I'm dead. Really dead. Not in the "there'll be a twist at the end and I'll be saved" kind of way. Just dead. My story has no happy ending, no prince, no knight in shining armour, none of those fairy tale fables. I lie there motionless, on the cold, dew covered ground. I look truly awful; the complete stillness of my chest makes me cringe. This is what I wanted, was it not? No. Not this way.
I leave my limp body there and find my way back to town. I need my mom, I need my dad, so I go home. I walk in the back door as if nothing had gone wrong, and I see no one. The phone rings and my mom rushes frantically to get it. She grasps the phone tightly with two hands, as if to stop her hands from shaking, she listens silently, and then it happens. She drops the phone and screams. I can hear the pure pain in her voice, the utter defeat of any hopes she had. She drops to the ground as her legs collapse, and bursts into tears. I run to her side, but nothing helps. Her entire body is tense, and with every tear she sheds, my stomach cringes. This is enough. They had no right to do this to me; to her. They’re going to pay, I will make sure of it.
I wander aimlessly around town, until I see them. They’re all together, like the last time we met, but this time, I don’t see strong, confident men, this time I see scared, shaken little boys. I walk over to them and start yelling. The react with nothing, I scream so hard I find myself making fists. Nothing. I yell and scream and push and hit, until I tire myself out finding tears in my eyes. I sit amidst all of them and break down. Suddenly I hear one talk in the silence. “We shouldn’t have taken it that far.” He says with a soft voice. “We didn’t. he did it all by himself!” Zach, the leader forcefully says. He stares at the younger boy who said it, threatening his strong fist at him. One of the boys joins me on the ground and cries. Someone grabs him by the shirt and pulls him back up. That was the moment I knew. I knew they would think about this the rest of their lives. It was almost as if instead of taking my life, they took their own.
I suddenly awaken. Could it all have been a dream? I’m falling. I look up, and I see Zach with a pure look of horror on his face as my body falls from the bridge where he stands. I’m dead. Really dead. And the last thing I’m going to see, is the broken soul of my murderer.