The Beginning of the End

Chapter eleven, Fight or flight

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My sister and I had been walking through our relatively peaceful neighborhood. The sun was high in the sky, beating down on us in waves of heat even though it had been the middle of September.

We were let out of school early that day, that tragic day I look back on, remembering how naive I had been.

We were let out because supposedly strange creatures had been appearing randomly around the world, but specifically in our area. Everyone thought that it was just a rumor that was spreading around the internet. Some even thought it was a prank that a couple careless teenagers had set up. But just for safety, the schools released us early that day, even though they were almost positive all of the commotion was nothing to worry about.

I had picked my sister up from her elementary school moments ago. My mother had called me on my phone, letting me know that I needed to get Willow. My mother was very brief, but from everything I had collected out of our short conversation was that my father was in some sort of trouble at work, and she had to go get him.

I wasn't too surprised, my father was often doing things that he shouldn't. Sometimes it frightened me, the things he did. It was never anything illegal, but at times the messes he got himself into were close to being so.

I assumed he got into a fight with his co-worker or something like that. Whether it was physical or verbal was a mystery to me.

I glanced down at my sister. Today our mother had put two long french braids in Willow's hair before we went off to school. She was wearing her usual; a forest green dress with little yellow and white daisies embroidered around the bottom hem and around the high neckline. At the time, my sister had been obsessed with dresses, specifically the ones my Nana would make for Willow in her spare time. If I'm correct, the dress she was wearing was one my Nana made for Willow's eighth birthday.

I looked forward. We were walking on the unkept, cracked sidewalk. I could see weeds beginning to grow through the crevices. Cars were parked on the curb beside us. I didn't know why, but the cars sandwiching us between them and the lawns of strangers made me feel claustrophobic.

Not too far ahead of us I could see a few classmates of mine walking to their homes at a sluggish pace, one of them I recognized as Haylee with her black backpack and straight shoulder length hair.

I thought about catching up to her so we could walk together, but I soon decided otherwise. Ever since her father and sisters passed away a few weeks ago she had been acting strange. I figured I would give her some space for a while, even though I hated being away from her.

Our relationship was weird. We had crushes on each other for the longest time, but we were never anything more than friends. Haylee said she didn't ever want to be more than just friends. I guess that was for the best.

After letting myself get sucked into my thoughts, I looked down at my sister once more, smiling a little at her grinning face. "Happy to be out of school?" I asked her. I already knew what her answer would be.

"Yes!" She exclaimed happily, wiping a loose strand of hair out of her face. "I promised mom I would help her make dinner tonight. We're having pizza!"

Honestly, I agreed with her. Going to school was never something I looked forward to.
We were out of school early and having pizza for dinner? I felt like I had won the lottery, or so I thought.