Wayward Daughter

Chapter Four

I sat on the front porch, the cool breeze gently blowing through my hair. I stared into the night sky, looking at the different constellations. Not too long after, Dad came out and sat next to me.

"Sam and I finished packing," he told me.

I nodded, knowing that he was trying to get away from earlier's subject of my mother. Dad looked at me concerned.

"You OK?" he asked.

"Yep," I told him, attempting to sound cheerful.

Dad nodded, "Alright, come pack the rest of your stuff into the boxes we left for you."

"OK," I said, getting up and going inside.

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I sat on the floor of my room sorting things into boxes.

"All photo albums go into this box, all clothes in this on, hunting stuff in this one, and all books in this one," I mumbled to myself, finishing the sorting.

My phone suddenly vibrated so I picked it up and checked the notifications. 

1 New Message(s) from Eve

I sighed and opened the text.

Eve-il: Hey. Heard that ur moving

I sighed again and texted back, continuing the conversation.

d_Anna: Yeah

Eve-il: Where 2?

d_Anna: Lawrence Kansas

Eve-il: Isn't that ur Dad's hometown?

d_Anna: Yep

Eve didn't text back for a while. When she did, Dad walked in.

"Who are you texting?" he asked.

I shrugged, "Just Eve."

He looked confused, "Eve?"

I nodded, "She's literally my only friend here."

Dad looked surprised this time, "Oh."

I turned back to my phone and continued texting Eve.

Eve-il: U still there?

d_Anna: Yep

Eve-il: Good. I thought u left me there for a second

d_Anna: Nope

Eve-il: So, I forgot 2 ask. What day r u moving?

d_Anna: Tomorrow

Eve-il: TOMORROW?!

Eve-il: I wanted 2 c u before u left :(

d_Anna: Yeah me 2

d_Anna: I have 2 go :(  TTYL

Eve-il: K. Bye, don't forget 2 txt!

I turned off my phone and stood up, grabbing one of the boxes and carrying it outside.

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The next morning, I sat in the back of the Impala on my phone. Eve hadn't texted me so I was staring blankly at the screen, trying to pass Level 23 of Candy Crush. After a while, I gave up and watched Dad come out the front door and walk down the steps to the car. Sam followed him and they both got in the car.

"Sorry we left you in here so long," Dad told me, "we just needed to make sure we didn't leave anything behind."

I nodded and he started the car.

"Can we listen to music?"I asked.

He nodded, "Any suggestions?"

"AC/DC," I told him smiling

He laughed and put in the cassette tape. When the music came on, we both started signing at the top of our lungs. Sam laughed and joined in.

A little while later, we arrived in Lawrence. It was probably about 11:00 in the morning but the building we parked in front of was dark and cast an even darker shadow over the yard in front of it. Dad looked at the building and turned to Sam.

"Hey Sammy grab me that folder from the glove compartment will ya?" he said.

Sam nodded and handed him a very tattered folder with papers sticking out of it. Dad pulled out a few newspaper clippings and handed them to me.

The first one had a picture of a family, but the girl in front was scowling. The article beneath it read:

Family of 4 dies in a fire

November 2nd, 1997, the Bracker family was killed in a house fire. Fire fighters have not yet determined the source of the fire, but it is thought to have been arson. The youngest child, Maggie Bracker, who was 13, was often unhappy and angry with her mother, father, and brother. "When her brother, or anyone for that matter, angered her, she would run off. I would often find her wandering the streets mumbling threats," says their former neighbor, Charles McIntosh.

I looked up at Dad after finishing the article.

"Let me guess, angry spirit of girl possessing house?" I asked him.

"Bingo," he responded, "and check this out, another family of four died two years later, same house, same day, same time."

"Another one?" I asked, "where's the article for that one?"

Dad handed me the other newspaper.

This one stated:

Another Family of Four Perishes in Fatal Fire

Two years after the tragic fire killing the whole Bracker family, another family of four perishes. Also on November 2nd, but this one being in 1999. The family killed this time, the Martins, had moved into the Bracker's old home, two months after it was reconstructed in 1998. "They were wonderful people," says Charles McIntosh, "the mother and father always cheerful and the children always smiling. It almost seemed too good to be true, and I guess it was."

The picture at the top of the article this time was of the house. I looked from the picture to the real house, comparing the two.

"Wow. They really kept the look throughout the years," I said.

Sam nodded, "There have also been other fires, but they've all been the same."

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I'm going to stop here for now, sorry about the cutoff!

-Ava