okay, call me when you're done.”

 I start to walk to the elevators and hit the button. As I’m waiting for the elevator. The government worker George walks over. He scans his card on the elevator to call it faster. Then he stands behind me. The elevator comes right away. I step inside and George follows right after. He pushes floor number 7. Which is the same floor I’m going to. I thought it was weird but tried to think it was just a coincidence.

 I hear George get a call from his watch saying, “ Did you get her? Copy.”

 He says “ Yes. Copy.”

 I look back at him with a face saying are you talking about me? He doesn’t answer as he knows I can’t go anywhere since we’re in an elevator. I try not to panic. As I don’t know why someone has to follow me right now. The extremely long elevator ride finally comes to an end at floor 7. I wait for a bit, not sure what to do. But then I feel a little shove from behind coming from George. So I walk forward. Starting to panic, I forget what number my parents live in. But then we pass door number 27 and George pulls me back to the door. He gives a little head tilt saying go ahead. I scan my eye and hear the *CLICK* from the door. Saying it’s unlocked. I slowly start to open the door. Not knowing what to expect. Then…

 I see my parents talking to some government workers. I start to panic even more. So much so that I can feel every single drop of sweat drip down my forehead. The only time the government workers ever go to someone’s house is when they are in really big trouble or they are going to kill them. Maybe it’s a myth or it’s real. I don’t know. Nobody knows as the people that do know are missing. For years they have been missing so people just say they’re dead. But I didn’t plan on ever being one of those people. I look at my parents with worried looks on their faces.

 The government officials say, “ We have been told that you may or may not be involved with someone of the same gender. Now you are not the only one we have gotten complaints about. So we thought to bring this issue upon ourselves and begin the program process today. No matter if you are still just 17 years old.”

 The panicked look on my face starts to turn into pure terror. I have been dreading the day this would come. But this soon, I haven’t had enough time for anything. The government officials gave a nod and George pulled me away. Out the door and into the elevator. He scanned his card in the elevator. Then a red button appeared and he hit it. The elevator eminently closes the doors and starts going down. We hit the bottom and the doors open. There is a sea full of people just standing around looking confused. I step outside the elevator and it leaves. With George still in it. I look around trying to see if I can see anyone I know. But the loudspeaker starts calling off name after name. I filially see Mary. I run up to her and hug her. Just glad that she’s okay. I see some other people behind us doing the same thing. One of the people I saw was Lilith she was a kid me and Mary meet when we were 10. She’s also gay with her girlfriend Sam. I take Mary’s hand and walk over to Lilith and her girlfriend Sam.

 I start to ask her, “What are we going to do.”

 Lilith replies, “I have no idea. But they’re going to start calling our names soon. You got anything?

 I stand there for a minute or two trying to think of something. But then I hear Mary’s name gets called. They must be going by birthdays since her’s is October 31st.

 I say frantically, “A revolution. We know a ton of kids that feel the same way as us. So if we ban together we might have a chance.”

 “That’s not smart” Mary replies.

 “But it’s our only shot.” I say.

 The others go and get other people to get in on our plan.

 While I start to yell “ THIS IS WRONG! IT’S UNFAIR AND CRUEL! WE SHOULD BE FREE TO MARRY WHO WE WANT!”

 Others start to join in and the government workers try to calm us down. But fail and in turn, say “STOP THIS NOW OUR WE WILL STOP IT OURSELVES!”

  Obviously, we don’t listen and continue. But they weren’t joking. We hear the first gunshot as one of them pointed it in the air. We all look over but I know if we stop now that’s it. So I continue and others do too. As we realize our shouting it’s working. We start to fight as they shot us one by one. Some people are just running for it. Others have stopped and are crying. But I take Mary’s hand as we walk up to them. As we don’t want a war we just want peace. Lilith and Sam join in holding hands. We walk up.

  I say, “ WE JUST WANT TO LIVE IN PEACE STOP FIGHTING!!”

  Some stop but others don’t. The government workers still shooting at us. But we keep preaching peace. But it’s not doing anything.

Finally, I stop and walk up by myself screaming, “ STOP!! ALL WE WANT IS PEACE!! WE JUST WANT TO BE HAPPY!!” But no shocker they didn’t care.

  They shot me dead. It felt cold. I could hear my ears ringing as I fell onto the floor. It was cold and hard. I could see Mary crying over me as her warm tears fell onto my face.

 I crease her face with my face wiping the tears away and say with my last breath, “ It’s okay. You will be fine. Okay? I love you, Mary…”

  Mary holds my hand, balling her eyes out, and says, “Okay, I love you too Nova… I love you so much.”

 I slowly close my eyes as they are getting too heavy to hold open. I smile with a tear running down my face. As I could feel the life draining out of me. Then everything goes black, and I don’t feel any pain anymore. Nor could I hear the buzzing anymore. It was quite and peaceful.

It was your normal happy perfect life. You could even call it the dream life, I had a wife two beautiful children… One boy and one girl… Everything was perfect until that one day… Oh that one day… No one expects to come home and see what I saw that day… No one… But I guess not everything can be perfect, as I’m in prison for a crime I never commited… Oh but I loved my kids…and my wife. My wife… Let’s start from the beginning for this all to make sense.

So it was just a normal day. Gave my wife Oliva a kiss as always before bringing the kids to school. They were 6 years old so tiny and fragile. But anyway, I went to work and got there at 10:08 am as always. But this time I get a call from the school. They had told me that the Abigail was throwing up again. So someone had to come get her. But I was at work so, I could get her at the time. So I did what any parent would do. I called my wife, Oliva and told her what had happened. So she went to pick her up. But this time things were different… She sounded off. Like last year when she just found out that her mom died. But I tried not to think anything of it. Since I knew I would be home soon, as I get off at 5 and it was 3:46 now. But I kept getting this weird feeling. One that I couldn’t seem to shake. So I took a break from work and called my wife just to make sure everything was okay. The phone was ringing for what felt like hours. But then.

“Hello?” Oliva answered

Oliva follows with, “Aren’t you supposed to be working right now? Is everything okay? Jack? You okay?” 

‘Hm.. Yeah I’m fine just wanted to check in. So how’s Abby? Still throwing up?” I replied relieved she answered.

“Yeah she’s fine. She’s just resting right now. Are you sure you’r okay?” Oliva askes.

“Yeah I’m fine.” I replied.

But I hear a faint voice in that background… A mans voice say, “everything okay?” Olivia doesn’t answer it.

But I say, “Who is that?”

“Hm who?” Oliva says quickly.

“I heard a mans voice? Who is that?” I say starting to get vexed.

“Honey I think your hearing things again. There isn’t anyone here with me besides Abby.” Oliva answers like there wasn’t a man’s voice in the background.

But I let it go this time and say, “Okay well I have to go now bye Love.”

“Bye.” she says as she hangs up the phone.

I know she’s lying to me. I know what I heard… And this wouldn’t be the first time she’s cheated on me. But I thought that we were finally happy again… But I guess I was wrong. So wrong… I know she’s going to say I was being apprehensive. But not this time. I’m going to catch her in a lie this time. I quickly rush to my boss and ask if I can leave early. I explain that I think my wife is cheating on me again. Since his wife cheated on him he lets me go. I rush to my car and race home. I pull in the driveway to see a car I’ve never seen before. I block it in so who ever is in there isn’t getting out with there car at least. So this time I will catch this guy. I walk up to the house and unlock the door. The door won’t open it’s like it’s blocked or something. I push the door with my shoulder a couple of times before it opens enough for me to get in. I look around frantically. I see that the sofa was blocking the door… I look around some more trying to be scrutinized about it. I see my wife standing there covered in… Blood. There was blood everywhere. She was holding a bloodly knife and standing there petrified. I slowly walk up to her so as to not startle her. 

I say softly and slowly, “Hey Love can you put the knife down and tell me what happend…”

She quikly turns to me holding the knife firmly in her hands. I look over to see the alarm system was triggered. Meaning someone set it off, even if it was a break in or just someone pressing the trouble button. The police are on there way. I continue to slowly make my way over to her. Where she is standing just next to the hallway. I get close enough to see in the hallway a little bit. To my surprise, I see a man laying there lifeless surrounded by a pool of blood. I also see my daughters bedroom door open with blood all over the door and carpet in her room.

I ask her again as I want an answers now, “What happened Olivia… Is Abigail okay?”

She stares at me with a blank face, still not responding. I try to run to Abby’s room to see if she was all right. But instead I feel a sharp pain hit my side. I look over and see Olivia had stabbed me. I look at her cynically as I don’t know what to make of the situation. She pulls the knife out and tries to go for the kill shot. But I avert her by running and locking my self into Abigail’s room. She hits the door banging on it. I look around and see Abigail laying in her princess bed. I go to pull the sheets off of her… And I wish I didn’t. I quickly avert my eye’s as I see her covered in blood stabbed multiple times in the chest. I vomit from the site I just witnessed. I quikly look to the window but realize that we child locked them, and the key to unlock the windows is outside on the table. I realize that the only way out is through that door. I try to mentaly prepare myself for what might happen before I open the door. But then after procrastinating, I open the door push my wife out of the way and try and run to the door. I make it but it’s locked… She locked the door… I quikly turn around and see her holding the key. 

“Olivia give me the key… The cops will be here any minute now…” I say as she slowly walks closer.

She gets so close we could hug, before I grab her wrist. But she manages to get the knife to close to my chest that I twist her wrist and stab her instead… Right in the side… She falls to the ground as I hold the knife and the cops walk in… Everything went so fast… As they pin me down, and handcuff me right next to my wife. Who is laying there still in a pool of her own blood. The cops get me down to the station and ask me what happend. I tell them everything. Like how I came home early to see my wife who I thought was cheating. Then how she stabbed me and I saw my kid dead in bed, and then how I killed her in self defense. But apparently she didn’t die until the next day. So they got her statement which she said, I killed that random man, our daughter, and tried to kill her. WHICH ISN’T TRUE!!! BUT THEY BELIEVED HER!!!! Now I’m the one in jail for a crime I didn’t commit, and my son Andrew is in foster care. My kids and I were the ones to pay for a crime Olivia commited. My sweet little baby Abigail is dead and my kind little boy Andrew is in the foster system… All because no one believes me. They all believe my wife as if she could never lie… There really just isn't a thing called the perfect life is there… 

I could feel the cold air as it flow by. It was so quiet I could hear my teeth chattering. I was in the middle of nowhere. The only thing I could see was tall trees for miles. The ground was cold and hard on my feet. I could feel the dirt in between my toes. It felt weird and squishy almost. I thought I was at home but now I don’t know where I am. I’m wearing my nightgown from last night. It was so dark and so cold there was nothing around me but the trees. Only the trees and the occasional cracking of a branch like someone was walking around. I don’t know were to go. I’m lost in the woods. Maybe if I walk right I’ll get home as right is always right. Right? But maybe I should go left be diffrent. I’ll just go left. 

Hours later, I can see the sun piercing through the leaves. Still walking my feet are throbbing. I'm getting so tired I feel as if I might just fall flat on my face and pass out. I see a nice big flat rock. I go up on top of the rock and lay down. It’s cold and hard but nice in it’s own way. I slowly drift away my vision went dark. I hear nothing but the birds around me singing their sweet melody, Drifting me to sleep.

I slowly opened my eyes to see that I wasn’t on the rock anymore nor was I even in the woods anymore. I was standing in the middle of a street. I look around frantically trying to find out were I am. I see a street sign it says Maple Ave. that sounds familiar. Wait that’s the street I grew up on. I wander around the street where there was a lake, the lake that I grew up next to. There's my house. It looks full of life. The big tree that I would climb is still in the back. It was a nice house with three bedrooms, a kitchen, two living rooms and all. I had two older sisters Nora and Natalie. Nora was 17 years old. She loves basketball but she was to short to even get recognised. Natalie was your perfect 15 year old; she was what every mom and dad would want. She never dated, she was the class president on top of being club leader of year book club. And to add she was the head of the cheerleaders, the queen bee at 15. She loved to order around everyone. Natalie was good at it. But when she came home she wasn’t so perfect anymore… atleast not to me.  Ordering me around like her puppy and if I didn’t she would threaten to tell the whole school my one secret. If I tried to tell them she was lying they wouldn’t believe me. The tall brown haired basic girl. There isn’t anything special about me beside the fact that I don’t have any friends. Unless you count family then I have three Nora, my Mom, and sometimes Natalie if she’s not ordering me around. But anyways, where are Nora, Natalie… and my Mom they said they would be here? *BOOM*

I shot up in a cold sweat still on top of the rock. “It felt like it was real I though it was real” I say to myself. I hold my chest as if I can touch my heart to calm the pounding down. I could feel every time it would pound. I though it would fly out of my chest. I thought I… I thought I got hit by a car. A bright fire engine red car heading right for me. I was walking home from school. My house was on the other side of the road. I was so close but then the car came out of no where. I though it hit me. 

After winding down, I start to continue my walk but this time going right taking the nightmare as a sign. I finally found a sidewalk where the street lights were on and you could see the moths and other bugs flying around them. I didn’t see any cars driving by. Maybe it’s a dead end street or something. I look both ways and cross over to the other side as the side walk looks nicer over there. But then and just then I see bright lights prying from behind the corner and then a I feel a gust of air fly by as I scream on the top of my lungs. Thinking I going to die. But then I look and it was a bright red car that drove by. It almost hit me. But it swerved out of the way in time. I must be lucky or something. I think to myself I’m so hungry I could eat an entire cow all by myself. But I have to keep walking to get home. So I keep walking on the side walk this time.

I walk for hours, stumbling around dragging my feet. My slippers covered in dirt and starting to rip from then being dragged on the hard concrete. Still pitch dark outside that I couldn’t see my hand infront of my face as the street lights aren’t working. But then just then I see light blinding light it’s white and frantically moving around. Following after a strangely familiar voice yelling “MOM… MOM” as if the voice is itching for a response. I hear the rustling in the forest as the voice gets closer and closer. I see…

I see a tall brown hair girl walk out with a flashlight in hand with two officers right behind her. She yells in surprise and joy “MOM!!” As she runs towards me a cross the road. The dead street lightless road… Then just then the same fire engine red car comes out and hits me. That tall brown hair girl just trying to go home to her mother. “It’s okay now mom, no need to be confused now… your okay… you'll be okay now” as tears fall down her face hitting my cheek.

“The Travel Killer strikes again but this time in a little town in New Jersey called New Egypt. The police are investigating the death of 16 year old Kathrine Sam, 17 year old Lilth White, and 16 year old  Nichole Heathers. They died late last night around 7:30 to 9pm. We were told that there where all walking the streets, coming home from a friends house. The Travel Killer now has 15 deaths so far. Killing 3 people each from 5 different states so far. Due to the national scare there will be a curfew of 7pm. For all states that the Travel Killer did not hit yet. The states the Travel Killer has not hit  are having police patrolling around all night. So make sure you are in your homes by 7pm. Starting tonight. Signing out Fox News” says the radio station in the car.

“When is this killer going to stop, when they get all 50 states or something?” says Penny curiously.

“Oh Penny what did I tell you about listening to this stuff.” says Mom concerned and annoyed, as she turns off the radio station.

“I mean this killer hasn’t hit our state yet, and the cops haven’t figured out the killers ambiguity yet. So technically, for all I know the killers type could be me. I mean I am 16. Right in the killers age range… Just saying you don’t know.” I finished saying.

 Looking over and seeing her moms face turn from being a little concerned and annoyed, To being terrified and annoyed all at once. Only a mothers face can do that. So I do what any kid would do if they were smart. I shut my month and just looked out the window. As we were driving by you could see the trees but they were blurred since we were driving so fast. It was an empty quiet road in the middle of nowhere. As me and my Mom were driving up to Grandma’s for the week. Since Grandma was all alone. But in reality my Mom just didn’t want to be alone. As she’s scared to but she wont admit that. 

An exhaustingly long drive later, we finally make it to Grandma’s place it’s two stories high and on a farm. You could smell the chicken pot pie from a mile away. She makes it every time we come down as it was my favorite when I was five. No so much now but I don’t tell her that. 

“Mom, Can I go take a walk to stretch my legs?” I say as we have been in a car for hours. Mine as well been cramped into a lunch box, and not the big ones. 

“Fine but go say hello to your Grandmother first. Also don’t be long once the sun starts to come down come back. Alright?” Mom says reluctantly. 

We then collect all of our luggage and bring it inside. Opening the door hearing the squeak as you open it more and more. You can smell the Grandma perfume right as you walk through the door, and are greeted by my Grandma. Grandma comes right up to me giving me the death squeezing bear hug. Even with all my bags in my hands. 

I say almost choking to death, “Hi, Grandma.” 

I proceed to then tap her back telling her okay that’s enough before you suffocate me half to death, but at the same time she might just see it as a meaning less tapping of the back. She finally lets me go to do the same to my Mom. I start to lug all of my bags to the spare room I always sleep in. Which is old looking, with two beds in it. One on each side of the room where my mom and her brother Joe would sleep as kids. I unpacked all my stuff making sure to put anything fragile into the dresser near the door. Or just anything that the cat could get it’s tiny paws on. I open the old curtain and dust flies everywhere. I swat my hand around as if there’s a bug near my face, and I desperately am holding my breath as I don’t want to inhale any dust. After making sure all the dust was out of my face. I open the window to air the dust out, and see my old friend Katie’s house.

 “I wonder if she still lives there?” I say to myself thinking I was alone. 

But then I hear, “Maybe you should go see her. I wont tell your mother if you go.” I quickly turn around to see my Grandma talking. 

I run up to Grandma and give her a hug saying, “Thank you Grandma!” 

I run to my bed, get my shoes that I put under there from earlier. I throw on my red converses. I threw my rich brown hair back into a messy ponytail and quickly sneak outside. As I didn’t want my Mom to know, because if she did she wouldn’t let me go. I finaily reach outside as my Grandma is distracting my Mom for me. I jump off the steps leading to the porch. I ran down the dirt road to Katie’s house. Dirt flying everywhere, but I didn’t care. Katie lived in a medium sized red barn looking house with goats in the front and a red truck in the dirt drive way. I ran up to the front door panting like a dog on a hot day. I knocked on the door waiting for Katie to answer. But it wasn’t Katie or her Dad or her Mom, it wasn’t even her other brother Josh. It was an older man maybe mid 40s had to have been over 6ft tall dressed like a farmer with dirt all over. 

He leans over and says, “Do you need something little girl?” 

I can feel his hot breath on my face. I step back one and say, “Sorry to bother you sir, but do you know where Katie Simins lives?” I say timidity

He stands up straight and yells, “KATHRYN, SOMEONE’S HERE TO SEE YOU.”

You can hear the loud foot steps coming from up stairs running down the staircase. Then the voice of an annoyed teenager closely follows.

“WHAT” screams Katie.

Then she makes it down the stairs and we lock eyes. She runs over screaming my name. 

“PENNY!!!” She yells in disbelief.

She runs up to me giving me the biggest death hug you could ever imagine. I hug her back tightly as I don’t ever what to let her go ever again. But we eventually do as always. I totally forget about the man that was standing in the door. As we run down the dirt path that she has leading to the woods. Which leads to our favorite spot where there's an old beated down picnic table, and the heavely flowing river that we would always jump over as kids. I remember the one time Katie thought it would be funny to push me in. But it back fired on her as I dragged her down with me. But thank god there was a branch there so we didn’t flow down the river.  

As we were running down the path you could hear in the distance the man screaming “You better be back by supper!” 

But we didn't care we were in Dreamland almost. So happy to finally see each other that nothing else in the world mattered. We finally got to our favorite spot panting like dogs. Our hands were on our knees we were hunched over like hunchbacks. Once we finally caught our breath. We looked at each other and gave each other one big hug again. We both look so over the same time to where our tree house was. We must have both had the same idea, as we both bumped into each other right as we got onto the ladder. Of course, I was nice and let her go first but of course I followed right behind.  I was still in the Dreamland because I think I got a splinter coming up the ladder. But I didn’t care I was happy. Just so happy. 

Time passed and it was starting to get late. Like really late…  you could hear the crickets chirping from outside of our treehouse. You could hear the wind swaying the trees back and forth. We both got up and looked outside the tree house to see that is was pitch dark and the only source of light was the fairy lights we have hanging in the tree house, and from the moon light which isn’t that much. 

“I think we should start heading back.” I say sad as I don’t want this night to end just yet.

“Yeah your right our parents are probably worried by now.” says Katie

We both climb down the tree house one after the other, and start to head back home. We reach the end of the dirt path. Finally making it to the dirt road which led to our houses. This time there was a red truck though. The truck didn't have its headlights on or anything. We thought it was weird but we didn't think anything of it at the time. We started walking down the dirt road to make it our homes. But something felt off, I start to hear the sound of an engine behind us. I don’t turn around but look just a bit and can’t really make out what it is. But I think it’s the red truck from earlier. 

I look forward and worry, “ I think we should walk a little faster.” 

We start walking a little faster but then the truck started to go faster. I remember that the Travel Killer is still out there and this might be them. 

I tell Katie, “We need to run into the woods.” trying to not be to loud as I don’t know if the Travel Killer can hear me.

We start to sprint into the woods not knowing where we will end up but just wanting to get away. After running into the woods getting far enough in we could see the road but the road couldn’t see us. We decided to hide behind a fallen tree and wait the truck out. I peeked over and see the truck was gone. 

I say, “I think we are okay the truck is gone but to be safe we should stay a little longer.”

Katie replies, “Okay that gives me time to recover.”

We sit there on the ground for a while my red converses weren’t red any more they were all muddy and brown now. From a the road we hear someone say, “KATHRYN… PENNY… GIRLS!” 

I look over and see that it’s the guy that opened the door from earlier. 

Katie gets up and says, “ Come on that's my Uncle Jake he was staying with us for the night, they must have come looking for us.” 

I get up and follow after her and we scream, “OVER HERE!” happy that someone found us.

We start to run out of the woods and Jake starts to run towards us. He gives Katie a big hug. One of those hugs that lifts you up. Then just then happy turned to scared. As Jake pulled a knife out of his back pocket. It looked like a hunters knife. He then stabbed Katie in the back. 

Jake then said, “Sorry it had to be this way.”

I start to run down the dirt road screaming, “HELP!!!!” so loud that my lungs hurt.

I ran as fast as I could and he followed right behind me not slowing down. But then the  unthinkable happens my shoe unties and I trip… perfectly hitting a big rock in the road. Everything just goes dark all I can hear is buzzing in my head. It was so cold. I was scared yet sleepy. 

My hearing is fant but i hear what sounds almost washed out is, “You shouldn’t have come over.” It was hard to make out but I think it was Jake. 

I then just then feel a hazz of restlessness fall over me, and I fall asleep.