Anyone up for a challenge? 750-1000 words

[Miss Blue]

The summer sun beat down with no mercy on the tender young skin of 9 year old Becky. Becky was small and frail for her age, but some people said an old soul looked out of her eyes. Becky did not understand what they meant, but her mother assured her that it meant that she would always be wise beyond her years.

Becky thought she must have fallen asleep beneath the trailer attached to the dark green station wagon, but she couldn't remember crawling beneath it. She knew not to wander far from the car where her mother, young brother and step father were still sleeping. She knew her mother would be mad if they had to spend time looking for her and they had a deadline, to meet with their new jobs.

Becky wasn't sure why her mom and step dad decided so hastily to move from Chicago clear to Arizona..All she knew was that some strangers had come to talk to her mother and step dad behind the closed door of the den. When they left, the household was quickly torn apart as her mother hastily began packing clothing, food and things she told Becky she could never replace. Becky was upset because she couldn't tell her best friend, Amy from down the street, they were moving, or to talk to gramma first.
She didn't understand why they had to move from what her gramma called an upscale neighborhood. She knew she would long for this home with its trees and flowers in the front yard and the new swing set in the big back yard where she and Donnie enjoyed the evenings while her mother and step dad watched from the patio and laughed at their antics.

Her mother had closed the curtains and forbidden her to go outside the day they packed for this journey. They had left very late that night, after the lights of their neighbors had long been turned off. She remembered her step dad picking her up, still wrapped in her lilac bedspread. She leaned her head against his shoulder and went back to sleep with a contented sigh as he reassured her and carried her to the station wagon. She had not always felt so safe with her step dad. In time his gentle ways and the happiness she saw between him and her mother and the tears he shed at the hospital when little Donnie had given her trust that eventually turned to love and dependence.

When she awoke some time ago, beneath the trailer, she was still frightened from some bad dream that seemed to plague her from her earliest memories..The dream about the bad man, the boogie man, as she began to call him as her memories faded further and further into some deep dark place that only opened in her dreams. Her mother had always heard her cries and had come to comfort her when she cried out in the night, but Becky's mother probably didn't hear her since she had left the car and went beneath the trailer so she drifted back into sleep wrapped in the lilac comforter.

Becky sipped on the bottle of warm water,that she had reached for under the tarp covering the trailer and sat down among rocks she had climbed on. She didn't remember taking the little tote bag her mother had packed for her with snacks and a sketch pad and pencils, but she was glad she had brought it along. She figured she must have carried it from the car with her when she went to sleep beneath the trailer. She was relieved and felt a bit happier as she could feel a very slight breeze and was sheltered from the intense heat of the sun by the overhanging rocks above her. She could see the car from here, and it dawned on her that she must have walked a long way. She felt she could run very fast towards the car as soon as mother or her step dad awoke and stepped out to look for her. They would not be mad as long as they could see her when she yelled at them, and it was cool here.

As the sun rose higher in the sky, and shimmered on the dark green station wagon, Becky wondered why mother, Donnie and step dad didn't wake up. The sounds of all those big birds surrounding the station would have surely scared Donnie into screaming.

A cold fear began to creep up inside Becky as the forgotten dream slowly became a reality..The bad man, the boogeyman slowly came alive as memories, terrible, agonizing screaming, burning memories became for the first time real. She could only shrink into the shadow of the rock as someone on a horse rode to the dark green station wagon. She saw him dismount and open the car door and saw him step back turn his back and release his last meal..
Becky watched the boogeyman pull a cell phone from somewhere on his horse's saddle and as he put it to his ear he scanned the surroundings..Becky slipped into a place deep within her that knew no pain or fear.

The evening news told of a rancher who had spotted vultures in the distance and upon investigation found a green station wagon with a rented trailer attached parked miles from any highway. The family of three had been shot multiple times in what was described as the most brutal murder/suicide ever seen by the local authorities. The rancher, also a bounty hunter, spied a small girl hiding among the rocks who was unresponsive to voice or touch.

Identification of three of the victims is being withheld pending location of next of kin, as they search for relatives of the little girl who remains hospitalized.

The fourth person is believed to have died from self inflicted wounds. He is identified as David Meyers, who recently escaped from prison for extreme child abuse of his young daughter by submerging her lower body into scalding water as a form of correction to bring his wife into submission as she sat tied and gagged on the floor and forced to watch.

1036 words. This is a condensed version of a story I began some time ago

[Coolhand68]

Ten Minutes

Eddie spoke in soft tones, just short of a whisper.

You know I never did get a chance to say thank you. I meant to, I mean, it was on the tip of my tongue a thousand times. But you know how I am, always procrastinating. You think I’d learn my lesson by now. I guess I always figured you knew. Or at least I’d hoped. There were so many things I should have said but didn’t. I wish I was mature enough to see how hard you tried. Isn’t it always that way though? We learn after it’s already too late. The last we spoke you promised to write, that’s ok, I’m not mad. For all the times I got angry with you or tried to make you believe I didn’t care I just want you to know that it wasn’t so. I’ve broken many a promise myself. I was young, unable to express my emotions, let alone understand them. The truth is I loved you, always, and all I ever really wanted was to get closer to you. You were hard to reach though, and I never knew if you even wanted me close. I always felt like you kept more of yourself from me than you were willing to give...a safe distance. It’s only now that I’m older that I understand.

The rain was pelting against Eddie’s shoulders. His umbrella was slightly too small for his stature. Eddie paused for awhile, searching for just the right words.

I never told you this but you taught me a lot in the short time we had together. Like the times I was hung over in the morning after being out all night drinking. You knew just what to do. You didn’t even get angry which surprised me. You just made me some tea, told me to sip it slowly, then when I was ready I should eat a small bowl of vanilla ice cream to sooth my stomach. Afterwards take two aspirin with a glass of water. Worked like a charm. You taught me more important lessons about life, but those I didn’t practice so well. Can you blame me though? You of all people should understand that the best lessons are learned through trial and error. After you’ve been burned…not before.

Since you’ve been gone all I ever wanted was ten minutes. That’s all. Just ten minutes to tell you the things I should have while I had you. In that ten minutes I would tell you that all was forgiven, and that I know you never meant to hurt me. I wanted you to know that regardless of how bad things may have seemed, I loved you and never once wished you away. Not once did I wish you were someone else, or that I could replace you. It’s only now that you’re gone that ten minutes seems like light years away. I may as well wish for fame, fortune or immortality…none of which I will ever see.

I hope you’re in good hands now. A better place so to speak. For what it’s worth I miss you. More than I can say in ten minutes. More than I could say in the last ten years. You left before I had a chance to even say good-bye. Take care and don’t forget to write this time.

Eddie knelt down and swept the leaves from beneath him. He placed the flowers down at the site of Edward Lynn – A husband-A father 30 July 1945 - 20 August 1994. He made his way past the rows of names all etched in granite and out past the black iron gates. He folded his umbrella and let the rain run down his face. No one would ever know the difference, teardrops, raindrops, it’s all just water. He walked across the street to the newsstand and picked up the morning paper. Daily News – 20 August 2004.