LITR 3731 Creative Writing 2006

Mary Bel Garza

October 9, 2006

The Past

Chapter 1

It was late at night and for the second time she heard  a knock at the door. She never answered the door in the evening unless she was expecting someone. Her neighborhood was too dark and she was alone with her son. She peeked out the blinds and could not see anyone. Her son slept in the back room so luckily he had not been woken up. She was afraid but  would never let him know that. It was 2am when she heard banging again. However this time the banging echoed around the house as if their was someone at every side of the house. She knew now someone was taunting her, someone was playing games.

Chapter 2

The next day.

It was Sunday afternoon church had long been over and everyone was at Mom’s house for a BBQ. “When is Rona and Gerald getting here?” “You know Rona she is always late.” “Yeah, but this time she’s bringing potato salad and we are hungry.” “Is Melvin in town?” “No, he is still out at sea working.” Rona‘s answering machine “please leave a message after the beep”, beep. “Rona its Mom, where are you? All the food is ready and we’re waiting on you to eat. I’ll try calling your cell.” “Thanks for calling Rona Thompson please leave a message.” “Rona it’s still Mom, waiting on you, please call back.” After a couple of hours Rona’s parents started to get really worried. “We better go see them, I know she is always late, but she always checks in.” They arrived at the house and saw her car door open. Mom walked up the drive way to the car and dropped the leftover food plates and screamed in horror.

Chapter 3

Earlier Sunday morning.

It had been a long night and Melvin had just showered off all the sticky oil from his skin. He felt like a new man, but not new enough to work a second shift. He turned down the overtime today because he was just too tired. He called his home for his usual 6am wake up call to his family. No one answered the phone he assumed his wife was in the shower so he left a message, “Good morning beautiful, how was your night? I’ll call back in thirty minutes.” Melvin decided to eat his breakfast. After thirty minutes he called for the second time and still no answer, he began to wonder, speaking to his family before bed time was his routine and daily serenity. He didn’t leave a message because the line cut off, he knew this meant the supply helicopter was approaching the oil rig. “Hey Melvin the supplies is landing and we need a third hand to unload.” Melvin knew he should have gone to bed, if you were caught awake after your shift, you would be asked to help with something else. It was 4pm when Melvin was called into the office, they were still working on off loading the supplies and he felt like he needed a second shower, he thought what could they possibly want now, I just want to sleep. As he walked into the office his supervisor said you have an emergency phone call. Instantly he knew something was wrong. He picked up the phone and heard sobbing on the other line, “what’s happened?” “I don’t know we just got here, Rona is in her car dead and little Gerald is in his bedroom also dead. Oh Melvin I don’t know what has happened here, I am so sorry to call and tell you this horrible news. The police are on their way, please come home!” Melvin dropped the phone.

Chapter 4

Deana opened her eyes and felt horrible after her experience the night before. She knew she had drank too much and couldn‘t believe she was here again. Especially since she had just woken from a horrible nightmare that left her shaken. She went to her restroom and couldn’t even bring herself to wash up she went straight for the tub and soaked for hours. Finally she dragged herself from her bath and went downstairs for food. As she sat down fixing to bite into her Cocoa Puffs cereal she saw the screen on her TV and could not believe her eyes. She frantically looked for the remote to turn up her volume. The news reporter said the neighborhood is shocked by the deaths of a mother and child from the night before. This had never happened before and no one seems to understand the tragic deaths. Deana knew instantly her nightmare was for real. She was scared and shocked and did not know what to do. She called Josh and said, “What the hell did we do last night?” “What are you talking about?” “Have you seen the news?” “Do you think I watch the news?” “Did we really hurt those people?” “Look, Deana I do not know what you are trying to pull off but we are not having this conversation over the phone!” Within minutes Deana was in her car speeding to Josh’s house. As she forced her way through the mess and odor in his home she remembered why she had decided five years before not to hang around this punk anymore. She barged into his bedroom, “What did we do to those people last night?” “They deserved it, it got way out of hand that lady should have never aimed that gun at me!” Deana sat in a daze, her blood dropped to her feet, this is by far the worst feeling she had ever felt.

Chapter 5

Melvin was transported by the supplies helicopter to land and took a cab to his home. As he arrived he saw officers, yellow caution tape, and ambulances. He walked into his house and saw his in-laws sitting on the couch sobbing and crying in shock. Melvin just fell to his knees and cried. “Mr. Thompson can you please sit down, we need to talk.” He heard a voice at a distance. He could not talk he know his wife and son were gone. He didn’t want to know how, just why. After hours passed he sat in his living room with a detective and was asked, “Do you know who would want to kill your wife and son?” “Of course not. My wife and son were very much loved wonderful people, we know all of our neighbors, did anyone see anything?” “No sir the only neighbor you have is three miles away and they heard absolutely nothing.” “How were they killed?” “Your wife was shot in her car, it seems she tried to fight, your son was shot in his bedroom.” “How long had you owned a gun?” “Oh my God, did they get killed with our gun?” “Yes, Mr. Thompson, I am so sorry I know this is difficult but we have no leads and need some information.” “We have had our gun for six years, and have never even fired it. I didn’t even know it still worked.” “Is it registered?” “No detective it is not.” “Again do you know who could have done this.” “No.”

Chapter 6

Deana got home and went straight to bed. She just wanted to sleep, wanted to forget everything that had happened. Her parents were starting to suspect she was using drugs and alcohol again and decided to question her. “Deana, please wake up and come downstairs.” “Dad, I am really not in the mood for lectures, please just let me sleep.” “It won’t take long, just come downstairs or we will come up here to you.” She dragged herself out of bed and thought what would her parents think to know she had really over done it this time. She had after five years of being sober, relapsed for one night and really gone too far. This is why she had stopped the abusive behavior because she was afraid of her own self when she lost control. Having too many blackouts not remembering what she did. She had been raped more then once and had been hurt too many times to continue her destructive behavior. She feared she would end up dead but never thought she would kill. She went downstairs, scared, crying before her foot hit the last step. It was too much she could not handle what had happened it all came back to clear now and she could not hold it in. She sobbed like an eight year child instead of eighteen. Her parents did not know what to think, Deana’s mom held her, and cried with her. After Deana could speak she told her parents the whole truth. Her parents called their lawyer and sadly told him what happened. Deana, her parents, and lawyer went the local police station to confess.

Chapter 7

Late that evening, Melvin did not want to stay in his house and found himself sitting at his in-laws kitchen. The detective knocked at the door and asked to speak to him alone. Melvin replied, “I cannot handle this alone please whatever you have to say can be said in front of my family.” “Why didn’t you tell us about your past?” “What past?” “Mr. Thompson, why did you not tell us of your child molestation conviction?” “Detective, I am not a convicted child molester!” “Mr. Thompson we looked up your name on the computer files you are listed as a registered sex offender.” “When I was eighteen years old, I had sex with my fifteen year old girlfriend. Her parents hated me and pressed charges against me since she was a minor. I was never convicted, I pleaded no contest, and was given deferred adjudication. However since all of these stupid laws have changed I am now expected to register, along with other perverts that have hurt innocent children and rapist. I have fought that but could no longer continue the fight. You cannot beat the state of Texas! What does this have to do with my wife and child being killed?” “Did your wife know about your past?” “Yes, she knew, her family knew from the beginning. Especially since I would have to be registering as a sex offender.” “You were the one the killers were after. Apparently, it was two men and a women that decided they did not want registered sex offenders living in there neighborhood. They saw your name on the Texas registry along with your address recognized you by the picture and were going to your house to scare you. However as it turns out you weren’t home but your innocent family was. Your wife pulled the gun to protect herself but it was used on her instead.” Melvin cried and cried. His past still after eleven years continued to haunt him. When would it ever end. It was his biggest fear, his innocent family would be hurt by a stupid mistake from his past. 

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