Series Wednesday: Family Game Night Page 17

It’s a toy box of Rock 'em Sock 'em Robots. I use to love this game as a kid. "I haven't seen one of these in years." My dad says. "Grace and I broke ours remember??" I say. My dad opens the toy box and inside is another picture of Percy and broken toy pieces. "There is a note my dad says as he moves the toy pieces out of the way. My dad begins to read it out loud. "Grace I can't help but notice that you are fighting within yourself to tell your secret so to help you out I will take 2 days away from my original time line. You now have 3 days to tell you secret or I send a box with Percy's arm."  Grace takes a deep breath. "We need to figure out who is doing this. We need to put all the facts together and see what we come up with." I tell them. "This has to be someone in our lives. How else would they know that Grace isn't telling us her secret?"  We all just look at each other. I know none of us would ever tell anything to anyone. "Who here would open up to anyone about any of this?" I ask. "No one" my dad says. "So this means that this person is watching us." My mother says. My dad looks down at the bottom of the toy box. "The box is lined with a newspaper article." My dad pours out the broken toy pieces.  "What is the article about?" My mother asks. "It's about a whole family gone missing? The family went missing over the span of a few weeks," My dad says reading the article. My mother and I move closer to my dad to read the article with him. "Why would someone line the box with this article?" My mother asks. "Maybe this is this person’s previous victims? Maybe this is some kind of warning?" My dad says. I turn to ask Grace her opinion and she is gone.  "Where did Grace go?" I ask my parents. They both look around; my mother walks into the kitchen. "Back door is left open, she ran."  We all sigh. "Why does she keep doing that?" I ask. "She isn't the person I thought she was. She is running because she is weak and has no control over her emotions," my dad says. I just look at him. "Are you joking! She is running because she is scared of something. She is very strong to be a part of this family!" I can't help but defend Grace. "Stop Cahira, this is not the time to talk about what horrible parents we are." My mother says to me. I look at her and can't believe that is where this conversation is going. I just walk away I am not going to try to find Grace again she will come back when she is ready.

                "Cahira wake up please." I open my eyes to see Grace sitting on top of me. "Grace what are you doing?" She climbs off me. "Come with me." Grace say as she grabs me shoes. "Okay," I put my shoes on and follow Grace to her car. Grace hops in the driver seat; I am not sure where she is taking me. We seem to be driving for a while. We finally pull up to a house. "Whose house is this?" I ask her as we get out of the car. "The family in the article this was their home."  I don't understand why Grace has brought me here. "Family game night?"  Is all I can ask. "Yes," Grace responds. Now it is starting to make sense to me. "Since when do you guys kill whole families?" I ask Grace. "We don't it is against the rules for us to kill more than two people a month. Dad says that we could get blood lust and become uncontrollable." Now I am even more confused. "So how did this whole family go missing?" I ask her. Grace just starts crying. "I just felt so bad. I couldn't control it. I have Enrique stake out the family of people I kill. If they seem to get over the lose I'm okay. It's when they can't let it go that it starts to eat at me so much that I start killing off the ones who can't move on. I can't help myself." That's her secret that she is killing outside of family game night. She has remorse that turns into blood lust. I take a deep breath and try to calm her down. "Grace its okay we can fix this. I am not sure how but we can." Grace drops to her knees in tears. "You don't understand because you’re not a part of it with us. They gave me another chance and if I messed up again I was going back into the cage until I learned to control my urges." I have no idea what she is talking about but I know that this is my parents all the way.  "I won’t let anyone put you in a cage!" Grace looks up at me. "Someone knows what I have been doing, there is no way we can hide it from them." Grace says. I never intended on hiding it. "We are not hiding a damn thing." I tell her. "I wish I was more like you Cahira. I just want them to love me. I try so hard to be the daughter they lost." I know she is talking about me before the coma but she talks about me like I'm dead. I pull Grace up off the floor. "They are not capable of love. Once you accept that your life will get a whole lot better trust me." Grace gets up and dusts herself off. "That might be how you feel about them but I see the love in their eyes when I do what they want." I hear Grace and can't help feel sorry for her. "Come on lets go home." I tell her as I grab her car keys. "How are we going to help Percy and hide this?" I look at Grace. "We are not hiding a damn thing. I will protect you but we have to tell them for Percy sake." Grace sighs and gets in the passenger seat. I am not sure how I am going to do this but I will do what I have to for Percy and Grace.

Series Wednesday: Family game night page 16

                I slept in Grace’s bed to keep her safe. "Cahira?" I hear Grace I start to open my eyes. "Yeah?" I roll over to look at Grace. "Why are you in here?" She asks me. "Well after you left me in the tree house I had a talk with dad and well it made me worry about you." Grace starts to sit up. "What talk did you have with dad?" I sit up to look at her. "You had an imaginary friend while I was in the coma?" Grace’s face changes. "What about it?" Grace says a little defensively. "Where did your imaginary friend come from?" Grace just looks at me for a bit. "I met him at the hospital when they told us you might never wake up." I can understand why everyone thought that Grace had an imaginary friend. That must have been a hard time for her. "Grace he wasn't imaginary, he saved dad that night." Grace looks up at me and jumps out of her bed and runs down stairs. Her and this damn running. I follow her down stair to the box. "I don't know why it didn't click before." I look at her as my dad and mother come running down stairs. I think they heard us running. "I didn't bury this box the last time I gave it to my imaginary friend. He said he would protect my secret with his life. How could I forget that?" My dad just looks at Grace. "Cahira told you about your imaginary friend not being so imaginary I see. So is he using your secrets against you now??"  My dad asks Grace. "No it means that whoever took Percy has been around for a lot long than a few months." I explain looking at the picture of me and Grace as kids at the carnival. My parents look at each other. I think the realization that whoever has Percy has to do with them and not us just sunk in.

                "So what is your secret?" My dad asks Grace.  Grace looks my dad in the eyes. "To be honest I am not sure any more. I knew what I thought it was but now... Does he mean my childhood secrets?" My dad holds up the picture of Enrique. "I think it is safe to say whoever this is wants a more recent secret." Grace won't even look at the picture of Enrique. She just walks away. "GRACE ANNE! You better come back here right now?" My mother yells at Grace but she just keeps walking. "We only have 5 more days and it doesn't seem like Grace is in a mood to spill." I tell my dad. My dad nod and starts to walk after Grace. "This person is going to hurt Percy do you not understand that or are you that selfish that you don't care about your own blood! You would rather keep some secret with a boy." Grace instantly stops walking and turns around to face my dad. "You really think this is about a boy?" She asks my dad. "I am not sure Grace you haven't said what this is about. You just keep running away from us like you don’t care about what happens to Percy." My dad says. "I would do anything for Percy! I will tell you guys my secret just give me time!"  Grace screams at my dad. "You don't have time Grace!" Grace is in tears. "Maybe I am just not ready for things to change between us."  Grace is still screaming at my dad. "Grace nothing will ever change the way we feel about you." My mother says. "Oh that is crap and you know it. Before Cahira’s coma you didn't give a rat’s ass about me or Percy. Cahira was the end all be all. But once she woke up different you were so quick to turn on her. That is just how it is with you mom, if we do something you don't agree with you would turn on any of us. So don't try to feed me that nonsense. I will tell you everything but just not yet." The doorbell rings and we all seem to just stop. "Are you expecting anyone?" My dad asks me. "Why are you asking me?? I have like one friend and Chance would call first." My dad starts to walk towards the door. "Do you think it could be the cops with more information?" My mother asks. "Yeah let’s hope so." Grace says. My dad opens the door to find a present. All of us just look at each other. "What could it be this time?" I ask. "It shouldn't be Percy's arm we had a week." My mother says. "Yes because kidnappers who pretend to be your young girl's imaginary friend are known for keeping to their word." I say to my mother. She gives me a dirty look. "Grace I think time might be up." Grace just puts her hand over her mouth and starts sobbing. "Please don't say that. I didn't mean for anything to happen to Percy."  Grace says through her tears. My dad just looks down at the box for a bit. It is wrapped in my little pony wrapping paper. "Grace what was our 8 birthday party theme?" I ask her. "You guys had a My Little Pony party. You hated it but Grace loved it, so you agreed to have the party she wanted." My mother says. "The wrapping paper" I point. "Every detail matters. Maybe there is more to these boxes then meets the eye." I explain to my family. "I will be careful taking the wrapping paper off just in case." My dad says as he starts to unwrap the gift.

Series Wednesday: Family Game night page 15

                "Grace I don't know what to say and frankly you have me very confused." Grace looks at our old home. "It has everything to do with it. Once mom and dad started loving me more because you woke up different I swore that I would be more like you were. I would learn to control my emotions and never be anything less than perfect for them." I look at Grace and hug her. "I don't remember having emotions before waking up that day in the hospital. So you controlling the real emotions you have, is just you pretending not to have them and that can't be easy Grace." Grace starts to tear up again. I wonder if that is the big secret that Grace has emotions. I am not sure why that would be such a big secret. Well from my parents I could see why Grace would want to keep it to herself. "So what did they say after you tried to burn down the house?" I can't help but ask. "Nothing dad just woke up and went to try to save me and Percy and figured out we weren't there. He ran outside and found us in the tree house. He just asked if I had saved Percy, I said yes. They just assumed mom left a candle lit in the bathroom and that's what started the fire." I can't help but laugh. Only my family would ignore the fact that one of us tried to kill our parents. Grace and I lay back down and start to relax. We do not talk about anything and soon we both fall fast asleep. I am not sure how long we are out for but when I woke up Grace is gone. I start to climb out of the tree house to see someone standing in front of my old house. It is a man's figure, I slowly climb out of the tree house trying not to make noise. The man turns around and it is my dad. I take a breath of relief.

                "She is at home in her bed." My dad says as I walk up to him. "Did she tell you what her big secret was?" I ask my dad. "No she just came home and went to sleep." I start to wonder if the secret was that she tried to burn down the house but if that was the case what would that have to do with Enrique. "I can't believe you didn't rebuild and just bought us a new house." I tell my dad as he looks at the burnt down house. "This was Grace's big stand." I look at my dad in shock. "You know she tried to kill you." My dad laughs. "Yes of course I do. Your mom and I couldn't have been more proud of her."   Of course they would be. Why am I surprised? "I have no words for you just a sound ugggh." My dad laughs. "That was not the most concerning thing about that night." I look at my dad.  "Well I would love to know what was the most concerning part about that night." My dad starts to walk along the house to where Grace's and mine old room had been. "Do you remember Grace's imaginary friend?" I stop to think. I don't remember anything about an imaginary friend. "No I can’t say I do but there are a lot of things I don't remember."  My dad nods his head in agreement with that statement. "I think you might not remember because it might have started when you were in your coma." I look at my dad. "Okay? Are you getting to a point dad or just walking me down memory lane?" I am getting a little annoyed with everyone not just saying things straight out and talking in circles. "Watch your attitude Cahira." My dad says. I put my head down in a sign of respect. "The imaginary friend saved my life that night." I stand there with my mouth open. "How?" Is all I can ask. "He wasn't imaginary. Someone was talking to Grace for months without us seeing them. When he figured out Grace was trying to kill us he threw water on me when I was sleeping, that's what woke me up. As soon as I woke up he ran. He just disappeared. It was a part of the reason we decide to get a new house." A lot seems to have happened when I was asleep for those few months. "So some guy was talking to Grace and no one suspected anything?" I ask just to be clear. "We just thought she was lonely and sad because you were gone. We never saw anyone around Grace. He was like a ghost there was no trace of anyone being around the house. We even hired a private detective. Grace still has no clue her imaginary friend was a real person. After the fire she said he never came back. Plus soon after you woke up from the coma, so it all kind of got forgotten a bit." Something isn't sitting well with me. "Did he ever hurt Grace? Did you guys ever ask???" I can't help but be afraid of what Grace might have went through. "Yes of course we asked after we figured it out. She said he would tell her stories of faraway lands and would just listen to her talk." I still have a feeling of panic come over me. "Do you think someone was grooming her and she just happen to ruin their plan by lighting the house on fire?" My dad shrugs. "We might never know what this person wanted." I stand there wondering if this has anything to do with Percy or is this just something I never knew about the past. What else don't I know? Oh yeah Grace's secret that someone is willing to hurt Percy over.

Series Wednesday: Family Game night Page 14

"So we know the story behind these three pictures but what about this one?" I hand the picture of Enrique to my parents. "I have never seen this boy before yesterday." My mother says, then she looks at my dad. "I've seen him around. I just thought he was Grace’s secret boyfriend or something. I figured if it got serious she would tell us."  My dad puts the picture down. "We can't answer this without talking to him since she won't talk to us."  I go to grab my jacket and helmet, time to go find Enrique. "Do you know where this boy lives?" My dad asks me. "No but I am sure I can find someone who does."  I walk out my front door to my motorcycle and start to drive to Chance house.

                Chance must have heard the sound of my bike because he is coming out of the house. I pull up and get off my motorcycle. "Hey beautiful." Chance says as he hugs me. "I need to find Enrique." Chance stares at me for a second. "What do you mean you need to find him?" I don't understand Chance questions. "I need to find where he lives or where he is staying at I need to talk to him." I explain to Chance. "Cahira he robbed that store. He is still in police custody." I can’t believe I have been so absent minded. "How could I forget that?" I tell Chance and he shrugs. "I have to go." Chance hugs me tight. "If you need anything I am here." I smile at him and hop back on my motorcycle. I start toward the police station.   As I am riding pass my old house I can’t help but think about our old tree house. I turn down the street to go to the house. I just need to sit in the tree house and think. I walk in my old yard and go through the side gate to the back yard and climb up the ladder. As I open the door I am not surprised to find Grace laying in the tree house. “How did you know?” She asks me. “I didn’t know you were here I was just coming to think.” I look at Grace and she moves over to make room for me to lay next to her. I lay down next to her. “So you ran and left me with our parents. I should be very mad at you. I had to have a whole conversation with them. You have no idea what that is like.” I say jokingly to her. “I had to get out of there. Percy could get hurt because of me.” She sounds so afraid. “Well you can just tell us your secret.” Grace takes a deep breath. “It’s not that I can just open up to you about things and what I have been doing will change the relationship I have with mom and dad.”  I can’t imagine what she could be doing that would ever change her relationship with them. My parents adore Grace. “That couldn’t happen trust me. You’re our parents dream kid.” I look at Grace so she knows I am telling her the truth.  Grace laughs. “Look outside the tree house.” Grace says. I look at our childhood home and it is still in ashes. A fire happened that burnt this house down. For some reason my parents didn’t fix the house just bought us a bigger newer one. When I woke from my coma everything changed not just me but where we lived. “I burnt it down,” Graces says to me. I never asked what happened to the house.  I guess I was just so preoccupied with the fact that I completely changed. “What? Why?” Grace sits up to look at the house with me. “It was when you were in the coma. I never felt so alone in my life. Mom and dad talked about how if you died there dreams would die with you.  You were their perfect daughter. They were completely devastated at the thought of just having me and Percy. So I burnt the house down with them inside of it, I hid Percy in the tree house.” I look at Grace. “Our parents especially our mother can barely stand me.” I explain to Grace.  “Yeah ever since you woke up a different person. Before that day in the hospital I had to fight just to get mom or dad to even look at me but at least I had Percy.” Grace says as she starts to sobs. I don’t remember it like that. I honestly don’t remember Percy much before the day I woke up in the hospital. “Do you remember trying to kill Percy?” Grace asks me out of nowhere. I don’t remember that at all. “No I don’t.” I couldn’t imagine ever wanting to hurt Percy he is the only one in this family that I feel is on my side. “It was when Percy was just a baby he would cry for days on end. None of us knew why. You were tired of not getting sleep and you took a pillow into him room to smother him.  I saw you and stopped you. You screamed at me to make him stop crying or you would kill the competition. That was when I climbed into Percy crib and held him. He instantly stopped crying, he would always stop crying for me.” I can hear the love in Grace’s voice not something I hear too often from her. I feel very confused, what if everything I have thought about Grace has been wrong this whole time?? What does any of this have to do with the box and the secret??