Undiscovered

I used to be happy. When I was little I would always sing and dance in our front yard, as if I was putting on a show. I remember one time my parents came outside and acted like I was a famous popstar. My parents gave me big sunglasses to wear and even went as far as asking for my autograph, which I gladly gave them. I was eight-years old and I was so happy that I smiled in my sleep, I mean I had everything I could ever want, friends, a roof over my head and two parents that adored me. I was naive though, and little did I know that my life was slipping away, and there was nothing I could do to stop it. Nothing. By my ninth birthday I started to notice changes in my parents, they weren’t as happy or romantic as they used to be. They used to have date nights, sing, dance and laugh as if no one was watching, but now they never go out or sing and dance like they used to . By my tenth birthday they got divorced and things continued to spiral downward from there, mom picked up a bad habit of drinking too much and my dad soon followed in her footsteps. Oh but that’s nothing, just wait until I tell you the rest. It was the morning of my tenth birthday party and I was laying on the couch pretending to be asleep while listening to my parents argue about something so stupid it’s not even worth mentioning. Yes, my parents were divorced and still living in the same house, so you can imagine all of the yelling and screaming I had to endure. They were both drunks so one was just as bad as the other but my dad wouldn’t even acknowledge that we were living in the same house, but my mom, she was awful. She came home one night drunk as hell and pushed me up against the kitchen wall, she started choking me; she was so close I could taste the liquor on her lips but luckily I could reach a knife; I had to stab her in the arm to get away. To this day I can still feel how my hand felt as her blood came oozing out of her arm. Even though it was self defense I still have nightmares about stabbing her to this day, but if I wouldn’t have stabbed her I would probably be dead. That day was a turning point for me, after my party I was going to leave and start my life anew. About noon that day my parents finally left the house and I was really hoping they wouldn’t come back until after my party, or better yet, at all. I decided to go outside and wait for my guests but my mind started to wander. When people think of depression, they think of being unhappy or sad, or maybe even not having the strength to live anymore. That is all true, of course, but there are many different stages of depression and I happen to have the most common one: loneliness. I was sitting outside in a tree when it finally hit me; I was depressed. My guests started to arrive so I went and helped them with their bags. The party was going great, I got lots of presents and my crush, Sam, kissed me. The party was almost over when my parents car pulled into the driveway. My mom got out of the car, took a step and passed out on the ground drunk. No one moved to help her and neither did I, if anything, she deserved to lay there on the ground. My dad was nowhere in sight, so I just assumed he got a ride from one of his friends. By that time, everyone had left and I was in bed when Sam appeared at my window; he wanted to talk. We walked down the street a little ways hand-in-hand, I was genuinely happy for the first time in a long time. That is, Until I saw my dad laying on the side of the road in a pool of blood. I heard myself scream in my head but a noise wouldn’t come out, Sam sensed I was trying to scream, or at least make a noise in general. He held me as I tried to go to him, but I’m glad he stopped me because on the other side of the road crouched a figure, it was dressed in all black and from where I was standing he looked like a man. He had a bow in his hand and arrows strapped to his back by a quiver. I picked up a rock and threw it at him, he ducked and it went sailing into the cornfield behind him. I started to run towards him but Sam held me back with his strong arms that I’ve dreamt of holding me time and time again, but not today; I screamed and kicked until finally he let me go. I ran to my father’s killer and as soon as I made it across the road and stood in front of him he put his hand out and stopped me from coming closer, the only thing he said was, “I’m sorry Emily, I truly am.” I have no idea how he knew my name and it still bothers me today, I still think about him and how he can kill someone and continue on with his life; just like that. Sam walked me back to my house with his arm around me, he kept telling me to be strong and that everything was going to be okay but I didn’t believe him. Even though I hated my parents I still needed them to guide me, or to pay my schools fee’s, I just wanted them to be there for me, now that my dad’s gone I feel the empty feeling in my stomach that I’ve had ever since I could remember, grow larger. My mom was already dead to me but my dad was the only one who took care of me, I mean he didn’t talk to me or anything but he made sure my school fees were paid and that I went to school. We finally arrived at my house and my mom was sitting at the kitchen table with her head in her hands, as if she had something to be guilty about. I ran into the house and confronted her about what happened, “you did it didn’t you, you killed dad!” She rose from her seat and actually looked sincere, “I would never kill your father and you know that,” she said in an almost scary calm voice. “Well I don’t believe you and don’t you dare stand before me and deny it!” I yelled. Sam was standing outside the door facing the opposite direction but I knew he was listening to every word we were saying. My mom was saying something but I couldn’t hear because my mind was wandering, what if she told the man in black where my father was? I mean how else would the man in black have found him? My mom was yelling at me now but the only thing I understood was, “If you think I’m a killer then you walk out that door and never come back, Ever!” So that’s exactly what I did, I grabbed Sam by the wrist on the way out and ran into the dark and musky night. After that night I was never the same, I pushed everyone away, including Sam, and became depressed and more violent than ever. I became my worst nightmare. I’m 18 now with no high school degree, no job and no family. All I wanted was to avenge my father’s death and get my family back, or at least part of it, but I couldn’t do that with my father’s killer still roaming around. I was living in New York in a run down apartment that smelled of dead fish and almost had a musty smell. I was barely getting by money that I stole from neighbors and other people, I was living in a nightmare and just when I thought my life was over I saw him, the Man with the arrows. I couldn’t hear anything, all of my focus was on him. Instantly wanted to know everything about him, how he spent his time from when he got up until he went to bed. I suddenly felt like I had a new beginning, to finally avenge my father’s death. My thoughts were racing, I wanted to talk to him and I wanted to do it now, but would he talk to me? I thought back to the night my father died and still wondered all these years how he knew my name. I didn’t care though, he was getting payback for ruining my family.

***

When I was ten years old I was abducted by a family and they kept me hidden and wouldn’t let me leave, they wouldn’t even let me go to school. When I was fifteen I finally escaped and started living on my own, I tracked down my mother and father and was going to reach out to them but when I got to their house there was another girl in my yard, blonde hair and green

eyes. I decided to wait and stake out my house later that night, I broke into my own house and found photographs of the same girl that I saw sitting on my front steps earlier that day. The

funny thing was though my mom was in those pictures but not my dad; a dangerous thought started to unravel in my head. What if my mom and dad split their marriage because of me? I got out of the house and was so angry at my parents. I thought they loved each other enough to live through this, but I guess not because now my mom was living in a fantasy world, she had

replaced me and I had no idea where my father even was and that was not okay, that was the worst kind of pain. Knowing that I had a father but couldn’t find him. I had to take the shortcut

through the graveyard though and as I was running I tripped, I quickly got up but I saw something that caught my eye, my last name. I went over and my last name was on the tombstone, but my father’s was as well. l couldn’t believe it, my father died and my mother just moved on with her life as if nothing happened; what a monster. The date on the tombstone read, 1973-2001. I bet that girl living in my house was at least ten so by my calculations my father died five years ago, when I was abducted. I didn’t know what to think, all I knew is that I had to protect that girl, no matter the cost. I wanted my family back. I started following her, not in a creepy stalker way but more like an overprotective half-brother way. I learned her name was Emily Thorne, I also learned that she put on a good face at school but at home she slipped away, looking hopeless and depressed. I decided to do something about it, I would’ve killed her mother but she was also my mother and I wasn’t that much of a savage, so I killed her father instead. I thought she would’ve had a different reaction though, instead of getting even more sad and depressed, I thought she would’ve been happy. I was just trying to do what was best for her but I guess I don’t know squat.

***

I decided to bite the bullet and just walk over and knock on his door, I put on my business face to make it seem like I was okay. I knocked and he opened the door, and what I saw almost made me faint, he had the same jade green eyes as me, he basically looked just like me except for some minor traits. “Ah, Emily I’ve been expecting you, come in and have a seat,” he said. He pointed to a seat that smelled of mildew and when I touched it, it felt like it could fall apart at any moment, so I stood. I looked out his window and when I looked out, the sight was so beautiful that I almost passed out...again. He cut right to the chase and said, “Emily, I am your half-brother and yes, in case you were wondering, I killed your father.” Honestly, in that moment a hurricane could have been storming the city and I wouldn’t have even noticed. I was too fixated on the man in front of me, the man who killed my father, but also my half-brother apparently. He must have saw the confused look on my face and started towards me but I took a step backwards, as I did though my head hit something hard and I fell on the ground. I could taste the blood in my mouth as I lay there thinking of my dad and brother, did my dad betray me? Is my half-brother a murderer or did he have a good reason? Was my whole life a lie? All I knew was that my father was dead, my mother disowned me and I had a crazy half-brother who killed my screwed up father. I hated my life. At least I knew who killed my father, now my debt was repaid and I could go back to living my normal boring depressing life.