around his brother’s neck, pulling back and trying to stop him from breathing; if he couldn’t breathe then he couldn’t smoke. Caleb didn’t know if he killed his brother when he stopped fighting the jump rope because he might have just passed out even though Caleb was choking him; Caleb didn’t care, it would teach his brother to stop doing drugs in Caleb’s house.
Marc wondered why there was a boy in his kitchen. The doors should all have been locked and a little boy had no business in his house. The boy may have come in through the window but those were locked, too. He knew the boy was small so maybe he crawled in through the dog door. That seemed right to him. He was confused as to why the boy had a gun. Boys have a lot of toys so it was probably a toy gun. It didn’t look like a toy but little boys had no use for guns. The boy’s dad was probably a hunter and the boy was learning how to hunt. That’s the only reason he would have a gun. He didn’t know why the boy was pointing it at him. He thought about it, but he couldn’t think of a reason why the boy would want to point a gun at him. If he was learning how to hunt, maybe the boy thought he was a deer. That didn’t make any sense.
Caleb picked up one of his brother’s dumbbells, making sure he was strong enough to hold it and it was heavy enough for his parents; he wouldn’t have the chance to choke both of them. Caleb left his brother’s bedroom and snuck down the hall; he knew parents were sleeping since they had to go work the next morning and their money was the only thing they really cared about. Caleb quietly opened their bedroom door and snuck over and onto their bed; he would need to be in between them in order to hit both of them before they could stop him. Caleb looked at his father and felt only hate, as he did not see a family member that he loved; he only loved his sister because she was the only one that loved him. Caleb hit his father with the dumbbell over and over again and when his mother woke up he hit her even more; she was so mean to him when she beat him and made him feel horrible, unlike his father who just hit him. Caleb realized his mother wasn’t moving after he had hit her over and over for a few minutes; he had to be sure she wouldn’t wake up before he left. Caleb started to get off of the bed but he stopped when he heard his father moaning; Caleb must not have hit him enough times. Caleb went back and hit his father a few more times until he stopped moving because he couldn’t be awake either, as he surely would’ve beat Caleb again for hitting his mother. Caleb got off the bed and looked at his parents in their bloody bed; they bled so much the sheet was almost completely red, which was good because now they would know they have to stop beating Caleb.
Marc really didn’t know why the little boy was pointing a gun at him. The boy was yelling at him that he had to stop, but he wasn’t doing anything. He just wanted to eat breakfast. He thought the boy wanted him to stop getting ready to eat but that didn’t make sense. Then he thought the boy wanted him to stop walking through the house but that wasn’t right, either. He didn’t think the boy meant to stop breathing because everybody has to breathe. He would die if he didn’t. That made him think the boy wanted him to stop living. That was stupid. Little boys don’t want other people to stop living.
Caleb got his parents’ gun from their closet after he moved a chair over to stand on; his parents thought a box at the top of the closet was a good place to hide their gun, but Caleb was smarter than them. Caleb walked down the road with the gun to his sister’s abuser’s house; she knew who had done those horrible things to her and she told Caleb it was the neighbor down the street. Caleb crawled into the man’s house through the dog door and waited in his kitchen; Caleb knew the man would go to the kitchen because people ate breakfast in the morning. Caleb had to wait a long time but he didn’t care; it didn’t matter how long he had to wait to stop the man who raped his sister. Caleb finally saw the man come into the kitchen for breakfast, but he stopped walking when he saw Caleb; Caleb was pointing the gun at him and Caleb was going to stop him.
Marc started thinking about the little girl he had the night before. He missed her and wanted to see her again. She was so sweet and innocent and he loved her so much for it. A little boy was pointing a gun at him and he didn’t want to die before he saw the girl again. He remembered the girl said she had a brother who loved her more than anything in the world. He had hit her to shut up. He didn’t want to hear about other people when he was with her. He thought that maybe the boy was the girl’s brother. That thought made more sense than anything else that morning.
Caleb held his sister tight while she cried for her dead parents and brother; she had discovered their bodies while Caleb was gone. Caleb felt terrible for letting his sister find them like that because he knew it would hurt her a lot; he meant to get home before she woke up. Caleb hugged her and kissed her and told her that he loved her and that everything would be okay; Caleb had made all the bad people stop.
Dear Missy,
I still haven’t heard from you. I hope nothing happened to you. I don’t know what I would do if I lost you. I’ve already lost too much. The headaches won’t stop. I wanted to go to the market to get some medicine but I couldn’t find it. The market wasn’t there. It was just there the other day, but now there’s an empty lot. They couldn’t tear down a whole market that fast, could they? The headaches are making it hard for me to concentrate. Writing doesn’t help with them anymore. I have to fight through them to get the words down on paper.
I don’t want anyone to die. People just keep dying in my head and in the stories. No one ever died in my stories before. Did I tell you Chuck almost died? A crazy man held him hostage with a gun and he almost shot Chuck in the head. I was really scared for him.
Missy I don’t know why you won’t write me back. If something happened to you, you need to tell me. James needs to tell me. Someone needs to. I need to know. I can’t keep living up here if I don’t know what happened to you. You’ve been the one solid thing my entire life. Please don’t leave me now.
Love,
Ken
Fire, 2
We drove to a supermarket to get food for the rest of the weekend. On the ride, Jake and Cady kept mumbling about ice cream. They were doing it for attention and they got it. Anna was laughing like it was funny.
We got to the market in a few minutes. Knowing how kids are when they go shopping, I feared for the worst. Unfortunately, my fears were justified. We hadn’t been in the store for two minutes before Jake and Cady started messing up the shelves. They were pulling items off and begging for them, even if they didn’t like them. Alisa had to keep taking things away from them and returning them to the shelves. Anna and Gary weren’t paying any attention to them. They were getting what they needed and were doing it slowly. Alisa was getting really frustrated with the kids. After dealing with them through a couple aisles, she gave up. She told me she wanted to look for stuff we could eat, so we left her family to search the other aisles.
She started complaining about how much she hated her brother and sister. I could definitely relate. I didn’t have to live with them and I still felt hatred for them. I told her that I didn’t think it was completely their fault. Their parents were mainly to blame. She agreed but said she still hated them. We picked up some Hamburger Helper, macaroni and cheese, pickles, and applesauce. We headed to the soda aisle to get orange soda and root beer (I already had Mountain Dew at the cabin). I set the bottles in the cart and looked up at Alisa. She was crying. I asked her why she was crying and she hugged me. She thanked me for being patient and told me she loved me more than anything. I told her that I loved her, too. She apologized again and I told her not to be sorry. I told her, again, it was only three days.
Alisa’s family came down the aisle we were in and Anna was angry. She started complaining, saying that the store’s manager told them to check out and leave immediately because Jake and Cady were causing problems with other customers. She said it sarcastically as if it was unwarranted. She called the manager an ass and said that he had no reason to talk to them like that. Alisa told her to shut up. She told Anna that the manager was right
to do what he did. Anna started yelling at Alisa, saying the same thing about respect that she said in the restaurant. Surprisingly, Gary stepped in. He told them to stop fighting before the manager called the police on them. It wasn’t the intervention I had hoped for, but at least it shut Anna up.
We checked out and left. The car ride back to the cabin was relatively quiet. Jake and Cady played the license plate game for a while before their meal set in and they fell asleep. When we got back I helped Alisa’s parents with the groceries while Alisa got Jake and Cady into bed for a nap. After everything was put away Anna and Gary went for a walk. Alisa and I lay down on the couch. We had only intended to rest but we ended up falling asleep.
The dream about Alisa and her friend came back to me. It was cut short again but this time by Anna. She was yelling at Alisa who was not lying with me anymore. I had slept until dinnertime and Anna was yelling at Alisa because she didn’t help make dinner. Alisa explained that she was sleeping and didn’t even know Anna was cooking, but Anna didn’t care. She called Alisa lazy. Alisa gave up on the argument and came back to sit with
Love, Ken Page 10