Sweet Pea

.4.

I walked over to Pea, grabbed his face, and kissed him. He kissed me back and put his hands on the sides of my face. Never in a million years could something be this perfect. But it was. Life was good, and I couldn't complain. You could hear the guys making love noises at us, but we ignored them and kept out faces facing the other. It was a great way to end the night.

We walked back to his trailer, and when we got there, he opened the door. He led the way into the quiet, dark room.

"Ana, close your eyes. I have a surprise for you."

"If you throw a spider or something remotely similar on me, I am going to kill you!"

"No. I hate spiders too. Just trust me."

"Okay." I closed my eyes, and I could feel his hand waving in front of my face to make sure I wasn't peeking. He then walked behind me and put an arm on my shoulder and led me forward a few steps. He put his hands over my eyes and removed them when he yelled out, "SURPRISE!"

He set up a dinner table with candles and daisies around the floor. I could see he put so much into this, and I didn't know why. We only knew each other for roughly four weeks now. It almost made me cry because he was doing everything in his power to make me feel better after my mom.

"Do you like it? I got Toni to help with the food so that I wouldn't burn anything."

"I love it! This is a princess dream come true."

"Your, not a princess, Ana. You're a queen, and I wanted to make you feel like a queen. I know what happened to your mom was horrible, but you shouldn't have to worry about that anymore."

"Pea it was a week ago and the Black Hood-"

"Is going to be caught. You will get your justice, but for now, worry about you."

I took his words and enjoyed the rest of the night. The food was excellent and my view of the face in front of me was better. Nothing could change this. I was living a fantasy, princess life. A part of this didn't feel real. Because all good things come to an end. Always.

We leaned over the table and began to kiss when we heard a knock at the door.

"Who is it?" Sweet Pea asked, leaning back to his side of the table.

The voice was nervous and shook slightly when it spoke."Kevin Keller. I am here to talk to Ana. Her dad said I could find her here."

I walked over to the door and let Kevin in. "Hey, Kev, what's up?"

"My dad said that you need to head back to your mom's because you have to get it cleaned out. He figured you might take it better from me."

"Yea, of course. I will do it this weekend."

"You might want to go tonight to start. I can go with you."

"Sure."

Sweet Pea looked at me, defeated. "But-"

"I'm so sorry, Pea. I will find a way to make this up to you." And I fully intended to.

Kevin drove me back to the Northside and dropped me off at my mom's. He said he would be back in half an hour to 45 minutes. I walked inside and smelled all the candles that had been lit the day she died. The house being completely locked up, preserved the smells. It almost brought me to tears to hold her keys.

I began cleaning up when a knock at the door. I reached over for my flashlight, so I could hit them in the head if necessary. I walked over and opened the door to be jumped by a large figure. I saw a black mask in between struggling to get him off and yelling for help. He covered my mouth and eventually used my mom's scarf to put in my mouth. I cried, and I fought. None of which was any good at this point.

He began to strangle me. I couldn't get up, and I eventually felt freezing and weightless. My body was now limp and unconscience. He thought I was dead, so he got off me and turned to walk out. But he stopped when he saw my hand twitching, which would mean I wasn't. He grabbed the lamp nearby and raised it above his head. The black hood felt a hand grab the light so to figure out what was going on, and he turned around to see. It was Kevin. He came back and scared the Black Hood off. I don't know how, but he did. He rushed to my aid and called his dad.

"Dad! Ana is unconscience!"

"Okay."

He got off the phone and carried me out the door where my dad and Sweet Pea greeted him.

"She is unconscience. I came here, and the Black Hood was strangling her. He tried to hit her with a lamp."

My dad took my limp body into his arms and carried me to his bike. He sat me down and held me up, waiting for sheriff Keller to come.

It wasn't long before he showed up, and so did an ambulance. I was rushed to the hospital. It felt like I was in a dream. A very bad idea. Nothing about this seemed real. But then again, our sweet little town was not as innocent as it once was. Fathers are killing sons. A vengeful serial killer. Rapists from our past. We went from being the kids running around and scraping our knees, to being the teenagers solving murders and never getting a break. This was life now, and it sucked big time.