Dancing in the Oaks

Born a Good Guy

I woke up in the hospital again. It took my eyes sometime to get used to the bright natural lighting that poked through the window. Nick was sitting on the couch next to my hospital bed. He looked tired and beat up. Of course he never wanted to play that card. He just wanted to be normal. His arm was wrapped In a bandage from the wrist up to the elbow. I looked over at my own arm and I saw the same thing too. "Hey Norah. How are you feeling?" He asked very nicely. I noticed that Nick's shirt was cut off above the elbow on the arm with the bandage.

"What happened?" I asked in return. My mind could not remember anything worth beans. Not to mention, the lonely feeling that I felt. I am so sick of this and I don't wanna continue on anymore. Maybe I'll just leave this place behind and start fresh. I cannot leave Nick.

He quietly walked over next to me. "You sprained your ankle again. You had to have 12 more stitches put into your arm. They just bandaged it up. They have arrested my father, as he stabbed both of us. They need more evidence, so can we take your papers from the safe?"

I reached up and touched his hair. It slipped through my hands like butter on a warm piece of toast. "Not again! I'm so tired of this. Yes we need to give them all the evidence that we can." The issue is is that we do not have that much evidence to prove him as the culprit. It just feels like we are being sucked into the blackhole.

"Okay. When they send you home tonight we are going down and getting all the evidence we can. We are safe now! Can you believe it! Berry died last night." He put his cowboy hat back on.

My jaw hit the floor, or at least that is what it sounded like. "Berry? Died? What from? Did they find the cause of death?" I searched his face before he finally gave me answers.

His face gave a smirk. "They said she had a heart attack. She is the 5th person in this town to suffer from one. That's impossible. It doesn't make sense." A knock was heard coming from the door. Nick walked over to open it.

The policeman introduced himself as officer Dixie. He seemed really nice, but he seemed worried. "Dareck Reed has escaped and he is posing a threat to the entire community. We have officers searching all over. He escaped about two hours ago." Great, now this.

"Can you possibly have the coroner's check for poisoning. I just have a feeling." I said as the officer wrote everything down. "At this point anything is considered reasonable thinking." I have had some time to think that theory over. Forensic scientists are rarely able to immediately detect poison in bodies. I knew this from my biology class in the 11th grade.

The officer left to go explore to find the fugitive. "I'm so sorry Norah! I'm sorry for all of this. This is awful. I'm sorry for what my father has done." Nick just cares so much and at this point it's cute. He wishes he would rid me of my sadness, but he ain't gonna be able to do so. I think it is so nice how he wants to just protect me and be there for me.

My eyebrows gave a sad furrow. "It's not your fault at all. Nicholas, you are so freaking cute and you care so much. I love it. You need to listen to me! What's done is done. There is not a way of reversing it. He killed my family, he killed their family, and he hurt this community. This community has been on edge for 32 years. I mean arson! I also mean murder! I have sat down and cried for the past few days. These have been the worst and the most painful weeks of my life. Nothing has made me feel this terrible. None of this was your fault. You were born a good guy Nick. I give all my respect to you. While crying I realized that what is done is done. We cannot turn back time. Your father did that crime and he will have to pay for it, not you. Remember what that Smokey bear says? 'Only you can prevent wildfires.' That sounds so cheesy, but it is so true! Only you can prevent yourself from making mistakes. You make the choice to light the campfire, you pay. He murdered these people, so he will be the one to be held accountable for that. It's alright Nick. Don't drag yourself into something that you did not do. He is responsible for himself." I couldn't help but shed some tears. I felt his pain within my body as he just stared into my deep green eyes.