Thank You For Coming Back!

Story

                                                                             Thank You For Coming Back!

                                                                   © 2013 Raymond Cook (All rights reserved)

Shona and Mary Leah were twin sisters living in Olympia, Washington in 1974. They shared an apartment together and at the age of 35 found themselves attending computer classes at St. Martin's College. They were taking computer classes at night and hoped after graduation to get jobs with the government. This was their final quarter and they both were excited.

It was May and the sun was high in the sky. On their way to the store, Shona asked her sister to take a short cut down a walking trail through a wooded park. Mary took the lead and walked briskly down the trail laughing as she called out to her sister to keep up with her. Mary was keeping ahead of her sister about 35 feet as she took deep breaths.

Suddenly Mary heard her sister scream out her name. As she turned around, she put her hand to her mouth as she saw a man pulling her sister backwards towards some brush with one hand pulling on her hair. In his other hand he held a hammer. Mary was frozen with fear as tears rolled down her cheeks. She wanted to run away and also wanted to run to save her sister, but could do neither.

Just as Shona and her attacker reached the side of the trail, she cried out to her sister to run. As soon as Shona finished screaming those words, her attacker struck her on the right side of her head with his hammer. Mary heard her sister's skull crack. She gasped and let out a loud moan and suddenly quit struggling as blood flowed down the side of her face.

The man wore a black jogging suit and long greasy brown hair stood out. He wore black tennis shoes and had a pair of latex gloves on, the kind people wore in hospitals. Suddenly her sister's killer let go of Shona's hair and she fell to the ground. Now he began running after Mary with his hammer held high in the air. She saw the cruel look in his eyes as she turned around and began running for her life. Mary found herself laying on the gurney strapped down, unable to move.

She no longer was screaming or panicking. The shot that sedated her had calmed her down. As she lay there unable to move, tears rolled down her cheeks, and she began to feel her heart beating faster and faster. She looked at the wall behind her head and saw the call button to request a nurse, but her hands were down at her side and she couldn't reach it. So she did the only thing she could do. She let out a horrible scream.

In seconds, her terrified eyes saw a police officer come into her room followed by two nurses, with frightened looks on their faces. Between the three people, they calmed Mary down enough for her to tell them that she saw her sister murdered on a walking trail behind the Safeway store. The police officer asked her what clothing her sister wore. She told her a red dress with black shoes. She also told the officer her sister had long brown hair and had it in a braid.

Mary gave him a good description of her sister's attacker too. He radioed the description of the suspect, her sister and the location of the attack to the dispatcher. Just then, a doctor with a stethoscope around his neck entered Mary's room. His name was Doctor Brown. In his hand he held the blood work report for Mary and told the police officer Mary had no drugs in her system.

He asked the two nurses to take the straps off of her. When she was helped to her feet, she hugged one of the nurses and cried and cried. When the police officer asked Mary if she knew her sister's attacker, she shook her head no. Then he asked her if she could identify him if she saw him again. With bitter and angry eyes, she told the officer, "Yes. "I will never forget his face!"