Chapter Two:

I woke up the next morning around nine, I had no intention of going to school at all, and Serenity was fine with it. I just lay in my bed and stared at the wall, nothing went through my groggy mind, no emotion showed in my tired weary eyes. They felt sticky and heavy from crying myself to sleep.

Serenity came into my room to check on me, I closed my eyes quickly to pretend I was sleeping. She walked up to my bed and felt my forehead, I was kind of warm so she moved my blankets off my chest and onto my waist, I felt a little better. I opened my eyes,

“S-Serenity?” I said weakly. She smiled a little,

“Yeah?”

“I-Is dad gone?” I hated to admit this, but I was going to kind of miss him. Serenity nodded and kissed my head,

“Yes, he can’t hurt you for a whole month, then hopefully no more after he comes back,”

“He probably would still beat me even if he’s sober,” I thought about it and flinched.

“You know that’s not true,” She tried to reassure me, but I ignored her. It was silent in the room after that, but then I asked the question I knew Serenity didn’t want to hear.

“What do you think Petri would be like nowadays?” Serenity froze in her place and stared down at the floor,

“I-I don’t know, probably really nice, brown hair, gray eyes, he would probably be a lot like you, nice, sweet, you know…” she explained to me, “What about you? What do you think he would be like?”

“Well…Kind of the same, he’d probably be stronger than me,” I smiled a little and thought of my little brother. Serenity put a hand on my shoulder,

“Go to sleep, dream of unicorns and rainbows!” I smiled at her and closed my eyes,

“Goodnight Serenity,” My eyes filled with tears as Serenity left the room. I cried myself to sleep again, and what a long dreadful sleep that was.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-


When I woke up it seem like my nap took forever, but it was only an hour. I got out of the bed slowly and grabbed my red sweater since my house was always cold in the morning. I went downstairs quietly and let myself into the kitchen, but Serenity wasn’t there. She left me a note on the table:
Dear Rezzi-boy,
Went to work-
Be home around 3-ish. Love you
-Serenity.


I was home alone, like usual, so I made myself comfortable on the couch in the living room and turned the TV on then channel surfed for a few minutes. After a few minutes, I got distracted by a dog that was standing in my front yard. I went out the door and called the dog,

“Here boy!” but the large black dog didn’t move a muscle. I snapped my fingers, but the stupid thing didn’t move. I went out to him and got close; he was shaking and staring at a car.

Slowly placing a hand on the dog’s head, he began to growl a little bit.

“What are you growling at?” I asked him and looked where he was looking. All I saw was a gun pointed at my face. I swallowed hard and stayed calm,

“Can I help you?” I asked boldly.

“Give me all your money,” the man in a mask said darkly. I nervously checked my pockets,

“I don’t have anything!” The man clicked his gun and pulled away a little, I looked behind me and the dog was long gone.

“I said; give me all your money!” The man hit my mouth with his gun and I fell over with a bloody mouth. He stepped on my stomach and pointed the gun at my heart. I closed my eyes and began to breathe a little heavier.

‘Please don’t hurt me! I honestly don’t have anything!” Suddenly I felt all the weight disappear from on my body, and then I heard a thud next to me. I slowly looked over and saw the guy who wanted to shoot me, he had an as in his back. I got up quickly and looked around, but no one was there.

“How the heck…” I scratched the back of my head and kind of just walked away, leaving the body to lay there, not breathing or anything. I couldn’t believe what had just happened.

Chapter Three: All the color drained from my face as I saw my dad walking down the hallway right outside my classroom. He was clearly drunk, he could hardly stand up. I slid down into my chair more, hoping he wouldn’t see me, but that didn’t work. My dad knocked on the door and the teacher let him in. “I-I’m looking f-for…” he hiccupped, “R-Rezner Mc-something…” I sunk even lower in my chair, embarrassed as all heck. Everyone turned to me and started snickering at me. I got up, my face bright red, and walked to the front of the classroom where my dad waited for me. “Hey retarded piece of shit I call my son,” he pulled a knife out and stabbed my shoulder, opposite of where my heart was. I groan in pain and fell to my shaky knees on the floor, blood streaming through my fingers as I looked around the room, but everything disappeared when I closed my eyes and felt myself faint. I saw my body lying in front of me, but how was this possible? A girl ran up to my body and shook me, it wasn’t Ezelia, and in fact I didn’t know who the chick was at all! My dad was laughing his head off and the other students were mortified. I could see the sheer terror spread across their faces. Suddenly I was pulled back into my body, my eyes opened widely and stood up, and like a petrified zombie I walked back to my desk. My shoulder had stopped bleeding as people stared at me; I sat down and put my head down onto my desk. Everyone started to whisper about me. A guy came up to me and put a hand on my arm, “Dude, you okay?” He asked in a panicked tone. “Yeah…I get that daily…” I sighed and put my head up and looked at the guy, he was new here, just like that girl. Someone pulled the guy away from me and said to him, “Don’t talk to him, he’s just a freak.” The girl looked at me then back at Henry, the guy who just spoke to me. I got up and walked out of the classroom, but I knew someone was following me, I could feel them there, but when I turned around, like the day I almost got shot, no one was there. (No, a gun wasn’t being pointed at my face, that would just be scary.” The hallway was cold, like ice. I quickly turned into the bathroom, but I still sensed someone with me. The lights started flickering as I stared at myself in the mirror, I closed my eyes and let the blackness devour me and when I opened my eyes, the bathroom was pitch black. I looked up from the sink to the mirror again, the lights flashed on and a woman with a bloody face appeared behind me. I jumped and turned around, but she was gone. There was nothing. I looked in the stalls, but there wasn’t anyone in the bathroom other than me, “What the f just happened?” I whispered to myself and held my head while leaning up against sink, “I’m just seeing things…loss of blood, never was it this bad though,” I explained to myself. I shook my head and wiped up the blood off my shoulder with a damp paper towel after taking my sweater and shirt off. It stung, but I dealt with it like a man. A MANLY MAN! The sink top was filled with bloody damp paper towels. I picked them all up and threw them into the broken garbage can. I got my shirt and stuff on then went down to the office to call Serenity. First, I stopped in my English room to pick up my backpack, and then went down to the office. I grabbed the phone off the wall and went into an empty room, I held it to my ear, there was silence, and then a loud buzzing noise and a scream blared from it. I dropped the phone in my lap and calmed my nerves when I brought the phone back up to my ear all I heard was a whisper, “I’m going to kill you Rezner…” I dropped the phone to the floor and it broke, I grabbed my bag and ran out of the room and out of the school. People stared at me as I ran down the street to my home, but when I got to my house there were fire trucks surrounding it. I looked up at my house and it was charred. I looked at the back of one of the trucks and Serenity was sitting there, wrapped in a blue blanket. I walked up to her slowly, “Siren! What happened?” I called her by her nickname and sat next to her. “The house went WHOOSH up in flames, I don’t even know how!” tears streamed down her cheeks and I wiped them away for her. I looked around us as a fireman approached us slowly while holding a box full of things that survived the fire. He gave me the box and nodded his head towards me. I looked through the box slowly; in it was a teddy bear with one ear, a journal, and some knives. “This is yours; I gave her the teddy bear. She clung to it tightly then hugged me, “Why did this happen to us? We already have enough crap!” I shook my head silently then looked up at the window, and to my surprise I saw the woman with a bloody face again. I looked away from the demon and stared at the ground with angry eyes and tears. “S-so… how did school go?” Serenity asked - she obviously had no clue what time it was. “Dad came to me in school… “I started to shake a little. “What did he do?” she asked knowing something bad was going to be said. “He stabbed me, in class…” I leaned into her quietly. She held me delicately; her skin was cold and wet, “Why did we have to be born to such a hell hole?” “Siren! Don’t say that! Our family might not be perfect, our life may be the worst in existence, but at least we have each other!” I said like all romantics say, but she was my sister… so not in a romantic way. She looked at me with big glittering hazel eyes, ones that clearly stated 'I’m so glad you’re my brother…’ Meanwhile, another fireman came up to us, “Your house is safely put out, everything is stable, you can go look around if you want, just be careful because the black char will come off onto your clothes,” he pointed to his clothes a few times then smiled. “Thank you,” I said quietly and smiled back. The fire dude left and I helped Serenity out of the truck. “Come on, let’s go look inside,” She said quietly to me. I took her hand and walked her slowly up the small sidewalk that leads up to the house. She pushed the door open and the doo creaked loudly and slowly I watched the door fall open and looked at the stairs. “Come on Rez… Serenity said to me and made her way up the stairs, but something didn’t seem right about the stairs, “Serenity! Don’t go up the stairs!” I yelled, but it was too late, Serenity fell through the stairs and down into the basement. “Crap!” I yelled and ran downstairs. It was dark and dusty, I tried to turn the light on, but it didn’t work at all. “Serenity! Can you hear me?” I tried to listen, but she didn’t reply. I ran to the pile of broken stairs and rubble. I pulled the wood off my sister, but when I finally got all the crap off of her, I couldn’t believe it… she wasn’t there. “W-Where…” I looked around, “Siren? Are you here?” I ran back upstairs and into the living room. To my surprise, I found Serenity lying on the couch. She was holding a black rose, she also had on black gloves and she had a black veil over her face. I moved the veil off her face and got startled then fell backwards. The woman, or more – the demon was lying there, eyes pried open with staples, face burnt and bloody. She had rope marks around her neck, her skin was bubbly and pale and she had a large creepy smile across her face. I was starting to get scared. I ran away then knocked into Serenity as I turned a corner into the kitchen. “Whoa! Kid!” She kept her balance by clinging to the wall. I fell backwards and stared up at her. “Where did you go?” I sounded panicked, nervous, and scared. “I went back out to thank the firemen!” She looked at me and felt my forehead, “Are you okay?” I looked away and licked my bloody bottom lip then looked back at her. “Yeah! Great, fantastic,” I lied, “Just reciting memories in my head about this place…I’m going to miss it,” I lied more, then got up and looked down at the floor. Serenity smiled a little and messed up my hair, “Well, don’t take too long, grandpa is going to pick us up in about twenty minutes. “Alright,’ I sighed and looked out a broken window. I didn’t like my grandfather, he bugged me. He would always make fun of how short and weak I am. I was never good enough for him, no matter what I did for him. It pissed me off so much; he is so much like my father. Speaking of him, he just walked into the house. Want to know how I could tell? “WHAT THE F HAPPENED IN HERE?” He screamed. ‘Shit’ I thought to myself. My dad grabbed me by my collar and shook me till I almost threw up, then he threw me against the fridge, “What the hell did you do boy?” He choked me, “I-I didn’t do it!” I squeaked out of my cut of throat. He choked me harder; my sister wasn’t in the room so she couldn’t help me. I kicked and swung my legs and eventually kicked him in the stomach. He dropped me and I fell to the floor, gasping for air. “You little ahole!” He shouted and began to beat me. Punching my arms and face, then kicking my legs, chest and butt. By the time he was done, I was bloody and in pain. My grandpa and sister walked into the kitchen, “Dad!” Serenity yelled and punched dad in the face. He fell back. “Son, what in gdamn hell have you become?” Grandpa – my father’s dad – yelled and smacked dad across the face. Dad didn’t speak, he seem ashamed. My dad looked down, grabbed his gun from the counter and went into the other room and into the bathroom. “Dad?” I called after him, but the only response I got was the sound of a gun and a thud. I jumped and grabbed onto Serenity. She held onto me and Grandpa Jonah ran into the other room. We watched him leave. After a few minutes he came back in with tears on his face. “Grandpa – did he?” I asked, scared of the answer. He nodded his head up and down slowly and walked to us; he took us down to the car and put us in slowly. He had a smile on his face, I did as well, but Serenity had tears in her eyes as she stared at the car seat in front of her. I rubbed her back, ‘Hey come on, it’s okay, we can live without him!” I said in a very optimistic voice, “I mean we have for the most part of our lives anyways!” “Rezner! That’s not the effing point!” She yelled at me. I flinched and curled up against the side door and stared out the window. “The point is Rezzi that he is our father!” She yelled more at me. I started to cry, so I ran out of the car and down the street, to a park where I first met the woman – demon. I ran to the swings and sat there, crying my eyes out. Serenity had never ever yelled at me before, she was always the caring one. I couldn’t stop crying at all, it hurt way too much to think about anything. “Should I take my life? I’m already half dead…” I looked around for a rope, a table, and a tree. I only found table and tree. I stopped my search when grandpa and Serenity arrived in their truck. I looked at them with mournful eyes. Serenity happed out of the truck and ran to me, “Rez – I’m so sorry I yelled at you, I didn’t mean to, I was just mad because he’s our only dad and he - …” She explained, but I interrupted her, “…he beat me till I couldn’t breathe! Yeah – that sounds father like.” I angrily stated. She looked down, “He was a great father to me, then you were born and he became a disgrace and started drinking!” “So you’re blaming this on me?” I yelled. “N-no! I’m not!” She yelled back. “He started drinking around the - …” “You know what?” I interrupted again, “Stay away from me, “I turned and walked towards our burnt up house. Serenity put a hand on my shoulder, “Brother, please,” I pushed her hand off and kept on walking, “Rezner! Seriously! Get back here!” “Fuck off, Siren,” I couldn’t believe I actually just said that to her, I felt so bad, but I had to, I was sick of being told what to do, where to go and being beat and put down for doing to the right thing. I started to run to the house. Serenity and grandpa didn’t follow; I was on my own… for once. -x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x- The day slowly turned into a rainy, dreary night. The thunder rumbled across the sky and lightning lit up the burnt house. I was lying on the couch, staring up at the ceiling. “Why am I back here? “I got up and went to the bathroom where my dad killed himself; his body was gone now, I kept hearing the gun shots over and over in my head, I began to tear up, ‘why am I tearing up? I hated my dad!’ I thought a thousand times to myself, but I couldn’t make the tears go away. I wiped my eyes and looked down the hallway, I saw a little girl, “Hello?” I stared at her, but she ran away to outside. I went after her, “Little girl! Come back!” I yelled, but she had disappeared. I turned around to face the house and there she was, the little girl, but barely, I could see through her. “Terrible things gone right…” She whispered and vanished. I studied the spot where she just stood, and then I heard snickering behind some bushes. I walked over to them and looked into them; there were two boys from my school. They looked up at me, “Scared?” The boy with a thin mustache asked me. “Go f yourself,” I said confidently, broke their projector and walked away. They stared as I walked out towards my house.

Chapter 4 Week went by, long, silent weeks, I haven’t slept in four days and I was on edge. I was sitting in Biology, staring at the wall, plotting my death. Ezelia tapped my shoulder, “Hey! Where’ve you been?” She whispered to me. I looked back at her, “Uh, vacation!” I lied nervously. She looked me in the eyes, “Rezner – where. Have. You. Been?” She saw straight through my lie. “I-I… well, my house burned down. I’m being followed by a ghost, my dad killed himself, my mom’s still in jail, I haven’t seen my sister or grandpa in weeks, I ran away from them – now I’m living in my abandoned burnt up home. You know what? My life f*ing sucks, thank you, now go away!” I accidentally yelled at her. The teacher looked at me, “Rezner McKolbi! Please be quiet!” I looked at her with bloodshot eyes, “You be quiet, you skank!” I got up and left the room, stomping my feet. Everyone watched me leave; I could feel their eyes on me. I slammed the door and the window shattered to pieces. Then I ran into the bathroom and stared at the mirror angrily. “You’re worthless, you’re nothing, you’re useless…” my father’s words came out of my mouth quietly, angrily, “WORTHLESS PIECE OF SHIT!” I punched the mirror and it broke onto me, I hid my face then grabbed the piece of mirror and crushed them in my hand so my palms and fingers began to bleed…badly. I looked at the wall and smiled, I put bloody handprints all over it. …Destruction feels good… I looked at my hands licked the blood off silently… it tasted o good, it was sweet and warm…delicious. I kept licking my hands, why can’t I top? I muttered hateful words to myself, “Loser… ahole… suck-up… shit… worthless… useless… motherf*er… die bitch die…” I wasn’t thinking straight, what was wrong with me? I was never like this. Was my life really falling apart so quickly? It was time to go, time to die… time to leave the world as it is… fine without me… better without me in fact. I sat down on the ground and buried my head in my hands. “Why wasn’t I ever strong enough to stand up for myself?” I cried into my bloody hands. I heard the door open slowly with a small creak. “Hello?” The boy said shyly as he came in. I looked up at the boy, it was that Henry kid. “Are you okay?” He asked slowly and looked at my blood and wet face. He came over to help me up, crunching the glass on the way. “Yeah, fine,” I took his hand as he pulled me up. I dusted myself off and held my bloody hands together. “What happened?” He asked quietly as he looked around the bathroom, he stared at the handprints on the wall for a minute, and then looked back at me. “I… uh… tripped,” I gave the most overly used excuse in the world, but it didn’t work on Henry. “Then…. How did the mirror break?” I glared at him, ‘You won this battle, kind sir,’ I thought to myself, then gave him an answer after a minute, “I tripped into the mirror; it shattered on my hands, that’s it – end of story…” “…And the handprints?” He gestured to them on the wall, “How do you explain those?” “I had to wipe my hands on something before I had to turn the faucet on!” I quick thought up a lie. Henry gave me a small smile, “You are really bad at lying, you know that?” He laughed a little. “I know…” I smiled a tiny bit. “So, what’s bothering you?” He got some wet paper towels and gave them to me to clean my hands off. “Thanks,” I said as I grabbed them, “Well… my life has been crap lately…” I looked at him then threw the paper towels away, “I don’t really want to talk about it right now.” “Oh well if you -…” Henry was cut off by a woman’s voice that came over the intercom, “Rezner McKolbi, please report to the office, Rezner McKolbi to the office.” It shut off with a click and I let out a long depressing sigh. “Like I was saying – if you need anythin’, I’m here for you.” He smiled. I smiled as well, “Thanks, kid,” I turned and began to walk out the door. Henry stood there and looked at the broken mirror and sighed. I went back to my classroom and grabbed my backpack, then walked down to the office. I looked at the art people had made that was behind glass windows in a section that was indented on the wall. The painting I was staring at was colored, it was beautiful and it made me happy inside. So I continued my trip down to the office. Once I got there, I saw my mom, my sister and my grandpa. “What’s going on?” I asked as I approached them, “Why is mom here?” “Rezner – we know what you did….” Serenity put a hand on my shoulder slowly. “What did I do?” I said nervously. “You don’t need to be afraid,” my grandpa spoke clearly… for once. I was confused, what were they talking about? “Seriously! What are you guys talking about?” I asked again. My mom – for the first time in her life – gave me a hug, “Son – cut the crap – we know you tried to kill yourself.” “W-what?” I was shocked as hell. I never tried to kill myself! Never ever in my life! …Did I? I looked at my sister, she was in tears. “We found a suicide note and broken rope hanging from the ceiling fan in the old house, Rezner – you can’t hide it from us,” My sister explained to me. I stared at her, “A – A suicide note? I don’t even know how to write one! I haven’t even been suicidal in my life!” I tried to make them believe me. What most confused me was… why did my mother care? She’s never cared about me… was this real? No. It wasn’t. -x-x-x-x- I woke up in a hospital bed; my arms were bandaged up tightly. My eyes were teary and blurry, they took my contacts out. I looked to my left and saw my sister sleeping in a chair, quietly. My eyes trailed off of her and to the wall, it was blue and had fishy stickers on it. I guess it was supposed to represent being underwater. What was I… five? This was a little kid’s room for goodness’ sake! I saw my sister move from the corner of my eyes, but when I looked over, it wasn’t my sister standing over me… It was the ghost. I tried to speak, but nothing came out, the room faded to black and all I could see was myself and the ghost woman. I stared at her, wide-eyed as she pulled a long metal sword from behind her back. She held it up and pointed it straight at my heart. “DIE!” She screamed then rushed to stab me, but once the sword hit my chest, I was jolted awake by 100 volts of electricity sent through my chest to my heart. My eyes opened quickly and I sat up. “Who…what…huh?” I looked around and everyone was staring at me, all the doctors, Serenity, Jonah, and Ezelia. Ezelia pushed the doctors out of the way and hugged me tightly. I hugged back with one arm; I couldn’t move my left arm. “Thank goodness you’re okay!” She whispered to me. “For the most part, sure,” I let go of her and she let go of me. Serenity came over and kissed my head, “How are you feeling?” She asked and ran her fingers through my hair. “I-I’m not sure, my head’s fuzzy… what happened?” I looked at every one and waited for an answer, “…Well?” “Rezzi… you tried to…kill yourself.” Serenity frowned. “What? When?” I stared at Serenity for an answer. “At school! Don’t you remember?” Ezelia blurted out, impatiently. I quickly looked to her, “Where did they find me?” I asked quietly. “Down in the boiler room.” “Who found me?” “The janitor! Why?” ‘Just wondering…” I didn’t remember going down in the boiler room… was everything up to breaking the mirror just a dream? I stared up at the bright light beaming down on me, I couldn’t remember at all, was I that blinded by hatred and sadness? “I never thought you would be the one to try and do that…” My grandpa came over to me and patted my shoulder, “Glad you failed, kid,” He smiled at me. I smiled at him, “Thanks gramps.” “I agree! I’m glad you failed too!” Serenity giggled and hugged me. “I still don’t understand. How did I try to kill myself?” I blinked. Ezelia had a confused look on her face, “Really? You don’t remember?” I shook my head slowly, “No – I got nothing…” I sighed. “Well, the janitor said you were walking towards the electrical box with a bunch of metal tools, but once he got you away you started walking to the furnace full of flames. Then he called the ambulance and you were taken upstairs,” Ezelia explained sadly, “At least that’s what Henry told me.” “Henry?” How did Henry know? Unless… of course! I ran away from the janitor because I didn’t want to be taken to the hospital, so I went to the bathroom, had a panic attack and went off at the mirror! But why can’t I remember anything in between from running out of the classroom and breaking the mirror? I shook my head; it’s too hard to think of right now. I looked at everyone; they were staring at me because I was making hand motions while thinking. “Are you okay?” Serenity giggled a little and mess up my hair. I blushed a little with an embarrassed smile. She hugged me and kissed my head, “Come on; let’s get you out of here. This place is giving me the creeps.” I nodded and got up, then took the wires and stuff out of my head, arms and chest. Serenity put an arm around my waist and helped me out to Jonah’s truck. I limped while she helped me then crawled into the back seat quietly. Serenity came in the other side and Jonah got in the front seat. Jonah wouldn’t start the car; someone was walking up to his window. The man was with the Wyoming Police Department. I slunk down in my seat and made sure he didn’t notice me. “Excuse me, sir?” He started out and pulled a small picture from his pocket, “we’re looking for a boy by the name of Rezner McKolbi,” he turned the picture – my school photo – so Jonah could see. “Uh…” Jonah looked nervous, “N-no sir, I-I don’t know who that is,” he answered the cop’s question – the one he hadn’t even asked yet. The cop looked at him suspiciously, “Sir, can I see your driver’s license?” He waited patiently for an answer. Jonah didn’t speak; he didn’t move a muscle. I had to do something. I unbuckled my buckle and opened the door slowly. The cop noticed and he looked at me, “Rezner! Get in here!” Serenity whispered angrily. “No! I’m not causing you two anymore stress!” I looked back at the cop, winked, jumped out of the truck and ran for my life towards the woods. “Hey, hey, hey!” The cop yelled and chased after me. I ran quickly and slickly into the woods, but what I hadn’t known was there were cops in there. One jumped out at me and tackled me to the ground. I squirmed and screamed as he handcuffed my hands together, pulled me up and made me stay silent while he read my Miranda rights. I had tears streaming down my cheeks as he led me out of the woods, even though I had no clue why I was being arrested. Serenity and Jonah had fled the parking lot, leaving me to fend for myself – to fight my own battle. I was afraid, very afraid, what am I supposed to do? The police man who caught me in the woods put me in the back of the cop car. I ducked my head and got into the car. “Why am I being arrested?” I asked the driver curiously. “Because you damaged school property and resisted arrest,” He stated. “I thought I only got fined for damaging property?” I asked quietly. “No, the rules changed – if you damage a person you get arrested, so now if you damage property you get arrested as well.” “Oh – I didn’t know,” I looked down at my feet then out the window as we started to roll way. I was shaking, badly – to scared to think of what going to happen to me next.

Chapter Five:

We pulled up to the police station and I had tears rolling down my cheeks. Had I really done so much wrong that I ended up here…sitting in the back of a police car? Hopefully my court meeting will go well.

The cop pulled me by the arm out of the car and into the station. He signed me in and I got my own prison cell until my court date which was set for two days from now on December twelfth. We walked down to my cell – cell number 138, the cop threw me in and shut the door and locked it. I put my hands on the bars and looked out at the other people. I was so scrawny compared to them, they were big, muscular and buff, and I was just flesh and bone with no muscles.

I turned and sat on my bed. There was a toilet in the corner and a sink next to it with a mirror above it. I went to the mirror, it was cracked and dirty, and I traced a finger along the crack then pulled back when it cut my finger,


“Ouch…” I flinched and wiped my blood on my pants.

“Hey kid,” I heard a voice say to me, I turned around, no one was there, I looked at the wall and there was a hole in it, about two inches around.

“Hello?”

“Through here, kid,” the man said. I looked through the hole and saw him,

“So what you in for?” He asked me

“Well… uh… destruction of property and resisting arrest…” I replied nervously.

“Wow, some guys have it easy, you’ll be out in no time,” he optimistically stated in his deep voice.

“Really? Well, what are you in for?” I asked nicely.

“Oh, well I’m here for… well here,” He shoved a piece of paper through the hole. I opened it slowly; it was a list of what he’s in for:

Big Mikey’s List:
-Drunken Driving
-Hit and Run
-Murder (10 people)
-Trespassing
-Fraud
-Resisting arrest
-Violence (Domestic and Public)

The man laughed as he saw my facial expression turned to being scared from friendly.

“This is my fifth time being in jail, yesiree, they know me pretty well here,” he chuckled. I back away slowly from the hole and sat back down on my new bed. I lay down and closed my eyes slowly.
-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I was abruptly awakened by a scream, I jumped a little and looked out the window – it was pitch black outside. I walked up to the bars, as did a few other people and saw the guards hauling a woman, she was kicking and screaming and then she got put into the cell next to me on my right. I started to panic a little as I heard her scratching on the wall that my bed was on.

Big Mikey looked into the hole and saw me shaking,

“Don’t worry kid – we get kooks like her all the time, she’ll calm down by the morning.” I liked Big Mikey; he was like my own person guide. I lay back down and eventually the scratching stopped when I fell asleep and fell into the dreamland that I call home.

I had an odd dream that night, it was about a unicorn. Except, I was the unicorn. I was running through a field, it was a clear sunny day. I was happy; I fell onto the ground in the middle of the field and stared at the sky. My hooves were up to the sky and I was laughing. Suddenly the air became cold, I sat up and looked around then at the sky – it was dark and hazy. A fine smoky smell filled the air. I turned around and saw some flames racing towards me.

“Oh dear…” I began to run as fast as I could, but the flames were quicker. I could hear the quiet laughter of the flames as they destroyed everything in sight. I looked back at them and they were right on my tail, I looked back and crashed into something. I fell to the ground on to my butt and looked up at as the flames encircled the two of us. The woman was standing there, the woman who haunts me. She was staring down at me.

“What do you want from me?” I yelled at her. She opened her mouth to speak but all that came out was a thousand ear-splitting cries and screams. I covered my ears, closed my eyes and curled up in a ball.

A minute after I heard the screams stop, I opened my eyes and I was back in the jail cell, no hooves, no flames, no ghost woman – I was safe again. I didn’t fall back asleep, I was too scared to, and I didn’t want to see the ghost’s face again. Luckily morning was only a few hours away, so I waited.

The sun slowly came up and shone through my window onto the floor. I sat up and went to the mirror; my hair was fading back to its natural color, which I hated, blond. No it wasn’t a dirty blond, it was a the brightest blond ever, it reflected the sun and blinded everyone so they get in car crashes while I was walking down the street and then their cars are going to blow up, then the city will start on fire, then the world will start on fire. No, just kidding, but I really hate my hair.

My face was dirty and I looked kind of sad.

“McKolbi, come on, we have to choose your outfit for tomorrow,” a guard approached my cell, unlocked it and brought me out of the cell.

“My outfit?” I looked down at my grungy clothes, “Why can’t I just wear this?” The guard chuckled.

“Are you kidding me? We can’t present you to the judge while you look like that! That is very disrespectful!” The tall guard with a thick mustache looked serious.

“Oh… yes sir…” I looked down as we began to walk down to the laundry room. I saw some of the men look at me like I was a piece of meat. I kept my eyes fixed on the ground as we walked into the big room filled with washers and dryers. The guard took me into the back where a rack of old clothes stood.

“Choose an outfit that fits and looks somewhat decent, I know there isn’t much to choose from, but do your best.” He came to me, unlocked my handcuffs and let me pick my clothes out. He sat down and read his newspaper. I stared at him, and then slowly looked at the clothes. They were old and they smelt funny, I picked out a collared short-sleeved black shirt and some brown khaki pants. I looked back at the guard,

“Can I wash these? They smell really weird…” I held them away from me.

“Ha – you wish kid, suck it up and deal with it,” he smiled a little. My face went cold, my blood ran thin, and I saw a reflection in the window that wasn’t mine or the guards. I looked at the window closer and jumped. The ghost woman was staring at me. I dropped the clothes and tried to run, but the guard blocked the door. I tried to go around him, but he didn’t let me through. I looked around and at a window and ran for it.

“WE GOT A RUNNER!” He screamed into his walkie talkie.

I jumped through the open window and landed in the yard. People looked at me as I ran for the fence and tried to climb it, even though the fence was shocking and electrocuting me. People started yelling and cheering for m,


“GO BOY GO!” and I did, I got over the fence, but cops were coming quickly. I ran for my life across the dry flat land. Loud blaring sirens began to sound; I looked back as cars were catching up to me. I kept running then took a sharp turn that lead into the city. The cars followed me down the street. I hopped into an alley and the cops went past.

I would wait until sun down then go and find some place safe to hide. I sat behind the dumpster and twiddled my thumbs while a small tabby cat came up to me and rubbed up against my hands. I pet her gently, not afraid of diseases it may behold. Why would I be so prejudice against a cat? It’s uncalled for, so I picked the cat up and held her in my arms. She was purring quietly. It was the neatest feeling ever and I loved it.

I looked into her eyes and something had clicked in my mind, like she was sending me subliminal messages.

“You’re right...” I said to her, “Why am I running away from my fears? What’s to worry about…things could only get worse if I don’t stand up to them” I set the cat down and stood up, “Thanks cat, you’ve been a great help,” I smiled down at her. She just meowed and ran away from me. I went out into the street and a police officer saw me,

“You!” He yelled as I held my hands up. The cop bolted for me and cuffed me up while slamming me into a wall. I groaned in pain as he pinched the cuffs on and dug my face into the wall.

An older lady came up to us; she was about sixty years old,

“Surely you are mistaken, officer! Why he is just a young boy!” she was trying to get me free.

“Ma’am if this was in my hands I’d let him go, but since I was ordered to catch him, I can’t do anything about it,” the officer replied, trying to be reasonable.
“I always knew officers were good for protecting, but I never knew they could be so heartless!” She said angrily then turned to me, “don’t worry kid – I’ll get you out.”
“Thanks, but no thanks, I’m sorry, but this is a battle I got to do my own, thank you for the support though,” I said in a very gentlemanly manor. She smiled at me,

“Good luck, boy,” She turned and began to walk away. The cop dragged me into his car harshly, he was pinching my skins o he could tell if I was going to run away or not. I went willfully, but the cop didn’t trust me… at all.

“Why are you hurting me so much?” I squirmed a little. The cop didn’t say anything to me; he just slammed the door in my face and drove me back to prison. Surely I was in a lot more trouble than I already was.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

We got back to the prison and I was taken to a cell where there were no windows other than in the door. It was dark and I was scared, I couldn’t see a thing, but I know I only had a cot to sleep on, with a thin blanket and a hard pillow.

“What did I get myself into?” I mumbled to myself and sat on the floor. It was cold so I curled up in a ball and began to shiver.

A knock came to the door and it opened. It was the guard I ran away from earlier; he threw the clothes I chose before at me.

“Thanks,” I grumbled and threw them onto the cot and just waited… waited for my life to end… just waited for the dreadful day that I get sentenced to jail for half my life and then I would be changed forever and no one would recognize me… I would basically be dead. As the guard left silently, I stood up, but my knees were shaky, I just remembered… I haven’t eaten in a few weeks. Since I was naturally skinny it didn’t really bother me – I never ate, but my ribs were sticking out more than usual. I was really hungry – but there was no way of me getting to food and plus the guards wouldn’t hear me even if I screamed. I accepted my defeat and lay on my cot. It squeaked as my weight pressed against the springs, but it was more comfortable than sleeping on the hard damp floor.

I fell into a deep sleep suddenly and found myself falling into dreamland. It was another weird dream but this time I was me. In my dream: I opened my eyes and saw my corpse sleeping. I looked around, the room was lit up, I could see what was in there and what I saw wasn’t pretty. The walls were black and charred like someone started a fire in the room, but there was also a large blood stain underneath the cot. With my thinking, I bet someone was stabbed to death, hopefully not on this cot.

There was a light shining through the window on the door, I went up to it slowly and looked out. It wasn’t the prison I saw, it was a field and all of my family was standing there, including Petri. They were silent, but they were having fun, fun without me, as if… if I was never born… they would have been a happy non-violent family. I tried to open the cell door, but it wouldn’t budge. I looked back at myself then out the window again. Everything was black and white,

“W-what’s going on?” I looked around the outside and saw a fire coming towards my family. I started pounding on the window, but they didn’t hear me, they didn’t even know the fire was coming. I began screaming their names, nothing.

The ghost of death rose above them and I couldn’t do anything about it. The flames engulfed them and I looked away, I couldn’t bear to see them being burned alive. I jumped back into my corpse and slowly I came awake. I stared at the ceiling for a while and began to tear up.

“What the hell did I do with my life? When did it start going downhill…when…how? Is my life that bad? Wow…” I sighed and thought over my life.

-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-x-

I couldn’t tell if the sun was beginning to rise or not, so I couldn’t tell what time it was. I closed my eyes for a minute, but the guard opened my door,

“Get ready – your hearing is in an hour.” I didn’t reply back as he shut the door, I just stripped my dirty clothes and got my “new” ones on. By now I couldn’t stand the smell, but I guess I’ll have to deal with it.

Now I sit here, twiddling my thumbs nonchalantly while staring at a wall, pondering about what is going to happen to me. Luckily, time flew by in an eye blink and I was taken down to the courthouse. My stomach was nervous, but I kept my head on right, thinking clearly and confidently. My heart was beating to the bumps on the road, but my eyes remained fixed on the outside world around me. Finally, my body went numb in fear as we pulled into the parking lot of the small courthouse.

“Let’s go maggot,” the cop said as he pulled me out of the car. I hit my head on the ceiling,

“Jesus!” I tried to rub my head, but the cop held my hands behind my back.

“Get used to the pain, it gets much worse than that in jail,” the officer laughed at me.

“Whatever,” I mumbled as a bruise formed on my forehead.

We went inside quietly and made sure we were at the right place at the right time. Sadly we were. So we sat down and waited for our session to begin, which was in twenty minutes. I could tell the officer was tired, his eyes kept drifting closed. I looked over at the door as a woman my age came in. She had a pretty face, long red hair, skinny, and short-ish. I couldn’t keep my eyes off her. She saw me staring and she flashed a smile at me, I think I started blushing because my face got hot and I looked away, but she came up to me shyly.

“Hi,” she greeted me cutely. I looked up at her silently,

“h-hey…” I blushed more. She smiled again,

“My name is Taylor, what’s your name?” She asked. It took me a minute to reply – trying to remember my name,

“Rezner, m-my name is Rezner!” She smiled at me. The guard was watching me closely.

“What’s a sweet boy like you doing in a place like this?” She had a worried look on her face.

“I have no clue… I didn’t even do anything that bad!” I sighed. She sat down next to me,

“Don’t worry too much about it, okay?” She put a cold hand on my knee, and then she wrote her name and phone number on a small piece of paper. She put the piece of paper in my hand.

“Don’t lose that, okay? I want to hear from you real soon,” she giggled. My face had cooled down and I nodded,

“Oh - of course! Thank you, Taylor,” I smiled and stared at her. She stood up,

“Well, bye,” She walked away.

“Bye,” I whispered, but it hardly escaped my lips.

The cop laughed at me,

“Wow, kid, smooth.”

“Shut up,” I looked away. A bunch of people started walking out. It was my turn…