Him

Alex looked at the calendar before him. Three years, it had been three years since his little sister was murdered. Who the hell would murder a six year old child, especially as innocent as Melissa? He walked back to his bed, reaching under it to retrieve the scrapbook he had made dedicated completely to her. He ran his hand across the pink hard cover. Three letters, Mel, her nickname. Each one decorated in inviting colors and patterns. He opened the cover, revealing  a picture of himself standing beside his pregnant mother, pregnant with Mel. The next picture was the day she was born, his father, mother, himself and tiny fragile and ever so innocent Melissa crowded together. One photograph after another, the zoo, picnics in the park, the baseball game their grandfather had taken them to, summers at the lake, and every birthday. Each photograph captured a memory he had taken for granted, a memory he wanted to relive. Not only that, he wanted to change things, save his sister. He kept himself up for hours thinking about it, wishing he could’ve been there, only resting with the conclusion that he too would be dead, and though it might be better than being haunted by the looming sadness that was never far away from him since she died, he thought about how much more it would have crushed his parents. They had lost a big piece of themselves when she died, and Alex knew it, despite every fake smile they offered, despite anything they could possibly say, and it was saddening to watch his parents live like that. He drug himself from the haunting thought and slipped the scrapbook into his schoolbag before joining his parents downstairs. “Chocolate chip pancakes”, he mother announced. Alex nodded “Mel’s favorite”. His mother sighed at the remark and embraced him in a hug. “I know it’s hard, especially today, but she’ll never be gone, she’s in our hearts, now go, before you miss the bus”. He debated asking if he really had to go today, but he knew the answer, unless you were burning up or vomiting, you were going. He slug his backpack over his shoulder as he went out the door, mulling over his mother’s words for a moment. She had said the same thing they all do, but not because she didn’t understand or share the pain. Mel was gone, and she knew it, and as for Alex’s heart, he knew for a fact she wasn’t in there, or it would have been full of energy and happiness and not the emptiness that   took permanent residence ever since that horrible day. He’d never forget what he saw that day when Tyler’s parents pulled up to the house crawling with police and paramedics, dragging a tiny body bag out past his  teary-eyed mother. He had been so blind to everything that had happed that day if only for a moment. In a way he craved that blissful ignorance now, but all innocence in their normal, happy family had died on this date, exactly three years ago. He climbed up the bus steps greeted by Tyler, his best friend for as long as he could remember. They made conversation, as Tyler tried his best to hide his knowing glances but other than that they did their best to ignore the silence that hung in the air between them. When they finally arrived at the school, Tyler put a firm hand on Alex’s shoulder. “Hey man, if you need me at all today just text, I remembered to put it on vibrate this morning”. Alex smiled halfheartedly “Thanks Ty”, he replied, as they made their way into the school. Later in English, he found himself looking at the final page of the scrapbook, Mel’s funeral. “Who’s that?”, came a curious voice from behind. It belonged to Victoria Marks. “My sister, she was murdered three years ago today”, he found himself saying, despite how much he wanted to pretended he didn’t hear her and slip the display of haunted memories back into his bag. “How old was she?”, she asked. “Six.”, Alex replied, looking to the floor. Suddenly he noticed several eyes in the class had fallen upon him. He didn’t like this attention, the sympathy that at times seemed almost forced, he didn’t want sympathy, he wanted revenge, but he could never let his parents know he thought like that. “Alex!”, Victoria called from behind him. He turned to face her but said nothing. He was tempted to keep walking, but something about Victoria had always been appealing to him, different from everyone else somehow. “I know you’ve probably  heard this a million times before but I know exactly how you feel, my mother was killed when I was really little”, She confessed. Alex was shocked that she would share such a secret, but she was right, she did know how he felt. “I don’t have to be home until later, if you’re free we could take a shortcut through the park”, She suggested. “Yeah”, Alex said, “That’d be nice”. He felt a bit weird saying that but after all he really didn’t want to be alone that day, and despite how he tried, Tyler was not much help. They must have walked the trail at least three times before sitting down to rest. “Can I tell you something?”, she asked him sincerely. Alex nodded, curious about her following words. “It’s just that, you’ve listened to every detail of my story sincerely and I’ve honestly never had anyone care so much”, she confessed as she looked sincerely over at him. “I guess it’s just because I’ve been there too”, he said. Victoria looked as if  she was searching for words, but to Alex’s surprise, she kissed him. “Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry!”, she gasped. “No, no”, Alex insisted, and kissed her in reply. She embraced him in a hug and Alex couldn’t remember a time since Mel had died that the emptiness in his heart faded, if only a little. That day sparked the beginning of an understanding, loyal relationship. Weeks later, they made their way up the path to the cemetery, cold breaths escaping from their mouths. “You sure you still want to do this?”, Alex questioned, “It’s kind of chilly out here”. “I’m a big girl Alex, I’ll be fine, besides, I want to meet her”, she replied. The two made their way to the shiny, white stone engraved with the words Melissa Jane McCarthy followed by a numbers, numbers that symbolized an incredibly short life. Victoria stepped forward, placing pink roses at the foot of the grave. “Your brother has told me so much about you,” she said nervously. Just then, his cell phone rang, braking the tension. “Hello?”, Alex said. “You miss her don’t you Alex?”, he obviously disguised voice taunted. “Who the hell are you, how do you know my sister?” he all but screamed into the phone. “Let’s just say we’ll be meeting real soon, because you next!”  The voice scowled. “Not If I find you first!”, Alex screamed in reply, but it was too late, the utter dial tone that the call was ended filled his ears. He looked around angrily before Victoria had got his attention. “Don’t do anything stupid”, she begged, “I’d be destroyed if anything happened to you, you’re the only one who really bothered to care about me and I can’t lose that now” she went on. “Shh”, Alex said, embracing her in a hug, “I won’t do anything, we’ll go home and have my parents call the police when they get back from work, they can track the call, other than that, I promise, I’m staying out of it”. She embraced him in a thankful hug and later they sat flipping through a box of scrapbooks Alex had made. Something pink caught Victoria’s eye and once she knew what it was she looked over at Alex. “You know I still didn’t get to see all of this one. Do you mind if I look?”, she asked. “By all means”, he said. Alex went on describing the memories on every page and Victoria listened as if she were a young child at story time curled up beside him. It was then than she had finally got q good look at the final page of the scrapbook. She starred at the newspaper add with a photograph in horror. “Vicky, what is it?” Alex asked. “I have something I need to do”, she said as she ran out the door. She snuck past the drunken monster that she called a father. How could she have been so blind? She was being raised by a murderer. All the pieces fell into place in black in white on that newspaper page. That man, her father had killed Alex’s sister, was threatening his life, and worst of all, had killed his wife, Victoria’s mother six years ago. Memories came flooding back, but she pushed them away, dashing upstairs to retrieve what she needed,  her father’s gun. She dashed down the stairs and through the kitchen in tears. Noticing a ribbon that read Father of the year. She remembered giving it to him years ago. She tore the ribbon from the fridge. Her father turned around in his chair. “Father of the year?” she questioned sarcastically, “Yeah, in hell”, she finished before pulling the trigger. The horrified look of his final moments stained her memory for a while, especially through the trials, but she thought of her mother and poor little Melissa and got over that all too quickly. A monster like that didn’t deserve sympathy. No charges befell upon her, for obvious reasons of Corse.  Alex greeted her in a hug and held out a wrapped box out to her. “What’s the occasion?”, she smiled, tearing the carefully wrapped paper gently. Under it was a scrapbook, only one page, revealing a picture of the couple, decorated in elegant designs was finished. Victoria looked up at him in awe. “A new beginning”, came his answer. She brought him close and kissed him. “To a new beginning”, she agreed.

Reviews

[Cookie]

Wow. This caught my attention for sure! I was not expecting that ending at all. I loved this.

My only advice would be, split it up into paragraphs, instead of one large chunk of text. It would make it a bit more easy to follow.