Chapter 7 [Adora's POV]
Daniel found a VCR in the back of the closet of the movie room, it was covered in dust and cobwebs. The second Daniel touched it made me shudder.
I said "Eww how can you touch such a disgusting thing? Just looking at it makes me sick."
He shrugged his shoulders and said "How else are we suppose to watch the tape? I'll only be touching it for a little while so I can hook it up and start the tape."
I said "Well unless you're going to wash your hands right now I think I'll just steer clear of you."
He laughed like I wasn't being serious. He walked with it to the TV and hooked it up, when he turned on the TV the screen was blue and said video in the corner. I handed him the tape and sat down while he pressed play and the screen fizzled to life.
The first thing on the screen was the face of Carly Vandervill, Daniel's mom she said "This video is being made to celebrate my sons first play date with my best friends child Adora."
She pointed the camera at a little Daniel that grinned and waved.
He twisted in his car seat and asked "Are we there yet?"
His parents chuckled and his dad Nick said "We're only a block away. We'll be there in less than a minute."
Then it showed them walking up to a pale blue house with a navy trim. Nick knocked on the door and when it opened it revealed the Robinson's, Samuel, Laura, and me. The adults greeted each other with warm hugs and kisses on the cheek. While the little boy and girl stared at each other awkwardly and stood behind there parents. When they finally noticed the kids, they moved them forward and made them greet each other.
The girl looked down and said "Hi my name is Adora and I'm three years old."
The boy looked up at his parents and said "Umm hi Dora. My name is Daniel and I'm three too."
The girl scowled at him and said "My name is Adora not Dora stupid."
The boy made a face and pouted saying "I'm not stupid I just like the name Dora better. You can call me Danny if you want that's what my mom calls me."
The little boy was smiling but the girl huffed and walked away. Me and Daniel couldn't stop laughing at our old selves. Then the video showed the adults shoving the kids into a play room and urging them to play together even though they obviously didn't like each other. The little girl was on one side of the room playing with dolls while the boy was opposite her playing with some toy cars. Then Laura Robinson walked into the room with a crayon box and a ream of paper.
She said "How about you two come here and draw something. Everyone loves to draw right?"
Both of the kids looked at the paper and then at each other. They slowly made their way to the table where the paper and crayons were. After a few minutes they seemed like the best of friends, smiling and laughing with each other. The parents high fived Laura and called her a lifesaver.
After a while it looked like the kids were getting bored of coloring when Danny walked up to the parents and said "Umm Dora said that there is a park near her house so can we go play there?"
The parents said sure and began gathering their things. The families left the house and walked with the kids down the street to the park. When they reached the park the parents let them roam freely, they were screaming and laughing happily. The parents went to sit down as the camera desperately tried to keep track of both the kids.
Daniel took the remote and fast forwarded through what seemed like hours of play time to a point where the kids were sitting in a sand box and Carly placed the camera perfectly on the bench so she could record without holding the camera. The parents were helping the kids build a mini city with plastic cups and mulch. The adults became tired quickly and sat back down on the bench, waiting for the children to tire out as well.
A while later a red dot like a laser appeared on the sand then disappeared and this was followed by a loud bang.
From off screen you could hear Nick Vandervill saying "Carly? Someone shot my Carly. We have to go, Carly won't..."
His sentence was interrupted by another bang and the sound of Laura screaming she said "The kids! The kids! We got to get them out of here. Samu..."
Another bang that shook the camera. There was a dark substance building up at the top of the lens and when it dripped down I knew it was the blood from Samuel, my father. Laura came into view grabbing the wide eyed and fear stricken kids.
She said in a whisper to the kids "You know your parents loved you guys right?"
The kids shook their heads yes and began to cry. She said "That's good, so don't forget that okay."
She kissed both kids on the cheeks and said a prayer as she got up to grab her things. There was a bang that sounded closer and blood splattered onto the sand and the kids. There was the sound of heavy footsteps coming toward the kids, then the smoking barrel of a gun came into view. All I could do was clutch onto Daniels shirt and watch with wide eyes as a man dressed in all black kneeled in front of the kids.
The man said "Hey now, don't cry little ones your parents are just sleeping okay. Just like in the story Sleeping Beauty, they're in a deep sleep like the villagers."
He dug into his pockets and pulled out several pieces of candy. He said "Now you guys can play but don't make too much noise or you'll wake them up and that will make them mad."
The kids looked at each other and made an unannounced pact of silence. The man stood up and left after putting his .9 mm in his pocket. I silently cried at what I was seeing, kids are so innocent and naive.
The boy looked at the girl and said "Dora did you always have flowers on your shirt? They look funny."
The girl examined her clothes and said "I don't remember there being flowers on it, wait Danny look they're all over the place."
Blood splatters were all around them on their clothes and in the sand. It was the saddest thing I ever saw and worst yet it hurt knowing that this was my past. When I looked at Daniel he looked as if he wanted to cry but the tears wouldn't fall.
When I looked back at the screen the kids were playing like nothing was wrong.
Then there was a scream from off screen. A woman was saying "Call 911!!!" and others gathered and took pictures of the kids and their dead parents.
They seemed to be enjoying the scene, it was sickening. I turned to Daniel and with tears in my eyes I said "I don't want to see anymore, turn it off. I can't believe those creeps are taking photos."
Daniel shrugged and turned off the TV he said "You can't blame them for wanting to take pictures. Can you say that you wouldn't take pictures if you were there, I know I can't. I guess I'm a creep."
My mouth was wide open I couldn't believe what was coming out of his mouth, those were our parents.
I said "What's wrong with you? How can you act indifferent all of a sudden, a second ago you looked like you were going to cry now you're going to act like you don't care."
He looked down and said "I'm not supposed to care. I don't even know them." He put his head in his hands and cried while repeating the words "I don't know them."
YOU ARE READING
RED
Teen FictionAdora is an orphan that lives at the Big Smiles Orphanage. She feels alone even in a crowded room and though people show her affection she can't seem to accept it. On her birthday she receives a gift from someone she doesn't know Daniel, the box con...
