The cluster
of Loblolly pines stood dignified as the roosting bluebirds struggled to settle
on its branches. They chirped in a singsong tune. The juniors huddled on the
lower branches whilst the elders fluttered their cobalt blue wings and hovered
over the gushing river below. The chilly water cascaded and lapped against the
rocks and boulders, gently polishing them. Yet somehow, the bottle green moss
had managed to grip on and create a blanket over them.
Millie
watched the jovial family of squirrels chasing one after another, playing hide
and seek. Meanwhile the white mice scuttled about the gooseberry bushes. Her
attention was undivided until the pleasant smell of blueberry pie wafted into
her nose from a nearby cottage. Her eyes were then glued to a clumsy duck with
her brood on tow. Oh, how they reminded her of her own family.
Sundays.
Every Sunday, her mom would drag the whole family to church and her blueberry
pie was the only reason she would drag herself out of bed. ‘How was I to know
that would be the last words I would tell her?’ Millie tormented herself with
remorse. Anyway, how was she to know? She was just being a nineteen year old
brat who wanted to join her friends for a getaway.
“I hate
you!” Millie recalled her parting words to her mom, furious as she stepped out
and slammed the front door. How she wished she could erase those words. She
couldn’t understand it. She was barely gone for half an hour to ease her nerves
by taking a walk around the neighborhood. How could it have happened so fast?
She still could remember hearing
the sirens and walking back home. Amidst the flashing lights of the patrol car,
policemen and the paramedics were rushing in and out. The gruesome sight of her
whole family brutally murdered and scattered around the house was etched in her
memory. If only she could turn back time.
She knew she had to be careful.
Whoever did this would want to finish the job. For now, her best friend’s
summer home was her only place of refuge.
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