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??