By Alizabeth Meadows
The sun sets low over the mountains, making the sky a beautiful array of colors, of orange, pink, red, and blue. A few soft gray clouds slowly make their journey across the sky, seemingly joyful about it. The sun slowly sinks lower and lower until it cannot be seen anymore, the purple mountains covering it. A goose calls out to its flock, the “Honk! Honk!” heard all over the neighborhood. The streetlamps flicker on, and Emilia Evans steps out of her house.
The green house sits on the edge of the forest, with white window shutters, and a black door. It truly is an ugly house, and all the other houses around it are the exact same. A dull neighborhood, where nothing ever changes. Sometimes, when Emilia ponders her life, she hates this town, this never ending cycle of nothing but the same. She feels the itch to escape, to do what her twin sister, Amy, did and just move, find a new life somewhere else. But she thinks of her younger brother, Jamie, and she knows he must finish his education first. Even if her heart aches every time she leaves her house, every time she sees the reminder of her parents. They had died eight years ago, when Emilia and Amy were eighteen and Jamie was only six. Even if the town feels like it was suffocating her, with her fiancee…
But enough of the sadness and memories, the walk needs to be taken. Dinner must be made before Amy arrives, but she needs the walk. She craves the fresh air, the birds singing, the sun on her skin, the smell of the bitter cherry tree in her front yard… Yes, she needs this.
Emilia takes a deep breath, filling her lungs with the scent of the evening, of the flowers that were blooming, of the huge bitter cherry tree, and of the evening cooking from the houses. She breathes back out, then plugs in her headphones, jogging on to the street, humming in time to the song.
She heads down the street, a breeze blowing through her brown ponytail, her hazel eyes searching the sky. What she is searching for, she didn’t even know. Just something, something beyond the normal, the monotony. It felt crushing, weighing her down. What is out there? What is there? Where is life? How does she find it? Where…?
She turns towards the forest, heading down the familiar path as the sun sinks low. She picks up her pace, running now, away from the stress, away from Jared, away from it all. The trees blur past her, faster and faster, just a blur of green now. The birds fly away from her, insects chirping. She stops suddenly, breathing hard, taking out her headphones. She looks behind her, stunned at how far she ran in such a little amount of time. She blushes, feeling ashamed of her childish behavior. She sighs, going to sit down on a fallen tree. She looks around the forest, loving the greens, the browns, the beautiful sounds. It is truly a beautiful place, one full of peace and quiet. She closes her eyes, a few small tears escaping. She cried for several minutes, all the heartache and dullness escaping with every tear that she cried.
A twig snaps, loudly, suddenly, and all goes still. Emilia looks up sharply, heart pounding. “Is someone there?” She calls out, her voice hoarse. She scans the trees. “Hello?” She clears her throat, then calls out louder, “Hello?” She stands up, spinning, searching. “Is someone there?”
Emilia takes a deep breath and quickly goes down the path, heading back towards the neighborhood, looking behind her every few seconds, fear making her heart pound. She starts to run, but doesn’t see the clearing, where the forest meets the neighborhood. She stops running, realizing she went the wrong way. Instead of leaving the forest, she just went deeper into it.
“No,” She whispers brokenly. “No, no, no.”
Quickly turning around, she runs the other way, not bothering to look behind her this time. She looks up, scanning the trees for a sign of a person, not paying attention to the ground. She suddenly trips over a root, falling onto the ground. She skins her knee on a rock. She sits up and starts crying again, feeling hopeless. Where to go? How to escape this forest? She should’ve never left her warm home. Amy was coming over, she had to cook dinner! Jared and Jamie weren’t going to do it. She slowly climbs back onto her feet, walking this time, taking her time walking through, making sure she doesn’t trip on any more branches.
She almost sobs with relief as she sees the clearing, her house just down the street. Oh, how wonderful the ugly houses seem! How beautiful the bitter cherry tree! There’s Jared’s car pulling into the house!
She stops. She’d forgotten about their fight that morning. The yelling. The bitter, angry shouts. Perhaps the creepy dark forest would be better than going home. But, she has to make dinner for Amy, sweet, dearest Amy who Emilia has not seen in a year.
The sun finally sets, darkness sweeping around the neighborhood. The street lamps flicker on, except for the broken one in front of Emilia. Some kid had thrown a rock into it, and the city had yet to fix it.
Emilia slowly walks back home, dragging out the time. The twig had been almost forgotten. But who had been in the forest with her?
She shakes off the forest. Probably won’t go there for a while. After all, while it’s beautiful, there are creepy things there. Dangerously creepy things.
A sound. Almost like someone kicking a rock. Emilia, still on edge from the forest, turns around, but nothing but the dark is there.
She starts quickly walking home, wishing for once that she spent more time in the sun. Her pale skin almost seems like a beacon in the dark, saying come get me!
Another sound, louder this time, but she doesn’t look backwards, just keeps going. She picks up speed, almost running. “Leave me alone!” She cries out. “Whoever you are, just go away! This isn’t funny!”
No. It’s never funny.
…
Amy pulls into the street, her heart aching as she sees her parent’s house. How on Earth did Emilia stand living there? With their parents’ memories around every corner? The pain of the accident? Jamie was young, so of course he doesn’t mind, but how…? It doesn’t matter, she decides. She’s here to visit, not criticize. She misses Emilia and Jamie. She should visit more often, but New York City was awfully far from Arizona and plane tickets were not getting any cheaper.
She stops on the curb, not bothering to pull in the driveway behind Jared’s car. Jared. She thinks, rolling her eyes. Out of all the men in the world, Emilia had to pick the worst, most toxic one. She turns off the car, pulling out her keys, and opening the door, stepping out into the evening air. The sun is almost gone, all the street lights on now.
“Amy!” Jared rushes over to her, panic written all over his face, his dark hair all stuck up, strands going in every direction. It looks like he stuck his fingers into an electric socket and it shocked him.
Amy sighs and faces Jared. “Hello. Now, where is Emilia? I did not come to see you.”
Jared’s dark eyes dart everywhere except Amy’s face. “I…I don’t know…” His voice sounds far away, as if he’s not in front of Amy.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Amy demands, getting angry with his vague answers. “Where is Jamie?”
“He just got home from his friends’ house,” Jared mumbles, looking at a piece of paper in his hands, finally making sense.
“What is that?” Amy takes the paper from Jared, recognizing Emilia’s handwriting.
Dear Jamie & Jared,
I’m going for a walk down to the forest & back. If I’m not back by 6:00, Jared can you please make dinner? I don’t want Amy to make that long drive and come back to no food.
Jamie, if you’re not home by 6, you can’t ever go to your friend’s again.
Love,
E
Amy looks at her watch. 7:56 P.M. Emilia would’ve been home by now, Amy thinks to herself. She never lets Jared make dinner.
“Have you called the cops?” Amy snaps at Jared, growing only more frustrated with this seemingly dumb man.
“No.” He says quietly, looking away from Amy. Odd.
“What do you mean no? She’s missing-”
“The police only respond to a 24 hour missing period,” Jared cuts her off, finally looking her in the eyes.
“So? You call and tell them anyways!” Amy yells, storming past Jared into the house, searching for Jamie. The green door calls out to Amy, of old happier days, when everything was much simpler.
Inside, the house was different from when she last saw it, more to Emilia’s tastes than their parent’s. There were new pictures on the walls, ones full of Jamie’s childhood over the years, of spelling bees won, of silly birthdays, of Emilia and Jared. Amy scowls at those ones, the Jared in those seem fake and as the years progress, there is more pain in Emilia’s eyes. Amy rushes past the living room into the hallway, climbing the stairs. “Jamie?”
“Amy!” Jamie comes out of his room, his chestnut hair wet from a shower, and hugs her. “How are you?” It’s clear he doesn’t know, Amy thinks.
“I’d be better if Jared could tell me where he hid Emilia.”
“What?” Jamie looks around. “Isn’t she home by now?”
“No, according to Jared, she’s not,” Amy says, loudly, in order for Jared to hear downstairs. She hears a loud sigh. “Didn’t he show you the note she supposedly left?”
“No…” Jamie goes downstairs. “What’s going on?” He asks Jared, skeptically.
“Emilia didn’t come home from her walk,” Jared says quietly, looking Jamie into the eyes. Why can he look at Jamie, but not me?
“Why? Is it because of the fight you two had this morning?” Jamie says, a quiet, subtle anger in his voice. When Jamie got mad, it was quiet, not in a yelling or sulking way, but in a way that made anyone hush up and listen to him.
“I don’t know!” Jared suddenly explodes, yelling at Jamie. “For the last time, I told you not to listen to our conversations!”
Amy rushes between them. “Don’t you yell at him!”
Jared scowls at Amy and turns away. “You did something to her, didn’t you?” Amy asks.
Jared turns around. “No. I love her. I would never, ever hurt her.”
Amy scoffs. “Is that what your brother said before he killed Bella?”
Jared’s face and neck go red. “He didn’t kill her!” He yells, storming out of the room. His feet pound on the stairs and a bedroom door slams upstairs.
Jamie flinches, but Amy just scowls. She grabs Jamie’s hand. “Let’s go. We’re going to report this to the police and you’re staying at a hotel with me. I don’t trust Jared.”
…
IN A SMALL TOWN IN ARIZONA, EMILIA EVANS, AGE 26, DISAPPEARED
In Woodscroft, Arizona, on the 22nd of October, around 5-6pm, 26-year-old Emila Evans disappeared. According to the police, she left a note explaining where she had gone and what time she’d get back. When sister Amy Evans arrived for a visit, she found Jared Green pacing in the front yard. Amy stated that he had a note and said he did not call the police right away.
“Jared is dangerous,” Amy stated to a reporter on October 30th. “He constantly fights with Emilia. It was a toxic relationship, I told her after what happened surrounding his brother to leave him, but she wouldn’t.”
Younger brother, Jamie Evans, told the police that during one fight, Jared had gotten physical with Emilia, slapping her, and it hadn’t been the first time. Police took Jared into custody, but he still claims to have not done something to Emilia.
“He’s lying,” stated a person from Woodscroft who works with Jared. “Everyone knows he has a bad temper.”
Police searched the woods, the only thing they found from Emilia was her phone, lying smashed in the middle of the forest. As for Emilia herself, no one has seen her since October 22nd.
IF YOU HAVE SEEN EMILIA OR HAVE INFORMATION TO REPORT, CALL THIS NUMBER: 602-478-9787
Arizona Times
Jared slowly walks towards home, the detective’s words still ringing in his head. I didn’t take her. He thinks to himself, that’s why they let me go. His phone rings, and he answers it, with a stiff, “Hi Mom.”
He sniffles. “I didn’t take her, and they released me because they have no evidence to charge me with, even with Jamie’s allegations. No. Of course I didn’t kill her.” He sighs as he wanders towards the woods. “Mom, I don’t really want to talk about this right now. I’ll call you later.”
He walks into the woods, on the same path Emilia took three weeks ago. Where did you go? Why did you leave?
Suddenly, the birds go silent, but Jared’s beyond noticing as his steps quicken, anger burning through him. You could’ve left the normal way, instead of trying to frame me for murder!
A twig snaps, but nothing draws Jared’s attention as his head spins around and around with his thoughts. He suddenly trips over a root, falling down, where he stays, curling into a ball. I did love you.
He looks up, wiping his eyes, a few minutes later, hearing another twig snap. “Hello?” He calls out, his voice hoarse. His hair is messy, dark circles under his eyes. In a few weeks, his cheeks could have hollows. “Whose there?”
Nothing. No voice calls back. Just complete and total silence.
The fact that something was off, something was wrong, slowly sank in as Jared stood up on shaking legs. Perhaps it had been a mistake to come to the woods.
His eyes scan the trees, and for the first time, they land on me. I come out from my hiding place, smirking as he takes a step back, gasping in shock. “No, no, you died.”
“I never died, I simply went missing, it isn’t my fault everyone assumed I died,” I say, plucking a leaf off the tree, comfortable in my steps. No fear has touched me in years.
Jared shakes his head, then narrows his eyes. “You took her, didn’t you?”
I grin. “Perhaps.” I take a step towards him as he takes one away from me. “But then, I wouldn’t say I took her when she wanted to get away from you.”
Jared snarls, then lunges towards me. I sidestep, then let him fall onto his face. I grab a big rock, the dark falling through the forest like a blanket, and let it fall onto him. “Jared…you never did learn. You should fear the dark.”
Reflection:
I chose to share this short story because it is the favorite short story that I have written. I love writing thrillers, and I don’t think anyone will expect the ending that I chose. The thing that I am most proud of in my work is that I was able to write it, and make it sound like a story, not just a story outline. I was able to sit down, focus, and write it and it sounded like an actual story. I’m not quite sure I tried to make any themes. I just wanted to create a short story that people would enjoy once read.
