SECRETS CAN KILL 1

CHAPTER TWO

A MYSTERIOUS PHONE CALL

It was a calm and quiet Saturday mid-morning. A fourteen-year-old girl with slightly curly black hair and green eyes looked out of her bedroom window. A fourteen-year-old boy was crossing the road to her house.

‘Mum!’ she called out.

‘Yes Lani?’ her mother said, coming into her room and holding her one-month old baby boy in her arms.

‘Cody’s here.’

‘Oh, wow Lani! That Cody boy really loves coming over for visits, doesn’t he? He was only here on Wednesday.’

‘Is he allowed to come over again?’ said Lani.

‘Oh alright, I’ll get some raspberry cordial ready for you two.’

Lani followed her mother where she began making a jug of red cordial with her free arm.

‘Okay Jake sweetie, I think it’s nappy nap time soon, what do you think bubby?’ she said to her baby. ‘Yes, yessy yessy, I think so too.’

Lani’s mother headed off to the bedroom to put her son down in his cot. There was a knock on the front door. Lani ran to it and said, ‘Enter, stranger!’

‘As requested,’ said the boy’s voice.

He opened the door. A boy with black hair like Lani’s stood at the door, except his was short and straight. He had blue eyes and was slightly taller than her.

‘Hi Lani,’ he said.

‘Hi, what’s cracking today?’

‘Same old, piles of homework, I’m sure the situation’s mutual.’

‘Hi there Cody,’ Lani’s mother said as she returned from the bedroom. ‘Just letting you know guys, I have to make a phone call, so if you guys wanna go outside, go ahead,’ she said.

‘Alright Mrs. Hallowell,’ said Cody.

Lani grabbed the jug of cordial and ran outside with Cody.

‘Be careful you don’t drop that jug Lani!’ her mother called after them.

The kids galloped happily to the end of the yard near the back shed.

‘Hi Cody, how’s it going sport?’ Lani’s father came out of the shed. He had long, almost mullet-like hair which was even at both sides.

‘Hello Mr. Hallowell, I’m good thank you, how are you sir?’ Cody replied.

‘Very well, very well! Just working on Amy’s bedside cabinet, nearly finished it.’

‘That sounds fun, my class are in the seventh grade at school, we started technical studies in term one of this year.’

‘Oh, that’s really good Cody, are you doing metal or woodwork?’

‘Woodwork. We don’t start metalwork until we have had relevant experience operating a bandsaw on timber.’

‘I’m in Cody’s class dad,’ said Lani.

‘Oh, really Lani? I didn’t even know that to be honest.’

‘I gave you my report card at the end of term one, I got an A in tech, do you remember?’

‘Oh, maybe, I can’t remember everything. I have so many kids that I can’t remember who’s Arthur or Martha.’

Lani was used to this kind of behaviour from her father. Both him and her mother only had two girls and one newborn boy, but they always seemed to pay the most attention to their eldest fifteen-year-old Amy. She also seemed to be the ‘favourite child.’ Amy was Lani’s sister, but she always seemed to be more noticed and treated completely different by their parents.

‘Hey Amy, come on, let’s call it a day shall we and go inside to have some lunch?’ Mr. Hallowell called toward the shed.

‘Thanks dad. I’m in your debt for life, I swear,’ Amy said in a favourable-like manner whilst walking past him. She also had long black hair like Lani, except it was straight.

He sarcastically replied, ‘Save it for when you hit up a baby daddy, then I’ll slug him the bill.’

Amy cracked up in laughter.

‘Would you like something to eat too, Cody?’ he said.

‘I’m not hungry, thank you for the offer though, Mr. Hallowell,’ he kindly replied.

‘I’m not hungry either dad, thanks though,’ Lani told him, even though her father never asked her.

Mark turned and looked at her as if he had just noticed that she was there. ‘I’d be surprised if you were hungry Lani, you already ate half a container of cookies earlier today. Well, I’m going to go inside to-’

‘Amy! stay outside please, I’m on the phone,’ the mother yelled out, abruptly. Amy came back out.

Mark paused and said, ‘Oh, okay then, Ellen must be talking about personal business.’

Lani, Amy and Cody looked at one another, exchanging puzzled gawks.

‘I’m going to head into town for a couple of garage supplies,’ Mark said.

He got into the family’s SUV and backed out of their drive. Lani and Cody took seats on the transportable playground situated at the back of the yard.

‘Why is it that parents always have a favourite?’ Lani said.

‘I dunno, I can’t answer that one. Not that I’m spoiled or anything,’ Cody said. ‘They’ll come round though, eventually I’d say.’

‘I’m going to prove that I am not just the nerd of the class who gets top grades,’ she said.

‘What do you want to do when you leave school again?’ Cody asked.

‘I want to go into social work or psychology.’

Cody said, ‘What about becoming an amateur detective? You always liked playing it when we were ten.’

‘I dunno,’ she said, ‘I’m not that smart.’

‘You have keen eye coordination. Remember all those times playing hide and seek? You used to think logically and hide in the most obvious place where no one else would look.’

Lani laughed, ‘True, that time I simply hid behind your bedroom door, which was the same room you were counting to sixty in.’

‘See? You possess the body of an amateur sleuth.’

Lani giggled a little and blushed.

Suddenly …’AMY! GET OUT! Don’t sneak up on me! I told you I was on the phone.’

Lani and Cody’s behinds jumped on the playground.

‘Cody, stay here,’ Lani said as she ran to the back door trying to listen in. While putting her ear as close as possible to the back door, she heard her mother and sister talking secretly.

‘Mum, what’s going on? What is all this about?’

‘Amy, it’s nothing, it doesn’t matter, go back outside.’

Ellen seemed to be tense about something.

‘You’ve been hiding something from us?’

‘Amy, don’t say a word of this to your sister. I’ll explain the story when dad comes back.’

‘I won’t, don’t worry. You could’ve at least told me, I am your favourite after all.’

Lani scoffed silently at this remark.

‘It doesn’t matter, Amy, this project is over now. You kids are the reason we stopped doing this. Now to put an end to this scheme.’

‘Wow,’ Amy said again, ‘you and dad are really a couple of-’

‘SHHH,’ Ellen interrupted.

Taking it a step further, Lani went inside, until Amy unexpectedly came back. Noticing her peering in, she said, ‘Out of the way sis! Don’t sneak up on our private matters!’ Ellen paced quickly toward them. ‘If you heard what we were talking about, you’d better pray not to mention it, brat!’

‘WHAT?’ Lani shouted back, ‘I’m her daughter too! What are you and mum hushing up?’

‘It’s okay,’ Ellen said, ‘it’s nothing, just your dad and I having a small disagreement. Now see what you did Mark, now you’ve let the kids know that we’re arguing!’ she screamed out.

‘What ARE you talking about? Dad’s not even home.’

‘He’s in the bedroom.’

‘So the SUV drove off by itself?’

Ellen stared at Lani. It was like she was thinking up a coverup answer. She finally said, ‘I was on the phone. Now please, away you two.’ She retreated to the living room but didn’t pick the phone back up.

‘I guess the shows over,’ said Amy.

‘Oh fine, I’m not expecting you to share anything with me, queen sister,’ said Lani, rather sarcastically.

‘Like it matters,’ Amy replied. ‘Dream what we were talking about, then maybe you’ll know. And what are you looking at, boyo?’

Cody was looking through the door. ‘I know, I know,’ he said, ‘it’s not my place, I’m just a bystander.’

Amy bustled past, taking care to bump into him on the way and headed through the garage door. Lani exchanged awkward stares with Cody, feeling embarrassed about what he had witnessed.

Next moment, Mark returned with two cans of paint. He appeared in the same happy mood he was in before he left. He pulled into the drive. It was also obvious that he had no idea that Amy found out something about Ellen. What on earth was it? Lani thought.

‘Amy! Lani! Dinner’s ready!’

Ellen and Mark were sitting at the dining table. Jake was sitting on Mark’s lap.

‘I’d better go home, my mum will probably have dinner on the table,’ said Cody.

‘See ya Cody,’ said Lani, ‘I might come around to your place later this week on Friday.’

He said, ‘Then I’ll ask my mum. I’m sure she will be cool with it. If you want to we could make homemade cookies again.’

‘Yum, can we make blueberry ones this time?’

‘I’ll see what mum has in stock,’ said Cody.

‘Alright, bye Cody,’ said Ellen, followed by Mark.

‘Say hi to your mum for me.’

‘I will.’

‘Say bye-bye, Jake.’

Jake just stared open-widely at Cody.

Mark grabbed his hand and made him wave from side to side, imitating baby talk, ‘Ba, ba, bye Codeee!’

‘And bye to you, Jakey boy,’ said Cody.

Amy sat at the kitchen table. ‘Bye,’ she said, gruffly.

Cody said, ‘Bye Lani, and thanks Mr. and Mrs. Hallowell for having me today. Bye Amy.’ He headed out the door.

Once it was only the Hallowells in earshot, Ellen said, ‘Really Amy, Cody’s done nothing to you, you could be just a little nicer sweetheart.’

‘I hate that Cody kid, he always associates with her and never with me,’ Amy said. She eyed Lani like a sly fox.

‘Come off it, teenager,’ said Mark, ‘You always have your friends over, do you fancy Cody or something?’

Amy blushed but tried to hide it as one would hide a confession.

Mark stared at her and then changed the subject with, ‘Thus comes the end of the week, I love Sundays, but I curse my working schedule.’

Mark and Ellen both worked as nurses. Their hours were fluctuated. One week was dayshift and the next was nightshift. During nightshift, the children always had a regular nanny for that week.

Mark turned to his wife and noticed that she seemed uptight, like when Lani had noticed after she shared something with Amy. ‘Hun, are you okay?’

Ellen nodded.

‘Are you sure.’

‘Yeah, sorry, I think I’m getting a cold or something,’ she replied.

Next day, Lani sat in the living room, watching a quiz show on television. She wasn’t really paying attention to what the questions were though, as well as the multiple-choice answers. She was thinking of her other friend, Megan Borden. Megan had been one of Lani’s friends since second grade. Though they were not exactly close. Megan was only a month older than Lani. She lived a little way out on the outskirts of Grimsborough on a huge property owned by her divorcee mother, Francesca Borden. She hadn’t visited her for a few weeks because Francesca had told Ellen and Mark that Megan was under special care at home due to a bullying incident. Lani had witnessed the incident three weeks ago. One of her classmates called Jane, who happened to be one of Lani’s best friends from primary had thrown Megan to the ground, with the help of her other friends and humiliated her in front of everyone. Lani had heard Jane torment Megan about how poor she must’ve been to live with a lonely nutcase mother. She knew Megan was not exactly the strongest person in school, as well as not the brightest. Lani did not actively participate in the bullying, but rather just watched, passively. She felt that she owed an enormous apology to Megan, telling her that she wanted nothing to do with Jane anymore, which was true. Lani had also heard Jane bring up her name and told Megan how she must’ve felt so bad and jealous that Lani was the top student of her class and if Lani really had half a brain, she would come to Megan’s aid. Lani couldn’t be friends with Jane anymore after this incident. Neither did she know why she had picked on Megan in the first place, but it seemed as if she had picked an unintentionally bad choice for a friend. The way Jane had tormented Megan in front of the school crowd was embarrassing, especially at bringing up Lani’s brain excellence in comparison to Megan’s. This basically tormented Lani as well. She may have had the strength to receive A grades in all her subjects, but she knew that she didn’t have the physical strength to challenge Jane, given that she was a bulky girl for her age like Big Momma in Big Momma’s House. Watching Megan being beaten by blows to the face by Jane gave Lani great guilt, especially when Megan looked over at her. The sadness and pain that she saw in her face made Lani want to burst in tears. She had got her teacher and the fight was broken off, but that day made Lani feel horrible with herself at not having the courage to defend Megan. The last glimpse that she got from Megan, Lani could almost guarantee, was a look of friendship disappointment, or worse, betrayal. But this wasn’t true, Lani might’ve been too afraid to stand up for Megan, but she was not a traitor.

Lani was debating a brave attempt to walk to her house to apologise, but also feeling queasy of the thought, thinking that Francesca may strike, or threaten her. Megan had told her stories about her mother’s abnormal behaviour. At the same time, Lani felt curious as to how Megan was now. After a few minutes she made up her mind. I will pretend to go for a walk to get my daily exercise for a bit. I will head out the door but will go to Mrs. Borden’s house instead. It’s not very far. When I return home, if my parents ask me why I was so long, I will tell them that Cody happened to be there and he invited me to his place. Perfect Plan.

Amy was in her room reading teen magazines, Ellen was knitting a beanie for Jake and Mark was at work.

Lani got up, turned the TV off and called out, ‘Mum!’

‘Yes Lani?’

‘I’m just going for a walk.’

‘Well, I suppose you can. You’re not doing anything else, are you?’ Ellen replied with a hint of strictness.

‘No mum.’

‘Okay, just be home by five.’

‘I will, see you then mum,’ Lani replied, with a combating tone.

She headed out the door and down the sidewalk. ‘Be home at five. What am I, five years old?’ Lani said aloud to herself, wondering what would happen when the time came eventually for the trio to leave the nest.

When Lani was several metres from her home, she looked over her shoulder to make sure her mother wasn’t watching. She wasn’t, so she quickly veered off the footpath toward the golf course and continued, wishing she had a pushbike to save time. After walking several blocks, Lani came to an unsealed dirt road which led to the Borden home. Lani followed it. The surroundings became thick and the road was overgrowing with weeds. Several minutes later, Lani was in an area which was remote. There were no houses or shops in sight, and the eerie vibe of quietness was in the air. When the road ended, she came to a big dirt patch, at least six acres wide. It was overgrown with weeds. All that seemed noticeable was a ten-foot-high black fence with a gate. Inside the grounds of this fence was a stone house. This was where the Borden’s lived. Lani had never been inside but had walked Megan here after saying goodbyes from visiting. Just looking at this structure was enough to give anyone the creeps. It was like an abandoned prison from the ancient times. There were hardly any windows and some of the bricks looked crumbled. Lani also noticed the barbed wire on top of the fence. She began shaking all over and felt determined to go back home where it was much safer. But a sense of adventure was throbbing in the pit of her stomach. She walked forward. The gate was surprisingly unlocked. Lani swung it open and proceeded into the messy front yard. There were overgrowing weeds and long strands of grass everywhere. Even the footpath (from what was visible of it) was emerged in greenery and dirt. When following the long path to the front door, Lani looked at the knocker. It was a small statue of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, nails dug into his skin. After knocking several times, a tune, which must have been the bell, started playing from inside the house. Lani listened carefully to the lyrics. It was a woman’s voice singing on what sounded like an old gramophone. The voice sounded rather scratchy. She thought she heard a couple of French words but couldn’t be sure. The tune stopped as the door opened.

Francesca Borden stood there wearing a purple overcoat. She was a woman who had a mid-forties or early fifties age in her face, but her grey hair made the rest of her look older.

‘You’re trespassing,’ she said, quite coldly.

Trying to be polite, Lani began with, ‘Hi Mrs. Borden, I was just wondering if Megan was home, I-’

‘Maybe you didn’t hear me. I think you should go, right now. You are not to see my daughter anymore.’

‘May I come in and see her please?’ Lani asked, with her politeness maintained.

‘I said NO! You will NOT be seeing her! She is upstairs in her bedroom and that is where she is going to stay!’

Lani jumped. At that moment, a clambering of footsteps echoed on the stairs as a teenager came in between her mother and Lani. She had blonde hair which was uncombed and was wearing black pyjamas with white polka dots.

‘Hi Lani,’ Megan said. She had a faint voice. Lani could tell by the look on her face that the bullying incident was still lingering.

‘I said, STAY IN YOUR ROOM, MEGAN!’ Francesca screamed at the top of her lungs. ‘YOU WILL OBEY MY ORDER! OR FINISH OFF THE REST OF MY DAILY CHORES!’

‘I just want to see my friend Lani! Please.’

‘UPSTAIRS!’ Francesca thundered and pointed to the stairs. ‘GO! Bedroom, now! I’ll be up there to lock you in for the rest of the day. And this time, you can sleep without your mattress! You’re going to help me drag it into the cellar. Understand?’

Megan said, ‘I understand, mother, I’m sorry, I’ll go back up to my room. Goodbye Lani, see you tomorrow at school.’

As she still had the chance, Lani called back, ‘I’m sorry about the other day with Jane. I promise, I’m never talking to that nasty brat again.’

Megan headed on upstairs. Lani hoped she heard her.

Francesca spoke, a little softer this time, ‘You don’t know my Megan, Miss Hallowell, you don’t know what she is.’

‘S’cuse me?’ said Lani, ‘I just wanted to apologise about the other day for- ‘

‘It has nothing to do with that. She is my daughter. I will keep her in this house for as long as I live, and I don’t care what anyone says. Nothing can stop me doing what I want to do to her. You will not tell anyone about this, you will not associate with Megan anymore, I warn you, Little Miss Hallowell, beware.’

With that, Francesca shut the door in front of her, without a farewell. Lani stood, facing the closed door. She had to tell her parents about this. As she left the property, there was a faint breaking noise from inside the Borden home. It sounded like something had smashed, like a glass or a piece of crockery. Lani ran further away, determined to get as far away from that place as possible, though she was feeling really concerned for Megan and her delusional mother. Why was she so uptight about her seeing Megan if it had nothing to do with the bullying incident?

During dinner when Lani told her parents about Mrs. Borden, they seemed somewhat disturbed, but were dismissing it as a typical mother-daughter clash.

Mark said, ‘Maybe Megan did something to upset her mother to make them fight. I know you were saying how she was bullied recently by one of your friends. Perhaps Megan is unintentionally taking it out on her mother.’

Ellen added, with a more helpful suggestion, ‘Monitor the situation for the next few weeks at school. If Megan returns to school with bruises all over, or she continues being constantly stressed or withdrawn, tell us again.’

After dinner, the parents went to their room to put Jake to bed. Lani and Amy also retreated to their rooms. Lani was still very angry with Amy for not telling her what her mother had told her. She was sure that it wasn’t a private mother and daughter matter. Her mother had been shouting on the phone earlier that day. It was a private matter between her and someone else. Amy had just been fortunate enough to walk in on them, where her mother confessed something.

Now Lani thought she had gotten her wish, for she could hear her parents from their bedroom which was two doors down from hers. She opened her bedroom door and stuck her ear out, slightly.

‘So Ellen, when are you going to tell me what’s troubling you?’ said Mark.

‘Troubling me? Where did that come from?’ Ellen replied.

‘Come on, you’ve been tense all day, something must be up.’

‘Okay, let’s wait until we drive to work, I’m not risking the children hearing us.’

Lani was struck with disappointment.

Lani didn’t go to Cody’s as planned on Friday. Instead, Ellen and Mark decided to take the family to the outer skirts of Grimsborough, closer to Los Angeles, to see Ellen’s cousin, Nathaniel Fullerton, an unmarried bachelor, who they didn’t see very often. They were scheduled to be gone for at least a week.

CHAPTER THREE

A FATEFUL NIGHT

It was late evening when the Hallowells were making their way back home after spending a week visiting Ellen’s cousin. To Lani he seemed like a stranger. Afterall, their mother didn’t see him on a regular basis. The drive was at least three hours and they had driven half the trip so far.

Lani had known something was still up with her parents. For most of the trip Ellen had been acting on edge, as had her father, although, trying to hide it from her cousin.

Ellen faced Lani, Amy and Jake in the back and said, quite randomly, ‘I love you children. I do, dearly, with all my heart.’

Taken aback and quite confused, Lani said, ‘I love you too mum.’

This seemed to be the first time for her mother to face all her children at once and express this. Lani, finally feeling some acceptance from her own mother also thought that this was unusually sweet.

‘Please know that, all of you, and I hope you do, that I have faith of you turning into credits of your generation.’

‘Errr, thanks,’ said Amy.

Ellen continued, ‘We’ll be depositing, into your future accounts, at least-’

‘BLEUGH!’ Mark let out a rather painful cough.

‘Alright there, Mark?’

‘Yes, think so,’ he replied.

Lani noticed that when her mother faced him, he gently slapped his mouth, like he was signing a shoosh.

‘Alright,’ Ellen faintly whispered back.

Killing the moment, Amy started tickling Jake’s tummy, which made him vomit on her hands.

‘Eww yuck!’

Amy’s hands now had splashes of used milk on them.

Ellen said, ‘Pull over.’

‘It’s alright Jakey,’ Mark said, after he pulled over and unstrapped a crying Jake out of his seat and handed him to Ellen.

‘I need to go pee,’ said Amy.

‘Alright then, love, but hurry back, we gotta get home.’

‘Yeah-yeah, mum.’

Amy ran to the nearest bush as Ellen patted Jake softly on the back. She then followed her husband away from the car to stretch their legs. Lani got out to stretch. Whilst leaning against the car, she watched her parents walk a little way away behind a bunch of tall trees, away from the road.

‘Amy, come on! We’d better go! We gotta hit the road,’ Mark said as he retreated to the car only three minutes later with his wife, seemingly resisting panic. ‘In an hour or two it’ll be pitch black.’

‘Ellen said, ‘Amy! Come on, hurry up!’

‘What’s going on?’ said a confused Lani.

‘Nothing, we’re just in a hurry to get home,’ said Mark.

Amy appeared out from behind the bush and blurted out, ‘Alright! Drama queens! What’s going on? Why the big hurry? Can’t you see I’m not a boy? I can’t just sprinkle and shake! Mum, dad, why were you shouting?’

‘It’s nothing darling, we gotta hit the road or it’ll be nightfall soon,’ Ellen said while climbing in the passenger seat.

At nine o’clock, the children had dozed off in the back. Jake was fast asleep in his seat, Amy was leaning against the back-seat window, but Lani was pretending to sleep, really trying to worm any information out of her parents that she could, without them knowing she was eavesdropping. She finally got her wish.

‘Are you sure they’re all dead? Our only allies we had in the field?’ Mark asked, trying to keep his voice down, despite lingering fear.

‘Yes,’ Ellen replied, ‘now we need to hatch a plan to convince the police of our alliance, since we have no one else left in our field with crucial information. We had our little holiday away, now, we must get down to business.’

‘Why did we have to leave your cousin’s place so late? Why didn’t we hit the road back home earlier today?’

Ellen said, ‘I don’t want to risk us being seen in daylight, especially on this road. When we get back, we’ll figure this out.’

Mark looked her dead in the eye. ‘Babe, I’m scared. As much as I hate to say, this guy is not exactly stupid. If anything, he’s going to think up a better way of catching us off guard.’

‘Lord God?’ said Ellen.

‘Shhhhh,’ Mark whispered, ‘please, don’t use that name.’

She continued, ‘But remember, we have more power than what they know. So, next stop is the police. We’ll try to convince them. We’re going to get this sorted before it escalates, gets out and possibly becomes global.’

‘And put our kids up for adoption? Over my dead body!’

‘SHHHH!’

Ellen turned around to make sure the children were still asleep.

‘They are in the back, remember that. Look, stop worrying, seriously, it’s going to be fine.’

Mark nodded and said, ‘I know, but we don’t know where they are situated. And I don’t mean The Manor, I mean, his headquarters. It’s the biggest success at work here. It could go phenomenal in a matter of months.’

‘As long as America’s got the sources, he won’t be able to launch an attack yet.’

Lani couldn’t hold in any longer, so she interrupted with, ‘Mum, dad, what have you really been up to?’

‘Nothing. Shoosh now, you’ll wake your brother and sister,’ Ellen said, trying to sound reassuring.

‘What’s going on mum, dad?’ Amy said, upon a groggy awakening.

‘Nothing, please, go back to sleep the both of you, you’ll wake up Jake. Mark, let it go.’

They drove past the sign, indicating that they were fifteen miles from the city. It was foggy outside. Mark could barely see ahead. He was trying to read the road.

Lani turned to Amy and stared at her, blankly for several seconds, until she replied, ‘What?’

Lani replied, ‘Yeah, a big what. You tell me what you and your mum were discussing in the living room last week.’

‘Mum! Can I spank her?’ Amy said.

‘How about I belt you across the face?’ said Lani, aggressively.

‘Lani, stop!’

As inhumane as it was, Lani wanted nothing more than to physically injure her own sister for not letting her in on what she knew about her parents, but Mark turned to Ellen and said, ‘El, let’s just tell her now.’

The sisters exchanged dirty looks and then directed their attention to their parents. Lani was hardly able to believe that they were going to spill their secret. But, just ahead, a pair of high beaming lights which appeared from a car ahead began blazing.

‘Ah, what the hell does this guy think he’s doing?’ Mark said whilst squinting to see.

The other vehicle was halted in the middle of the road, covering the white solid line with lights shining like a supermoon.

Seeing no way around the car on the highway, Mark pulled over. ‘Wait here. I’m gonna see what’s going on. Ellen, stay with the kids.’

‘Babe, but-’

‘Just do it.’

‘Dad, don’t leave us,’ said a panicked Amy.

‘What if they want to hurt us?’ said Lani.

‘It’s going to be alright guys,’ he said. However, fear appeared to be pumping through Mark’s pale face.

As he stepped out and approached the other car, someone stepped out of the driver’s side, lights still blazing.

Mark said, ‘Hey you, what do you think you’re doing in the middle of the road, could’ve caused us an accident?’

The driver approached him, without saying anything. They were at least six feet tall, had black hair, and wore, what looked like, an orange hi vis tradesman’s shirt. They were also wearing a skeleton-themed mask, which made it impossible to determine the gender, until they said, ‘Well my friend, I’m going to enjoy this moment of glory.’ It was a man who spoke behind the mask.

‘What?’ Mark said.

‘FUCKING NOW! QUICK!’ The man turned to face the bushes. In an instant, gunshots were fired, all over the road. Mark jumped. The man stayed as still as a statue, not flinching a millimetre, like he knew he was bulletproof. The Hallowells in the car gasped.

‘What the? GET IN!’ Ellen screamed.

‘What’s happening?’ Lani shouted.

‘Dad, hurry!’ yelled Amy.

Jake woke up and cried, loudly.

Mark observed for two extra seconds and ran to his family, gunshots still firing from every direction, narrowly missing him. Whoever was shooting was also a good hider. He scrambled into his seat, started the ignition, put the car into reverse and backed up, full throttle.

The man yelled again, ‘MAKE SURE TO BULLSEYE THE DRIVER!’

‘Dad! GO! GO! ‘Amy screamed.

‘AHHHH!’ They all said as the car continued reversing.

What happened next flashed before their eyes. Another gunshot fired, straight through the side window of the car and out the side of Mark’s head. Blood splattered the front of the car, all over the interior and on Ellen.

‘SHOT! YEAH!’ the man could be heard yelling.

The passengers had to grip onto whatever they could find as the driverless car swerved one hundred and eighty degrees and came to a stop.

The Hallowells were lost for words and in soul crushing shock. Ellen, paralysed and barely able to move stared at her husband. His bleeding head leant against the smashed window where the bullet had gone through.

She stuttered, ‘M... Mark?’

‘Dad! NO!’ Amy and Lani screamed together.

None of them noticed the man getting into the blazing lights car. He reversed about a hundred metres, veered off to the right and drove forwards, fast. He was hurtling toward them. Gaining top speed, he smashed into their car. His airbag went off but theirs didn’t. The impact was so strong that fragments of shattered glass and metal flew around and circulated inside the car in a matter of seconds. Being unprepared for the collision, Ellen was struck across her forehead with a piece of debris. Particles of her hair and blood sprayed in every direction. Pieces of glass hit the children. Amy was cut below her chin, she started gagging. Lani received a laceration across the forehead by an unknown piece of debris. Jake wasn’t injured, as Lani could see the collision about to occur. She had noticed, seconds before the car smashed into theirs and clambered on top of Jake to protect him.

The man got out of the car and looked toward the bushes on the side of the road. ‘OI! Where are you?’ he shouted.

Another person appeared out of the bushes and onto the road. They were also wearing a mask, but a white one which completely covered their face, with only three slit holes for the mouth and eyes. It was impossible to tell if they had hair as they were wearing a black cloak, which was draped over their head, unlike the man. They were also holding, what appeared to be, a small pistol in their right hand.

‘Right,’ The man said, ‘we have four left in this car, kill them all. You have enough bullets?’

They nodded.

‘Well fuck em up! Shoot their heads in. I want everyone in that car dead! Not one survivor! Understand?’

The masked figure approached their car.

The man said, ‘Yeah baby, am I gonna love this moment? And I know you’ll do a clean job! You’re the best goddamn artist ever!’

They opened the half-smashed passenger door closest to Lani and Jake. Lani was still holding onto her baby brother. He was crying loudly. They tried to grab Lani first, but she stuck her foot in the air and kicked them in the throat as hard as she could. They grunted, stunned for several seconds, and clutched their covered throat. Lani held Jake tighter and then reached over for Amy, who looked paralysed.

‘Amy,’ she whispered.

Amy tried to move, but the paralysis she was in didn’t seem to let her. Lani was going to attempt to pull Amy out of the car, with her and Jake. But too late, for the figure came to full senses again and withdrew from their throat. Lani stepped out of the other side of the car, holding Jake, and planned to run for it. She hadn’t even gotten one metre away when the figure reached out and grabbed Jake by his shirt. In a tug of war, she tried to pull him back. With a firmer grip, the other managed to grab him away from her and put him back in the seat. Lani found a piece of broken car door on the ground. She picked it up and threw it, hard. It struck the masked person. Quite surprisingly, they fell to the ground as if they were a domino. It was rather a miracle that Lani, being a child of fourteen was still able to knock this murderous person to the ground. She took her chance and ran straight to the roadside, hiding behind the nearest bush. The man in the orange shirt and the masked figure didn’t notice that she had gone. With a clear view, she could see through the bush what was going on, feeling a little safer at being hidden. However, she was horrified about what they were surely about to do to her family.

The figure got up from the ground. Still holding the pistol, they pointed it at Jake’s forehead, BANG! The poor baby was shot through his forehead. The noise was deafening. It was lucky that Lani was well hidden as she became completely rooted to the spot, which would allow the killer to seal her fate. This was too much to take in at once. Her father and brother were both murdered right before her eyes.

It didn’t stop there, the figure now turned to Amy, who was able to breathe, but barely able to move. The cut below her