The Connor's (Watty's 2018)

Here's another cliff

*Quick note, this first section may be a little confusing as it is almost from two peoples point of view. Nate is still kind of the narrator for this first section but Mr. Reed, obviously, has some explaining to do. The part that is not in italics is Nate while the italisized bits are Mr. Reed and from then on, you will clearly know who is speaking (ie. NATE or ANDREA or whoever it is.)

SOTD: HUNGER BY SAM SURE (REALLY GOOD SONG)

~

MR. REED

Your mother noticed it first...she always noticed everything first. I was never attuned to things like that; not the way she was.

It started when he turned three. We had always noticed that he was incredibly protective; like the time you went to the doctors office for your 24 month shot. He wouldn't let the doctor even touch you with what he called the "the libble sword".

It took almost two hours for your mother to coax him out of the room in order for you to finally get it. She was the only person he ever really listened to; no matter how angry he would get, she could always bring him down.

He used to get angry alot; that was a big thing with him. He would throw these episodes where he could lie on the ground for an hour, crying for something, and the moment he got it...he'd just get up like nothing had even happened. I had assumed this was just how all children acted but I was wrong.

For the most part, everything was quite tame until he started kindergarten and quickly took a liking to Anastasia Bentley...her name still haunts me till this day.

You see, they were fast friends but Anastasia, even at four years old, knew something was off. She couldn't go anywhere without him; not because of her but because he refused it. After voicing this concern to her mother, we got a call from the school asking us to talk to him about this behaviour.

He apologized and left her alone for a while until I got the scariest phone call I could have ever gotten in my entire life...

That morning, Anastasia had gone into the sandbox near the corner of the school.

"The one covered by the garbage bins?" I turned to Evan as he spoke and Mr. Reed slowly nodded.

"I'm surprised you remember it"

"He...hes the one that showed it to me"

Mr. Reed said nothing and cleared his throat.

They found Anastasia lying unconscious after recess and, thank God, they were able to resuscitate her. When asked what had happened, she said that he had cornered her...and tried to strangle her. He didn't like that she had left him; if he couldn't be her friend, she was no longer worthy of what he called 'protection'. The poor girl put up as much of a fight as she could but, even then, he knew how to get what he wanted.

We tried countless bouts of therapy, special schools, treatments; everything under the sun. It seemed like it would all go away and then, suddenly, it would come right back worse than before.

~

ANDREA

"Get up" the quick voice snapped. As if under its control, I sat up as quickly as I could and cursed myself as my head began to pound.

"Who are you?" I whispered, my throat parched. I didn't know how long I had been in the dark but it had been long enough for my throat to plead for something to relieve it.

I heard the crunch of shoes and before I could question anything, blinding light seared my eyes.

"What the~" I gasped covering my face with my hands.