“Karina we’re home,” smiling that perfect smile my mom walks in the door alongside my dad carrying a bag of treats for me and my dog Sparky. Every Friday my mom brings us treats and in some way, I think it was because she felt guilty for not being here with us most of the time. My dad feels as if he should be the one working instead of her because she always comes home late. The thought of my mom staying home scares me, mostly because she's not the best at cooking.
“Here I come mom,” as I am rushing down the stairs with my dog in one hand and the card I made for my mom in the other. I sit my dog on the floor and rush into my mom’s arms. “Mom sit down, I have something for you,” as those words are coming from my mouth I pass her the card. Her eyes are watering and her leg is shaking which I couldn’t tell if she was happy or sad until she grabbed me by the wrist and pulled me into a huge hug.
A few weeks went by and it was the same continuous routine until one day. I was laying in the living room with my dog and my dad walked in. Usually, on Fridays, my mom comes home with treats and an “I’m home” but not this Friday. “Dad where is mom,” as the last word comes out my mouth there is a tear rolling down my dads face and he collapses on the ground with his hands on his face. “Dad answer me!”
“She’s gone,” my dad repeatedly said and I couldn’t figure out what my dad was talking about and if he’s saying what I’m guessing...no I can’t think like that. “Sit princess,” he sits first then I sit trying to brace myself for what my dad is about to say. “There was a fire at your mom’s job today. I guess one of her coworkers wasn’t getting paid enough and set a fire to try and get back at the CEO,” as he tries to finish, his eyes turn red because he is trying to hold back the crying. “Unfortunately….your mom was caught in the fire.”
“This can’t be true. My mom isn’t dead. You're lying, dad. She’s here, she's here, she’s here” are all the thoughts popping up into my head right now and I can’t control it. My hearts weakening and my vision gets blurry. First one tear rolls down my cheek then 30 more following behind it. My hands are shaking and for a moment it seems as if I’m about to pass out, but I don’t. I stare shockingly at my dad then at the window behind him, waiting for him to tell me it’s a joke, but it isn’t. Why would someone do this to my family? Why the woman who nurtured me? I rush out and run to my room thinking about how I’ll never see my mom again. I’ll never see my mom again...wow.
We went to her funeral which was surrounded by people sulking and grieving about my mother’s death. The funeral was over after a couple of hours and we are now driving back home. As we are driving back down our street to the house we live at in the middle of the woods there is a stranger. A stranger with a creepy black and red mask with only eye holes and a mouth hole. He is just standing on the sidewalk in front of our house just waiting and staring. My dad doesn’t think anything of it although Sparky and I are trembling. My dad is now parking the car up the driveway and as we start to get out of the car, the man starts walking up to our house. “Leave, Now,” my dad yells at the man but all he does is stop in his tracks and laughs. After, a few minutes of him laughing and my dad and my dad staring him down, waiting for his next move, he leaves. He leaves with the most confident walk anyone could have. Me, my dad, and Sparky try not to think about the man or my mom and move on with our lives.
A few lonely and bare years went by and I am now 16. Tomorrow has to be one of the worst holidays to spend without your mom, Halloween. I have an abhorrence feeling towards Halloween without my mother because every year just becomes more boring by the second. This Halloween I plan on doing my favorite activity since my mother died, knife throwing.
The next morning I wake up and start packing my supplies. I have always loved going to the woods surrounding our house until my mom died. We used to pretend to have fake adventures and pretend that pirates were trying to take over our house but, she's gone, gone forever. My dad is sitting in his chair in the living room, so I tell him I’m going out and kiss him on the cheek. It is about a 10-minute walk to the spot my mom set up when she used to knife throw. She always told me that she was gonna teach me, “It'll come in handy” she always said with a laugh. I try to stop thinking about my mom but the thought my mind leaped to was how many creeps there was waiting on the woods.
I’m continuously throwing knives at the tree my mom used until I am about 2 hours into it when I start to rest and watch videos on my phone. I lie there on the ground below me for a while until I hear a weird whistling from afar, but why would someone be whistling at night, in the woods.
Whistling always brings me back to my mom because that’s what my mom would do every day after work. It starts to creep me out because I kept hearing the whistling getting closer and closer. So I grab my supplies and start making my way home. I’m not very long into my walk when I hear someone running. My heart beats in explosive motions, my eyes widen to every beat of the person running, and my legs take over. I start to run when the unexpected happens...someone grabs my arm. I am now turned to face someone with a mask on and all I can see is the mouth, no eye holes, no anything. “WHO ARE YOU!” I scream to the man and in return, I get no response except a mischievous smile. His grip is tightening on my arm and my blood circulation is beginning to stop. His weird smile is still on his face while I am struggling to release his grasp on me until I finally kick him. He doesn’t flinch but he lets go of my arm.
I stare at the man in disbelief but only for a brief second before I break out in a run. I run, run until I’m safe at home. My dad is still sitting and watching T.V. and I don’t bother him to tell him what just happened because he doesn't need to be stressed. I lay on the couch next to my dad's chair and let everything that just happened sink into my brain.
As I am laying down though, I start to wake up. “How is this possible,” I ask myself until I realize what’s happening. Everything is a lie. My mom is in front of me. “How did you sleep darling,” she says with her perky smile. My mom is still here, but how? It takes me a second to realize that she never left. I lift my head from my pillow and say to myself “what’s happening?” I then comprehend something, something very bizarre and unreal to myself before I understand that this was all just…..just a dream.