It was a cool Saturday morning. Mandy woke to the sound of birds chirping and the sunlight streaming in through her window. She sat up and was almost crippled by a migraine. She laid her head back on the pillow and shut her eyes. “This is just great,” she said out loud. “It's a Saturday. I can't possibly have a migraine on a Saturday.” She rolled herself out of bed and took some medicine for the pain. The migraine quickly went away and Mandy continued on with her morning. She decided to go to the park and play her guitar by the lake. She wrote a quick note for her uncles and took the bus down to the park. Not long after she had left, Chris and Jack walked out of her bedrooms. They realized Mandy was gone and read her note. “She left for the park,” Chris told his brother. “Why didn't we tell her last night?” Jack asked. “She was asleep when we got home. Plus Jeremy said he had just bought the engagement ring and had found her mother's locket at the jewelry store. She was probably on Cloud Nine last night. We didn't want to ruin her happiness, remember?” Jack nodded. “Yeah, I remember,” he said. “But we have to tell her tonight after work. Otherwise, we'll lose the courage to ever tell her and only end up telling her on our deathbed. I want to get over this once and for all. I can't stand the guilt anymore.” Chris nodded. “You're not the only one, Jack.”

Mandy sat down on the edge of the lake. She let her toes dip into the water before walking back to her guitar and picking it up. She tuned the guitar and started to play her latest song. She sang it at the top of her lungs. Birds, squirrels, and some rabbits gathered around Mandy as she sang. “This seems like Pocahontas,” she thought as she continued to sing. When she was done, she pulled out some carrots, bread crumbs and nuts and let the animals eat them. While the animals enjoyed their feast, Mandy stared across the lake, thinking about the dream. If her dad had died just like he had in her dream, that would just send her over the edge. She was depressed enough as it was. She didn't want to know that her uncles, the men who had been taking care of her since she could remember, had killed her father, even if it was an accident. She had figured out that the less she knew about some things, the better off she was. Before long, she realized that the sun would be going down soon and that she needed to get back home before her uncles began to get worried about her. She packed up her guitar, put her shoes back on, and walked back to the bus stop.

Mandy got back to the apartment before her uncles did. She decided to make dinner for everyone. As she finished up the fired rice and orange chicken, her uncles walked in the door. “Hey, Mandy. How was the park?” Jack asked as he came into the kitchen. “It was good. All of these animals gathered around me while I was playing my guitar. I fed them nuts, bread crumbs, and carrots.” Chris walked into the kitchen. “Yum. What's for dinner, Mandy?” he asked as he looked over her shoulder. “Orange chicken and fried rice,” Mandy replied. “Once again, yum!” Chris replied. Mandy dished up the food. Then all three sat down to dinner. They talked about their days and laughed at the different stories they all told. They finished dinner and cleaned up all of the dishes. Mandy went to her room to relax and play her guitar while Jack and Chris discussed how to tell her. “Okay, when she comes back out of her room, we'll tell her. No hesitation or anything,” Chris said. Jack nodded a silent yes.

Mandy got bored of playing her guitar and decided to find a DVD to watch in her room. She walked out of her room. As she walked into the living room, Jack and Chris looked up at her. “Hey, Mandy. Can we talk to you for a second?” Chris asked. Mandy walked over to the table. “Sure,” she replied as she sat down, confused. What would her uncles want to talk to her about? “Mandy, we have waited for such a long time to tell you this,” Jack started, then paused, unsure of what to say next. Mandy became even more confused. “You've waited a long time to tell me what?” she asked, afraid of the answer. The brothers looked at each other. “We've waited a long time to tell you...” Chris continued, looking Mandy in the eye, “That your father didn't shoot himself.” Mandy's heat sank. Her dream was true. Jeremy was right. “My father didn't shoot himself?” Mandy asked. “If he didn't shoot himself, then what happened?” Both uncles gulped. “We accidentally shot him with his own gun,” they told her simultaneously. Mandy became shocked and fell silent, staring at her lap. Chris and Jack stared at her. “You what?” Mandy whispered, fearing her own voice. She raised her head to stare directly into both of her uncles' eyes. “We shot your father,” Jack replied. “It was a complete accident. We didn't know there was a bullet in the chamber when the trigger was pulled. We are so very sorry that we took your father's life. He told us that you would need us. We didn't want you to know because... We were afraid you would rebel and hate us forever. We were the only family you had left. We didn't want to lose you.” Mandy stared down at her lap again, deciding how to respond. “Mandy?” Chris asked. Mandy looked up again. “How could you?” she spoke in an angry whisper. She looked up into their eyes, her gaze piercing their souls. “How could we what?” Chris asked. “How could you not tell me you shot my father?” Mandy told them, her voice rising. “Why would you keep such a horrible secret from me? I would have gotten over it, you know.” “We didn't want to hurt you,” Jack replied. “You didn't want to hurt me?” Mandy screamed at them. “You hurt me worse now that I know that you were keeping it a secret from me.” Chris reached across the table. “Mandy,” he said. Mandy pushed back her chair, the legs making a horrendous screeching sound. “Stay away from me and leave me alone!” she screamed at them. She grabbed some DVDs off of the shelf and ran into her bedroom, locking the door behind her. “Mandy!” her uncles yelled. They got up from the table and ran to her room. Jack tried the door, but it was locked tight, not budging. “Mandy! Open the door!” Chris yelled. “We want to talk to you!” Mandy buried her face in her pillow. “Just leave me alone!” she shouted back. “Mandy, please!” Jack tried. “We don't want to hurt you anymore!” The tears flowed down Mandy's face. “You've already hurt me enough! Just go away!” Chris looked at Jack and sighed. “Let's just give her some time,” he said. “She'll have to come out eventually.” Both men went into Jack's bedroom to discuss what to do next.

Mandy continued crying. She felt as though she was drowning. She had been pushed over the edge. She lifted herself off of her bed and went to her desk. She found a pad of paper and a pen and began to write. When she was finished, she took out an envelope, wrote her uncles' names on the front, placed the note and the ring Jeremy had given her inside, and sealed it. She placed the letter on her pillow. She opened her computer and went online. She typed in her address and searched for the nearest piers to the apartment. She found a page on one of them. She quickly read over the page and knew what she had to do.