I sit in disbelief well my mom and dad talk to the police inside. Listening to the hollow sound of my mom’s cries makes me feel like this is all my fault. I should have been a good brother and gone outside with her. I was so selfish, so stupid, so…mean. If I had gone outside this would never had happened. I would still have a seven year old sister. I can’t seem to warp my mind around one idea though: who was that man in the bushes and what was he doing there? No one will believe me. There was a man there but he ran away when he saw me see him. Isn’t that a logical explanation? The police didn’t even bother checking up on the idea.
“Son?” I turn around to see my dad standing there, tears of regret fill up his eyes.
“Yay dad?” I say.
“Your mother wants you to come in. It’s getting late.”
“Okay, I’ll be right in.” I turn back around in time to see the last beam of light turn into darkness. Tears begin to fill my eyes. What have I done? I can’t face my mom, I just can’t. Right before she left with my dad she had told me to go out and play with Piper, but I didn’t. I let her down.
Inside I see that my sister’s small arm hanging out from under a sheet which has been draped over her on a stretcher. My mom stands off to the side watching as her little girl is being rolled away from her. I want to walk over to her to say ‘I’m so sorry’ but I just can’t bring myself to. She is so upset and I don’t know if she is mad at me or not. I walk over to the kitchen and feel my heart break one more time. (Probably not the last either).
Piper’s grill cheese sits there on the kitchen table. She never had the chance to eat her lunch and now thanks to me she never will. I grab the paper plate; ripped open the trash-can cover and thrust the plate in, and then slam the lid shut with all my anger boiling inside me. My eyes drift over to the living room and I can see that my mom is standing up and is staring at me along with everyone else in the room. All eyes focused on me, which is something I’m not use to.
“I didn’t want to look at the stupid sandwich anymore.” I say then run out of the room, up the stairs and into my room slamming the door behind me. I sit down on my bed, take my pillow and rip the weightless object at the bathroom door. The door slides open and in the reflection of the mirror I can see Piper’s bed with all of her stuffed animals on top. I stand up and walk over to the door. Slowly I push the door open the rest of the way and walk through the bathroom into Piper’s room. The pink walls and colorful flowers stretch all the way around the perimeter, the smell of cotton candy floating through the air, Looking around I can see at least ten pictures of Piper and I on the walls. We both looked so happy, Piper’s blond hair blowing in the wind and her big blue eyes so happy and full of life. She was the cutest little girl and I could never have asked for a better sister. Even though I wasn’t the best big brother she could have had, well I wish I had been. I walk over to the bed and pick up her favorite teddy bear. Pinky was his name. He was a fuzzy pink teddy bear that had a big pink heart in the middle of his chest. She carried him everywhere and when she first received him she wanted to bring him to school. I take him in my hands and remember how much she loved him, treasuring the moment.
I walk back into my room a couple minutes later and put Pinky on my pillow. Looking over at the clock I see that it’s now 9:27. I’m tired and today has been way too much to handle. I grab my pajamas and put them on. I pull on these purple and pink pajama pants that Piper had given me for my last birthday. She thought that because she loved the colors pink and purple I did too. Then I slip on a clean t-shirt and sink into my bed, pull my covers over my head and take pinky in my hands. I close my eyes and fade into a dream world I wish I would never have to leave, but that wish is just too good to be true.
Morning floods through my windows, birds chirp, and the ocean waves crash up against the rocks. Everything seems so peaceful and perfect, just like another summer day, until I remember how my day had gone yesterday. I look at the clock to see the time is 8:23. I lie in bed and stare up at the ceiling thinking about the man in the bush. He killed my sister I just know he did, but like everything else no one believes me. I could just tell by the evil, crazed look in his eyes that he had SOMETHING to do with the whole situation.
I sit up in my bed and swing my legs over the side. I pick up Pinky and hold him in my hands. The soft pink bear stares back up at me with large brown eyes. I smile remembering the day she was given this bear. Pinky was tucked away in a purple on top of her pillow when she found him. All of a sudden I found myself grinning down at the bear.
I had an idea but a risky one.
I stand up and grab my backpack from the corner of the room. I stuff some clothes in, my cell phone, then Pinky. I run into the bathroom and quickly put on a change of close. I throw on jeans, a t-shirt and then my favorite sweatshirt. Picking up the bag off my tossed bed I walk to the door and down the stairs. If I’m lucky my parents won’t be up yet.
Creek. Creek. Creek.
I stop in my place and bite my lip at the creek of the floorboard. I lift myself up onto the railing and slid down the rest of the way. I jump off the railing landing softly so the thud wasn’t loud enough to be heard from my parent’s room. I turn towards the family room and kitchen but stop in my tracks when I see my parents leaning against the railing of the deck. They’re turned away from me but I’ll still need to be quiet. I slid into the kitchen and pick up an orange out of the bowl plus a water bottle from the fridge. I walk back to the front door and take hold of knob. My mom’s sobs stop me in my place and I turn around one last time to see my parents. Then I dash out the door and across the lawn. At the end of the lawn I take a right and start walking up the road.
If no one will believe me about Piper being murdered, then well I have to prove them wrong.

I have no clue where to go, or mainly where to start. Thinking back I try to remember what direction the man went after I saw him. I think about what he looks like too. I close my eyes and envision what he looked like; dark brown eyes, a shiny blade head, and a warm skin tone. He had been wearing a black thermal, dark jeans, and brown sneakers. He looked about thirty, give or take a couple of years. I remember that when he took off he ran back to the road to the right of the house on the right of my family’s house. I stop in front of the house, open my eyes and look around. Walking to the far corner of the yard where the curb is, I look closely and see there is a piece of paper on the ground. I pick up the note and unfold the thin paper.
Piper Perkins
31 Frenchway Lane
I catch my breath and swerve around to see if there is anyone out here.
“Who?” I think aloud. Piper WAS murdered, her death was prearranged. I look around with a strange sense of relief, but still a sense of guilt.
“I WAS RIGHT!!” I yell as loud as I can then dodge into the bushes. As I peer out I can see that people have stepped out of their houses. I can see my parents on our back deck looking around nervously.
“Not cool. ” Quickly I whip around and see that there’s a girl sitting against the tree behind me. She looks about my age with long blonde hair and deep blue eyes, just like Piper. She’s wearing jean shorts and sandals; she has on a quarter sleeve white shirt that has wrinkles, but ones that are purposely there. A colorful scarf is hanging around her neck and her blue tank-top under her shirt is showing.
"Who are you?” I ask embarrassed and shy. Her face looked familiar but I couldn’t place seeing her anywhere.
“My name’s Teddy.” She holds out her hand and her charm bracelet falls downward on her wrist. “Your Jack right.”
“Um…yay. How do you know my name?” I ask as I shake her hand gingerly.
“I’ve seen you around and I saw what happened to your sister.” I turn around and look at my house. Then at all of the other ones on our street. Everyone has gone back into their houses so I jump out of the bush and Teddy follows me.
“Sorry was that a little too direct?” she asks me.
“Uh, yay just a little.” I say as I pace in a circle with my hands propped up on my sides.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to. I just… my brother died when he was about your sister’s age. He would have been eleven last month.” I stop pacing and look at her as she pulls her side bag out of the bushes.
“Oh, I’m sorry. My family has only had a house here for three years. I didn’t know about your brother.” I say sympathetically, she just nods.
“Why were you in the bushes?” I ask changing the subject.
“I don’t know just thinking.”
“In the bushes?” I ask
“Yay pretty much.” Teddy replies. “But that’s not important. Why were YOU jumping for joy out here? You almost gave away my hiding place.”
‘Hiding place’ I think, but push away the subject. Look down I see I’m now crumbling the piece of paper.
“Um…well…I was just.” She walks over lifts up my hand and takes the paper.
“Hey!” I say
“Oh shush.” She answers. “Piper Perkins, 31 Frenchway Lane.” She reads aloud but her voice fades out at the end.
‘This…this is your address and…your sister’s name.” She says softly.
I look up and our eyes meet. She bends down after a second and reaches into her bag. When she stands back up I see she has a different piece of paper in her hand but still much like the one she just took from me. She reaches out her hand and I take the piece of paper from her. I unfold the paper and to read what’s written inside:
Timmy Samuel
27 Frenchway Lane
“Is this your, your brother?” I ask, but when I look up I already know the answer. Tears fill her stormy blue eyes. She tries to break a smile and tears stream down her checks.
“When I heard about your sister,” she says “I thought about my brother. He die…died the same way. I was home alone with him, but was on the phone with my friend when the incident happened. I saw this guy in the bushes when I found my brother and thought he had killed him but everyone told me different. I tried and tried to prove them wrong but still no one believed me. Then I found this piece of paper when I was walking my dog a few days after. I haven’t showed anyone the paper even though the incident happened years ago. Then your sister…” her voice shakes and she pauses.
“It’s okay. I know what you’re trying to say. When you heard about my sister’s…death and how she died the same way you thought that ‘this couldn’t be a coincidence’.” She smiled at me like there was some sort of understanding between us.
“We were both right.” She says as she whips tears off her checks, “We were both right!”

Teddy and I walk for over an hour just talking about what is on are minds. Once I told her about the man I saw in the bushes, we made the decision to look for him. She told me she saw him go down the street past her house and towards the private beach.
“After he crossed the beach he went towards the Apartment buildings.” She says, “I know that’s where we will need to start, but I don’t know what we are going to do once or ‘if’ we find him.”
“Will he try to hurt Teddy and me?” I think to myself. The two of us start to walk to the beach when rain starts to pour down. Minutes later both of us are soaking wet. Teddy dances around in circles splashing in the puddles. I follow her lead as we dodge car splashes and run through the pouring rain with our clothes clinging to us.
When we finally make our way to the beach the rain seems to have lightened up. When we start to cross the beach Teddy yelps but before I can ask what’s wrong she shoves me into the Port-O-Potty.
“What in the world.” I asked
“Shush!!!!!!” She whispers as she throws her hand over mouth pushing me onto the toilet. Luckily the lid was closed so I don’t fall in.
“He’s outside walking on the beach. We just have to wait till he passes.” She muttered. Five minutes of sitting on the Port-O-Potty toilet pass and we hear a knock on the door. I cringe and Teddy grips my arm.
“Noooo!!” she says softly.
“Hello, anyone in there?” asks a young voice
“Uhhhh…one minute.” I say to improvise.
“Do something to make him leave.” Teddy says franticly. I stick my head out thinking I’m going to see the man we both saw in the bushes but instead I see a kid maybe two years older than me.
“Hi!” I say
“Um… hi.” the guy replies.
“Names Jack.” I say a little too excited, but really I’m just relieved that this guy isn’t who I was thinking I would see.
“Hi Jack…I’m Bobby.” He replies like I freaked him out.
“OUCH!!!!” Teddy punched me in the back and the door almost slipped from my grasp.
“You okay in there?” he asks me as I grunt loudly.
“Yay I’m fine but you’re not going to be if you use this Port-O-Potty. You see I had a big breakfast and well…”
“No need to continue I’ll find another one.” He says as he walks away. When I close the door and turn around Teddy is crossing her arms and staring at me like I was the stupid one thinking that we should hide in the Port-O-Potty. Weird huh.
“What?” I ask. She punches me on the arm.
“OUCH, would you quit doing that!!!!” I yell.
“Let’s go before you have anymore ‘complications’.” She says as she points for me to open the door. I push the plastic door open and step out.
I gasp. Turning around I push Teddy back into the Port-O-Potty then slam the door after her. She bangs on the door yelling for me to open up but I don’t for her safety. I stand forcefully up against the door and stare into the eyes of a murderer. He grins as if he remembers me from yesterday.
I sure do.
He steps forward and I squirm to go backwards but have nowhere to go. Behind me the banging and the yelling has stopped as if no one is inside. He keeps coming closer till he’s a foot away and I’m regretting having stepped out of the Port-O-Potty.
“Hi there.” He says like he knows he’s scaring the life out of me.
“Hi.” Is all I can manage to say.
“You know your sister was really quite. She was so cutie too.”
“Don’t talk about her you murderer.” I yell as I run at him but before I can do anything he pulls out his gun. I stop abruptly and hold my hands up.
“Don’t shoot me, please.’ I say
“Don’t worry I won’t or at least not here. We can go to my room and I can show you my trophies I’ve collected over the years.” He grins. “Your friend can come along too. She also saw my face didn’t she.” I back up and place my hand on the door handle. I open the door and inside I see Teddy standing there fear written all over her face. She has tears streaming down her checks as I reach out my hand. She takes my hand and her freezing finger tips slid into place against my warm palms.
“Nice to see you again Teddy. How many years have passed? Four?” He asks as she steps out of the Port-O-Potty. “Well I guess years don’t matter because either way today is your last day.” I just want to punch him, but don’t because nothing good will come if I do.
“We’re going to go to my apartment. I hope you don’t mind the mess. I’m still moving in and not everything is in the right place.” I give him a look that I had been wanting to ever since I saw his face. “Oh just walk towards the building kid and don’t even think about trying anything.” I turn to my left and start walking towards the tall five story apartment building that’s set up in a U shape. Teddy walks next to me and each step we take I feel like we step closer and closer together. She looks over at me and I smile forgetting about the guy walking behind us holding up a gun. She smiles back and squeezes my hand. We walk in silence for a couple more minutes then I feel a jab in my back and a whisper in my ear.
“Let go of her hand Jack. Neither of you will be alive much longer anyway.” I turn around taking Teddy’s other hand so I can face Mr. Bush-man’s. He pushes me back and Teddy’s hand slips from mine.
He grabs me by the arm with one hand and puts his other hand over my mouth. Quickly he punches me in the gut. I fall to my knees holding my stomach. Next he grabs Teddy but before he can punch her she turns and hits her back instead. She falls to her side motionless. I try to crawl over to her but he kicks me in the stomach and I curl over in pain.
“You two have seen too much.” He says then pulls the gun out from behind his back.
“Get up or do you want your little girlfriend to take a little trip to the water and you can watch her go down yourself.” I slowly stand and wipe the blood from my mouth. He tucks the gun in the back of his pants and picks up Teddy who is still unconscious. He motions for me to walk up the ramp and I do. The whole way up I can feel his beady eyes on the back of my head, I can feel him watching my every move. When I stop at the top of the ramp he tells me to go up the left staircase so reluctantly I do. When I reach the top we are on the fourth floor, he tells me to go to the right. Three doors down he tells me to stop and open the door. I slowly reach for the knob my hands shaking with fear. I grab the knob slowly, but before I have the door open all the way Mr. Bush-Man kicks the door open the rest of the way with his right foot and walks in. He drops Teddy on the bed and she moans slowly becoming conscious. I look around; there are pictures all over the walls of little kids that look about Piper and Timmy’s age. Some of the pictures have big red X's on them and others don’t. Then out of the corner of my eye I see Piper’s picture. The shot was taken on the last day of our vacation last year. I remember the day too. We were packing up the car to head home but we were excited to come back and Piper didn’t want to leave. We would come down the week after school let out and stay till the week before school begun I was telling her.
“Hey Jack, sit down on the bed. You know…make yourself comfortable before you die.” I ignored the fact that he knew my name; I only paid attention to the way he said ‘die’ because the tone sent a shiver down my spine. I sit down next to Teddy as she begins to sit up trying to catch her breath.
“Are you okay?” I ask her as she grabs my arm to steady herself.
“Yay, I just had the wind knocked out of me. Really hard!” She laughs and so do I as grab her hands to help her sit up right. When she is sitting she looks around the room the same way I had when we first came in. I see her eyes drift over to the picture of Piper with a big red X on the surface. Then her eyes drift over to one I hadn’t seen. Her eyes fill with tears and I look to see what the picture is of. There was a little boy in the middle, he looked to be seven maybe eight, a big smile on his face as he swung on the swing. Behind him stood a girl that right away I knew was Teddy. She looked happy to be with her brother, smiling just like he was. I look back over at Teddy and see the painful expression on her face, like someone had just stabbed her in the back. She sees me staring at her and she looks away wiping her tears. I know how she fells, like everything is your fault and there isn’t anyone who believes you. You feel like you’re on a mission fighting the world all by yourself. You feel alone, forgotten, and misunderstood. I know just how she feels because truthfully I feel the same way. Seeing Piper’s picture with a big red X on the front hurt and then seeing Timmy’s picture with an X the same way made me really understand how hurt Teddy feels.
I tried to take my mind off of Piper and look for something that might tell me who this guy is. All I can see because on the dim light is the bed we are sitting on, a couch of to the right, a door in front of me, to the left are some more doors and hallways plus a desk cluttered with papers. Then only out of luck do I spot the name Roger Tallson on a letter. So Roger is his name, Roger Tallson. Just then Roger steps out of one of the rooms to my left with his gun in one hand and some duct tape to the other. He walks over to Teddy tucks the gun into the back of his pants and rips off some duck-tape. Teddy spits in his eye but he doesn’t even blink he just laughs an evil laugh. Then he pushes the duct tape over her mouth so fast and with such force she slams back onto the bed. Quickly she grabs my hand and squeezes tightly. Her blonde, wet hair flips back onto the pillow behind her head. Her deep blue eyes stare back at me with great fear. He then grabs hold of me and tries to put duct tape over my mouth but with my free hand I punch him and he falls to the ground. Quickly I rip off the duct tape and reach for Teddy but he scrambles to his feet and pulls me back, pushing me against the wall next to the front door
“You’re going to regret that kid. You really are.” He says as he pulls out his gun and puts the barrel against my head.
“Wait!” I yell, “Before you kill me could you at least tell us why you killed my sister and her brother.” I stare into his eyes, trying to force him to answer me.
“If you will die quietly, then sure, whatever.”

“There really isn’t much to tell. I went to jail when I was nineteen for murderer of my new born twin brother and sister. No one paid any attention to me and I was fed up so I drowned them in the bathroom tub. I was sentenced to fifteen years in jail but I was let out earlier for model behavior. So at twenty-nine I was released and now every year on my brother and sister’s birthday I drown one kid from one week to ten years old. No one every thinks to look for me because they never see me, but you two did and I can’t have that. I had to jump through hoops to run away from my old life. I changed my name, shaved my head, tanned, changed my likes and dislikes; I changed my whole life so I could live a new life. Some would say I mental but you don’t think that. Right?” He grinned at me, just daring me to say that I did think he was mental. Why not tell the truth?
“Well…I don’t like to lie so I’ll tell you the honest truth.” His grin lowly turned to a frown. “I think you are a crazy, mental, lunatic that needs to have some mental help and how in the world were you released for model behavior?” Roger glared at me and I wished I hadn’t said that.
“You know you should learn to lie. That could help you in the future.” Swiftly he pulled out his gun. BOOM!!!! I felt pain flare through my thigh and arm. I collapsed on the bed. Teddy was screaming, I guess she had torn of the duct tape covering her mouth. She reaches for my hand and slides her fingers into place like they fit perfectly.
“JACK…JACK!!” she screamed my name.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
I can’t see what’s happening, but I think someone rammed down the door because I room became ten times brighter and I can hear yelling. Suddenly I’m pulled off the bed but fall to the ground because of the pain in my leg. I look down and see my left pant leg is soaked in blood and the right sleeve of my sweatshirt is all bloody. Quickly I’m pulled back up and dragged out of the room. Outside I can see a swarm of people, ambulances, police cars, and fire trucks. I can see Teddy being pulled down the stairs by paramedics.
Then I black out.


My eyes flip open. I gasp for air and try to sit up but can’t. I look around the room and I’m relieved to see Teddy asleep in the corner off to my right. She’s wearing the same clothes I had last seen her in. Her straight blonde hair hangs down over her left shoulder.
I look at the door which is to the left of my bed and can see that people are rushing around outside the closed door. In front of me there are balloons, flowers, and gift bags resting on a tall table. To my right there is a large window and a table with a tray on top.
“Jack?” Teddy sits up in her chair.
“Oh.my.god, NURSE!!!!” She yells as she runs to the side of my bed.
“Teddy. Are you okay.” I ask
“Yes, yes, I’m fine, but you…you were shot in the left leg and your right arm. You bleed out fast but you’re going to be okay. Your mom went to find a doctor to ask when you would wake up. You had to have surgery so they could take the bullets out because they were logged into the bone…” I cut her off.
“Teddy I don’t really want to hear how I almost died.” She smiled
“I’m just happy you’re okay.” She says
“I am too.”


I spent the next four days in the hospital and Teddy came each day to keep me company. When I went home my family surprised me by telling me that we were moving into our vacation house so we wouldn’t just spend the summers there, we would live there full time. My parents enrolled me in the high school that Teddy and her older brother go to. I spent the rest of the summer hanging out with Teddy and preparing for school. I will always remember this summer because I’ve learned so much. I learned about loss, love, and how much I can grow just from meeting the right people. For Piper’s funeral my parents asked me to speak and I was happy to. Piper was and will always be my sister. I loved and will always love her. I don’t regret and will never regret ever having her as my sister.
To my sister Piper:
Everyday people die
Everyday people hide
From sins, from love, for hope we try
But everyday people die
Everyday people wish
To wipe away a something needless
To correct a wrong or do a right
Everyday people fight
Even though people fight, die, or wish away a place in time
They may not erase, redo, or retrace
Because regret is a part of life that we MUST face!
I love you Piper!