“𝗔 𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝘀𝗼𝗻, 𝗠𝗶𝗴𝘂𝗲𝗹.”

The tension in my body rose as soon as Mr. Anderson said that. My adoptive father killed his child. Is he going to kill me in return?

"𝗜𝗳 𝗶𝘁 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝘁𝗼, 𝗜 𝗮𝗺 𝘀𝘂𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝘂𝗹𝗱 𝘀𝗮𝘆." I breathed a sigh of relief. I didn’t know I was holding my breath ‘till he said that.

I saw Mr. Anderson picking up the icepick at the table side and playing with it. "𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗮𝗱𝗺𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗜 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗸𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗶𝗲𝗿. 𝗔𝘀 𝘀𝗼𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝘀 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗶𝗻, 𝗜 𝗶𝗺𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿'𝘀 𝗳𝗮𝗰𝗲. 𝗚𝗼𝗼𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗜 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗺𝗮𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗯𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘂𝗽."

Suddenly, Mr. Anderson threw the ice pick at me. I closed my eyes, bracing for impact. When I opened my eyes again, I felt a chill as I realized the ice pick was just inches from my left face side. If Mr. Anderson had a faulty aim, I would’ve been dead by now.

"𝗛𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗮𝗹𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱𝘆 𝗴𝗼𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝘀𝘄𝗲𝗿?"

𝘠𝘦𝘴, 𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘭𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘥𝘺 𝘨𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘵. 𝘐 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘱𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘦 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘍𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘢𝘥𝘰'𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘯.

"𝗟𝗲𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗻𝗼𝘄. 𝗛𝘂𝗿𝗿𝘆 𝘂𝗽 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗹𝗼𝗻𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘁 𝘁𝗮𝗸𝗲𝘀, 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗟𝘂𝗶𝘀 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝗙𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝘀. 𝗜 𝗺𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝗯𝗲 𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽 𝗺𝘆𝘀𝗲𝗹𝗳." To what Mr. Anderson had said, I hurried to leave. Nearing the door, Mr. Anderson spoke again.

“𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝗱𝗶𝗱 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗼𝘄 𝗺𝘆 𝗻𝘂𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿? 𝗢𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗮 𝗳𝗲𝘄 𝗽𝗲𝗼𝗽𝗹𝗲 𝗵𝗮𝘃𝗲 𝗺𝘆 𝗰𝗮𝗹𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗰𝗮𝗿𝗱."

"𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗮 𝘄𝗼𝗺𝗮𝗻…” I do not know why I didn't just say Emily.

'𝘚𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘧 𝘴𝘩𝘦 𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘴 𝘩𝘶𝘳𝘵? 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘦𝘳𝘯𝘦𝘥?'

"𝗦𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹 𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗹𝗹 𝗵𝗮𝘀𝗻'𝘁 𝗺𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗱 𝗼𝗻." I snapped into reality. "𝗜 𝘁𝗵𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘄𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗼𝗺𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗰𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝗼𝗿 𝗮 𝗴𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗽 𝗷𝘂𝘀𝘁 𝗹𝗶𝗸𝗲 𝗟𝘂𝗶𝘀. 𝗕𝘂𝘁 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝗼𝗻𝗹𝘆 𝗸𝗻𝗲𝘄 𝗶𝘁 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘂𝘀𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝗺𝗶𝗹𝘆."

"𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘄𝗵𝗮𝘁?"

"𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗲𝗹𝘀𝗲? 𝗠𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗧𝗿𝗶𝗮𝗱. 𝗬𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗳𝗮𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿 𝗱𝗶𝘀𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗮𝗺𝗲 𝗮 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁. 𝗠𝗮𝘆𝗯𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁’𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘀𝗼𝗻 𝘄𝗵𝘆 𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝘆 𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘄𝗶𝘁𝗵 𝗝𝗲𝗻𝗮 𝘁𝗼𝗼. 𝗛𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗼𝘄𝗻 𝘄𝗮𝘆.”

I left with multiple things in my mind. 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘥𝘰𝘦𝘴 𝘔𝘳. 𝘈𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘮𝘦𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘌𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘩𝘢𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘯? 𝘛𝘰 𝘸𝘩𝘰? 𝘛𝘰 𝘍𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴? 𝘞𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘱𝘭𝘦?

I wonder why I’m making a big deal out of it.

𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘗𝘢𝘱𝘢’𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺? 𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵'𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘢𝘥 𝘵𝘩