Literature & Composition - Short Stories

Sunken Red Dream There, my favorite sound at my favorite moment, the applause would not stop while the very last bit of the echo of my voice is still lingering in the entire odeum. I dramatically look at the spotlight, because it always gives me courage and confidence. The applause keeps going constantly, and I put on a big smile as I feel the addictive power. I know that I am the one who owns the stage at this moment, and I want every single piece of it. This must be the highlight of my life as a performer. I am grateful to my craziness for being on stage that pushed me all the way to the spot where I am today. I have just achieved my dream, the wild dream that I have been having since my very first birthday.

The spotlight is so wonderful, like a fancy shower which my body enjoys so much. My sight moves down from the light to the little heads of the audience. They are no longer sitting, but jumping and screaming my fairsounding name. I can feel my muscles around my mouth pulling even harder. I use almost the full strength of my body to give my audience the biggest smile ever. I want every single person in this room to remember this person who is shining on stage, and to never give up showing up at my performances.

Surrounded by this sound of victory, I flash back to where I started. I was just one of the numerous beginners who fought for oneself at the dark corner. There were too many people who were more talented than me. We all worked hard just for a little light in the abyss of life. Gradually, more and more people started to give up.

They found no way out of this hopelessness, and decided to follow their fates; they accepted the reality and moved on to different paths.

However, this is what made me unique from those who gave up. I don’t believe in fate; I believe that I am the one who is in charge of my

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Sunken Red Dream own life. I knew where I was heading, so I kept going without looking back.

There were obstacles in life without a doubt. I had been through a lot during this process, which seemed infinite. However, there were people like me. I still remember the girl who used to be my greatest competitor. To be honest, she did work harder than me. She practiced more than me every day, and never gave up. Although, this obsession of her for taking over the top crushed her completely.

It was an afternoon, when she told me that she knows one of the judges at the competition which we were attending the next day. She talked to me about his hobbies, and what he likes to see. “E loves red. E’s all crazy about that color. I’ve once been into his house and everything was red. Lemme tell you this, we

should both wear red tomorrow. I just want to be fair to you, you know? Let’s do red!” She screamed into my ears and looked excited. After her words, I was actually considering changing my costume into red so that the judge might judge me more gently. Although, I listened once again to my music and crossed out the consideration. The piece I was going to perform was full of sorrow and negative emotions. The color red would not match at all. I stared at myself in the mirror, and told myself that true emotion would be the single thing which brings me more credit but fancy costumes.

The night after, I saw my legs shivering because of the annoying nerves. When I was just going to warm up my throat, she came in. As she said, she showed up in a dramatic red costume, which is as long as a wedding dress. She glanced through my body and the smile faded. “Where’s the red?”

She looked disappointed.

I did not want to let her down, so I lied: “I… I’m just about to put it on.” I faked a smile and sank in silence. She became relieved and hurried out. As I turned to close the door, I saw a key on the carpet. I believed she dropped it so I went out to find her. Downstairs, I saw her heading to the opposite

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Sunken Red Dream direction of her resting room. I followed her until she ran out across the street. I was wearing slippers which stopped me at the door. It was dark outside so I couldn’t see clearly. I just saw another vague figure at the other side of the street with a big box in the arms. They talked for a second, and she headed back. On her face, I saw a kind of facial expression that I have never seen before. It was a smile, but it made me uncomfortable.

However, I didn’t really care except that I just wanted to give her key back.

At that

night, I saw a girl wearing a fancy red dress running on the dark street. I saw her smiling as her hands were squeezing the box she just received from a shadow at the corner. I have to admit that she looked pretty that night.

When her red heels just tapped on the yellow line in the middle of the road, her entire body was exposed under the street light. It felt like a stage created by the nature. She was more beautiful

than any of the performances I have seen her had. Even though I didn’t know any of what were in her mind, I seized the light in her eyes. At least I knew one thing that she must had, which was excitement. She was so pumped up that her pupils expanded.

Then, the pupils aimed on me. She saw me standing at the door staring at her curiously. A shock striked through her face, and she startled. Right at this moment, my life came up with a fresh turning point while a rapid figure passed through the picture in my eyes.

I can never forget about the moment, when she was actually flying in the air. Her dress flowed smoothly with the breeze, and I considered that action as her most successful performance ever. After that, the “curtains” closed and the “performance” was over, forever.

At that night, I saw a girl in a fancy red dress lying on the cold hard asphalt. Her dress somehow became redder and redder, and the box was ripped open with a part of a black dress laying beside the body.

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Sunken Red Dream

I won the competition that night. That was what brought me an amazing opportunity to the entrance of my dream. People discovered me, and I got the right to pick one of the companies that all wanted to sign with me. This was the beginning of my professional performing journal. I started to have more fans as I was having more performances. I was stepping closer and closer to the top of my dream.

However, I changed into a brand new person since the night of the competition. I finally cleared off the innocence of myself. Before that night, I still thought the world is always fair that we always get something when we lose something. I found myself being wrong the entire time. After the

competition, I did some researches and found out that the judge who the girl knew, hated the color red. More than that was those scandalous stories between the two of them.

People started to know my name, and I started to become a true success. I became careful at everything since I had more and more things to lose. It became difficult for me to believe anyone else but myself. So I was fighting vigilantly on this path I chose. I knew that nothing is fair, and what I needed and had to do was to fight for myself no matter what it takes.

Stepping on the other competitors was the only way to the top. Although it was cruel, I never stopped. I did whatever it took to complete all the desire I had.

While I was in the battle of life alone, another turning point occurred, and this one was bigger than any of those before.

I have reached a place that used to be my goal, and I fought for it step by step. Seeing someone pay harshly for their own mistake made me realized that the only way to the end, is to work hard. There is never a shortcut in life. I kept setting higher and higher goals until it was turned into another direction after that night at the park.

I just finished a performance 4

Sunken Red Dream which I had prepared for a month. I had three days free before the preparation for the next show. So I went to Lights Park alone to relax.

Even though I was still not one of the very top stars, there were people who knew me. Therefore I grabbed a black cap which was big enough to cover most of my face. I walked around a fountain, with pairs of couples around.

People usually don’t go there alone, but I didn’t care. My career is to interact with great numbers of audience and all different types of people. Sometimes I really wanted just to get out of that life circle for a bit. I admit that I love what I have been doing. I love the stage, the spotlight, and my supporters. However, facing them every single day brought pressure to me.

After my career getting more and more stable, I had fewer things to say.

I started to think a lot, because this was the only way to lock myself in my little personal space, ignored the numerous people surrounding by.

Thinking is never bad that I always put my thoughts to my music, but it also changed my personality gradually. It became more difficult for me to be truly happy. I knew that I haven’t laugh for a long time. What could I do though? There was

nothing to do than to just accept the reality which I chose by myself. While I was also thinking in the warm wind, I heard children playing and throwing coins into the fountain. I always found things like that ironic since the wishes we made when we were young never came true. Though, I picked one from my wallet for no reason.

I might just enjoy the sound of the interaction between the coin and water. I listened to that, with my eyes closed. I was going to say something in my mind, but I stopped myself from doing useless things. I opened my eyes, and one of the prettiest view in my life appeared, a gorgeous man standing beside me, doing the same thing. He was staring at me when I saw him. I found it awkward and turned. He then spoke when I was going to leave: ”Why didn’t you make any wishes?”

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Sunken Red Dream He raised his brown charming eyebrows and rejected me. We had our very first conversation that night, in front of the fontain. “It’s too busy you know? It’s always so selective.

You need to make it believe that it is necessary to help you with your wish.”

I laughed at him lightly. I didn’t believe in those little fairy tales anymore after I joined this ruthless world I am in. The world is evil most of the time, that it would steal what we have at any second we paused.

That is why I was always moving ceaselessly. I will not let any of my own values to be stolen by this dangerous world, even if it took my freedom. I have never had any freedom anyways. I understood

all of that except for this man, who I met at the fountain, who I had a walk in the aesthetic lighting flowers, who made me remembered every single one of his charming smiles.

His name is Sebastian, and we were deeply in love. I have never felt anything like when I was with him. I found my true nature back again, and I loved it. I didn’t have to pretend to be anyone. It was like a second chance of life. His smiles melted me quickly which pushed us all the way. to engagement. I have lost too much through the process of growth; Sebastian was the one who made me realized that I still have the ability to be happy. I didn’t deserve just emptiness and loneliness. I didn’t have to give all these up for my dream. Sebastian was a film director who gave me great opportunities to present myself to the world. With his help, I became one of the international top stars. He made my dream come true.

Another lovely day, we were having picnic near the lake. The weather was extremely beautiful, just like him. The warm breeze blew through his shiny smooth hair, and his eyelashes were moving along as well.

He looked at me with his fascinating eyes that penetrated my heart as the

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Sunken Red Dream Cupid’s arrow. Then he picked up one of the toasts, and sent it between the pink soft lips. I was frozen by his alluring action of biting. For that moment, I wanted nothing except having Sebastian aside forever. I just wanted to cast the sleeping beauty on his muscular laps, and never wake up.

However, he striked through my day dream by talking about the huge competition coming up. It was one of the world champion singer competition, which could push me to the very first chair if I win. I was actually nervous for that competition which usually never happened. I have been preparing for months.

Sebastian started comforting me because he knew how nervous I was.

That was also the purpose of the picnic overall. I was so glad that I had him by my side. He would always be the one who supported me no matter what. We talked about everything, every tiny details of us. We talked for a while and he told me that he wouldn’t be able to drive me to the site because of work. I said that it was totally

fine as long as he will be there after.

Then, the big night came.

My best friend drove me to the

competition site instead since she knew that I would need some real support other than those crazy fans. I remember how we were singing in the car when the sun started to fall. I watched the horizon through the glass of the windows, and tried to calm the storm inside my heart. That was the night which could bring me to the highest place if I win the battle.

That was the night which could decide how fancy all the rest of my life can be. I tightened up my sweating fists and couldn’t wait to get out of the car. I seriously needed distraction, so I began to think of Sebastian.

His face always made me forget about anything else. Right at the second when his face flashed through my brain, a familiar scene appeared. That scene interrupted the figure of Sebastian I built, and started to invade my mind with the image of a young girl and the bright

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Sunken Red Dream light in her eyes, completing a performance of nature.My mind was suddenly invaded by the color red: red dress, red shoes, red lipstick, red cheek, and blood……

July 9th, 2009. Monday.

That is the last page on my

diary since I refused to write anymore after the car hit me that night before the competition just as Red Dress.

This became the very deep sorrow in my heart which I would never release again. It is like the thorn on the roses that the hole they caused is never going to cure even I pull it out. I rather to have it inside even it brings pain periodically.

Now I am 75, staying in the nursing home as a single old lady. I pear through the window to see the sunset at the top of the mountain.

That is red again, such a beautiful

color which devoured my dream. I listen to the ticks of the clock, and the floating river near by. The birds are dancing on the branches just like me when I was such a passionate young performer. The very last bit of the sunlight reflects on the tears that suddenly come down on my cheek.

Then it vanishes as the tears drop on the dark blue handle of my wheelchair.

The red that night was not the girl’s anymore but my own. I didn’t pass out immediately when I was crushed by the shadow came toward me. My brain struggled to send signals to my entire body for getting back up for the competition. I failed, and I realized that the only thing that I could move were my eyes. I was frightened to let them close because they might never be opened again. I started to look around and through the broken glass of the external mirror that fell off from the car.

In the reflection, I saw the familiar brown eyes with the smile which still could melt me.

My dear love.

8

Family Things.

It is graduation night tonight, and the biggest party will be occurring at eleven in the evening three days from now. It will be at my friends house, Nina, where her parents have left for the weekend. She has a very big house, where will be having a pool and free drinks! It is the night I have waited for all my long and boring high school years for, the post graduation party. I will be attending with my two best friends, Kevin and Luana, since I know they will have my back if anything happens under the influence, they will be there for me.

Although this night is very exciting, the dock behind Nina’s house has a bad reputation.

About five years ago, a young man, who attended Nina’s party, was a very shy and bullied kid, yet wanted to experience what college life would be like, once he was out of this shit hole. Late at night, he got bored and nobody really spoke to him as he was not part of the “cool kids”.

One thing led to another, the young man, Peter, ended up on the dock alone around two in the early hours.

The last thing guests remembered of Peter, is a long murder like scream coming from the dock, and he was never seen again.

This spooked me out as, like Peter, I was not part of the popular kids at my school, and would rather focus on my studies, than go late night partying at a club to be “cool” just like all the other shit heads that think it’s cool to underage drink, just because it is legally not allowed. I never got that, do they do it simply to show to their friends that they are badass?! ‘Cause getting shitfaced and not remembering anything about a night is so fun right? And waking up with a huge headache and the sense that your stomach is turned upside down, with a consistent dizziness is also AMAZING. I’m sure their friends think they are absolutely so cool.

Anyways, back to the reality, it is now two days before the party and I have to plan what I will get in order to look amazing and stun all the people who thought I was simply a book nerd.

I think I picked out just the right dress.

Small, black, tight, leaving just a little to the imagination. I knew my crush Rodrick would be there, and I wanted to look perfect for him on that one night. If anything, tonight is the last chance I have of making a cute first impression for everyone, who I don’t even think know my name after four years.

My mom was working a late night shift, therefore I was left alone for a full night. Some people could say this is creepy, but I see it as an opportunity to watch movies as loud as I want with nobody telling me to turn it down, until the next morning.

I fell asleep right until two in the morning, when I heard my phone ringing. I thought it was my mom, but the call was coming from an unknown number. This followed with a very creepy conversation, saying how great I looked sleeping and how lovely my mother is. Knowing people these days, I simply thought of this as a prank call. Typical, I thought to myself, a mom joke.

He also mentioned how he wanted to see me vulnerable, just like my mother, when he was at the point of killing my father in front of her eyes.

My father and my mother fortunately ran away after the event, but their love was too complicated after this event.

Every time they saw each other, it would remind them of this event. Many flashbacks were occurring, causing my dad to move away, so that my mother could move on easier.

Now, this is where it gets creepy, my father escaped this terror many years ago, at a post graduation party, on a mysterious dock, to which nobody knows, or wants to know the location. My mom fought for his life, and they were both able to run away from the terror. The murderer was never discovered as he always wore a mask, and a bodysuit with gloves, so that nobody could find him. Since then, my mom and dad lived apart to avoid being reminded of the event.

Everybody knew of this story in my school, therefore, I think it was just one of my classmates who pulled a prank that went possibly a little too far for my taste. Mom came back in the morning with coffee and breakfast before I had to go to school. I did tell her about the phone call, but she did not seem to worry that much about it, and simply shook it off, not showing the deep fear that was resigning in her.

I got out of the house and into my car to go pick up Kevin. I got to his house as usual, yet this time he was not outside at my arrival, therefore I went to his door and knocked. He lived in an apartment and his bike was clearly still there, he could not have left in the heavy heat alone. I take matters in my own hands, and take the backup key that is always in his mailbox to get in.

I make my way to his room to go wake him up, only to see that he was still sleeping. I go to wake him up, yet he would not wake up. Finally when he turns around, I notice that he was not breathing, and freezing cold.

Not only that, but he had fresh wounds from a large knife, done the night before at around three in the morning.

One of my best friends was murdered last night, but why? And who? I’m in shock, I can’t understand why someone would do this to such a nice person! My first reflex is to call my mother who is one of the doctors at our city’s ER. She came in as the other paramedics came in and immediately dragged me away from the scene.

Mom grabbed my arm and got me in a room where nobody else was. I learned more about the attempted murder of my father.

She told me that the killer had an obsession over her where he would call her every single day causing her to block his number on her cell phone. Not long after she did so, she received mysterious threats from unknown numbers at various hours. Then it happened, her closest friends were killed one by one all throughout a month or so, until her boyfriend, my father, was the only one remaining.

She ended up getting a call from my ‘dad’ saying to come join him on the dock for a romantic date. As she made her way, she noticed John, my dad, on a chair near the water. She ran to give him a hug, but to her surprise, he was all tied up and had duct tape over his mouth. She untied him and freed him, when she had her back turned, the killer was right in front of her eyes. He stabbed her in the back, but a force took over her as she ran away, faster than the mysterious man could catch up, and they were gone, as well as the killer.

My mom thinks that it might be the same person.

Possibly her stalker back in high school still wanted to kill the people closest to her by making me a victim. At this point, there was no way of knowing who the man was, as his costume masked any kind of traits that could identify him.

It could be a girl, a boy, a man, a woman, anyone was a suspect.

It is not long after the series of event, leading to my best friend Kevin being carried away in a body bag, that I get another call, from again, an unknown number. This time, things got even weirder.

The man, or at least I think he is, said if I wanted to keep playing this game, or if I would simply surrender myself before anybody else gets killed. I personally do not want to die, but how in the hell could I ‘play’ this right?! I chose to tell him that I would never surrender to such a psycho, and assured him that my friends and family would never be left alone on my word, and would not be killed by his stupid game.

He laughed and hung up.

I immediately tell my mom about this call, where police officers tried to track it, but nothing came up,

It could be a girl, a boy, a man, a woman, anyone was a suspect.

It is not long after the series of event, leading to my best friend Kevin being carried away in a body bag, that I get another call, from again, an unknown number. This time, things got even weirder.

The man, or at least I think he is, said if I wanted to keep playing this game, or if I would simply surrender myself before anybody else gets killed. I personally do not want to die, but how in the hell could I ‘play’ this right?! I chose to tell him that I would never surrender to such a psycho, and assured him that my friends and family would never be left alone on my word, and would not be killed by his stupid game. He laughed and hung up.

I immediately tell my mom about this call, where police officers tried to track it, but nothing came up, the call was too short. Then, I started thinking, who else would he kill?

Who am I the closest to? Luana comes to mind in an instant. H er house is a solid two minute run from Kevin’s so I sprint to her house.

As I am running, I realize how dangerous what I am doing could be. My friend’s life was more important than mine at this point. I did not want to be the reason Luana loses her life to. No matter what I do, I have a bad feeling about this, someone would be suffering, someone would be hurt, if not killed. I run even faster as the sweat drips down my forehead.

I reach her doorstep with my last breath, her door is locked.

I knocked so many times with no answer, and called her phone about 6 times with no answer.

Suddenly, I get a phone call, and I could not have been happier, it was Luana. She told me to go to the backyard at the instant and that she has a surprise for me. I run to the back only to find a bloody scene, where it said “she’s next”, written on the wooden fence, in blood. Where is she?!

I stood there with my mouth open, not knowing what to do, what to say, or where to go. I’m clueless of who this person could be, wanting revenge for missing his chance to murder my father, and seeing my mom happy again with me. I am in danger, but would never go down without a fight. I am trembling and breathing heavily knowing that I am the reason my friend is missing and I have to find her before it’s too late.

I get another call. Coming again from Luana’s number, I answer as it was a Facetime call this time. Although I saw her, she was not holding the phone. I immediately start bawling my eyes out as I see my friend tied up on a tree, trying to breathe while her mouth is tied up with tape. She is clearly in pain. The killer showed his face which was covered with a mask, telling me to come get her before she dies. I look on my screen only to notice that the scene was actually taking place at my neighbour’s house.

I run back to the location where Kevin was stabbed earlier to go find my mom. I ran even faster than before as my heart was pounding, I could hear every beat in my head. It truly felt surreal to see all of these happen in real life. This is the type of stuff you see on TV and I have to go through it in real life, as the main character of the show. I had to at least give it my all, Luana is very important to me, we’ve been friends for thirteen years, and I have to save her.

I finally reach the doorsteps of Kevin’s apartment where my mother was just leaving. Without telling her what had just occurred, I pull her out of the house and tell her that we have to get home right now. She does not hesitate a minute to run to her car and take us back home.

I tell her about the phone call and the scene I saw at Luana’s house, as we are driving. She told me not to worry, but the fear in her eyes spoke louder than her words. Fun fact, my mom is a bad liar, and now, I am more fearful than I have ever been, as I believe another life might have been taken because of me. This seems like the longest car ride I have ever been in. Although it is most likely about seven minutes away, the silent and fear filled up the car, and makes it feel like we’ve been in there for about an hour!

“Holy shit,” I said as we get there. I start crying on how bad this looked. My friend all tied up, in pain and bruised to the point that she might have all her bones broken. We need to get her down and quickly and get her to the emergency. She’s the person I am closest to and would never want to lose her, especially that this is technically because of my existence, that she is suffering. My mom and I rush to the tree even before we call 9-1-1 to come help us. As we untie the knot, we take a step back when she was finally untied.

My mom was right, this was a repeat of what had happened to her a decade ago. Luana was tied up in a way that held all the damage this psycho bitch did. When the rope was fully off, she came apart.

She was dead, right in front of my eyes. Even worse, I untied the rope, making me the killer of my best friend. I fell to my knees where my mom collapsed with me, hugging me so that I wouldn’t feel as guilty. Truth is, nothing could make me feel better at this moment.

I am the reason for all these murders.

Of course, it is at this moment that I get another call from the murderer. I wanted this time to be different, but he clearly was not done what ever he is doing to me. He tells me how much he feels bad that I killed my own friend with a hysterical laugh to follow so. I am so done with this ‘game’ and had to come out of it with my life and my mother’s still existing.

At the end of this phone call, I turn to my mother to let her know that I will still be attending the post graduation party that already started a few hours ago. I tell her that this call was simply Nina calling to make sure I would still be attending, as I had to make this believable to my mom. The truth is that tonight, I will be on the dock where my father was almost murdered and where my mother saved his life. I tell her as well that I will be fine and although I know that she will worry, I do not want her to because tonight is not the night where I will lose my life to some low life who thinks he can control me. I will meet him at two in the morning, the same time my dad was at the dock alone, and will have to come alone. He precisely said that my mom should not come, but I will make sure that I am safe and so is my mother.

This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing. What is his obsession over my family for? Why does he keep coming back?

This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing.

What is his obsession over my family for? Why does he keep coming back?

Most importantly, who is he or she? Who knows?

This hour passes away like two minutes. I get ready, and have a pistol in my right boot, loaded and ready to go. My car was still at Kevin’s, to which I refused to go back since the murder, therefore my mother had to take me to the mansion the party was held at. She drove me there suspicious because I ‘wanted’ to go so bad. I make her believe that this party was my chance out of this misery for just a few hours. I would try to forget about all that has happened, and be normal, like all the others, fitting in for once.

She trusts me as I leave the car, armed without her having a single doubt about what is going to happen here. I tell her I love her, and walk away fearful that this would be the last time I would be able to tell her. One thing about my mom and I that I will always cherish is the trust and honesty we have towards each other, but this time, I had to use it against her for the sake of my life and hers.

The atmosphere when I walked in immediately got colder, as everybody knew about the murders that had occurred in my friend circle. I was still wearing the dress I planned to, and wore over the knee boots to hide the pistol I needed for the party. Nobody really talked to me because of the events that happened. I was left alone by fake people who did not give a fuck about me. I remember how Kevin and Luana were always the two to make me laugh and talk to me. They were the only two to know everything about me, this frustrates me as I get the call from the murderer. It was time to go down at the dock.

It was very easy for me to make my way around people that were shit faced as they didn’t even notice me sober. I go to the bathroom to catch my breath as it is now four minutes away from two O’clock. I check my boot to make sure the gun was very accessible and easy to reach.I take many long breaths telling myself that it would be ok, when in real life, it probably won’t be, not even close.

Most importantly, who is h This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why

This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing. What is his obsession over my family for? Why does he keep coming back?

I get out of the bathroom and get a text from the unknown person saying “it’s time, do not be late”. I close my eyes, hang up and take two deep breaths as I make my way through the darkness of the crowd and into the darkness of the woods leading to the dock.

The path was very narrow, and who knows, this dumbass could have been hiding in the woods for all I know.

But right then I remembered how much he wanted to see me, and only me.

I see in the darkness a small light ahead. This light was the way to go, and where the dock was. Step by step, I get closer and closer, and my heart beats faster every single time I move forward.

My hands are ready to reach for the gun at any point during this so called meeting. I reach the first wooden piece of the dock within seconds and hurry up to face back to the water so I would not have any bad surprises. I then back up, more and more so the distance between me and the killer would be as long as possible. No sounds could be heard besides the loud crickets in this area. It felt very cold here, and it felt like I had been waiting for an hour without anybody showing up. I now fear for the life of mom, as she was alone at the house.

I run up near the beginning of the dock, where I first step on wood, but there was no going back.

My mom was safe. I know so.

I suddenly hear the crackling sounds of footsteps coming closer and closer to me, as I step further away from the start of this dock. I back up right until my heels were off of the dock and a simple push could land me in this cold ass water. The footsteps are coming closer and closer towards me, I hear the same step I took earlier. The first echoing sound of a foot stepping on hard wood.

Most importantly, who is h This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing. What is his obsession over my family for? Why does he keep coming back?

This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing. What is his obsession over my family for? Why does he keep coming back?

I raise my head up only to see a standing man, with a mask and a black suit, with silver gloves and shoes. This was my worst nightmare come true. I froze, not saying anything. If I don’t say shit, maybe he’ll start to talk, because all I need is answers. Kind of figured he wouldn’t have a nice little convo with me but you know, gotta keep my hopes up.

He lifts up his head and walks closer, until we are about 6 feet apart. His creepy, rusty voice finally says “Well greetings Jessica, nice to see that you showed”, this makes me super uncomfortable. I did not know what to answer, the only sentence I could barely put together as a loud, yet squeaky voice was “What….What do you want?”. He tilts his head to the left, laughing at me. He creeps me out and I did not know what to respond. “Your mama really taught you well huh? You’re just like her”, he says between his creepy laugh, “Innocent, stupid, clueless, and believes everything she hears”. I do not answer as none of what he was saying about my mother felt true. She was an extremely intelligent woman with lots of power, and dedicated her life to raising me when my father left.

He goes on to explain something…”You know that night your ‘father’ was almost killed, your mom barely knew him. He had blood splattered all over his clothes, which is why she thought she ‘saved’ him… That man she thought they saw, she only remembered him because it is what your dad told her about the scene. Truth is, she never got at the scene to see your dad suffer in any kind of way, simply him, covered in blood, after he had murdered your mom’s ex jealous boyfriend, Martin.”

I have my doubts now, how did this creepy middle aged guy know so much about the murder, or attempted murder of my dad. I yell to him, “What the fuck are you trying to tell me”, gasping with tears running down my face. He laughs. I could not take it anymore.

I panic and my heartbeat goes up again. He laughs even harder at my struggle to contain my anger. Thinking he would’ve known about the gun by now, I get reach down as if I had dropped something and he also saw the opportunity to get closer holding something behind his back.

I remember is a large echoing sound of a gunshot, and I passed out.

Most importantly, who is h This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing. What is

This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing. What is his obsession over my family for? Why does he keep coming back?

I have never felt such a sharp pain before. I fell to the ground immediately in the darkness… I was still breathing, yet unconscious, I have never felt so at peace with myself and my strength. I wake up possibly a few hours later, seeing a large body next to me with fresh blood running out of his chest. I had killed the murderer, although he struck me in the head with some object, it was not enough to kill me. I look in the eyes of the mask and slowly reach down to take it off. I would say that I was surprised, but after the detailed description about the man my father was, I am not surprised to see his face under the mask. He died with a grin on his face and a small paper could be seen in the left pocket of his coat.

It said “but, I do not act alone”.

Most importantly, who is h This is it, I will be going face to face with someone who wants to take away lives near me simply for his pleasure of seeing me suffer, as well as my mother. In less than one hour, I will be fighting for my life to escape this monster, and have him show me who he truly is. I want to know why someone would do such a thing. What is his obsession over my family for? Why does he keep coming back?

The Watch

It was a regular night for the neighborhood watch of Brooks Town. Brooks Town was very quite neighborhood with minimal disturbances. Rat, the head of the watch took his role very serious.

If his fellow members were not at their given locations at the given time he would get angry and take away privileges from them, as he was also the town president. He knew everything that went on around the neighborhood and he knew almost everything about everyone. He earn his nickname “Rat” because he was good at sneaking around and finding things out.

One day, Rat was sick and couldn't keep up with his day job as a banker and the neighborhood watch program. He let his second hand man Jim take over. Everyone else on the watch were teenagers or young adults between the ages of 17-20. They knew nothing usually happens in their neighborhood, this caused them to be careless and lazy, as Rat was not there. Jim was very relaxed as well and didn't force anyone to do anything.

This was a bad decision. Things around the neighborhood started to get strange. People were reporting missing objects from their house. Jim did not know how to handle it. As anyone would he decided to make sure people were paying attention on the watch now. Without the experience and passion of Rat, this was weak effort from the watch but it needed to be done.

Jim called a meeting for the watch and he vowed to start taking this more serious as more people were making reports of missing objects. The strange thing was people did not know if it was robberies because only some things would go missing and no doors or windows would be broken into. Who or what ever was doing this, Jim and the watch were dedicated to catching them.

He decided to place watches in pairs on every third street and patrol back and forth every night. For the next two days there was no noises. At night it was as if the neighborhood was a ghost town. Suddenly around 2:00 am a strange figure was seen moving quickly across the street by one of the watch pairs. They rushed over and tried to figure out what it was. As they approached the house the figure move towards, they were hearing noises in the backyard. The watchers jumped the fence to the backyard and started to sneak around the side of the house.

Near the basement window the bushes were rustling. Slowly, but alertly, the watchers moved towards the bushes. The sound of their footsteps must of gotten the attention of what was in the bush and the noises stopped. Quickly the watchers ran to the bush and started to move through it and see what was there. Bam right away one of them grabbed something moving.

“JIMMY”, a woman screamed one morning out there bedroom window towards Jim who was going to get his mail. Jim rushed over in shock of the obnoxious screech in the morning to figure out the problem. She explained to him that last night she stayed at a hotel because of a meeting and when she got back to her house in the morning. His famous expensive silverware collecting was stolen from the cabinet. Jim was upset because he knew his watch team failed last night.

Later on in the day Jim wanted to know what happened with the teams on watch that night and why they couldn't catch the thief. One of the pairs came forward and said they were distracted by something they thought was the thief.

It turned out it was old man Weaver's dog that got loose again. They knew to be more focused the next time they are on duty.

It was night time again and more things started to go missing. Still no one was able to come up with an explanation to whoever is doing this nonsense. Jim was worried it would start to get to far and he knew he didn't have the knowledge to catch this thief. He decided to go check up on Rat and tried to get him to help out or maybe even get some tips at least. As Jim got to Rat’s house, Rat was sitting outside on his porch. He did not look sick, but something was not normal in his eyes. Rat explained to Jim that he was going on vacation to Florida for a two weeks to visit family. Jim was upset because he knew he was on his own to figure the problems happening in the neighborhood without Rat’s help.

The next day a letter was found on a door of a recent burgled house by the owners. The letter was hand written in pen that had a threat to whoever was trying to catch them. The person wrote the casual line of “stay out of my business or people will start to get hurt.” This made Jim nervous, but he knew he needed to find out who was doing this. Now that Rat is no longer in the neighborhood he was the one to protect people.

Jim decided to have another meeting with the watch teams. He announced that Rat was on vacation and the problem needed to be solved by themselves.

As the rest of the watch was unhappy, Jim found the faith to explain the plan to the night watch to catch the culprit. Jim even had it all drawn out on a board.

As the plan was being explained, one of the watch members spotted something on the corner of there eye. It was amazing. Jim was exhilarated, as he looked into the rest of the members and saw them smile and start to clap and wave.

He was back. Jim firmly shook Rats hand. Jim was so excited to see him in a desperate way, he did not even ask Rat about why he did not go on vacation. It was a go, Rat told the watchers they needed to be prepared because it's time to catch the thief. It was the first time Jim saw the team smiling and in cheer in a long time. He knew this was a good moment. Rat gave everyone plans for the night, the only thing Jim did not like was Rat refused to be on the watch also. Rat kept saying he is still technically on vacation and wanted to relax.

That night things did not change much. More and more houses were reporting stolen objects but no broken doors or windows. No one could figure out how it was happening as the watch doubled its surveillance. Jim was upset, he was hoping it would be over that night with Rat coming back into the watch team.

Once again Jim went over to Rats house for further instructions.

Inside Rats house was intense. Jim was many interesting things. Rat had a town map with pins and times places all over. When Jim asked what it was, Rat hesitated and said it was for the watch and different tactics on places to look. He then escorted Jim out as it was time for the night watch. Rat said he will help this one night with the watch. Hopefully getting it over with.

That night was very quiet. Nothing was being reported. It was as if the thief knew Rat was back and watching. Rat had enough, he told his partner he was tired and wanted to go back home to rest up. Since he was so liked, Rats partner covered for him. This was a mistake as about an hour later there was shouting from one of the other watch pairs. When they met up, they explained the situation. Another figure was seen running respectively towards one of the houses. No questions were asked about Rat missing.

The two teams went together towards the house and scouted the area. The front door was slightly opened. It was about 2 am, this was unusual and the watches approached the house. They slowly opened the door and quietly investigated the house. They started with the main floor, it was empty. It was as if no one was home. Suddenly there was noise coming from the basement.

One of the watches turned the flashlight on and walked down the staircase. It was a big house with many small rooms. There was a light on in one of the back rooms in the basement with a human shadow. The watch team was stunned, they all looked at each other as one gave a signal to be quiet and approach the situation. The noises sounded like someone opening draws and moving objects inside them. This was it, the watchers were right against the wall beside the door to go into the room. BAM, one of the watchers jumped out. “AHHHHHHHHHHHH”, a big scream from the unknown person. The other two watchers jumped out as well. they tackled the person down knocking the unknown person's bag out of his hand.

The next morning Jim called the team together. There was another complaint. this time it was not theft but disturbance. Jim explained how last night was a little over board. The watches tackled a teenager in his own house claiming they thought it was the thief. The teenagers parents were not pleased with this but understood the situation and did not make a big deal from the event.

Rat met up with the troupe of watchers after the meeting. He announced how he was leaving the watch to focus more on his own life other then others. Thankfully he said he was going to wait until this thief was caught before he leaves the team. He gave everyone new plans for the night as to where they should patrol and when. Rat even made a new investment for the team.

He purchased a walkie talkie for each pair of watchers. This helped with communication and making up plans on the spot with each other.

Going into the night Jim was exited. He knew the team was getting close and we're going to catch the thief. As the watch started, Jim ran home to grab an extra jacket because it was a little cold. He was passing by Rat’s house and noticed no lights were on. Jim knocked a couple times but no one answered. Jim quaked a couple windows and didn't see anything, he was guessing maybe Rat went out for dinner or something. As Jim proceeded back to supervise the watch team he made sure the walkie talkies were working. Everything was set. Jim’s job was to go back and forth to each team and check on how things are going. Now with the walkie talkies his job was easier.

Here it was. The night was just right for a thief to be caught. It was a little foggy but still visible.

No birds or other animals were making noises so any slider sound could be heard. Movements were being heard by some watchers. They reported footprints to the other teams as they approached the noises. There were chills through everyone that night, as if it was a more intense group of watchers for some reason.

That's when it happened. When you don't expect anything to happen. A figure was seen running behind a house. It was large and very fast. As if the watchers minds were playing tricks on them. The team reported it and the other approached the house. Everyone was surrounding the house. It was all or nothing at this point. The teams closed in as if they were a swat team about to ambush a target. More footsteps were heard, this time louder. Someone was in the back yard.

“Right there”. A watcher yelled as he pointed to the back fence with a figure jumping over it.

They all ran to the fence. Someone was on the floor on the other side. They hoped the fence and got the person. It was Rat, but it was not only him. He was on top of Jim. The watch team was confused. No one expected to see Rat there that night. Rat and Jim got up and started to point at each other. They were both accusing each other for being the thief. Everyone was shocked, no one knew who to believe or even knew what was going on. All of a sudden out of his pocket, a small bag of rings fell to the ground. The thief was Jim.

A Train Wreck

“Alright boys load up in the bird and we’ll be on our way,” said Steven. Steven was the best helicopter pilot in all of Vietnam. He had brought hundreds of soldiers far behind enemy lines safely and reliably. He has picked up soldiers in the hairiest situations and delivered them back to base with ease. He was simply the best of the best. The boys on the ground felt safer with his eyes up in the sky watching their backs.

He was their angel in disguise.

“Lieutenant Steven,” said Colonel James. Colonel James was 47 years old. He was bald but had a very big bushy red beard. He always had a dirty coal covered conductors hat on. He had been in the army for 10 years and had no family.

“Yes, sir?”

“I just wanted to tell you the recent update. As you know you’ll be dropping off our elite squad, Hierbabuena, in the deepest part of the Vietcong.”

“That doesn’t faze me sir.”

“Really?”

“Yes, Sir,” he yells to Hierbabuena “Y’all ready?”

“Ya know it,” says Tom, the Commander of Hierbabuena. Tom had two kids and a beautiful wife back home in Nebraska. He had a scar on his cheek has had gotten as a kid.

“Be safe and good luck gentlemen,” said the Colonel as Hierbabuena and

Chapter II

“I see it,” said Steven as the RPG whizzed through the air. Steven rotated the Huey about three feet to the left. The missile missed them by four feet. Steven let the mini gun go and it ripped right through the lone Vietcong soldier. “That was close huh?” Steve said to Tom. “CLOSE?! CLOSE?!! I AM ONLY 29 AND YOU JUST GAVE ME ALL GREY HAIRS!” screamed Tom as his blood boiled. His face was redder than a tomato.

"Rule number one: do not yell at me. Rule number two: do not yell in my helicopter.

Rule number three: Do not criticize my work. I don’t criticize yours and I don’t need to listen to it anyways. I am the best pilot out here, that is a fact. So if you or your men want to break any of these rules I will drop you off at base and I will go back to sleeping and eating.”

Steven said this is a very serious, annoyed, smooth tone. “Got it?”

“Got it,” Tom said ashamed.

“Now with all those grey hairs you look about 49 Tom,” Steven winked at Tom. “How old are you even Steven?” Trevor asked from the back of the Huey. Trevor was a young boy from West Virginia. He had multiple pretty pen pals he always showed the boys just to impress them, but the just gave him sarcastic “wow’s” but he never caught on.

"22.”

"Damn, you’re younger than me!” Exclaimed Trevor “Where are you even from?”

"North Dakota, there’s nothing up there so I wanted to see the world. This was the cheapest way to do it,” laughed Steven.

“Risking your life is the cheapest price to travel?” Tom was confused and shocked, "You could just jump on train, it would be a lot easier and not quite as stupid.”

“I ran away from home about 6 years ago, I had nothing in North Dakota. Well, have.

I hitchhiked around the country sightseeing until I came across a recruiting station and knew I could see the most this way.” Steven was very uneasy about this topic and Hierbabuena could feel it. Tom pats Stevens on the shoulder for comfort. “Okay we’re here,” Steven stated with enthusiasm “finally,” he mumbled too. Steven flipped a switch and a cable was lowered to the ground. “Good luck down there boys. If you need anything I will keep my ears open and I’ll be right over ASAP.” “Sounds good, thank you Steven,” the two shook hands as the rest of Hierbabuena zipped down the cable and started their mission into the jungle.

Chapter III

When all of Hierbabuena hit the ground they set up their perimeter. Steven radioed down to Tom. “If you guys need anything let me know and I will be over here in a matter of seconds.”

"Thank you Steven,” Tom said with sincerity, “you also stay out of trouble.”

“Always do. Good luck boys.”

Steven whipped the helicopter around and headed back to base. He leaned over and put back on his cassettes. The Rolling Stones started to play and Steven hummed along. He was zipping around the trees and cliffs when he came across a beautiful waterfall. He stared at its simplistic beauty. The way the water falls on the rocks below and the mist that makes a tiny waterfall. “Just beautiful” thought Steven.

“Last stop!” Steven heard some voice say faintly through his radio. When he heard the voice he look up and when he did, KABOOM. Every alarm and button was flashing.

Steven looked back and saw that the tail of the Huey was missing. Dark black smoke was coming from where the broken tail. The Huey began to spin uncontrollably. As it spun Steven saw three figures above the waterfall one holding an RPG taking aim again.

Steven started to shoot the mini gun again while he was spinning in the air. He knew if he was lucky he’d take out at least one of them. He nailed all three of them. It didn’t help any but it made him feel better.

The helicopter felt like it was falling in slow motion. Steven wasn’t scared about the outcome, but he was annoyed that this had happened. He was caught looking at a stupid waterfall and the fucking rainbow. He’s the best of the best and this happens. My father was right. I am a worthless piece of shit, that always fucks up. The Huey hit the ground but Steven didn’t hear it. He only knew it because he was shot up and hit the ceiling of the helicopter. When Steven fell his abdomen slammed against the pilot seat. The wind was knocked out of him severely. He hit his head hard against shattered glass. Steven was able to push himself up after a few tries. He stumbled out of the helicopter and he walked about ten feet before darkness surrounded him and he landed in the soft, wet, grass.

Chapter IIII

Steven was awoken by the train cart slowing down. He sat up and he realized that his face was cold and wet. Steven reached down and felt his pillow, it was drenched in a cold sweat, he whipped away the sweat from his forehead. He also realized that he had been crying. “I need to get home,” thought Steven, “I can’t believe I actually ran away. I'm only 15 years old, I know I feel older and everyone says it, but I'm not. I’m just scared. My dad might scare me but I need to confront him.” The train came to a halting stop. Steven grabbed his things and packed up as quickly as possible. He heard a clanging in the distance. “Shit it’s the police. He’s looking for anyone who jumped on for a free ride.”

“Alright you bums! Don't try to hide, I got the dogs and they’ll sniff you out in seconds,” said a police officer while he dragged his night stick along the train cars “Oh shit, I need to run for it,” Steven said under his breath. He put his hands around the train carts door frame and leaned back and launched himself out of the cart. He was flying through the air and hit the ground. A crackle came from his ankle.

He was sprawled out next to the railroad tracks, and couldn’t get up.

"Hey! Stop right there!,” yelled the police officer. The officer let the dog go after Steven. The adrenaline jump started Steven and he shot up. The german shepherd was right behind Steven. The dog jumped and tackled Steven. Steven came down on the ground very hard and hit his head on a rock. The officer jogs up to the dog that is pinning Steven to the ground and gets it under control. “Jesus kid I told you to stop. You should've listened. Alright kid get up and quit babying it,” the officer pokes him with the nightstick, “kid?” The officer just noticed all the blood coming from Steven’s head. “Oh shit. That is a lot of blood. I...I think he’s dead. I could get into a lot of trouble for this. Shit. What am I gonna do,” The officer looks around to see if anyone saw what happened. Every passenger was just getting off the train now. He turned around with his dog and walked back to the train station.