Murderer on Right Lane

CREATIVE WRITING 2010-2011

Murderer on Right Lane Radhika Barve

2010

NANO WRIMO

Chapter 1 My heartbeat was beating faster and faster. Sweat was going into my jersey. Time was running out and there was only ten seconds left.

My team was shouting ,”You can do it Tara!”

Then my hands lifted up the ball and I had scored. The Panthers had won!

People picked me up chanting ,”TARA!TARA!” I felt proud. My sweatband was filthy. The gems were wet. I was trying to find my mother to take me home. I couldn‟t believe it. The Panthers were going to the Championship. That was everything I had ever wanted. Daddy would be so happy if he were here. Unfortunately he went away a month ago.

My name is Tara. I don‟t think you know this but I have a broken family. My parents split up a month ago and I am heartbroken. I will have to move in a month. Ill be going to a new school, a new house, and lose my old friends. I am also poor. My mom has a low salary and couldn‟t afford the house that we had. My life is ruined. People already make fun at me in school but imagine how much worse it might be when we move.

I want to become a fashion designer when I grow up. I already make my own clothes, jewelry, and accessories but at the end, I want everyone to wear what I create. My world is harsh right now but I know things will get better. No one could have predicted what happened next.

I was in the middle of reading Twilight when my mom comes in with my dad saying that I should go live with him. As good as that offer was I couldn‟t leave Mom alone and I couldn‟t just not be around Dad. So I asked for some time. I couldn‟t decide. My world was turning around and I didn‟t know what to do. So I said I was fine. My mom looked at me.

She asked,” Are you sure?”

I said ,” Yes.” I was happy that I have a family. The next day at school people were telling me that I did good yesterday at the basketball game. I kept on telling them thank you I accidentally said thank you to my teacher when she asked me a question. I was so humiliated. At lunch I sat down at the table with nobody sitting at it. Surprisingly Allie saw me and sat by me. I was

staring at a boy. He seemed nice. He also looked as if he was new to the school because no one was sitting by him.

I walked up to him and asked,” Hi my name is Tara. Do you want to sit with me and my friend ?”

He replied, “Yes thank you.”

He walked over and sat by me. He ate quietly while me and Allie talked. He was not trying to be seen. I could tell. I thought that he would much rather be with a friend. Someone he could be himself around. Not having to worry about anything. I decided that I would try to make him feel comfortable because I knew that Ill be like him in a few months. After I move. It was only 4th period and I realized that I had every class with him. I tried sitting by him to make him feel comfortable. But it seemed as he didn‟t want anybody. Like he wanted some privacy.

So I asked him, “Whats your name?”

He replied, ” Charlie.”

That reminded me of my dad. His name was Charlie. I missed him. A LOT! I at least knew his name so now I could show him some respect.

Then he said,” You did good at the basketball game.”

Then I asked,” How do you know about that?”

Then he answered the weirdest answer for someone who just moved to Central Valley.

He said,” I was there.”

I was surprised at first. I hadn‟t expected that to come out of his mouth. I would have just expected that he had heard everyone say that to me. I liked Charlie. He was nice.

So I asked him,” Do you want to come over to my house to do homework.”

But he said, “No thanks.”

I was fine with that. But suddenly the bell rang. I had to go tell Allie everything that had just happened.

Aliie asked,” OMG you look soo happy. What just happened?”

I sighed. Allie, Allie, Allie. Would she ever stop mind reading everything that goes on my life? Yeah I know. That was a pretty stupid question.

School was out. I had to go home. My mother was in the car waiting for me. I told her everything and I kinda felt bad because I knew that it wasn‟t enough to make him feel welcome. When I came home, I finished all of my homework and then went to Allie‟s place.

She was still doing her homework so I had to wait like an hour. My cell phone was ringing. I checked the contact and it was Charlie. I was so confused because I had not given him my number. Is he stalking me?

I think he was because he went to the basketball game and he just called me when I had not even told him my number. OMG! I had tried to make friends with a stalker! This is not cool. My life is totally ruined. I never make friends with stalkers.

Dinner was horrible. Mom probably makes the worst food ever in the history of dining. We had meatloaf. Mom‟s official worst recipe. When there are other options like ordering pizza or going out to eat, Mom cooks at home. I would so much rather have a peanut butter sandwich.

Las Vegas has like the best restaraunts. We live here and still cannot eat at restaraunts.

My mom is on a diet and will not allow me to go and eat the best food there is. She has really gone overboard with this retarded idea. She will not eat cheese or normal milk.

Everything has to be like lowfat or 100 calories. The bad thing is that she pulled me into this mess. I cant eat anything that she cant. Its like I have no life.

Anyways the next day at scholl Charlie followed me around everywhe, like a stalker. I tried to be polite because I knew that he was new and I didn‟t want to hurt his feelings. I guess he got the invitation at lunch because he knew that I would have to sit by him.

I was angry and apparently he knew because I yelled, “YOU STALKER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” across the whole cafeteria. Boy was he sad. I didn‟t care. I was tense right now. I didn‟t want to be followed around everywhere because I have a life too you know. Right now I felt like no one could mess with me in the world. Like, if someone touched me I would punch them back five times as hard.

Chapter 2

Then something happened that wouldn‟t have happened if I had kept my mouth shut. I had to leave to the principal‟s office. The worst place in the world. I was used to being the one that the principal could trust but now I think she has lost faith in me.

She talked on and on about not yelling in the cafeteria. I could have swore that took an hour. Then she lectured me about treating others the way I would like to be treated. Then I thought if I was in my new school and somebody screamed,”stalker!!!!!” in front of the whole grade, I wouldn‟t like it. So I went and apologized. I was lucky that he forgave me.

The last bell rung, I got onto the bus and sat right next to Allie. She was silent. Allie is never silent on the bus.

So I asked,”Whats wrong?” she gave me a shocking answer.

“Dad died yesterday.” I had no clue. I felt so sad. Allie and her dad had a really close relasionship. Now it had ended.

“I am so sorry. I had no idea.”Of course she would know that but there was nothing else to say.

Then I asked,”How?” He was driving and something hit him. I was a bullet. The doctor had tried to get it out of his body but it was too late. I was trying to find out who it probably was. It was too dangerous to look for who it was but I knew I could find the guilty person.

I looked at the car he was driving that day. It had a dent on the side. There was blood on the seats. The thought freaked me out. I tried to stay calm. This was insane but like again I knew I could do it.

I looked for marks, signs, or evidence. Nothing was found. i was just about to give up when I saw a gun in the back seat.

I asked Allie, ”Uh Allie, was there someone with your dad that went home or to dinner with him?”

She replied, ”No, not that I know of.”

“Have you been to his work before?”

“Yeah.”

“Is there anyone that might look like they carry a gun?”

“No. All the people at his work are so nice.” Not the answer I was expecting. I was hoping for the other answer. The good answer but “No.”, would do. I had to do this for my friend.

Her life is pretty harsh right now. I had to make her feel better. If I didn‟t I would be so mad at myself.

“Where does your dad go to Work?”

“He works in the hospital.” There was only one hospital in our tiny town so it would be easy for me to locate it. I had no problem finding out which floor he worked on because everyone was mourning. I looked around. Everyone was crying except a man. I was suspicious because usually everybody would cry when someone‟s friend dies except for the villain. I thought he would be the villain but I had no proof. I couldn‟t just blame someone without knowing if they did it or not.

I approached the man asking him,” Why is everyone upset?” “ The hospital has lost an educated doctor,” his deep tone began to explain.

“Why aren‟t you upset?” “ He‟s not my doctor.” I was shocked! It doesn‟t matter if its not your doctor or not. At least your doctor‟s friend died. Has he thought about that? No. Apparently not. “ Do you know how he died?”

“You will not be quiet will you?”

“No. Not until I find my answers.”

“Fine. I heard that he was in a car and got shot. Long story- short.” Wasn‟t the .answer I was looking for but I already knew what happened.

“I have one more question.”

“What.”

“Do you know anyone who might have killed him?”

“Mike, his friend went to dinner with him that night.‟‟ “Do you know where I can find Mike?”

“He just went to dinner.” That reminded me; I had to get home to eat my dumb dinner when I could be finding more clues.

My cell phone began to ring. It was Mom. “Honey, where are you?”

“I‟m coming home, Mom.” “You better be. I made wheat pasta today for dinner.” Great. WHEAT pasta. Probably the worst type there is out there. I at least had secretly made a peanut butter jelly sandwich just in case of this scenario.

“Honey, where were you I was so scared!”

“Mom, I was just hangin out with Allie.”

“No you weren‟t. I called Allie‟s place and they said you weren‟t there. Then I started to spasm out. They were sad and I asked them why and it turns out Mr. Johnson died a few days ago.”I was such a bad liar. There was no way I could keep my privacy away from her.

She knew now and there was nothing I could do about it. Mom was too curious to defeat me.

“Now, where was I. Oh yeah, come eat you HEALTHY dinner.” I hated it when she always nagged me on eating healthy. Mom would never change. I was doomed now. I already ate a sandwich and was full with that. I didn‟t take a bite.

“Honey, how many times do I have to say EAT YOUR FOOD?!”

“Once.”

“Exactly, so EAT YOUR FOOD!” Mom could be rigid at certain times. I had to eat. Mom was in her devil phase. If you didn‟t know Mom has two phases. An angel phase and a devil phase. If she was in her devil phase, you would want to listen to everything she says.

“Yes ma‟am.” One spoon of wheat pasta coming up. Uh, this is disgusting. My mom put on a smile.

“See, it isn‟t that bad.”

“Uh, yes it is.”

“Uh, no its not.”

“Don‟t talk back to me.”

“Since you talked back to me I am going to give you another day to get used to wheat pasta.” Uh oh. This meant wheat pasta for lunch tomorrow. I hate Mom‟s devil phase. I am so upset.

“Get changed and maybe we will watch a movie.”Yes! Mom is back into her angel phase. I started to put the toothpaste on my toothbrush when I saw a newspaper on the front porch. The headline was, “Doctor shot by gun in the car.” That was enough for me to get chills but I had to read it because I could get more information.

“Cops are looking to find the suspect with a gun. The driver‟s car was a Honda because it had collided with the doctor‟s car. We think the suspect would be Mike McAllister. He was with Dr.Johnson.” Oh my goodness. The man had told me the truth. I had to go find him. I had to track him down.

I continued reading,” The man is on the loose and officials are doing their best to locate this nightmare.” My heart was pounding because I was afraid of what would happen. Mike was on the loose with a gun.

“Honey, are you ready to watch a movie?”

“Yes.” “Ok, pick a movie.” I picked the movie called, “This Might Happen to You”. I saw this movie when I was small and thought it is as much of a classic as, ”The Sound of Music”.

When I got to the violent part of the movie, I thought of Mike McAllister. Loose with a gun. My eyes began to tear at the part when he lost the jury trial.

My mom began to come into my room to tuck me in.

“Mom, what are you doing?

“Tucking you into bed.”

“Uh Mom-“ “Yes.” “Don‟t you think it is too late in my life to tuck me into bed?”

“Why?‟‟

“Mom, I am in the tenth grade.”

“I know.”

“I‟ll go.” I felt bad. All I wanted to do was to not let her tuck me in but she thought that I was kicking her out of my room. I had to get sleep for the social studies test tomorrow.

Chapter 3 The alarm clock started to ring. I had to get up otherwise I would experience the devil phase again. I brushed my teeth, grabbed a breakfast bar and left the house. I had to get to school to see Allie. I was late to first period. My teacher was nice and excused the tardy. I sat next to Allie.

“Where were you this weekend?”

“I was solving your case.”

“Why?” “I had to do that for a good friend.”

“Thanks.”

“You are welcome.”

“Here‟s what I found out. Your dad was heading to dinner with a man named mike McAllister. He was on right lane when he got shot. He was losing control of the car and apparently Mr. McAllister was the one who had called the police. I am still confused because if he called the police I wouldn‟t think that he would have murdered him.”

“He might have. You don‟t know Tara.”

“I can‟t let him get loose though.”

“No you can‟t, but you can think to see who is the murderer.‟ “How?” “You have a brain.” “ I know Allie.”

“So now you know that you can.” The teacher must have heard us yapping because he came up to us and asked if we could tell the class what we were talking about.

“No sir.‟‟ “Can you share the class your story?”

“I can‟t. We were talking about personal things.”

“Ah. I see. You don‟t want to share because you feel that there is nothing appropriate to share.”

“Why were you talking though?”

“Because it had to do with Allie. She has had a hard week and I was trying to cheer her up.”

“Well you can tell your story at detention.”Aw man. I can‟t get another detention. Mr. Will is not forgiving. He doesn‟t respect the privacy of others. I would tell him but I just can‟t.

The bell rang. Lunch, the social hour. I would actually be able to talk to her.

“Sorry about class.”

“Its fine.”

“There‟s really not that much to say anymore. Mr. Will interrupted us at the right time.”

“I guess so.”

“Allie?”

“Yes.” “Are you feeling okay?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because you look a little bit gloomy today.”

“Tara, you know that I have had trouble this week. Being able to tackle school and other things.‟‟ “I was just asking if you were willing to come over and chill by watching a movie.‟‟

“Sure, I‟ll be there. Thanks for inviting me.”

“No problem.”

Chapter 4 Allie came over and was having a good time until she had to go home. She was truly happy and she knew that I cared for her. Crap! I forgot about the test tomorrow! I have to study or else I won‟t pass the semester.

I studied and studied and studied until I couldn‟t study anymore.

“Honey, are you going to eat your dinner?”

“No.” “Excuse me?”

“What?”

“Don‟t you give your mother that attitude!”

“Why can‟t I?” “Listen to your mother!”

I was confused. That was a man‟s voice. I went downstairs and it was dad.

“Daddy!”

“Sweetie!”

He and mom had to tell me something. I wasn‟t sure of what it was. I had to know this information.

“Tara, I don‟t know how to explain this to you. Me and your mother have decided to get remarried.”

“What?”

“I said we were getting remarried.” This is probably the best day of my life. I hate it when families are split up and never really get a chance to see each other. Our family is bonded together again and this is all I could ever ask for.

“When are you getting married?”

“In a month from today.” Perfect. Just one month. That is a reasonable amount of time.

Wait a minute. Today is November 25. One month from today would be Christmas. That means that they would get married in a church. This is the best wedding plan in the universe.

“We need your help.‟‟ “With what?”

“Making invitations, picking dresses, cake flavors and decorations.‟‟ “Ok.” “Thanks Tara.”

“No problem. Can I get back to homework now?”

“Yes you may.”

“Thank you.” I have now studied enough to pass the tenth grade. My social studies teacher better pass me.

Chapter 5 The phone was ringing. I wondered who it was and picked it up.

“Hello, is this the Lovers residence?”

“Yes.” “Be prepared to die.” The phone hung up.

“Hello, hello. Is anyone there?” No reply. This was creepy. I went through phone history and it was not showing up. The phone rang again.

“Tomorrow at seven o‟ clock.” Uh, this is unexpected. Who expects someone to believe that they will die the next day at a certain time? I mean, who falls for that? No one that I know has ever been called and told that they will die the next day at a specific time. I don‟t understand. Why would the man tell me that he was going to kill me? Shouldn‟t it be like a last minute thing? I started to call the police.

“Hello this is the police department,” the officer greeted.

“Hi, I just received a call from someone in the area saying that he was going to kill me. Has this number been recorded before?”

“What is the number ma‟am?”

I began,”715-421-3024.”

“Um, this number has been registered to Mike McAllister.” Mike McAllister is the murderer. No wonder! If he is the murderer and he was with Mr. Johnson, then that means that he was the one who killed him! All this time I have been so helpless and now his next victim is me.

“Thank you officer.”

“You are very welcome.‟‟ I hung up the phone. I called back Mike McAllister and no one answered. I would have expected that.

I had nothing better to do so I sat down and read my favorite book- The Princess Diaries.

I have not slept in a while. I looked up at the clock and it was past twelve. Mom would kill me if she knew I was awake. I rushed to turn off the lights and then jumped into my bed. I heard footsteps and I faked to be asleep.

Mom entered the room saying,”I thought she was awake.”She had nothing better to do in my room so she left.

“That was close”, I said.

My heart began to pound and I started to close my eyes all I knew was that tomorrow would be my chance to not come home.

Chapter 6 Crap. My alarm clock is ringing. I have to get up to be able to die in terror. Wait a minute.

Do I want to get up and die in terror? I think not.

“Honey, Get your lazy butt down here for breakfast!” There goes Mom. No one wants to face her. I just can‟t wait till she gets remarried then she will get to yell at someone else.

Sorry Dad. You have to admit that was funny though.

In English class, Allie and I were passing notes. She asked me first.

Have you solved the mystery yet?

Yes Who is it?

Mike McAllister.

How did you find out?

Long story. I got a call from him yesterday and he told me to prepare to die. I have to go where he wants me to go so I can get him in jail.

What??????? I can’t believe you are doing this! How can you think of such a thing? If you want to go anywhere I have to come.

You can‟t come. I‟m sorry but this is to protect you.

I know. Probably sounding like a mom but I just can‟t let her come because we all know that she is probably the next victim. I continued to write.

We all know that I can get hurt too but he has already murdered you dad. I don‟t want him to kill you too.

Well, I want to come and you can’t stop me. By the way I can’t thank you enough for all of your work.

The conversation was interrupted by the bell. Oh man, test next period. Can‟t wait! The test was pretty complicated. Even though I studied, it was still terribly hard. I hadn‟t studied enough and now I have to pay for my actions. At least this is better than having to sacrifice so much because of a promise made to your best friends.

Oh no. The last bell has officially rung. My life is soon to be over. I made sure I had everything. My cell phone and my textbook if I can‟t help my friend I will lose my life. I didn‟t take the bus instead I called the number.

Chapter 7 “Hello.”

“Where are you? I cannot wait till seven,” replied the voice.

“I am on my way.”

“Meet us on Right Lane.” Where is Right Lane? If I knew I would be running to meet my doom but right now I am confused. I thought. The CVS pharmacy is on that road. If I remember. I‟ll just head to CVS. Somehow Allie caught up to my pace.

“Allie, how many times do I have to tell you to stop following me to my doom.‟‟ “I don‟t care! I‟m not going to let you die for me!” I stopped breathing for a moment. I couldn‟t believe it. If I had known better I would have let her help but at this stage there is nothing I can do for her.

I look across the street and find two men that are armed with guns.

“I bet those men are waiting for you and me”, said Allie.

“I think so too”, I replied. We walk across the street and are caught by the men.

The men looked at us and said,” Hello ladies, welcome to your doom.” Then he raised a gun in front of our faces. I was not worried but just as I had predicted Allie was. She was trembling. Calm down, calm down Allie. Now you see why I wasn‟t willing for you to come.

I asked him, „‟Why are you doing this to her family.”

“If you didn‟t know, I get paid millions from my boss.”

“Exactly who is your boss?

“Someone you will never know.” I had my frying pan with me but it was no use. My backpack was tied to my back and there was no way I could get out of this rope. Oh my! I forgot that I had that pocketknife. I brought it for times just like this. If I could get my hand out of this knot I could easily stab the man. I didn‟t want to do that though because if I did, I would be the murderer.

I was there for the next hour still tied up and it was starting to hurt.

I heard the man saying, “Dude, we can get caught. And I can‟t afford to get in jail. The FBI has been on us for years and by now the price is five times as great.”

Mike McAllister was angry saying, “We are not going to let these girls get out of this because they will report it and it becomes even worse! The only option we have is to kill

them. At seven o‟ clock, we will get our guns and get rid of them.” These words kept ringing in my ear. Kill them, kill them, kill them.

I tried to stand up. The men were still in their conversation so they couldn‟t see me trying to escape.

I whispered to Allie,”Hey, grab the pocketknife out of my pocket.” She did what she was told.

“But im not allowed to use knifes.”

“This is an emergency, Allie” I continued, “Now can you move you arms?”

“Yes.” “Ok, open up the knife and cut the rope that holds my hands together.”

“Tara, I don‟t want to hurt you.”

“You won‟t hurt me.” She started to cut the rope and by the end of ten seconds, she had completed her task.

Then I started to cut her rope. I had to check on the men once in a while. They were still engrossed in their conversation.

“Coast is clear.” Then we started to cut the ropes that are tying up our body. Pretty soon we were back to normal. I couldn‟t believe it, the men were still talking. I quietly tip toed over to my bag and got my cell phone. I started to dial 911 but it made a sound but the men heard and then they rushed back here to see what was going on. I was caught red handed.

“Hey!” Mike called out.

I had a frying pan and I stood to the side and the next thing I knew I hit him hard in the face and he was laying on the ground. Allie shot me a smile. Just one man left to go. The other man had a gun. This was going to be a little bit trickier to attack. I blinked and the next thing I knew Allie was the one who had fallen down on the ground.

“ALLIE!” I screamed.

“NOOOOOOOOO!” I had to call the police. It is probably too late to save her now but I will give it a shot. I started to dial the phone…

Chapter 8 And the police picked it up. I was in terror at this point in time.

I began to speak,” Help help my best friend has been shot in the chest!”

“Yes ma‟am. Where are you located?”

“The Right Lane near the CVS!” I was beginning to loose hope. What can I do, what can I do? It didn‟t take long for the officers to find me. I was devastated. My best friend has been shot and I have nothing else left for me. There is a high chance that she cannot be saved and therefore my life is ruined. I have nothing else to do now but weep so I will do so. The ambulance saw Allie and put her on a gurney.

I asked, ”Is everything going to be okay?”

The police answered, ”I don‟t know. The bullet has gotten deep into her body. We will take her to the nearest hospital.” Then he got in the ambulance and directed me in too. I was beginning to feel something again. This is my entire fault. If I hadn‟t let her come, I wouldn‟t even have to deal with this. Mom and Dad‟s wedding is coming up and as happy as I was nothing can make me feel the same. I forgot about Mike and his colleague. Where were they? If they escaped I would jump out of this ambulance and just run and run and run until I found them.

I asked the doctor,”Where did the men go?”

“They have gone to prison.” This is the second piece of good news. They have finally had to pay for their actions. We were finally at the hospital. All the nurses rushed to save Allie.

But one nurse stopped to tell me that I was a caring friend to be a part of this. I finally remembered about Mom. She would be ticked off right now. The fact that I agreed to go on this mission. I saw Mrs. Johnson. She had tears streaking her face. I felt so bad for her. Allie was the only thing left for her and she might be gone.

A doctor rushed out of the room. He screamed,” She is going to be okay!” I was overjoyed.

I had to ask,” Did you remove the bullet?”

“No. We plan on doing surgery tomorrow morning but right now she will survive.” Whew. I would understand why everyone would be mad at me. I was the problem. The one who had

created it too. I wanted to go see Allie. To see if she was mad at me or anything else like that but they wouldn‟t let me. They said that it would make her feel angry if I came in.

That told me a lot. Now I knew that she didn‟t want to see me and she probably will not want to be my friend anymore. It‟s true. I didn‟t belong here.

I turned my head and saw my mom. She was crying. But when I look even closer Dad is there too, looking as if he thought that I was physically hurt when I wasn‟t.

Mom called,” Honey! Are you okay? Don‟t ever scare me like that again!”

“Yes ma‟am.” There wasn‟t anything better to say. Dad was about to cry I could see it. I ran over to him.

“Everything is going to be okay”, I assured him. He nodded which meant that he knew. A few moments later I asked them if I could go see Allie. This time the reply was yes.

As I walked into the room, I saw Allie. She had an ivy attached to her arm.

“Are you okay Allie.”

“I am fine. You are the best friend I have ever had.” Then she started to nap. Well that was worthwhile. I had learned something. She wasn‟t mad at me. And I was happy. That was all I could ask for. Nothing more, nothing less.

Just one day more till she would come back home. The basketball game is in a few days and I need her to cheer me on.

Chapter 9 I waited, and waited, and waited. It seemed like hours until she came out of the emergency room. I ran and ran and ran when she stepped out. Everything was coming back together again. She hugged me tight and I did the same. She didn‟t look as if she had been harmed and I thanked the doctor for putting my life together again. Her mom had tears in her

eyes and she thanked me for all I had done. Which included the fact that I myself had called the ambulance and because of that she is now okay.

“ALLIE!” I shouted.

“TARA!”She shouted back. We were so happy to see each other again.

“Are you okay Allie” I asked.

“I‟m fine. How about you?” She asked.

“I‟m fine. I was just worried about you.” /