A Hole of Lies

Chapter 9

My mom was lying on the grass looking up at the midnight sky. Dad  was next to her, holding her hand. I was skipping around them, desperately wanting someone to play tag with me.

"Come on!" I begged. "You guys are boring." I whined.

 "Come lie down next me." My mother's soft voice rang out in the midnight air.

I slid into the spot next to mom, right next to our big oak. I named him Harry. He was perfect  to climb.

"Honey, do you see those stars over there? They look like a question mark. Ask a question, Jules. It will be answered." My mother said, pointing up to the stars.

I thought about it. Hm. I looked up at the sky. There it was. Right before my eyes. A giant, dazzling, question mark, drawn in white light across the sky. 

"Do I say it out loud?" I asked.

"No, say it in your head." My father answered looking across mom at me. I smiled at them and said my question in my head.

"There." I announced. I let my eyelids cover my eyes and I fell into a dreamless sleep.

The next day, my mom decided to go for a walk. She wasn't feeling too good so she wanted some fresh air. She wanted space to think. So she went alone. Dad and I just spent the morning at home, playing games and goofing around. That was until we got a very stern-sounding phone call. Dad picked up, and we were still laughing from a funny joke that dad pointed out. He put it on speaker.

"Hello?!" Dad answered, chuckling.

"Mr. Haresburg?" Said a man, sounding like a police officer. Dad stood up straight and made a babbling sound, trying to look act like the man on the other end of the line. That made me laugh even more.

"Mr. Haresburg." The voice said again, when he didn't receive an answer.

"Yes, sir." Dad responded quickly.

"We have some news to give you."

"And that is?" Dad asked, smiling.

"This is private. May you please turn the speaker off?" He surprised us both when he said this, we didn't know that he knew that he was on speaker.

Dad gave me an actual serious look. He pushed the button and started pacing back and forward. This is how the conversation went:

"Yes...... Yes, I do.......... Yup...... No....... Uh, around eight o'clock..... Yes, it is....... About two hours ago..... No.... Yes, pretty long........ Yep.......Sir- whoever you are please-........ Oh, why are you calling?......... Just, please, get to your point.......... Yes........Yes, we do........ No, I mean- we do need the money..... But why would we do such a thing?......... Property?  What property?.......... No, we do not have any of our belongings on McDacken Road........ No!.....How do you know?.... Who is she?......... Elise?!?!?!? What?!?! How do you -..... No! I will not calm down once you tell me my wife-" The second he said that, boy, I almost fainted. He started kicking all of our furniture, cursing. This is how it kept on going for a while.

"What in the world??!!? How do you know it's her?....................................Me?.......This phone number????...... But the emergency contact number.........Why would you need....... Holly shit! Crap! WHAT?!? What the FU-" He started,  but remembered I was there and stopped. His face was a mix between terror and melancholy. He hung up the phone, dropped it, and ran outside. He heard him screaming. He came in and grabbed my arm. He dragged me to the car and drove to McDacken Road.  I tried to ask him what was wrong, but the second we came to the start of the road, it was blocked.

"Oh shit." Dad muttered under his breath. He jumped out of the car and started swivelling down the giant path of cars. I did the same.

When we came to the giant intersection, police cars, fire trucks, more police cars, more fire trucks, and even more police cars were drowning the place with blue and red lights. Dad scurried through the people, then stopped. I was way far behind him. He knelt down. He had something in his arms. Something very red.....

"DAD!!!!" I screamed. Just then, an arm stuck out from the crowd, stopping me from going any closer. It was a nice looking police man.

"Don't go any further." The young man said.

"But that's my DAD!!!" I screamed. I wiggled free from his tight grip, hurt from the accidental pinch he gave me when he grabbed me. Ouch!

When I came to dad's side, I wish I didn't. I was guilty for thinking I was hurt from the slightest little pinch. There, right before me eyes, my own mother was lying in my dad's arms. Blood was spilling from her body, no telling where it was coming from. Her face was disordered, her nose obviously broken, her lips cracked, her eyes swollen. Her left arm was dangling limply to her side, all the life drained out of it. Her legs were twisted in God knows how many ways, and she just looked........ shity. 

A big car packed with a whole family sat at one end of the intersection. A police man was yelling at them, half the people were crying, half were yelling and the rest, were just shocked. They had hit her.

I turned away. My eyes were also swollen from all the tears running down my cheeks. Why, oh dear God, why? Why did I have to ask that question?

                                                 What is the next chapter in our life?