The Day Hope was Murdered

Prologue

// Prologue \\

"Are you sure this will work?" little Hope asks excitedly.

It's afternoon, the sun shines heavily down on the picture-perfect family as they stand in their spacious yard. Flowers bloom and the sounds of the birds chirping are as clear as day.

Little 6-year old Hope smiles up at her father with a glint in her eyes.

"Yes. I did it when I was your age and that's how this big willow tree came about. It started out as a little branch that your grandfather got off of his father's willow tree. He hands Leila the scissors. "Hope, Leila, all we need for you two to have your own willow tree is a branch. Each of you cut off just one. I'll help you."

Jumping up and down, Hope grabs her twin sister's hand and pulls her towards the nearest branch. With the help of their father, Leila cuts her branch off and then hands the scissors to her sister.

"Don't cut your hand off!" Leila squeals as the branch finally breaks free like a bird breaking free from its nest for the first time.

Hope, always curious and eager to know more, asks "What do we do now? How do we plant them? Why did we cut two off? Are we making two trees?"

"Calm down. Calm down. We have to be careful so that we do this correctly." Their father scolds them. "It's very simple actually. All we have to do is dig a hole where we want to plant the tree. Then we'll put both of your branches in the same hole. Usually only one of the branches turns into a tree. That's why we need to plant two. Just in case. Weeping Willow trees grow rather quickly and before you know it, your tree will be taller than-"

Leila interrupts "Taller than me and Hope combined? And you and Mommy too?"

"Yes, Leila. Even taller than that. And soon, it can be your guys' hideout from the world. When you're under it, nobody will be able to see you, just like how that one over there is."

"Ooh!! I love playing under that tree! Now we'll have two of them to play under, Hope. One for me and one for you. We can share them!"

"I'm so excited!" Hope exclaims, "Where are we putting it?"

"How about we plant it right by the river? We don't want it too close to the other one, and it'll grow faster if it has lots of water," states their father. Turning to his wife who just has just stepped outside, he pulls her into his embrace and brushes his lips across hers. Light as a feather.

Nearly dropping the tray of lemonade and cookies in her hands, she chuckles "How's that tree planting going? I've brought some treats for you. Hope. Leila."

"What about me? Don't I get some?" The man next to her whines playfully.

Winking, she takes a chocolate-chip cookie from the tray and stuffs it between his lips.

"Mmmmm!! Best thing I've ever tasted!" he leans in to his wife's ear. "Well, apart from your lips. Those are definitely one hundred times better." He nips her ear and pulling away, winks back at her.

"Mommy! Daddy said that this little branch is gonna grow into a huge tree tomorrow! Taller than you and me and Hope and daddy all together! Isn't that crazy?" Leila's grin takes over her entire face.

Her mother smiles, "Yes, honey, that is crazy! How about you finish your snack so we can go plant it?"

Five minutes later, with the cookies and every last drop of lemonade gone, the happy family heads towards the river with a shovel and the two branches in tow. They dig a hole, and Hope places her branch in the hole, Leila does the same. They fill the hole back up, packing the earth down tightly.

"Yay! We're done!" Leila jumps into her father's arms.

Staring at the ground where the branches are sticking up, Hope inquires, "So, they'll just turn into a tree? Just like that? Like magic?"

"If you water it every day, and take good care of it, it will." Her mother smiles.

Hope yet again grabs Leila's small hand, "C'mon!" she shouts. "We have to get water so the magic can happen!"

Hope and Leila run towards the house, and once they're safely inside and out of sight, the twin's mother turns to her husband with a frown on her face. "I believe you owe me something for stealing my cookie." 

He glances down at her lips. After taking a step closer, grabbing her waist and pulling her towards him, he places his forehead against hers. Their lips a breath away. He goes in, but she turns her head and instead of lip-to-lip as he anticipated, it is lip-to-cheek. "There. Favor paid," he says.

Her eyes smile, "You know how much work was put into those cookies? Much more than a few seconds." Her eyes glance around him to see her daughters running towards them with a cup of water. Looking back at her husband, she says "That was nothing in comparison." She steps out of his hold.

Under his breath, he mutters, "Well if you hadn't of turned your cheek . . ." He trails off and then a wicked grin forms on his face. "You know what? I'll repay you in full later tonight. Pinky promise." He reaches out his pinky.

"Oh hush." She slaps his hand away and turns so he can't see her blush.

Hearing the sound of panting, they turn towards their two children who are now watering the branches with two little drinking cups. They laugh. "You'll need a bit more water than that. Your mommy has something called a watering can that you can use. Me or her will have to help you with it because it's heavy. But that's enough water for today. Let's go inside."

"Okay." The twins say in unison.

"Thanks for helping us make this tree Daddy. Oh, and you too Mommy. Thank you for the treats. I love you both more than everything!" Little Hope gives them each a hug.

Leila reciprocates. "Yeah! Thanks! I'm so excited for when our willow tree becomes giant!"

Walking towards the house, little Hope and Leila hand-in-hand, wife and husband, hand-in-hand, it's your picture-perfect family. Running ahead, Leila grabs a tulip from her mother's garden and gives it to her sister with a smile on her face. A smile on all of their faces. They step inside, leaving the weeping willow trees outside.

At the end of the night, if you walked into the backyard, you would see little Hope and Leila whispering and playing together underneath the original willow tree. And then if you happened to go into the house as well, you would hear their father, repaying their mother for the cookie he stole.

-

Throughout the years, the willow trees grew faster than the two girls. Yes, the willow trees, as in two, plural. Turns out that both of the branches grew so one tree is hanging over the river while the other hangs in the other direction. Attached. As one. The relationship between the twins grew stronger every day--best friends forever--and they became ever closer, so so close, that nobody could tear them apart.

Until one fateful night, when Hope lost all sense of her name. When she lost all hope.

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Be honest with me. Did you like this at all?

It took me longer than I thought it would to write. I seriously admire all those writers out there now. Like WOW, it's a lot of work! I'm happy with it though.

And please vote if you liked this at all. I will be dedicating chapters to people who comment.Thank you so much for reading! I love you more than I love cheesecake. And I really love cheesecake... Especially chocolate and caramel cheesecake;)

<3 Ashlyn

Dedicated to my favorite person ever @CookiePhoenix Thank you so much for all your encouragement and thank you for being honest.