Sara

“You shot him I can’t believe you shot him.” Is all Daniel could say as he knelt on the ground beside the dark hared man; whose blood was now draining all over the ground. Sara still held the gun in her hands as she shook collapsing to her knees on the soft forest dirt. Daniel moved over to Sara and took the gun from her shaking hands. All he could see was the image of Sara taking the gun he now held and shooting the man. The man he knew was dead, and would never get to see his children or his girlfriend again. Why, because Sara thought if she couldn’t have him than no one could.

“Daniel, we have to leave now. Give me the gun. I don’t want you getting in trouble.”

“What are you going to do? You just killed a man; I have to call the police.” Sara just stared at Daniel, and slowly opened her mouth and let out a cackle.

“Okay you call the police and tell them how to get here. I am going to the creek for a swim. Let me tell you this though; He had it coming and he new it. It serves him right for messing around on my aunt.” Staring at Sara’s slim figure and glowing blond hair as she walked toward the creek Daniel took out his phone. He fumbled with it dialing the numbers thinking the whole time what had ever happened to the sweet girl he had known since grade school. They were both 18 now and Daniel had just gotten accepted to Harvard.

“Hello, Sheriff Dan please. It is his sun calling. I need to report a murder.”

“One moment, Daniel and I will transfer you.” Is all the secretary said. Daniel waited nervously wandering what Sara was doing and who the new secretary was. Then he herd the click of some one picking up.

“Daniel, what is wrong? My new secretary thought you said you wanted to report a murder. I hope this is not one of your games.” Daniel’s father stood beside his desk with a group of his men at the ready in case this was in fact real and not a prank like the last one they had pulled over two years ago.

“Dad, I saw all of it and I will testify against her.” Standing Daniel held the gun and began walking toward the creek and his truck.

“Daniel please start at the beginning. Wait you said her where is Sara is she ok. You to have not been fighting again have you. You know her mom said she needs peace and quiet with no stress. . .”

“Dad Sara shot and killed her aunt’s boy friend. I saw her do it. I have the gun in my hand now. We are at the fishing spot you used to bring me to when I was young. I can see Sara from the bank she is swimming and acting like nothing happened. Dad she had been seeing this guy for about two months now. She told me she was in love with him . . .”

“Daniel stay where you are and don’t let Sara get a hold of that gun; but don’t let her do any thing stupid either. I will be there in fifteen minutes. I love you.” The phone went dead and Daniel put it back in his pocket. It was almost three and he had promised Sara’s mom he would have her home by four. At least she couldn’t hurt herself swimming. Daniel sat on the bank and watched his friend act like nothing had happen. He smiled a bit realizing all of Sara’s clothes lay on the bank beside the waters edge. Any other time she would be screaming and yelling at him to turn around and not look. Today, though she just swam oblivious to everything around her. For a moment Daniel forgot what had happened and remembered his friend as she was before that man had come into her life. She was happy and enjoyed everything. There was even talk of him and Sara getting married. Then he came and Sara would have nothing to do with Daniel until now when she had lost the baby. Daniel new perfectly well that the baby had belonged to that man; after all they had not been in the same house for over three months; let alone in the same room with each other. The sound of sirens and splashing brought Daniel back to reality. Sara was now getting out of the creek and putting on her clothes. Her wet hair clung to her as she came and sat leaning against him.

“I love you Daniel, Will you come visit me in jail?” Sara said almost too soft for Daniel to hear her. The cop cars slid to a stop behind the truck and the sirens stopped as doors could be herd opening. Sara rapped her arm through Daniels and kissed his cheek.

“Daniel are you ok?” Daniel’s dad shouted at him from beside the truck.

“Yes dad you can come on over. The gun is on the floorboard of the passenger side of my truck.” Daniel herd the footsteps as men approached them. He did not move or blink, he just listened to Sara breath. Her breathing was calm as when she slept next to him so many months ago. He wandered what it all meant as his dad reached down and helped Sara to her feet. They did not even cuff her just told her rights and made her get in the back of a squad car. Sara didn’t look at him she just looked at her hands as they began to shake again.

“Can you take us to the body?” Daniels dad asked him as he helped him up from the hard ground.

“Yes it is up the path this way a little.” They walked up the path leading to were it happened. The body laid just the way it had been left, right arm on his chest, and left arm on the ground with a pool of blood beneath it now. Sara had good aim; the bullet went straight through his hart. The man was dead before he even hit the ground in his mussel shirt, blue jeans and blue sandals. This made Daniel wander what the man was doing here again no one new where they were going. Daniel had not eve told Sara’s mom.

A commotion from the other men made Daniel and his father start back to the clearing in a hurry. What was going on now? Why was that man here and why was he in sandals in the middle of nowhere without a vehicle is all Daniel could think of as they raced back to the clearing. Reaching the clearing they saw the other men reselling Sara to the ground.

“You’re hurting me; you have to let me go I have to help him.” Sara yelled as Daniel and his father came closer. She screamed the whole way back to the car and continued to scream in the car. Daniel turned to his dad, who suddenly seemed very old and tired by all this commotion. His Dad reached out and took his arm leading him to the truck.

“Daniel I want you to go home and stay there. I will call Sara’s mom from the station.” Is all Daniel’s dad said as he turned to walk to his car and the screaming Sara.

“Dad, will she be ok?” Daniel said as he put on his seat belt and reached to start the truck. His dad only turned his head and shrugged then went on to his car. Daniel turned the radio off as the truck rumbled to life and backed out past his dad and Sara. The drive home was long and slow. The scene of what had just happened kept replaying in Daniels head. He did not realize he was sitting in his drive till his mom knocked on the window making him jump. He opened the door and got out letting his mom take him in her arms and lead him inside.

“Your dad called about twenty minutes ago.” His mom said as they sat on the couch in the living room. Daniel let his mom wrap her arms around him as he began to cry.

“All I ever wanted was for Sara to get better and us to get married.” He said between sobs. His mother patted his back. Daniel got up; leaving his mom there he went to his room up stairs. Closing his door he looked at his room; blue was all he saw everywhere he looked. He walked to the mirror and looked at all the photos of him and Sara. There where pictures from prom, hanging out with friends and countless others. He caught his reflection as he reached for the most recent photo. His favorite one now, Sara was dressed in a blue dress and looked amazing holding a birthday cake for him. His friends and family where there too; but what startled him was his appearance. His brown eyes were puffy from crying and his blond hair was now flat instead of spiked. He shook his head, then reached and began ripping the pictures off the mirror. He took only a few seconds before moving around the rest of the room taking photos down of Sara, and anything that reminded him of her. It made a huge pile in the middle of the floor. A nock at the door made him jump as he took a box out of his closet to put all that stuff in.

“Honey . . . Are you okay? Your Dad’s on his way home and will want you to give a complete statement of the events. I know it will be hard but it will be in the best interest for Sara if you tell everything that you know.”

“Mom I know and I will I just don’t know who she is anymore and can’t stand to look at any thing that is going to remind me of her at the moment. I just. . . I can’t handle it right now.” The sound of the car door closing outside announced the arrival of Daniels father. Daniel went left the now full box on the floor and went past his mom down the oak stairs. He passed picture after picture of himself growing up as he descended those stairs; but he didn’t notice any of them. All he could do was think about what he was going to say. I have to tell everything that I know. What do I really know though? Sara was dating her aunt’s boyfriend for about three months; she became pregnant and supposedly lost the baby. She went through psychiatric help and had just got home three weeks ago. Her aunt’s boyfriend showed up three days ago and talked to her and then today the first day we were allowed to go anywhere alone he shows up out of the blue and Sara kills him. I still don’t know where she got the gun from. I know I have never seen it before. Why did she do it?

“Daniel . . . I need to know if you gave Sara the gun.” Said Dan. Daniel now stood in the kitchen not realizing how he got there. His dad stood stock still by the table with a tape recorder in his hand. Daniel looked at him with disbelief in what he had just asked. Daniel took a deep breath then sat down in one of the metal kitchen chairs. He waited for his dad to sit and turn on the tape recorder before answering him. He watched his dad sit, he looked so tired his dark eyes watered and his uniform was now crumpled not pressed as it had been that morning. He looked so old, Daniel cleared his throat as his dad placed the tape recorder between them.

“I have no clue where Sara got the gun. I did not give it to her and have never seen it before today.”

“Can you tell me exactly where and what you were doing before Sara shot her aunt’s boyfriend?”

“Yes; Sara and I had gone to the creek to go fishing and to relax. Sara needed to relax she had been on edge since her aunt’s boyfriend came to talk to her three days ago. We decided to go for a short walk to look for some strawberries. Sara loves wild strawberries, and there is a bush a little ways up the trail from the creek. Any way I went back to the truck to get a bucket to put them in leaving Sara to find the ripest ones. . .”

“You left her picking strawberries and her aunt’s boyfriend was no where around? Did any one to your knowledge know where you were going?” Dan asked his only son.

“Yes I left her there like I said and no one knew where we were going except Sara. She wanted to know so she could dress properly and I gave in. I guess she could have told someone. I had just come back up the path when I saw Sara facing him with the gun in her hands. She did not even look at me as I approached and before I could say any thing she fired the gun. That is when I yelled at her and went to the man’s side to see if there was any thing I could do. There wasn’t of course Sara has good aim. After that I noticed Sara had collapsed to the ground and was shaking. I went to her and took the gun. I told her I had to call the police.”

“What did she say to that?” Dan asked.

“She laughed and said the man deserved what he got for messing around on her aunt. It was kind of ironic since she was the one he was with. I did not even know her aunt was dating him. That is when she left me there and I called you.” Daniel sighed heavily not realizing he had been holding his breath as he said the last of it. His father reached out and turned off the tape recorder.

“That will do for now, Sara is at home with her mom. We thought it best to relies her seeing the state of mind she is in. I want you to know that none of this is your fault son. I know you did all you could have. I do think it would be in your best interest though not to see Sara for a while at least for a couple of days.”

“Okay dad, Do you know what will happen to her? I just don’t understand why she did it. I can’t make my mind forget it and I can’t make it move around it.”

“I know, I think a jury will find her guilty. I think after a lot of help and love form all of us she will get better. I don’t think you will ever forget what happened to day and I wish you had not gone through it. I am proud of you though, you stood by your standards and you are helping Sara though you may not see that now but in time you will.” Having said, that Daniels dad got up taking the tape recorder with him and walked into his study, leaving Daniel to sit there alone with all his thoughts. Daniel placed his arms on the table and laid his head down closing his eyes.

It had been a week since it had happened and Daniel was starting to be able to get through the day without thinking about it. He had not seen or heard about Sara for that time till today. He had just got home from having lunch with his dad and thought he would watch some TV. He walked into his living room and there she sat on the couch just as if nothing had changed between them. Daniel didn’t know what to do, so he stood there dumbfounded till his mom walked into the room carrying a glass of tea. She smiled slightly as she handed the glass to Sara and sat down in the chair opposite of her.
“Honey your home early, Sara dropped by to say hello and to give you something.” His mom motioned to the small box sitting on the coffee table in front of her. Sara didn’t say anything she just took a sip of her drink and then got up and walked out. Daniel’s mom quickly got up and went to the front door. In a moment she came back, Daniel had still not moved from where he stood.

“She is gone now you can breath; you could at least of said hello to her.” Daniel took a deep breath and moved over to the couch where he sat down and looked at the box.

“Do you know what is in it Mom?” His mom just shook her head and left the room. Daniel looked at it reaching out his hand shaking; he picked up the box and read Sara’s perfect handwriting on the top. To you my darling Daniel, I am sorry for all I have done to you and to the chance of us being together. I love you and always will. Love Sara. Daniel read it over and over looking for some kind of hidden meaning. He placed the box back on the table and went upstairs to his room; where he turned on his music and laid on his bed thinking of Sara. Daniels dad came home and found the box, but left it where it was.

“Daniel, could you come down here for a moment please I have something to tell you.” Daniels’ dad yelled at him from the bottom of the stairs. Daniel came down stars and they went into the leaving room. The box still lay on the coffee table and Daniel noticed it again only this time he was curious to know what she had put in it.

“Daniel I need you to sit down and listen very carefully to me. . . After Sara left here today she went home and well I don’t know exactly how to say this. So I will just tell you. Son Sara killed herself a couple hours ago. Her mom found her laying in her bed her wrists slit and a note saying that all would be better now. That she loved everyone and was sorry for the pain she had caused.” Daniel sat stunned looking at the box. He could not believe it the woman he loved and still wanted to spend the rest of his life with was dead. He looked at his father who was still standing in front of him. He noticed his dad was crying he had never seen him cry before not even when his dad’s dad had died. His dad cleared his throat then sat down on the couch beside him.

“Do you know what is in the box?” Daniel reached for it and picked it up opening the lid carefully. Inside was a photo of Daniel and Sara one none of there friends or even there parents had ever seen. The photo had been taken several months ago when they had been talking about getting married. Sara had wanted to see what they would look like on there wedding day. Daniel remembered the day like it was yesterday, Sara and him had driven over to a neighboring town so no one would know them. Sara had made an appointment and had taken her mothers wedding dress. Daniel wore his black tux and they stood in front of a fake garden background. She looked so happy in the photo it made Daniel cry. He smiled as he looked at the picture despite his tears. The only thing he could do was cry and wonder why she had done it. Daniels father took the picture looking at it and then noticed there was a note on the back.

“Son I think you should read this.” He handed Daniel the picture back. Daniel wiped his eyes and read the note which was in Sara’s handwriting. I know I did wrong but remember me as I was and not what I turned into. I was a fool, I had what I wanted right in front of me and did not realize it. I love you always.