He opened the shed door in the backyard. He looked behind him as I jumped behind the bush. I stayed behind the shrub until I heard rustling in the shed. I peaked over the bush and saw Thomas walking out of the shed with a shovel. Why does he need a shovel? What is it for? He walked right where I was hiding. I pressed myself to the side of the house half hidden by the bush. He walked right past me. Once he turned the corner I stood up and continued following him. We walked for a tiny bit longer, but came by the old park, my old park. I thought he was going to walk past it but he continued to walk into the park. He stopped and looked around. I hid behind the tree that was next to me.
I heard Thomas’s shoes scrunching in the mud in my direction. As I thought he found me I heard his shovel digging into the ground on the opposite side of the tree. I looked up to the sky and released my breath. I saw something in the tree. Our old tree house. Why would he dig here? Then I remembered our short conversation. I told him this is where we buried Roxi. I started to bring back details of the day.
I stood at the edge of her hole that dad just dug. Mom was wrapping her up in her favorite snuggling blanket that she always fell asleep in. Now she would never wake up again in that blanket. I remember the tears streaming over my face and mom and dad telling me about their pets as a child. I remember giving her a hug for the last time. Feeling her gray fur for the last time. I remember going home and crying and getting mad at the driver over and over again. I remember mom calling me down for dinner and making my favorite food, lasagna. I remember wanting to be a vegetarian after my dad told me that in some places people eat cats. I remember laughing when my mom slapped him in the head. I remember them laughing with me.
Tears sprung in my eyes. I inhaled and stepped out around the tree. Thomas looked up deeply surprised at me standing there. He was standing in an already deep hole with my blanket covered in dirt and Roxi’s dead body. I looked away from the body and stared at Thomas mustering up my courage to say something.
“ Why?” I asked him as he continued to stare. His stare turned into a fixated glare. I remembered all those things and now I start to remember the feelings of anger, confusion and sadness come back too. I felt my face turn red and my eyes water. His gaze softened, but it turned hard again.
“ I can't,” he said before he walked away. The hour after that I buried my cat. Again. I wrapped her back up in the blanket and used my hands to push the dirt on top of her. It took half an hour to walk home. My mother was already home and she was on the phone laughing.
“ I know right?!”
“Who are you talking to?” My mom put the phone to her shoulder and told me that she was talking to Ms.Burgess. I nodded and went to start making the family tradition of waffles every sunday night. My mom ended her call and walked toward me. She pulled up her sleeves and started washing her hands. That was when I noticed her burn.
¨YOU ARE MARKED???¨ My mother gasped in response, as she pulled her sleeve down over her arm. I grasped her arm and held it tightly against the kitchen counter. I pinch the end of her sleeve and pull it back. Almost the same mark was there on my mother's arm, there was only one difference, hers looked faded. I pulled my mother to the table trying to pull an explanation from her.
¨when I was a girl, just about your age, I found this book, and it filled me with this constant rage. I was too mad to eat, sleep, just being around people, I just couldn't do it. I was like Thomas.” She looked at me as I tried to analyze.
¨ You were possessed by the same book?¨ confusion filled me. Why is her mark fading then? Mine seems to stay the same, worse I would dare say.
¨It is not the same book, I think. You see, my book was destroyed, with a sacrifice. Uh.. I was best friends with Thomas's father, and when I became possessed, he tried destroying the book, well he succeeded, but when the book was destroyed so was he.¨ Tears started filling her eyes, and she looked at me with obvious concern for her child. Why was she crying for me?
¨Oh¨ I realized it all at once. ¨ I'm going to die.¨ It was something that I simply had to do. I had to destroy the book for Thomas, so that he can live. I glanced up at my mom, shudders racked through her body as she cried and cried. I was gonna miss her but Thomas’s dad died for her and now I will die for Thomas.
“I’m sorry mom” tears ran down my face also, but I needed to do this. Thomas has been my best friend forever, and he would do the same for me. I was marked as the sacrifice to destroy the book and I will do exactly that.
I rubbed my eyes and yawned. Today I was gonna get the book. I didn't know how, but I am gonna do it, and I know how to destroy it. My dream told me exactly how to. Fire. That was the answer. My dream was surrounded by fire, the book was practically on fire, so that is how I am gonna destroy it.
I pulled a long sleeve shirt on to cover my mark and asked my mom to drop me off at school. I grabbed a quick breakfast and climbed into the passenger seat of my mom’s truck.
“ Mom, shouldn’t your burn be gone by now? And how come i have never seen it before?” She looked at me and tears once again brimmed over her eyelashes.
“ It did heal, but it is coming back. I was thinking about it and I think that the book really is back and that is why my mark is coming back.” I turned my head to look back out the front windshield in silence.
“Mom can I ask you something?”My voice was covered with hesitation.
“You may” she turned her head to look at me.
“When I am gone, can you take care of Thomas and his mom? They will really need it.”
“Of course!” We were both crying in unison. I was going to leave and it was going to be alright for Thomas, and Mrs. Burgess, and that filled me with great joy.
