Project X-Out

51 If I heard correctly from a few students in my first period media arts class, then Junior, full name James Thomson Jr., is the second fastest runner on the school’s track team and fiftieth in Essex County. The one who they call Wiggle, full name Chris Wiggle, is first fastest runner and also named top athlete in school, ranked twentieth fastest runner in Essex County. Now, they don’t rank “fastest“ by how fast you can actually run. They rank it by what place you can come in on the Essex County cross-country run. It’s basically a ten-kilometre forest track that has both up- and downhill obstacles in it. You have to run the track at least three times before you’re considered in the ranking and an Essex track official has to be there to time it while another one follows you on the track to make sure you do the full length of the track. Wiggle threw his ball at Shorty, but he managed to block it with his ball. Wiggle had Junior and Shorty both throw their balls at him, and he knew, immediately, he was going down right there. Both the balls hit him at the same time, so the coach couldn’t make a fair enough call. Instead of saying only one of them got the hit, it was agreed that they both did. Therefore it was now down to three people left in the game, and they got into their triangle formation and had what I would call a “gentlemen’s duel.” Since they were a team, they didn’t find it fair to just randomly huddle balls at each other. What they would do is have a stand-off until it was the last man standing. Plus it builds dramatic tension in the game to make things more exciting for everyone watching. The cheering started up again after a moment of silence. Ken threw his ball right at Shorty, but he was able to dodge it. Shorty didn’t throw his ball at Ken; instead, he waited for Junior to take him out. Junior quickly saw that he wanted to take out Ken so he threw his ball at Shorty. Shorty saw that Junior caught on to his tactic and immediately threw his ball and him. Junior dodged the first ball and threw his only one at Shorty, missing. Shorty ran to the side and grabbed a ball that was on the ground then threw both his balls at the same time, one with each hand. Ken and Junior were both out at the same time, and Shorty had won the match just in time for the bell to ring to dismiss the class. On the way to the change rooms, Shorty, Junior, Wiggle, and Ken all gave one another bro fives. No one would go in first except for Todd, who was constantly being picked on by these four every day for

52 the last five years. This goes back to when they were in grade school. Todd was about 165 cm in height and wasn’t exactly the most fit. He weighed a bit more and, I believe, was a homosexual. He was quite shy and also quite nice once you got him talking about something. Easiest topic for him was cars. He could go on about cars all day; it didn't matter the make and model, he knew it all. I saw Shorty grab the others’ attention, and then the four of them looked back. I had a bad feeling they were about to do something terrible to him there. All the males stopped near the door, making it look like it was just slow getting in. I pushed my way through and walked toward my bag to get my towel so I could go rinse off in the shower room. When I got in there, I heard Todd asking them nicely to not bother him. He was very relaxed about the situation, which meant he was either a really nice guy or he was so used to this type of thing from them that he knew nothing would change their mind. I casually walked back to my bag and pulled out a retractable steel rod I got from my sensei. It wasn’t large or anything, only about eighteen centimetres in length. It was able to fold and retract into a five centimetres long steel stick so that it can be easily hidden and stored when it wasn’t in use. I unclipped the hinges on it so I could just easily whip it out and use it if I needed too. Hopefully I won’t, though. As I was walking to the doorway to the showers I heard Todd get punched. I walked faster to the showers but they didn’t see me standing there at the doorway, so I aimed the shower head at them and turned it on. Water sprayed everywhere on them, and they immediately turned around to see me standing there. “Am I interrupting something?” I asked unenthused. “You motherfu—” Shorty ran at me, and I immediately used the chisel fist strike on him. In an instant, he fell to the floor gasping for air while clutching his throat with both hands. The other three went to charge at me, but I whipped out the steel rod and it unfolded in front of them. I stared at them constantly just waiting for them to further charge at me. I really wasn’t in the mood to be dealing with their bullshit right now. I just wanted to go home and get some studies done. “Now please,” I said, “leave him alone so we can all go home. I’m sure he didn’t do anything to deserve whatever you’re doing to him.” They just looked at me, and I realised I was blocking the only way out of the shower room so I moved aside and let me walk out.

53 Shorty managed to crawl his way back up and leave the change room with the other three. Todd, who was in tears sitting in the corner of the change room, slowly got up and hobbled over to me. “Thank you, Lex,” he said, wiping the tears from his face. “You are a good friend.” He then hugged me. Not only did I not like being touched, but I also didn't like hugs. I didn’t want to say anything, though, as I felt bad for the guy. So in this awkward moment, I gave him a small pat on the back and said, “You’re welcome, Todd.” After Shorty and his little gang left the change rooms, everyone flooded in and quickly got changed so they could get to their buses in time. I didn’t end up rinsing off in the shower after that since there was such little time left to get to my locker and make it on time for the bus so I just packed my towel and gym clothes into my bag and left the change room as quickly as I could. On my way out of the locker room, my gym teacher pulled me into her office and asked me what happened to Todd in the change room moments ago. I lied and said I didn’t know anything. Time was running short for everyone to get to their buses, so she decided to let me off the hook this time and sent me on my way. I guess, in a way, I dodged a bullet right there. I find it odd that Shorty didn’t take this matter to the teacher. He must be planning something completely irrational. I walked to my locker with slight caution as I didn’t know if Shorty and his friends would be planning to do anything immediately after that incident in the change rooms. I hope they don’t because I really don’t feel like fighting anyone; I don’t like fighting. Nothing happened on the way to my locker and bus, so that’s always good. I hope he just learned a lesson from all this. Perhaps he won’t bully people anymore. Though, that seems incredibly unlikely. I’ll have to keep an eye out for him for the remainder of my time here. Too bad he’s not on my bus. I would really love to know where he lives so I can get an idea what he does with his spare time.

54 Too Close for Comfort Later that night on my way to the coffee shop, I heard what sounded like teenagers laughing and being their regular obnoxious selves. I looked for any possible alternate route to walk beside the one in front of me, but without turning around completely, it seemed there was none. As I kept walking, their voices got louder and with every step, I attempted to make quiet, it seemed as though I was only getting louder. I couldn’t see anyone on the sidewalks, and there was no light shining into the field beside me. I can only assume they were standing in that field. “Hey, guys, look.” I heard one of them whisper. I knew they saw me just then and now my night is ruined. “Hey, you. What’s your name?” I looked around to see if I could see them, which I did that time, and played as if I didn’t. I didn’t stop to look around; I just kept walking. I’m almost at the coffee shop now. Out from the shadows appeared three teenagers. They looked and smelled like they smoked way more weed than they should have. “I said, what’s your name,” he exclaimed, pushing me backward with both hands. “I just want to go and get my tea, in peace,” I said. “Aww, little boy wants his to-go, have a cup-a-tea, eh?” he said with a snarky tone. “I guess we’ll let you go have your tea time.” He opened a path on the sidewalk for me to walk through, but I just stood there. “Well, are you going?” He wasn’t going to let me through either way, so I put my hands in my pockets and asked, “What do you want from me?” “We just wanted to know your name.” “If I tell you my name, you’ll go the other way and leave me alone?” “Yup.” He didn’t sound too convincing when he said that. “We promise.” That only made it worse. “My name is Lex.” I figured I might as well see if this works. Even if they do try anything, I’m sure someone will hear; after all, the police station is just down the street. “Lex?” They all started laughing. “Like Lex Luthor?” “Yes, just like Lex Luthor.” The laughter continued until the one on the right asked, “You got money then?” I didn’t answer.

55 “Wait, yeah.” He had a sort of devilish smile on him now. “Lex Luthor was a billionaire. Have you got any money on you?” “I don’t,” I said, hoping they wouldn’t realise I was lying since I just said moments ago that I was going to the coffee shop to get some tea. “I thought you said you were going to get something to drink?” Crap, he isn’t as stupid as he looks. “How about you buy us all a drink, eh?” “I couldn’t afford that. I’m poor.” “C’mon, it’s only one drink.” “Technically, it’d be four, since there are four of us here in total.” He looked at the other two and realised that I was being a smartass with him “Okay, you know what?” The other two looked at each other. “I think you can buy us a drink, but you just don’t want to.” I figure, by now, it’s too late to rationalise with them, so I said, “You’re right. I don’t want to buy you a drink.” I saw the one on the left put his hands in his pockets and the one on the right put his hands behind his back. I’m going to have to take a wild guess and think that the one on the left has a small pocket knife, and the one on the right has a larger, most likely, hunting knife behind his back or an iron bar of some sort. The odds are against me since I didn’t bring any sort of weapon with me tonight, so I’m going to have to hope for the best here. The guy with the pocketknife threw a punch with the knife in his right hand, and I blocked it up with my right hand and uppercut him in the jaw with my left. The guy with the iron rod did an overhand swing at me, but I kicked the one in the middle into him before he was able to complete the hit. I saw an opening to run, but for some reason I stayed. I reached down, and picked up the iron bar that he dropped when his buddy got kicked into him, and I quickly surveyed which one is the largest threat. It was the one with the knife, so I kicked him in the side of his face while he was getting up and then whipped the iron rod at the one who originally had it. It was a direct hit to his chest and head. They were both unconscious now and all that was left was the middleman.

56 Breathing a little heavily, I told him, “Bullying others will not be tolerated. If I ever see your friends around here again, they will end up like you’re about to.” Scared stiff and confused, he didn’t know what to do or say. I walked closer to him and kicked him back down to the sidewalk. He was shivering in fear as if he knew what I was about to do to him. Trying to crawl away, he ended up getting a piece of glass stuck in his knee and screamed in pain. I stepped on back, grabbed him by the back of the head and by his chin, pulled up, and twisted his neck quickly. I could hear the bones cracking and knew it was over. I looked around to make sure no one was watching and then quickly dragged the bodies about fifteen feet into the field away from the sidewalk. After that was done, I walked faster toward the coffee shop, got my tea, and went to sit down in my regular spot when I heard an officer's radio go off, saying that there was blood on the sidewalk just down the street from the coffee shop. I saw the four officers who looked like they were just starting their shift get up and rush out the door to their squad cars and drive down the street lights flashing. It would only be suspicious if I stayed here, so I have to leave. It’s very risky to go back to a scene and follow the whole “Criminals always go back to the scene of a crime after committing it” thing, but I had to. If the police see me, they would think I was just passing by. If I stayed at the coffee shop, there is a chance they would have to come back and question me there. Closing in on the scene, I saw that there were two officers with their flashlights shining onto the bodies I dragged into the field. I looked over and another officer halted me before I could get any closer. “Hey, you!” he yelled. My heart was racing, and sweat was starting to form. “You’re going to have to walk on the other side of the street. This is a crime scene.” He pointed across the road, and I followed the directions like anyone would. Without looking back, I followed through an empty Walmart parking lot cutting through the strip mall parking lot and toward the river. It looks like I’ll be taking the long way home; just in case one of those officers decides to follow me, this will throw them off. I walked to the river and just stayed there for an hour listening to water and the wind and watching the stars in the sky. I was

57 thinking of the four people I’ve killed in my time, and, honestly, it wasn’t enough. I need to do something to make a difference in this world. I need to strike harder. I need to take out more people. After about an hour and a half of sitting at the river, I decided it was time to go home. Carefully watching for any police and avoiding any ones I saw. There were a few close calls on my way home with the spotlight cruisers going by, but I was able to avoid them by jumping behind bushes, fences, and hiding behind cars on the side of the road. It was only a few blocks to my house from the river, but it took me over half an hour to make it home due to all these police.

58 Minor Setback Three Years Later Every day I listen to this bell is another day I have failed my task of getting out of here on time. I’ve spent three years in this school, and I was expecting to be out of here before the end of the last school year. I’m now in my eleventh grade of high school, which means only one more year until I graduate. If I can’t get out of here soon, then all my hard work will have been for nothing. “Hi, sweetheart!” Samantha said, hugging me from behind, “I missed you over the weekend. What happened?” “Oh sorry,” I replied, “I got stuck doing some more work on that project I told you about.” “Project?” She seemed confused. “Don’t tell me you forgot already.” I chuckled, “That surprise I was talking to you about the other week.” “Oh yeah,” she gleamed, “I’m so excited!” “It will be a night to remember, my dear.” I looked at the clock and saw it was almost time for class to start. “We better hurry. Class will be starting soon.” We walked to our English class in the 400 hallway and sat down in our seats. The bell rang immediately after, and the teacher started her lesson without hesitation. Another day of getting nowhere has just begun, and I am desperately losing my motivation. “Now, class,” said Mrs. Cüntz, my English teacher, “I assume you all did—” She was cut off by the PA in the classroom. “Mrs. Cüntz?” said the voice from the PA. “Yes, Ms. Wailoway?” she replied. “Can you send Lex Rivers to the office, please?” I stood up and headed for the door. “He’s on his way now.” “Thank you.” The PA clicked off, and everyone just watched as I walked out the door. It was kind of awkward for me. “Mr. Rivers,” Mrs. Cüntz said, stopping me at the door, “Don’t forget to put those headphones away on your way back.” I acknowledged her and continued on my way to the office. I wonder what the office would need me for. I can’t think of anything that I might have done that would require an appointment with

59 someone in the office. I guess I’ll just have to wait and see when I get there. Upon entering the office, Ms. Wailoway pointed me toward the vice principal’s office without saying a word. I walked up to the door that was cracked open a few inches and knocked lightly. “Hello, Mrs. Pacco, may I come in?” “Mr. Rivers, is that you?” she asked. “Please come in and have a seat.” She didn’t look very pleased with me, for some reason. “What can I do for you today, Mrs. Pacco?” I asked. “For starters, you can explain why I’m getting all these transfer requests from Amherst High for you?” “That would be because I’m requesting to be transferred. I’ve been trying to get out of here since last year—” “You can’t leave this school. If you leave, then your grade point average will drop.” “I am well aware of what will happen.” “Apparently not and I am not approving your transfer. You will stay here at this school and proceed your education through us. Is that understood, Mr. Rivers?” “No, it is not understood and I will be out of this school in the next two weeks. Do you understand, Mary Pacco?” I wasn’t about to take this sort of treatment from her, not when I’m already falling this far behind in my plans. “You are the brightest student in this school so why would you want to leave?” “Because I have plans for my future and they can’t be completed by staying here.” “I highly doubt that. I don’t think you’ve got a single thing planned for your future and by leaving here you won’t even have a path to your future laid down. You’ll be walking around aimlessly with nowhere to go. You will fail in life. I will make sure that you don't leave this school until you graduate. Got it?” “I remember you saying two years ago that if I could keep at least an 80 percent or higher in all my classes then I can transfer. Looking at my grades now, they are all 93 percent or higher and have been that way since I entered this school year one.” “I don’t care what I said.” She’s getting pretty frustrated now. “You are not leaving this school. End of discussion.”

60 I just stared at her with a small smirk on my face. “Leave my office and get back to class,” she demanded. I leaned over her desk and whispered, “Enjoy your job while you still have it.” I was recording that whole conversation with the microphone earbuds I had hanging out the front of my shirt, and all I need to do now is bring this to the district school board, and I’ll finally be able to get transferred to Amherst High. Alas, I’m finally back and I am going to make every bully pay dearly for their actions. I left her office and proceeded back to class, and for the rest of the day I was sailing at ease knowing I can finally leave soon. Later that evening, at home, I received a phone call from Samantha. She was crying pretty hard, and I was having a hard time understanding what she was trying to say. “Sammy, slow down, slow down.” I wonder what’s happened. “Take a breath and then talk slowly. I’m listening.” “I’m so sorry, Lex,” she cried. “ I’m so, so sorry.” “Sorry?” I was confused. “What are you sorry for?” “I’m sorry. Please don’t be mad at me, I’m so sorry.” What the hell is going on here. I can’t make heads or tails on what is happening. “Why are you apologising, Sammy?” Just then my doorbell rang. “Give me one second, Sam. I have to get the door.” I put the phone in my pocket without hanging up and went to the front door since no one else was home at this time to answer it. I was about to open the door and see who it was when I got a terrible feeling. I slowly checked the side window of the door and saw a rather large man standing there with a handgun and another man, possibly related, with a shotgun. I slowly stepped away from the door and went to my room to get my bow. Once I grabbed my bow I heard a gunshot and the door upstairs blew open. I locked my door, strung my bow, grabbed my hunting knife out of my computer desk drawer, and tossed them out the window. I heard them walking around my house and making a mess of the place. I reached under my bed and pulled out a large wooden box, which I kept my arrows in and threw it out the window. The box broke into pieces upon impact and arrows were all over the ground beneath my window. “Fuck!” I accidentally said aloud. It went quiet for a second, which means they heard me. I opened my door and quickly ran to my brother’s room right next to mine and

61 slammed the door shut. I bolted for the window and opened it as fast as I could but I was too late. The man with the shotgun walked into the room and pointed his gun at me. I didn’t make a single move. “Dad!” he hollered. “He’s in here.” “Good job son,” said his father walking into the room. “Lex, right?” I just looked at him angrily. “You are Lex Rivers, right?” he asked. “Who are you?” I asked. “I’m the uncle of—” “Samantha, right?” I interrupted him. “You got it,” he said, surprised. “I assume you know why we’re here?” “Nope, I just figured out who you were when I got a phone call three minutes before you arrived at my door.” “We’re here because you don’t know how to keep it in your pants,” said the son. “Where are our manners?” said the uncle. “My name is Tom, and this here is my son, Tommy.” “Cute.” It was the only thing I could think of at the moment. “Now, we don’t want to kill you unless we have to,” Tom said. “So how about you take a seat and we’ll just talk. That sound good?” “Sure.” I looked behind me and saw a plate with a fork on the floor next to my brother’s bed next to his dresser. I grabbed the fork with my toes and made sure it was held tightly. “Good.” He smiled. “Tommy, go take a seat” Tommy walked past him and tripped over some clothing on the floor and accidentally discharged his shotgun at the ceiling. Now is my chance. I grabbed the fork from in between my toes and threw it at Tom then picked up the plate, broke it into two pieces off the dresser, and threw the two shards at both of them. Tommy got a rather large cut along the side of his face, and Tom had a fork lodged in his shoulder. I jumped out the window and rolled upon landing to break the fall. I quickly picked up my bow, the knife, and managed to grab five arrows before running to the side of my house. As I was running to the side of the house, Tommy fired his shotgun at me, but hit the deck, tagging me with the splinters that exploded off the wood. He ran off the deck and drew an arrow to the kisser.

62 “Tommy, you don’t want to do this,” I yelled. “Yes, I do!” He drew his gun to shoulder height, and I shot the arrow right into his forehead. “No!” yelled Tom. “Not my boy. Tommy! Tommy!” I ran and jumped over the small gate to my front yard, armed my bow with another arrow, and waited for him to appear in sight. I loved this moment. The moment your life could end in a flash or you can fight and live another day. With my heart racing and adrenaline flowing through my head and body, I could almost feel time moving slower. It was riveting. Suddenly Tom fired two rounds through my front window at me but, luckily for me, missed both shots. I fired an arrow through the window without knowing where he was, and missed. I had to get out of sight so I ran behind his truck in the driveway. “Tom!” I yelled. “We can both walk away from this. No one else has to get hurt.” He fired his gun three more times at his truck without saying anything, and after the third shot, I shot another arrow in the direction his fire was coming from. “Dammit, Tom, I didn’t want to have to kill him, but he gave me no choice. You both didn’t have to come here.” How the hell are there no police here yet? “I will kill you!” Tom hollered, walking out the front door. I’m at my last arrow, and I cannot miss, or I’m dead. He fired four more rounds out of his gun at the truck and the ground. A bullet managed to ricochet off the ground and hit me right in my leg. His gun started clicking; he was out of bullets. With excruciating pain, I jumped up and fired my last arrow at him. It flew almost in slow motion for me as I watched it go right beside his neck. I missed my last shot. Tom stood in shock, and after a moment he smiled. “Out of arrows, are we?” “Yeah,” I replied calmly. “It would seem you are out of bullets too. Can we just call this a draw?” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out another magazine. “Shit.” I closed my eyes and listened to him reloading his gun. Empty clip falling to the floor, new clip pushed in, locked, bullet chambered. Now! I threw my knife at him, and, for a moment, time stood still. “Wh . . . what…” He struggled to speak.

63 I smiled and watched him struggle to pull the trigger as his last breath slipped past his lips followed by a stream of crimson blood. The knife went right through his heart, and I smiled as I watched him fall to the ground. I reached into my pocket and pulled out my phone. “Hey, sweetheart. I have some good and some bad news for you.” I can’t believe Samantha was listening to that whole thing from her phone. “The good news is, I’m okay. I just need to go to the hospital and get this gunshot treated. The bad thing is, though, your uncle and cousin are dead.” She was silent, not even a whimper. “I need to call the police and have this whole thing sorted out, so I will talk to you later. Have a good night, love.” I hung up the phone and called the police. It didn’t take them very long to get here as someone in my neighbourhood had already called them before I did.

64 Cover-Up Story On my way to the hospital, I had an officer questioning me on everything that happened, while a paramedic did his best to stop the bleeding from my leg. “Did you know these two?” he asked. “No, I didn’t. They were apparently related to my girlfriend, though,” I replied. “Her name?” “Samantha Lapri. They said their names were Tom and Tommy. Old one being Tom.” I explained my whole story to them on the ride there and then got my leg stitched up. My mother and three brothers were all waiting for me in the waiting room. Once the doctor was done, they rushed in to see how I was doing. My mother was crying, of course. After a nice little visit and a whole bunch of tears from my family an officer and a nurse came into the room and asked my family to leave for the night. “For the night?” I asked. “Yes,” the nurse replied, “we need to keep you under surveillance due to the injury. It looks like it clipped a part of your femoral artery.” “Fun,” I said sarcastically, “and you, Officer?” “I have some more questions for you when they leave.” His voice was rather deep and serious. I already don’t like this. “Oh joy. How many more officers are going to ask me these questions after you?” “Now you answer whatever they ask you.” My mother demanded. “And behave!” “Yes, Mother,” I replied, chuckling. After everyone left and it was just Officer Sedlack and me, the questions started. He started with, “Where did you get the bow?” “I got it online.” “Why did you buy it?” “Oh, just in case someone one day decided to break into my house and try to blow my head off with a shotgun. You know, the usual reasons.” He wasn’t too impressed with that answer.

65 “This is a serious matter, son. Two people are dead on your front doorstep, and no one claims to have seen a thing.” “Did you even look at the scene?” I asked. “If you even saw the front door, you would be able to tell they clearly shot a hole through my door knob and kicked the door open.” “You killed two men—” “Two armed men who threatened my life.” He sighed and wrote a few things on his notepad. “Why are you even here?” I asked, suspicious of him. He went silent. I have a feeling he was associated with one of the two, if not both of them. “How well did you know them?” I asked. He looked pissed after I said that. “How did you know?” “A scene that clearly proves my case of self-defence, my girlfriend was listening to the whole thing and can testify on my behalf, and the officer in the ambulance told me I was lucky to be alive in such a situation. Thus all leading me to believe I wouldn’t be bothered by you guys for the remainder of the night.” “You’re a clever boy,” he said, putting his notepad in his back pocket. “Just be careful. Those two were probably sent by someone in that family. Someone closer to Samantha.” I nodded my head with acknowledgment, and he stood up then left the room. The rest of my night was very uneventful after that. They kept coming into my room to take some blood, wake me up to see if I was asleep, see how I was feeling, and other normal doctor questions. I didn’t sleep much because I kept thinking of who else would come after me seeing how that officer seemed so sure that Tom and Tommy were sent by someone closer to Sammy. I just can’t think of who it could be. In fact, I don’t recall ever talking about her family before. With this happening I’m sure I will get answers sooner than I expect. I guess all I can do for now is wait and talk to Samantha once I’m out of here. “Lex Rivers?” a nurse said, walking into my room that next morning. “That’d be me,” I replied.

66 “All the reports show that you should be good to go home now.” She smiled. “Oh, that’s great news. Where are my clothes?” I asked. “Your mother took them and said she’ll be picking you up in forty-five minutes.” “Oh, okay. So I just wait here?” “Yes, and a doctor will be in here shortly to have one more look at your leg before you go. He may also have some special instructions for you to follow to prevent it from tearing the stitches.” “Alright, sounds good.” She left the room and for twenty minutes I waited for the doctor to come in for the check-up. The doctor removed the bandages from my leg to check the stitches and to make sure there wasn’t any sort of infection and wrapped it up again with clean bandages. He advised me to not do any strenuous activities and gave me a note to give to my school. After he explained some issues with my blood reports showing I am malnourished and need more vitamin D, he then concluded the check-up with a humorous comment. “Now break a leg.” My mother walked in moments after the doctor left and handed me my clothing after flooding me with a whole bunch of questions about my health. Talk about a paranoid mother. The car ride home was rather quiet. My mother tried to start up some conversations, but her attempts just made the ride more and more awkward. I felt bad for her, so I offered to take her out for lunch at her favourite restaurant, East Side Mario’s. After we got to the restaurant and finished ordering our food, my mother started talking about a trip she and my stepfather had planned to go out to Tennessee. I just nodded my head and agreed with whatever she was saying because I was too focused on why she hadn’t questioned me about what happened at the house. It’s just unusual for her to be so calm about a situation like this. “Mother,” I said, interrupting whatever she was talking about. “Yes, son?” she replied in a mocking tone. “Do you know the whole story of what happened at the house?” “Yes, the police explained everything to me, and you are so lucky that they were there to catch the guys that broke into our home.” I knew something was wrong. The police must have told her a false story to cover something up, but what are they trying to hide?

67 “I see, well, I just want you to know that I’m fine, and I’m also glad that no one else was home at the time.” I honestly was. I’d hate to have one of my brothers see what happened on that day. “Could you explain what the police told you, please?” I asked. “Wouldn’t you be the one person to know best of all?” she replied. “Things are a little hazy from the other day. I’m having a hard time remembering everything.” “Okay, so the police told me that the two men broke into the house by the front door and started wrecking the place; then they must have seen you and tried to catch you.” “Yes, I ran into Tyler and Ryan’s room and jumped out the window.” “Yes, and when you jumped out of the window and ran to the front yard, they said they were already on scene because a neighbour called them in after witnessing them break through the front door.” “What did the police do from there?” “They told me that the intruders were armed, and they pulled their guns to the police and then were shot.” “I see.” It seems that they did a fairly good job convincing my mother what had happened. I think I should leave this one alone and let that be the real story. The remainder of our time at the restaurant was spent in awkward silence and the occasional look-around at the other people around us. After about ten minutes of a silent meal, the waitress came over and asked us if we needed anything more. My mother replied by asking for the cheque so we could leave. The ride home was no different. I’m finally at home now. The front window has been boarded up and the front door was put back into place. There are two officers surveying the area and one officer parked in a car just across the street from my house. The living room and kitchen are still a wreck and there is broken glass everywhere. “Your brothers are downstairs sleeping on the sofas,” my mother said, directing me toward the stairs. “I want you to go see them right now. They’ve been very worried about you all day.” I nodded my head and proceeded downstairs to see my brothers who were playing Halo on the Xbox. I sat down at the end of the sofa in what they like to refer to as “my spot.” Charlie, my eldest brother, looked over at me for a second then looked back at the game and asked, “Who’d you kill and how many?” “Some guys,” I replied. “And only two.”

68 He laughed thinking I was joking. “Are you okay?” “Yeah, I’m fine. Just a few scrapes and bruises.” “You good for top screen?” I looked around for my controller and saw it on the floor next to me. I turned it on and connected to the game. “Yup.” The remainder of the night was just my brothers, and I bonding over a video game. Much of our lives have been spent bonding over video games. It’s almost the only thing we all have in common. Some nights I will think about how our lives and connection to each other would be without video games and computers. I think we would be stronger and more caring of one another. I know that my family sees me as the odd one out or the black sheep, but they also look at me as the leader. I’m the guy they go to first when they need help with something or if they are in trouble. It sends me mixed messages and confuses me. I sometimes wonder what my role in this family is. The games were done, and it was time for everyone to get some rest. My brothers are quiet, for once, and the sound of their breathing fills the room. It wasn’t loud and it wasn’t too quiet. I guess it was just relaxing background noise. I closed my eyes and tried to think of anything but the other day. It didn’t work. All I could think about was what had happened, what they said, the reason why they went after me. It was all too confusing and complicated for me. I wasn’t able to figure out the full reasoning behind what they did. It was as if the harder I tried to figure it out the further I got from the answer. All I can do for now is try and sleep.

69 Family Feud I closed my eyes, and moments later I heard the sound of a window breaking from upstairs. I looked around to make sure my brothers were still asleep, but they weren’t even here. I tried to walk but my legs were limp and could barely get up on my knees. My vision is hazy, my head is pounding, and I can’t think straight. Was I drugged, or was I dreaming? I heard someone walking around upstairs. They had a very gentle step when they walked. I tried my best to crawl away to the stairwell so I could get outside from the garage door but I was so tired and I could hardly move. Inch by inch I made it to the stairs but just as I was about to go up the first step I saw a shadowy figure standing at the platform to the garage. The light was so bright and I couldn’t focus well enough to see who it was. They took a step down and slowly proceeded toward me. I struggled to get away but didn’t make it very far. I felt someone grab me by the arm and turn me over onto my back then they stomped on my chest. I tried to hold back the pain but it was no use. I looked down at my stomach and saw that I was bleeding. It looked like I had either been stabbed or shot. I looked up at the shadowy figure to see a clearer image of him. When I saw his face, I knew immediately this was a dream. I smiled and then laughed hysterically as he stared down at me with an arrow in his hand. He plunged the arrow into my heart and the last thing I saw before I woke up was me holding an arrow looking down at myself, happy to take my own life. I woke up in a heavy sweat. I looked around the room and saw my brothers still asleep. Light slowly filled the room as the morning sun started to rise in the back. I decided it was time for me to get up and go for a walk before I went to school. I changed into my jeans and white, long-sleeve shirt and then went upstairs to get my sandals. Just as I finished walking up the stairs my mother came out of her room and asked me why I was awake so early. I looked at her and told her I was heading for a walk before I went to school. She asked me to stay home until Monday for some reason. I guess she was just worried about my health or something. I explained to her that I cannot afford to miss any more school, and I am positive that my friends would be worried about me. I know, I don’t have any friends, but it

70 was a very convincing speech. She let out a sigh and said for me to call her if anything bad happens or if I wanted to come home. I acknowledged and proceeded my way out the door for a quick walk. I walked around the block twice when my leg started to hurt. I decided to take it easy and went home until I had to walk to my bus stop. For the most part, the bus ride was uneventful and seemingly normal. Normally people would be talking about such an event, which leads me to believe that no one knows what really happened that day. My only option is to go with the flow and keep my mouth shut. I’ll have to use the story my mother told me as my “real” one. I arrived at school and immediately headed for my locker to check if Samantha was there but was pulled aside at the front door by a casually dressed man claiming to be an officer. I stopped, looked at him suspiciously, and asked to see his ID. He pulled out a photo ID badge with the name William Marker and he directed me toward a 2006 Chevrolet Corvette parked in the parking lot. A red haired woman wearing an expensive-looking leather jacket and sunglasses was in the backseat. “Is that him?” she asked. “Yeah,” William replied. “You ride back here with me.” She took off her glasses. “You can call me—” “Liora,” I said, slightly surprised. I should have known she would try to contact me soon. After all, I did kill her brother and nephew. “How do you know my name?” “Are you really asking that?” I don’t think she realises I am dating her daughter. “Have we met before?” “No, but I am the one your daughter is sneaking around with.” That should strike a nerve in her. “Drive.” She looks pissed. Perhaps I should ask her where Samantha is right now. “So why are you here and where are we going?” I asked.

71 “As you should know by now, that is detective William Marker,” she said, directing my attention to William who was driving. “I hired him to find out why my brother and nephew went to see you at your home.” “You seem more”—I paused for a moment to think of a word to use without offending her—“relaxed than your brother.” “Yes, my brother was very irate at most times. He did suffer from an anxiety disorder and also failed to go to all his anger management sessions.” “So did you find out why he wanted to speak with me?” “No.” She said bluntly, “You are going to tell me your story, the real story.” “It is all such a blur.” “Don’t play games with me, boy. I know you know why they came to see you.” “Where’s Samantha?” “That’s not relevant.” “I guess I can’t remember then.” “Know your place in this situation, you little punk. I’ve got an entire police force on my back, and you have no one.” “Tell me where Samantha is, and I’ll let you know why your brother came to see me.” I have to keep calm; one wrong word and I lose any chance of finding Samantha now. She sighed with frustration and gave me her phone. “Speed-dial number 2.” I grabbed the phone and dialled the number 2. It started to ring and then Samantha picked up. “Yes, Mom?” That was all I needed to hear. I hung up the phone and gave it back to her. “Your brother, Tom, and nephew, Tommy, came to see me that day. They broke into my house, made a mess of everything in their way, and when they found me, they tried to kill me. They sat me down in a room and tried to question me but I managed to escape out the window, which I had previously tossed a number of weapons out of. After a few minutes of running around and avoiding them, Tommy drew a gun at me. I gave him a chance to drop it and walk away, but he didn’t take it. I released my arrow, and that’s where he fell.” “Stop, you’re lying!” “It’s no lie, my dear,” I proceeded. “I managed to get to the front of my house by Tom and fired several rounds at me so I ran behind his

72 truck. I got hit by a ricochet shot after a few more rounds were fired at the truck. I counted his shots and timed my shot while injured. I missed my last shot; however, I still had a knife. I gave him a chance to walk away many times but he declined all of them.” She started to tear up. “He approached closer so I threw it at him. The knife punctured his heart and he fell to the ground. Shortly after that police arrived and a certain detective, probably the one working with Mr. Marker there, cleaned the scene up and wrote a bullshit report.” Marker looked in the mirror, a little worried, and asked, “How did you know he was working for me?” “You just told me.” He drove a little faster and said that we were almost at the destination. “I don’t believe you.” Liora cried. “I don’t care.” After a few more turns we arrived at a closed down chemical plant. This can’t be good. “Follow us, Mr. Rivers,” Marker said, getting out of the car. I got out of the car and walked around to open the door for Liora. She thanked me, still upset with me. Marker was ahead unlocking a fence gate. He opened it enough for us to fit through then locked it back up after we passed. I already don’t like what’s going on. While walking down the path leading to the side door, he explained that the plant had been shut down for a few years because of illegal chemical dumping in the river. I didn’t pay too much attention to it because, for some reason, I could smell Sam’s perfume. I thought it was her mother at first, but she was wearing a different scent. “Why are we here?” I asked. “We’re going to show you what you just got yourself into,” Liora replied. “Why is Samantha here?” She looked at me baffled at how I knew Samantha was here, “I don’t know how you know she is here, but it doesn’t matter anymore. You’re a smart kid, and I wouldn’t want anything terrible happening to you. As long as you stick close to me and do as I say, then there won’t be any problem. Got it?” “Sure.”

73 “Do it.” Marker grabbed out a pair of handcuffs and forced me to turn around and put my hands behind my back. Assuming he really is a cop, nothing too bad will happen to me here. However, he did bring me to an isolated area with no direct route home, no main roads, seemingly soundproof factory walls, a pissed-off, rich woman who just found out I was dating her daughter and whose brother and nephew I killed. I’m sure I’ll be fine though. “Are the cuffs necessary?” I asked. “What did I say?” she rhetorically asked. “Right.” It looks like I’m going to have to trust her. Marker walked to a large steel door with a keypad and entered the numbers 1992. That is also the year this factory opened up, if I recall correctly. “In you go.” He insisted I go first. I walked forward and stopped when I felt Loira let go of my arm. The lights turned on, and there was a chair in the middle of the room. As long as I don’t have to sit in that chair, then I think I’ll walk out of here unharmed. “Sit on that chair,” Liora said. “Crap,” I said under my breath. I sat in the chair for what seemed like hours when a man came through a door behind me. I knew it was a man because he had a deep-sounding smokers cough. I heard two sets of footsteps, though. He had someone else with him. “Don’t speak unless spoken to,” Marker whispered to me while turning my chair around to face the man. He was about 175 cm tall, wore a nicely fitted suit with a grey vest underneath, had a Hollywoodian beard, and his head was completely bald. In his hand, he held a large lit cigar, and in his other he held a rope that looked loosely tied around Samantha’s hands. Samantha, who was blindfolded and had her hands tied behind her back, seemed very calm for her position. She seemed almost too calm. The man put the cigar in his mouth, untied her and removed the blindfold. She saw me and cried out my name, begging her mother not to do anything to me. “Silence!” Liora yelled. “Marker, uncuff him.”

74 Marker walked behind me and slowly uncuffed me. In the process, he put what felt like a shiv in my hand. I tucked it in my sleeve and disguised the motion as if I were rubbing my wrists from the cuffs being on too long. It looks like something is going to go south, and this cop wants me to be somewhat prepared for it. This whole situation is starting to confuse me. I thought, at first, this cop was on her side but now he seems to be on mine. There has to be something more that I don’t know. He might even be working a case and just using me as bait so that he can catch someone larger. Perhaps this man? “My name is Aldo,” the man introduced with a heavy Italian accent. “This is my daughter as you are aware, and that is my wife.” He pointed to Liora, who walked over to his side. “’S’up,” I said casually. “What is ‘’s’up’?” He didn’t seem too excited to see me. “You killed my family. You murdered them in cold blood.” “I gave them a chance to walk away—” I was interrupted when Marker hit me in the back of the head. “I hired the police to find you and to bring you to me so we can talk.” He just looked at me for a moment. “Why did they go see you?” “You too?” I asked dumbfounded, “Why does everyone think I know what they wanted me for?” “They came to you—” “No, they broke into my house and tried to kill me. I didn’t give them a chance to talk. Your so-called family is fucking psychotic. You are too. Look at you tying up your daughter and bringing her to an abandoned factory. For what? Are you going to kill us? Are you going to kill me?” He just stared at me again, this time longer. “Well?” I’m tired of this waiting. “You didn’t even give them a chance to talk?” He seemed very upset. I don’t think he heard me the first time when I said I gave them a chance to leave, “Not even a word?” Oh crap. Now I’ve made him upset. “Back where I am from, we kill people like you. No court, no trial. Only an execution.” He reached into his suit and pulled out a Beretta M9 pistol with a suppressor attached. He aimed the gun at me and pulled the trigger. My heart raced and I began to sweat heavily. I thought he was going to shoot me. “You’re strong.” He seemed content now. “I like that.”

75 “What do you want with me?” I need to know what he plans to do now. “I want you to watch.” He flipped the safety off and pointed the gun at Samantha’s head. She started to cry and just stared at me. I saw her put her hand on her stomach, and then she nodded her head. My eyes widened in shock. She was pregnant. “No!” I screamed. Aldo pulled the trigger, this time it was for real. A bullet pierced through her head, and her body fell limp to the floor. I stood there, held back by Marker, unable to do anything. I couldn’t save her. Aldo nodded at Marker, and he hit me in the back of the head with his gun. I blacked out.

76 Chopping Down the Tree I started to open my eyes when I heard Sam’s voice. I am in the hallway where we first met. She’s holding my hand, and we are walking around the school. I let go of her hand and put my arm around her shoulder, holding her tight. I lean down and kiss her lips. I closed my eyes and felt a cold tear run down my face. When I opened my eyes we weren’t in the school anymore. We were in a large open field by a lake. It was during the summer when I went out to her father’s cabin for a week. He didn’t know we went, though. At least, he didn’t know I went. “I love you, Lex,” she whispered to me while we were lying in bed together. I didn’t even realise the scene changed to us being in the cabin. “I love you too, Sam,” I replied, kissing her gently. She reached farther under the blanket and removed my shirt. I reached under and removed hers too. Not too long after that we were naked, hearts beating a mile a minute. No words were exchanged as none were needed. This was the memory of the first time she and I made love. Her nails running down my back as I thrust inside of her, her moans of pleasure seeping through her perfect lips, my hands brushing through her soft red hair—all of this with the full moon’s light shimmering down at us from the skylight above. The moment was perfect, and we never wanted it to end. We were both about to reach the point of climax when her body went limp and her hair became dry. I looked at beautiful blue eyes only to see no life was flowing in them any longer. Her lips became dry until the blood began to flow out of her mouth and spread across the floor around. I tried to cry but no tears would come out. Even in this dream, I am powerless. Someone tapped my shoulder from behind, and I stood up to see who it was. When I turned around, there was only a mirror. I could see my entire body in it. I stared at myself, covered in her blood and powerless. I felt weak and angry. I know who did this but at the same time I don’t. I tried to picture her in my head, but her image was fading away. I closed my eyes and a cold tear fell down my face.

77 Someone reached from in front and put their hand on my shoulder again. I looked up to see myself standing there. I knew what it meant but I couldn’t fully piece it together. I reached out to myself without thinking. He smiled devilishly and pulled me into the mirror. I woke up. “Glad you’re awake, Mr. Rivers,” Aldo said, laughing. I felt for the shiv but couldn’t feel it in my sleeve anymore. I rubbed the back of my neck where I was hit to hide the fact that I was looking for it. It was nowhere to be seen. “Get up.” Aldo wasn’t laughing anymore. I stood up and felt it slide down the side of my body. I quickly tensed up my arm to catch it. Luckily for me it didn’t drop when I got knocked out. “You sick son of a bitch,” I yelled. “What kind of parents would kill their own daughter like that?” “You did that to her,” Liora exclaimed. “It’s because of you she died. If you had just never met her, she’d still be alive.” Marker pushed me forward and hinted for me to keep my mouth shut. Aldo led us to the roof of the factory where, I think, he plans to kill me. I’m very afraid for life right now and I’m forced to rely on this cop for protection. I’m not even sure why I’m here. Aldo opened the door, and Marker pushed me through. Aldo then locked the door once everyone was on the roof. “Now then,” he said calmly. “You have two options. One, you can get on your knees and beg for forgiveness and join my family; and two, you can get on your knees and let me put a bullet in your head. The choice is yours, don’t take all day deciding.” I looked at Marker, and he nodded at me then pointed to the ground with his eyes. I know what he wants me to do, but at this point, I would much rather just take the bullet to the head. Aldo pulled out his gun again and chambered a round. I looked at him and got on my knees. “Aldo and Liora Lapri,” I said unwillingly, “why would you trust a cop?” Marker had his gun at Liora’s head. “Get up, Mr. Rivers, and slowly walk behind me,” he said. “Aldo, don’t even think of moving a muscle.”

78 “As I passed by Aldo, I saw him smile. It was the same smile I gave myself in my dream when I was unconscious. I knew exactly what he was going to do. Aldo quickly turned around and tried to shoot me, but I had already ducked, and he shot his wife in the chest three times. I lunged forward, knocking the gun out of his hand, and ramming the shiv as hard as I could into his throat. “Good reflexes,” Marker said, standing behind me. “Come on, let’s get out of here. I’ve got a radio to call this in my car.” He put his hand on my shoulder, and I stood up. He walked over toward Aldo’s corpse to get the keys out of his pocket, and while he had his back turned, I picked up Aldo’s gun. “Left pocket,” I said. “Ah, thanks.” As he pulled out the keys, I fired the gun. A single bullet pierced through his back and out his chest. With great strength, he managed to stand back up and turn around to face me. “W-why?” he stuttered with his hands at his chest looking at the blood flowing down. Seconds later, he collapsed to the ground and I repositioned the bodies to make it look like Aldo shot his wife and then shot Marker. I couldn’t clean up the blood that was already there so I had to improvise and make it look like Aldo had shot me and was going to finish me off. I shot myself just above my aorta and pulmonary artery. I hollered in pain then lined up the gun next to the pancreas and fired a second round. The two positions I fired in have no organs of major veins so the most it will do is cause me severe amounts of pain. After that I moved onto the spot where Marker had fallen and overlapped his blood with mine. I picked up the two guns and whipped the fingerprints off them, then reapplied Aldo’s onto his gun and placed it in his hand and did the same for Marker and his gun. I grabbed the keys with a hanky I took off from Aldo and threw them off the side of the building. All I need to do now is use Liora’s phone to call for an ambulance and police. Slowly making my way to Liora’s body, I noticed my vision starting to fade in. I could see spots and couldn’t walk in a straight line. I was actually starting to bleed out. Just a few more steps, though. I stumbled onto Liora’s body and searched her purse for her cell phone. I couldn’t feel it so I just dumped it on the ground and picked it up out of the pile of cosmetics. Hardly able to see the numbers I

79 managed to dial 9-1-1. The signal was terrible and the battery was near low. “It’s 9-1-1, what’s your emergency?” the officer on the line asked. “Abandoned chemical factory,” I said breathing heavily. “We got an officer down and I’ve been shot. I need an ambulance ASAP. I’m bleeding out.” “Where are you, sir?” “I don’t know. It’s an old chemical factory in the middle of nowhere.” “Okay, I know where that is. Who’s the officer with you?” “His name was Marker.” “We are sending a helicopter and squad cars to your location now. Stand by.” Either she hung up after that or the phone died, I couldn’t tell. I just laid there trying not to close my eyes for too long. I couldn’t stay away any longer though. I’ve lost too much blood.

80 Don’t Save Me The muffled voices of people talking around me mixed with the ear-piercing sound of a helicopter’s blades spinning above. I can feel two sets of hands holding me down as someone dislodges the bullets from inside me. I asked where I was but I didn’t get a response. It sounded clear to me but my tongue felt twisted when I spoke and all I can taste is blood. “Hold him,” a male paramedic said. “Last one.” He dug two fingers in the bullet wound I had above my waist and pulled out a bullet. I didn’t struggle too much but it did hurt like hell. Shortly after that, a female paramedic injected a sedative into my arm, and I fell asleep. I awoke at what seemed like seconds later in a hospital bed. No one was there waiting for me. I leaned forward to see if anyone was at the door and I did notice a police officer sitting near the window. He turned his head to see me then pulled out a radio to call someone over. Not too long after that, Marker came into the room. I tried to move, scared for my life at what he might do to me, but I was unable to. Marker opened a door to the right of my bed, leading to what looked like a closet and pulled out a girl with a bag over her head. He looked at the girl, looked at me then took the bag off her head. It was Samantha. He stared at me for a moment and pulled out a gun. I tried to stop him, I struggled and fought as much as I could but I could hardly even shake the bed. It was as if I was paralyzed from the shoulders down, but at the same time, I could still make small movements. He pulled the trigger and I watched her die for the second time. I could feel tears running down my face. He pointed the gun at me and I just closed my eyes and accepted it. I heard the gunshot and was unable to open my eyes after that. After an extremely long period of time I was able to see a small white light deep in the darkness. I tried to run toward it, but I couldn’t feel my legs. The light was getting larger so I think I was moving toward it. I can hear a heart monitor beeping slowly and with every step I got toward the light the faster it got.

81 The faster and faster I ran, the farther it got. At one point I could feel small hands grabbing me and pulling me back. I don’t know why, but for some reason I feel that I must reach this light. I put all my physical and mental strength into running and I finally made it. The heart metre went flat and I could see nothing but white. Did I just die? I hope I see you soon, Sam. “Clear!” a voice sternly said. Following the voice was a large shock into my body. It felt amazing—almost as if my soul had been energised. “Clear!” he said again. This time I could hear the heart monitor beeping again. It was a stable heart rate. The energy I felt slowly disappeared and I unknowingly opened my eyes. I saw, standing over me, a nurse and a doctor, both wearing face masks. They seemed to have joy in their eyes—most likely for saving my life. I cracked a smile and slightly nodded my head at them in appreciation. “Try not moving too much and get as much rest as you can,” the doctor said after removing his face mask. “You’ll be checked up on every thirty minutes for the next twelve hours and then you can have visitors.” I just looked at him with a blank and tired face. “Also, my name is Dr. Sylva, and this is my assistant nurse, Michelle.” Michelle lightly waved her hand at me, still smiling at the success. “Now get some rest. If you need anything, just push the red button at the side of your bed, and a nurse will be in here as soon as possible.” I closed my eyes and had no dreams after that. It had to have been at least eleven hours that I had been asleep for. I don’t even recall any nurses checking up on me. When I woke up, I felt physically fine but emotionally unstable. I remembered everything that had happened and it sucked. I didn’t have any way to escape the pain and I feel that this will cause severe complications for me later. Dr. Sylva came in at the eleventh hour to check up on me and run a few more tests. He said I will be allowed visitors in one hour, so I advised him to contact my parents and brothers to have them come here and see me. He immediately had Michelle give them a call. “What is the last date you remember?” he asked.

82 “I don’t know, really.” I thought hard to figure out what the date was. “It was the beginning of the year, I think.” “What year?” “Uh, Friday, October 3, 2008?” This seemed suspicious. “How long was I out for?” “It’s now Friday January 11, 2009,” he said, worried about my reaction. “You’ve been out for three months.” “Holy shit.” That was all I could think to say at the time. I had lost three months of my life and am now three months behind on all my plans for school. However, I did just have a showdown with death, twice, and walked away from it. “However, your body seems to have made a full recovery from the injuries you sustained three months ago. I just recommend you take it easy on your heart because a bullet did graze your pulmonary artery. I think that, along with the extreme blood loss, is what puts you in a comatose state. I will recommend you take the next couple weeks off school so you can get your body moving again and also settle whatever personal things you’ve got going on right now.” He handed me a doctor’s note, forcing me to take three weeks of school. This is just terrible. Not only am I three months behind schedule, but now it’s going to be three more weeks until I can pick up where I left off. The doctor left, and I was left here alone for about forty-five minutes until my three brothers came rushing into the room. I was so happy to see them, though it looked like they were much happier to see me. My mother was behind them in tears. They were tears of joy, and beside her was my step father, Joe. After a wildly entertaining visit from my family, which lasted almost two hours, Michelle came in and said that visiting hours will be over in ten minutes. Everyone said their goodbyes and I had to stay the night for further observations before they could release me the following afternoon. For the most part of the night I was working on scenarios for when the police would question me on what had happened. I was sorting out my story and making sure everything was perfect. I remember how I placed the bodies and I can tell exactly where the blood was so I won’t have any flaws in my story. Assuming they had already done a scenario run themselves, my story will match exactly what they should have collected based on the layout of the scene. This

83 is going to be rather easy to get away with. I find it almost unenjoyable. After that I could stop myself from thinking about Samantha. I honestly loved her. I can’t believe she’s gone just like that. Here one day and gone the next. I want to sleep but I know I’ll only dream of her. I wish I could forget her completely. My relationship with her was slow building at first. I always thought she was irritating and I didn’t want anything to do with her. As the days went by I grew to like her more and more. She was my only friend and also my lover. We spent most of our time together. All summer, winter, and spring breaks, we would always be together for days at a time, sneaking around her parents’ backs and going to their cabin for the summer. I was truly happy with her. I even had thoughts of not hurting anyone else ever again. She taught me to forgive and forget. Yet I can’t even forgive myself for not saving her and forget her for the life of me. Without her, I am truly empty inside. I’m going to miss her dearly. I’ll miss the sunrises and sunsets together and the walks along the river. I’ll never forget those moments when we’d just lay in silence in a field just staring at the stars like something from a romance film. It seemed cliché, but the truth is that we never needed to say anything. Everything was so perfect that nothing, not even words, could make the moment any better than it already was. Now those times are just memories that I have to suffer with. Love is just as happy as it is tragic. The rest of my night was slow and depressing. I just stayed up all night thinking of Samantha. The nurses came in every now and then to check my blood levels and pressure to make sure it stayed stable. Once the sun started to come up, I closed my eyes and pictured me with her at the cabin watching the sunrise beyond the lake. The next morning, after the doctor deemed me fit to go home, my parents took my brother and I all out for milkshakes. My brothers were being their normal, bratty selves during the car rides and I was sitting there with my eyes closed thinking of what it will be like returning to school. I doubt this whole situation has gone unnoticed. There will be people talking about it at school. I imagine it being somewhat irritating with all the students asking questions, giving me strange looks in the halls, talking to me,

84 and wanting to sympathise with me about the entire situation. I just hope they leave me alone and let me finish my studies so I can leave the school and move on with my life. I don’t want to be reminded of everything that has happened on a daily basis. That night I didn’t go to get my tea, instead I went to the river and cried for Samantha. I made everything look as though I was alright with the whole situation but deep down inside I was an emotional wreck. I wanted to die just so I didn’t have to deal with the pain of it all, but I was forced to stay alive for my own selfish needs. When I look at the start I can only see Sam and I lying on the Hill, holding hands, and pointing out the consolations and always trying to find the brightest star, aside from the North Star. It would be as easy as jumping in the river and letting the undertow drag me to a watery grave. It seems so easy when I think of it. If I lean too far over the edge I cower away in fear. In fear of what, though? What could I possibly have to live for at this moment in life? I walked around the paths at the park for a while and then went home. While I was lying down in my bed I could hear another voice ranting in my head about what will happen when I go back to school. This voice is telling me to let my conscience go and let it take over. I feel as though I should listen to the voice in the back of my head. “Let me sleep, dammit!” I yelled to myself. I was just too tired to deal with this right now. It seems as though I won’t be getting much sleep with all this noise in my head. I lay there for a few hours before I finally passed out.

85 Some Things Never Change That next morning I was on my way to my bus stop when I realised I was given an absence slip from my doctor stating that I’m not allowed to go to school for three weeks. I stopped to think if my bus driver, of all people, would know about the situation. If I can just get to the school I’ll have no way home so I’ll have to stay the whole day. Maybe I can even get three weeks’ worth of work while I’m there. After five minutes of waiting my bus finally can form around the corner. Based on the speed of the bus, it doesn’t look like she’s stopping to pick me up. I walked closer to the road in hopes she just didn’t see me. She didn’t slow down even a bit and ended up driving right past me. There goes my plan. These next three weeks are going to kill me from the inside. I need to find something to do to keep me from losing my head. I continued walking home when I saw my older brother, Charlie, walking to school. I decided to keep him company on his walk. “Charlie,” I hollered, jogging up to him. He stopped and waited for me to catch up to him. “Aren’t you not supposed to be outside or something?” “Ha-ha, I’m allowed to be outside, I’m just not allowed to go to school.” “Oh, okay.” We walked toward Amherst High, the school he was currently attending his senior year at. “So,” he awkwardly said. “You going to graduate this year or are you doing a fifth year?” “Nah, I’m graduating. I don’t need any extra credits so I’m not staying for a fifth year.” “Cool, cool, cool. Got a girlfriend yet?” He laughed a little and said, “No.” “Aww, come on, man. Why not?” “School is a lot of work, and I can’t afford to focus on anything but my studies right now.” “I’m sure you’ll find someone in college.” It went strangely quiet after that. I think he was a little uncomfortable talking about girls given what just happened to my

86 girlfriend. Finally reaching the front doors of the school an idea struck me like a baseball bat in the back of my head. “See you later, man,” Charlie said as he turned toward the front doors of the school. “Charlie,” I called out, “can you show me the school?” “Uh, I don’t know. I guess I could show you around but you’ll need to get a pass from the office. That is, if they even allow it.” “Awesome.” We walked into the school and down the hall to the main office where three secretaries were busy at work answering phones, filing absent forms, and doing other various secretarial tasks. Charlie walked up and dinged the little bell at the front desk. “Mrs. Nemmin,” he said to the secretary who was already sitting there, “my brother is coming to the school soon but doesn’t know his way around. Can I give him a quick tour?” The old secretary woman pushed her glasses closer to her eyes, looked at him and then went back to writing her paper. He just stood there and waited as if acknowledging her motion as permission. Moments later she ripped a piece of paper out of a notepad and wrote him permission to give me a tour around the school. “Let your first period and second period teachers know you are giving a tour,” she said, giving him the pink slip of paper. “Thanks,” I said as we both walked out of the office. That went better than I had anticipated too. I was expecting to have to sneak in and around the school to get close enough to be able to blend in, but this was just too easy. All I have to do now is find someone I recognize from grade school and I can get an early start on my “project.” My brother gave me a half-ass tour of the school. He only showed me the major classes like the English, math, computer rooms and the gymnasium. The rest of our time was spent lollygagging around the outer perimeter of the school and talking about video games. Just before the ending of the second period came, we bumped into Collin and Gordon, two of my grade-school bullies. Collin had grown a lot since I last saw him. Before he was really small for his age, but now he’s still small, but not as small. Gordon looks beefier. He looks like he has been working out a lot more and

87 also eating a lot more. The sudden change in body fat and muscle indicates that he let his anger get the better of him. I’m willing to bet my life that he has a severe anger disorder and is also skipping anger management classes his mother probably signed him up for. “What the hell, man?!” Gord rudely stated after, clearly, being the ones who bumped into us. “Watch where you’re going. God damn.” “Sorry,” my brother said while being interrupted by Collin. “Rivers?” he questioned. My brother looked at me knowing they weren’t talking to him. “Hey.” I didn’t know what else to say. I wasn’t exactly thrilled to see them in the way it seemed. The only reason I was happy to see them was so I can make use of this glorious opportunity. “Are you finally out of retard school?” he asked jokingly. Though, I don’t think he was joking. “No, it looks like he is having a date with his boyfriend,” Gord said, laughing. “I will be coming here soon.” I’m already annoyed at Gord, and it’s only been a matter of seconds. “And this is my brother Charlie.” “Well, I hope to see you around here soon. This place is a lot of fun when you’re the ones running it. See you later.” Collin and Gord both walked past us and went down the stairs in a rush. “They let kids run the school?” I asked my brother sarcastically. “Those guys are just dicks.” Charlie seemed to be bothered by them. “I wouldn’t pay much attention to them if I were you. Their whole group is just a giant nuisance.” “I know them, brother. They were bad people in grade school, and it looks like nothing has changed, I see.” The bell rang for class change and my brother and I parted ways. Instead of going home I stayed at the school looking for where Collin’s group hangs out, assuming they are still all together. Just from my walk around the school inside and out I could tell that the stone group would be sitting at the benches by the baseball diamond, the nerds and geeks would be at the park across the street sittings on benches in that area, the troublesome students would most likely be grouped at the picnicking area at the back of the park, band geeks would be in the music room, and I would have to guess Collin’s group wouldn’t even be on or near the school at all. I think they would most likely go to the coffee shop down the street and loiter there for about thirty minutes before walking back to the school.

88 I did a quick lap around the outer perimeter of the school to check if my assumption was accurate and it was. After that I quickly made my way to the coffee shop located in the centre of town to see if they were all sitting at the tables. When I got there, to my surprise, they weren’t there. Where could they possibly go that is in range of the school and not many others would go? “The river,” I whispered to myself. That’s it! The river is the only other place they would be able to go if they wanted to make it back to class on time and have a break away from the school. Briskly walking down the street from the coffee shop toward the river, I saw in the distance Ryan and Collin turn the corner and head toward the river. Seems I was right on that one. This is going to be easy since I already know everywhere by the river to stand and walk to avoid them. With this I’ll have the lowest possible chance of being seen by them. Too easy. I kept my distance from them so that they wouldn’t recognize me this far back. The only problem with that was I couldn’t hear what they were talking about, not that it mattered too much. All I need to do is verify that they do, in fact, stay at the river for their lunch break and go back in time for the bell. Everything else I can work around. They finally made it to the river, and I can see the rest of their group sitting on the bench that I normally sit at when I come here at night. It’s funny how things like this all link together so nicely. Bree was sitting on the right side of the bench, Jonny in the middle, with Luca to his left. It was the whole gang in one spot. Only, they were missing Matt. What a shame. I couldn’t help but chuckle a little out loud. Once Collin and Ryan met up with the rest, Ryan and Bree kissed each other on the lips and Jonny got up to give Ryan his spot on the bench. This coupling of Ryan and Bree was odd and rather unexpected. It doesn’t matter, either way; for me, this will only make things more interesting and fun. The five of them got up and walked toward the school. It looks like I was right about the times now. All that’s left is to find a way to separate them from one another. I need them to grow more distant as

89 a group and become less of friends and more of enemies by the time I graduate from Amherst. But how would someone go about executing something like that? I followed them again, still keeping my distance while thinking of a possible way to split them up. I could always try and use Ryan’s relationship with Bree as leverage to split those two apart. That shouldn’t be too hard because men are so easy to attract. Just throw a prettier girl in front of them with similar likes and dislikes, and then they will run right out of their current relationship and into another. I’ve got the perfect girl for that too. Her name is Alexis Mickel. She is a straight-A student, loves baseball, hockey, sports, video games, and FIFA. All these are top likes for Ryan. I’m not sure when the two didn’t get together in the first place. “Unless they did,” I whispered, again, to myself. I guess I didn’t quite think of that. If they had already had a fling, and it ended then that would put a small kink in my plan for them. I’ll have to look into her and see if there was ever a history between the two. Knowing her she keeps a diary on her. She’s order obsessed and wouldn’t trust such a precious article to be out of her reach for too long. As for Collin, Jonny, and Luca, I’m going to have to make them get into a fight over something. Let’s see. Collin and Jonny are technically related. They are step cousins and best friends since they were kids so they will be the most difficult to separate, but Luca, he was new to the group as of grade 7. He may not have fully earned his stripes in their group. If I can eliminate Luca, Ryan, and Bree from the group, then that should be more than enough leverage allowing me to easily execute the project. “Shit.” I can’t get into the school anymore. My brother isn’t there to tour me around and the teachers that monitor the halls when they aren’t teaching a class will surely see me. It looks like I’m stuck making plans for today. I’ll have to try to get back into the school later, unfortunately. I walked home to find my mother waiting at the door, worried that I had disobeyed doctor’s orders and gone to school. I explained to her that I was with Charlie and he was able to give me a tour of the school so I knew where to go when I got transferred there. Relieved

90 that I didn’t go to school, she left the house and went shopping for food since we were running low on bread and milk. I went to my room, meditated for a couple hours, thought up some ways I might be able to split the group up, but failed to come up with anything decent and then did some crime scene scenarios. Nothing more happened until later that night when I was sitting at the coffee shop drinking my tea.

91 Valory “Are you Lex River?” an officer asked, towering over me with his vest on and gun loaded in the holster. I looked up at him from my seat and said, “Rivers, with an S.” “I need you to come with me, please.” He seemed pissed for some reason. I don’t think I did anything illegal—today. I followed him to his squad car, and he asked me to get in the backseat. I refused to go with him and he said that we were only going to the station, which was right across from the street. Yes, a coffee and doughnut shop, right across the street from a police station. I know! “If you want me to go anywhere, you’ll need to give me one of two things,” I said sternly. “One: A warrant and permission from my mother since I’m under eighteen. Or two: a damn good reason.” “I’m not the one who wants to speak to you.” He pulled out a small piece of paper from his pocket and gave it to me. It read, Lex Rivers, Please meet with me at your earliest convenience. This is regarding the Marker scene. Sincerely, Detective Valory Liam “Who’s Valory Liam?” I asked. “She’s some big-shot detective from Windsor,” the officer replied. “She’s currently waiting for you at the station across the street right now.” I looked at him; he opened the door and gave a hand gesture, inviting me to take a seat. “I’ll walk.” I turned around and left him standing there. Ever since my last encounter with an officer, I’ve been a little hesitant when it comes to entering vehicles with people I’m unfamiliar with. I heard him sigh and shut the door.

92 I don’t understand why this Detective Valory wants to see me and how she knows Marker? What if she knows? Is that even possible? No, it can’t be. I cleaned that scene up very well. There’s no way she would have been able to piece everything together—especially this quickly. The officer opened the doors and let me through into the office area of the station. He led me to a back room where Valory was sitting patiently at a desk just waiting for me. I found her posture and attitude a little threatening for some reason. It was like she’s a puppeteer pulling strings on everyone in the station and I was her rogue sideshow. “Lex Rivers, right?” she asked upon my entrance. “And you’re Detective Valory Liam?” I replied with a rhetorical question, which she answered anyway. “Yes, please sit.” I sat down, and the detective left the room, shutting the door behind him. “You don’t like cop cars or do you just like exercise?” “I haven’t had much luck getting into cars with people I don’t know, lately. I’m sure you’d understand given you’ve read everything up to this point.” “Yes, I have and that’s exactly what I want to talk to you about tonight.” One wrong word and I’m out of here. She’s legally not even allowed to be questioning me without parental consent so this gives me the upper hand in the conversation. “What can I do for you?” “Before we begin, I want you to know that I was—” “Marker’s partner and from the overuse of eyeshadow and mascara, I’d say you were also intimate with him, no?” I interrupted. She went silent for a moment and looked puzzled how I knew that. Truth is, I didn’t until she started speaking. I just read her voice and put together the pieces that were laid out for me. With the heavy use of makeup around her eyes anyone can assume she was hiding something. Sorrow and grief in this instance. “Yes.” I think I hit a soft spot by mentioning the intimacy aspect. “Did he talk about us at all before he died?” “No.” I didn’t give her an explanation or anything further, just a simple, blunt no.

93 “Then you’re just as smart as he stated in his reports on you, perhaps smarter.” “I wouldn’t say smart. I can just put puzzles together faster than the average monkey.” “So you know why you’re here, yes?” “Okay, so you want to know how Marker ‘really’ died and also what he was mainly after. Also, you’re probably looking to figure out how he managed to get shot in the back and then in the forehead because no matter how you put the pieces together you can’t figure out why he was shot in the back.” “Ye—” I interrupted her as I was not done speaking, “You also can’t figure out how Samantha died on the first floor of the factory when he was in the room, can you?” “He would never let a civilian get murdered in front of his own eyes. Especially not a pregnant one.” That hit a nerve inside me. “Well, he did. He stood there and just watched her father put a bullet in her head right in front of me. He let her die. He could have saved her, he had a gun at his disposal and the perfect angle to shoot them both from behind, but he didn’t. He didn’t take the shot.” “Please, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to strike a nerve there.” She seemed genuinely sorry so I calmed down and let her continue, “What I’m after here are answers for what really happened. You and I both know the scene reports are bullshit and don’t make any sense.” “But the media still buys it.” “Please, tell me.” She pulled out a recorder and clicked the red Record button. I leaned over, turned it off, and whispered to her, “Marker let her die and was about to let me die too. For what, though? I don’t know.” “Your so-called girlfriend was the daughter of Ontario’s largest crime lord. He was into heavy-arms dealings all across Canada and large-scale drug dealings. Marker was after a confession from him.” “And look, he got the confession he wanted. He went too deep in the shark tank and got bit on the way down. If I were you, I wouldn’t try digging up a grave. You’ll only end up where he is.” I slipped. I shouldn’t have said that last part.

94 She stopped and looked at me for a solid minute. I think she was trying to process what I said. I just hope she doesn’t process the way I was thinking. “That is all, Mr. Rivers, and thank you for talking to me tonight.” She held out her hand to shake and drew back. “Right, germaphobe, sorry.” Shit. I think she caught on. I have to be extremely careful now. “Likewise.” I smiled at her and left the police station then headed home. “Idiot!” I said to myself when I got to the river. “You fucked up bad. How can we get out of this mess?” I paced and circled the pathways along the river for about an hour talking to myself the whole time. “I have to watch my back every day, every night, all the time. No exceptions.” “What about school?” I paused. “That’s it!” An idea struck me. “I can use the school as not only a safeguard from police but also an alibi. I’ll have to join some clubs and committees but I can definitely work around this major fuckup.” If I join the band, that will get me a morning alibi, which is when I can use the Student Yearbook Committee as my alibi until school is over. With classes in between, I’ll always have someone next to me or within sight range of me. All I have to do from there is find gaps between, which I can sneak out or somehow trigger events during the times I am at one of these clubs to make it look like I was never at a scene. “I can do this—wait, no. We can do this.” I could feel a sudden surge of energy running through my body and it felt incredible. Almost like watching electricity strike the ground close to you. It sends that surge of adrenaline rushing through you because it was so close to where you stand. As for this detective, I’m forced to not do anything to her for at least one year, possibly two. I’m walking on eggshells until then. That night I dreamed about her again. My body was flushed and my mind was at ease. I didn’t want the feeling to end, but I knew, in the

95 back of my thoughts during this dream, that I would wake up at any moment. My dearest Samantha, I will not let this go unnoticed. I felt like I tripped over something and jumped awake, my body no longer feeling flushed and my mind now filled with a rush of thoughts and voices. I turned over to see the time only to find my clock unplugged. I must have knocked it out of the wall in my sleep. Without a second thought, I rolled out of bed and grabbed the towel hanging on the rack beside my bed so I could go take a shower. What I did not expect to see when I walked upstairs only wearing my pyjama pants was Detective Valory sitting at my kitchen table with my mother, drinking coffee. “Valory,” I said surprised, “what brings you here at this time of morning?” “Alexander!” my mother exclaimed disapprovingly. “Address her properly!” “It’s quite all right, Mrs. Rivers,” she said. “We’ve already been acquainted.” “The detective here was just telling me about how she and the other detective, Marker, were working on a case,” Mother explained. “He’s the same man who saved you at that factory, right?” “Uh yeah, he was,” I lied. “I’d like to have a word with you if you can, Lex?” Valory seemed a little happy saying that. Could she possibly have figured something out already? “Yeah, just let me get a shirt on before I end up poking someone’s eye out,” I joked. She actually blushed and laughed a little at that one. When I got back upstairs, my mother was cleaning up the table and told me Valory was outside on the back deck. At least my mother isn’t going to be able to eavesdrop on this conversation. I opened the door and saw Valory sitting at the glass table we have outside with another chair pulled up in front of her. On the table was a portfolio labelled “Classified.” After I sat down, she told me to open the portfolio and review the papers inside. It was filled with files of various drug deals, arms deals, murders, and various other criminal acts. “I’m assuming this is what Marker was working on, ya?” I said, seemingly uninterested.

96 “Yes, this was everything he worked on for the last three years.” She seemed upset a little now. “Why are you showing me this?” There’s one file specifically I want to show you in there. It has to do with a missing child, presumed dead a year after he went missing. His name was Matthew Holkman.” I had to try my best not to look like I know anything. I took a deep breath in and said, “I remember him. I went to school with the kid.” “Yes, and I’m sure you’re aware he wasn’t the nicest kid on the playground, right?” “He was a little unfriendly to people, yeah. But what does Marker’s case have to do with him?” “You don’t know?” I looked at her, stumped, and shook my head. “No.” “He was Samantha’s cousin.” Holy crap. I killed her father, uncle, and two of her cousins. I’m really making a habit of this, aren’t I? “I would never have guessed. To be honest, I wouldn’t have guessed she was even related to any of her family that I’ve encountered.” “Funny you mention that. It seems that every family member you have ever encountered, of her, has died. How would you go about explaining that?” “I wouldn’t. The only thing I could say that would come remotely close to explaining that is that this entire situation was one huge series of unfortunate events that just so happen to lead to the death of just about her entire family.” “If you asked me, I’d say everything was connected. Just like Marker said to me two weeks before he died.” “What do you mean?” “He and I were working on this investigation together, for the most part. He mentioned that you were always to be found when the bodies started to pile up and that you always had the perfect alibi or reason to be where you were.” “Seems legit if you ask me.” “Yes, that’s exactly why he pointed his finger at you. You figured if he could get you and Samantha in the same room together that you would tell her everything. He basically wanted to trick a confession out of you and make you admit to killing her family members off.”

97 “I do admit it. I killed her uncle Tom and her cousin Tommy, and it was purely in self-defence.” “What about Matthew?” “I knew him, that’s all. He was a bully in school, so I feel no remorse for his death.” “You know, ever since Marker got closer to finding you, he grew more and more worried for his life. I want to know why.” “I would too. Honestly, I didn’t even know I had someone investigating me all these years. It’s kind of creepy.” “He never made many detailed notes about you, which I find strange since he was so hard-core on his notes and organisation. With every day he got closer to you, he grew farther away from me and more paranoid.” “Sounds like he might have bigger issues to deal with than following a kid, don’t you think? You might just be overthinking this or looking at it the wrong way.” “No, I’m certain. He was afraid of you for some reason. It’s just hard to believe that he was. I can’t see anything wrong with you, to be honest. You actually seem like a very decent and well-raised boy.” “Well, thank you. You’re very good-looking yourself.” She was flattered by the compliment and blushed again. “Look, I’m not saying you are intentionally going around killing off school bullies and drug lords, but I just want to clarify everything before this case gets fully closed.” “So what you’re saying is the case is closing, but you don’t want it to. Am I right?” She looked down at the files and face palmed. I could tell she was about to cry so I got up and stepped over to her. I reached over and put my hand on her shoulder and leaned in for a hug. It was really awkward since she is about thirty years old, and I’m only seventeen, but it had to be done. I feel like I am slowly gaining her trust here. After a long, awkward hug and a few tears shed onto my shirt, she finally stopped. “I know it seems like everything points at me, I see it just as you do here, but pointing fingers at people that are coincidentally always there is definitely not the approach to take. I can clearly see how you would think it is me, but I can’t be the one. First, where would I hide a body in this town? There’s absolutely nowhere to go without someone looking out their window at you. Also, I didn’t even know they

98 were related until just a few moments ago when you told me. Tom and Tommy were just a couple of angry people that must have figured out that Samantha was pregnant with my child, which would explain why she called me apologising before they broke down my door. And her sociopathic mother and father didn’t exactly give me the warmest of welcomes to their family, either.” “It’s just so hard without him here.” “I know, but it will get better. Just know he died a hero. If he was so scared of me, then it makes me wonder why he took a bullet to the back for me.” “He did?” “Yes, he did. After he shot Liora, Aldo turned his gun on me because he knew that Marker was protecting me. Marker jumped in front and took the bullet to save me. He handed me a shiv before he fell to the ground, and when Aldo walked up to him and shot him in the head, I plunged the shiv into his throat. The only thing is, those Italians apparently have two lives or something because he was still standing after I stabbed him. Aldo shot me twice at point-blank, once in the chest and once just above my kidney. I’m lucky he’s a poor shot or I’d be dead, too.” She whipped away her tears and smiled. “You know, maybe you’re right.” That’s it?! That was all I had to say? I could have just made up a bull shit story and given that to her the other night and this whole meeting wouldn’t have happened? “If he were here today, I’d shake his hand,” I said, chuckling. She laughed and grabbed all the files off the table then put them back into the portfolio. “Lex,” she said, standing up, “it was a pleasure meeting you.” “Likewise,” I replied, holding out my hand to her. She shook my hand. “I would never have guessed in the daytime you would be such a gentleman. I hope to never have to see you again like this.” “You take care now, Detective.” She walked down the deck and took the side gate to the front yard. After I saw her get into her car and drive away, I went inside, took my shower, went to my bedroom, and slept the entire day. I have won.

99

100 Transcript After the most exciting victory I’ve ever experienced, I decided to take a couple days off and relax for a bit. I played some video games with my brothers, watched a few movies, and drank a lot of tea. During this time, I was able to sort of rethink my approach at Amherst. I also realised that by watching Collin and his group any longer that I will no longer make any progress. If I watch them for this semester, it will only be changed in the new coming year. I double-checked their current addresses with the ones I wrote in my journal from previous years ago and the only person that moved was Luca. Though, he moved closer to my current home so that’s just a bonus. When the ending of the three week finally arrived I was psyched to get back to school. I’m going to have to work my ass off in order to catch up on all the missed work to boost my grade high enough for the transfer to Amherst. While reviewing my current grades for school, I noticed that I’ve been ahead of the entire school since I started. It seems I’m holding the highest grade point average for the school since Lauren Kane was here in 1993. I can only assume Mrs. Pacco wants to keep me at the school for that very reason. I won’t let her ruin my plans, though. I won’t let anyone ruin my project. It’s Sunday, February 1, I go back to school on Monday. Finally. When I get to school, I’m going to have to request that I be transferred out the following Monday. There is absolutely no reason they should be able to deny me this transfer since I can now pull out the “trauma card.” I’ll just state that I am too traumatised to continue my studies at the school and they will have no other option but to transfer me to Amherst. If they deny me this access then I’ll have to find some sort of incriminating information on Mrs. Pacco. I just need enough to blackmail her into doing it. I remember hearing some rumours at the school that she was having sexual relations with students. I never thought them to be true, but if they are, then that is exactly what I’ll need to get this transfer. Besides, I’ll probably be able to identify any students she would be having any sort of relationship with just by walking in the halls. Whoever gives her the most uncomfortable look is clearly guilty.