Chapter 1: A Normal Day
I got out the car door as I made my way to school.
“Bye Mom,” I said.
“Love you,” She said back and she left as a few kids snickered. Ugh, I wish my mom was less embarrassing, I thought. As I walked by I saw a small little scrawny kid snicker. I grabbed his shirt and pulled him up.
“What’s your problem?” I asked.
“Uh, um, nothing,” he replied. I gave him a light check to his nose and dropped him. He held his nose like a baby as I made my way to my class.
“Spencer Brooks, report to the office now!” The loudspeaker yelled. I got out of my chair while the whole class stared at me as I left quickly trying to avoid as much embarrassment as I could. I heard a few snickers and snarky comments as the door closed. I made it to the familiar principal's office, aka Mr. Washeel, and the door startled me as it slammed behind me. I stared down at the scratched wood floor as Mr. Washeel began to talk.
“Spencer, why did you punch Jackson in the face?!” Mr. Washeel asked me.
“What do you mean?” I replied confused as I did not know who Jackson was.
“I mean what I said!” Mr. Washeel barked.
“I didn’t punch anybody!” I yelled back angrily realizing what I had done earlier.
“To detention NOW!” Mr. Washeel screamed.
Why does he not trust me at all? I thought to myself as I made my way to the detention hall. I made it to the door and went in immediately seeing the bleak white walls with lots of drawings and name signatures. I went over to my name and added a tally mark. It was tradition that every time you go to detention you put a tally mark next to your name. I had just gotten my 14th today but was not even close to the record of 65 set by a kid a few years ago. I knew I was not a great kid, but 65 is terrible like you would be trying to get detention. I then waited with all the other bored kids until 1 hour after school and left for home. Soon, I got home and my parents were not very happy with the news of my detention and I got sent straight to my room. My sister Molly was there doing homework. She was not like me, she was a straight-A student and was very responsible compared to the C student and irresponsible kid I was. I mean I was a tallish, black-haired 9th grader and she was a short, blonde 7th grader, but still. We were both the exact opposite. There was only one thing I was interested in and that was natural wildlife.
Some nights I would sneak out of my room and go to the forest nearby to enjoy the peace hearing only the chirps of crickets, and the squeaks of birds. I go to a little wood hut I made years ago and enjoy the snacks I brought from my house.
Tonight, I decided to go to my little happy place in the forest with my survival kit backpack, which was filled with the basic first aid kit and a few snacks, luckily I have not had to use it. As I was walking I saw this penny on the ground. It was facing tail side up so I turned it head side up for the next person. I guess the next person can use it, I thought to myself. Then I felt something sharp in my head like a needle. I turned around. I saw a person in a black hoodie, but I could not see the person’s face. I then stumbled around for a few seconds trying to catch the guy who had done this terrible thing to me as he backed away from me. I tried to run but my feet would not work so I fell. The person grabbed my legs and started to drag me into a truck. I yelled at him to let me go but I was speaking gibberish. I then got really tired quickly and just before I blacked out I got a glimpse of the person’s face which looked oddly familiar. It was like I had seen that person earlier today.
I woke up, and I could not see or hear anything for a second as everything was blurry. I then felt a great pain in my head as I felt a big bump there not remembering what happened. “Where am I?” I mumbled. I started to be able to see and soon enough realized it was daytime. I could now see that I was in what seemed to be a random oak forest that I did not recognize. There were no oak trees near us so I wondered where I was. “Hello?” I yelled, “Anyone there?” After looking around a bit more I realized that there was a lot of grass and a small lake near where I stood. Then, I saw a big brown wooden crate with my backpack next to it, and I rushed over there to investigate.
I found that everything in my backpack was fine except for my phone, which was gone. I then broke open the crate, which was as big as a horse. I found some wooden planks and a lighter, with a bit of canned fruit in the crate. There was nothing that stood out except for a piece of paper that read look up. When I did, I saw that this was no ordinary forest I was in, it was encased in a giant see-through dome.
Woah, I thought, that dome is the size of a mountain! Then reality hit me, I needed to get out. I then ran as fast as I could to the closest wall. I tired quickly as I stumbled along. Eventually, I reached the wall, after around ten minutes. I stopped to catch my breath and I kicked the wall. Nothing happened. “Erg,” I mumbled angrily as I kicked the wall a bit harder this time. Still nothing. I tried one last time with all my might and nothing again. Now all I could see was my reflection in the dome wall staring back at me with my short black hair, my brown eyes, and my ragged blue jeans and a gray T-shirt. Wait, I was not wearing a gray T-shirt, I was wearing a blue shirt, I thought to myself. I also realized a weird symbol on my shirt and looked down. It was something I did not recognize but I thought I had seen it somewhere before. I realized It was on the guy who had taken me. I shrugged it off saying it was not important.
It was beginning to turn to night and I decided to start to build a shelter out of the wooden crate I found earlier. As the moon rose I decided to get some rest and finish the hut tomorrow. I woke up in the morning to the sound of eating, and for a second I thought the whole dome thing was just a dream until I found that the eating was a wild pig munching on my canned peaches.
“Get away you filthy beast!” I shouted at the ugly thing. At the sound of my voice, it ran away snickering with a piece of peach in its mouth. I sighed; this was not a good way to start my morning. I didn’t waste any time though, as I immediately started to work on what would be my hut. I used the leftover crate pieces to make somewhat of a base. This will work, for now, I thought to myself. Soon I gathered some leaves and wild berries for my new home. I put the big branches with green leaves on the outside of my house as night was quickly approaching and the sun was setting.
“I’ll continue work tomorrow,” I said aloud for some reason. I grabbed my canned fruit, put it inside my little hut, grabbed some leaves, and slept the night.
Chapter 2: Not Alone
In the morning something weird happened, I heard a raspy voice coming from above. At first, I thought I could be in a dream but then I realized I wasn’t.
“Hello?” I shouted.
“Anybody out there?” I yelled.
“Hello Spencer Brooks,” replied something.
“Who’s there?” I yelled back, “And how do you know my name?”
“I am the person who got you here,” replied someone, “and call me The Dome.”
“Why have you trapped me here?” I snapped back.
“I will not say why.” The Dome answered.
“How do I get out?” I asked.
“That is for you to figure out,” The Dome responded.
“You can’t leave me here!” I shouted.
“You have two weeks to escape.” The Dome told me.
“Or what?” I asked.
“Heh,” The Dome laughed, “you’ll see.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I questioned.
“By the way, watch out,” The Dome said.
“Wait, Wh-” but before I could finish the ground started shaking and my house blew to pieces and sent me up a few feet.
“Have fun,” The Dome said, right before I blacked out.
“Huh,” I mumbled, “am I dead?” I stood up and my legs started to suddenly hurt badly. Now that I could see, I saw that my house was now a crater and I was bleeding everywhere.
“Ugh,” I said, as I started to sit down. Everything was looking terrible until a printed photo of my family in pieces rained down on me as I remembered how much I missed them and wanted this to be over. In my sadness, I cried until nightfall. After that, I did not know If I should go on but I told myself I needed to for my family and that I should not give up. Soon I decided to get some sleep. In the morning, I woke up to the sun, which was brighter than any lightbulb I had ever seen.
I thought to myself, Why don’t I go explore the dome? So I did, I raced through the jungle to find nothing. I thought all hope was lost until I saw out of the corner of my eye a crate.
I thought to myself, No way. When I ran closer I saw that this was a smaller crate, only about the size of a big dog but I was still elated with joy. I was about to open the crate when I remembered what happened last time; I opened the crate, The Dome talked, and just over two days later it blew up. So instead of just opening the crate, I cautiously started to dig under it until I saw something.
I wonder what that could be? I thought to myself. As I looked closer, I found that it was a wire. So I Immediately, without thinking, cut the wire. “Whew,” I said, “that was close.” Thinking I was lucky that I did not trigger an explosion. Now that I thought I was safe I opened the crate. There was some canned fruit, some new clothes, and a map leading to one part of the dome. I decided after pondering for over an hour that I would go to the location the next day. The next morning, as I was about to leave, a thought came to me. It can’t be a trap, right? I asked myself, I hope not. I was off walking through the trees of the forest, thinking about what had happened to me in the last three days as I approached the bright red spot on the crinkled map. It had taken me over an hour to get to the spot and when I thought I was on the exact spot I started to dig. I found nothing in the hole. Mad I started to dig another one and I found nothing. The rest of the day was spent digging more holes but I had no luck finding anything. Mad and thinking that the map was useless I threw the map down and started to take a walk. I thought angrily to myself, that map was pointless, no use at all! I was giving up hope when I saw another crate, and I rushed toward it. Turns out it was a flat tree branch, that for some reason looked like a crate. I had given up hope and I was thinking it was over. I walked in circles looking down. I was tired and It was turning night so thinking I had made a full circle I sat down and finally looked up to find my sister lying unconscious. At first, I thought I was imagining things but when I rushed toward her she was there. I frantically asked, “Are you okay?!” But all I got in response was a few groans. On closer inspection, I saw that she had a big bump on her head like the one I had gotten right before I got transported to the dome. Suddenly The Dome who had said nothing for almost 2 days said,
“Looks like you found your sister.”
“What have you done?” I asked.
“I will not reveal that information, but I have decided to give you until the end of tomorrow to escape,” The Dome said, ignoring me.
“What?!” I yelled.
“But since I’m feeling nice, I will give you the location of another crate.” The Dome replied.”
“How will that help me?” I asked, clutching my unconscious sister in my arms.
“You will see, and the location is on that hill over to your right.” The Dome said with a bitter tone. Sure enough, I looked to my right and there was a steepish grassy hill with a few rocks on top of it. I then, with my sister in my arms, went up the hill slowly as it was hard to climb with my sister in my arms. I made it to the top of the hill to find a solo tree with a crate next to it. I soon set my sister down carefully and broke open the small crate which was about the size of a small table. Without thinking I broke open the crate to find a small note that read -8, 2. Confused, I tried to figure out what this meant. “-8, 2, -8, 2,” I kept telling myself. When suddenly,
“Wha, what happened?” My sister mumbled.
“You're okay!” I shouted with joy.
For the rest of the night, I told my sister all of what happened since I got in the dome. After I finished we both decided that we could try to escape tomorrow. What could -8, 2 mean, think? I thought to myself while I was sleeping. Then I remembered the map I had gotten earlier, it had numbers on the sides going from 10 and -10. Of course, I thought to myself. I remembered learning about coordinate grids I learned years ago. I soon was able to figure out that we had to go right until we reached the wall. After that walk up the edge until we find what we need. Perfect! I thought to myself.
The next morning we wasted no time. We ate some canned orange slices and were off. Molly explained to me what happened after I left the moment before she blacked out. She mostly told me that our family was looking for me and when Molly decided to take a walk where I was last seen she blacked out.
After about an hour we reached the edge. Then The Dome said, “You're getting close, keep going.”
“Who’s that?” Molly asked.
“It’s the person who trapped us,” I replied to her.
“Who is the person who trapped us?” Molly questioned.
“I don’t know, but we may find out real soon,” I said.
About a minute later, a crate popped into view and I told Molly to start jogging. When we got there we opened it to find a note that said to look up with a rope next to it. As we looked up we saw that there was a small hole in the ceiling.
“How’s that rope supposed to help us?” Molly asked.
“We have to loop it around a hook on the roof,” I replied.
It was probably fifty or sixty feet high. I untied the rope and threw and I fell a few feet short. I tried again and it was still about two feet short.
The Dome then said, “You're going to have to figure out a way to make that work before the time runs out.”
“How much time do we have left?” I asked.
The Dome replied, “29 minutes and 36 seconds.”
“How do we get out?” I questioned.
“I might have an idea.” Molly declared.
Molly told me that since we are missing the hole by a few feet we should collect some big, flat rocks and put them on top of each other so that when we stand on the rocks we gain a few feet.
“Genius,” I said as we both started collecting rocks. We soon got enough rocks that we thought we could reach it.
“10 minutes,” said The Dome smugly. I grabbed the rope and threw it again. No luck, we were about a few inches short.
“Darn,” I said, “we have to find another rock.” Molly and I looked for a rock and we could not find one. I was searching until I found a big enough one and as soon as I put the rock on The Dome said, “Five minutes to escape, or else,” I grabbed the rope again and threw it.
“Bullseye!” I yelled as I got the rope on the hook. “Those Cowboy Lasso lessons came to use,” I declared. Soon I decided to climb the rope and as soon as both of us took hold of the rope, a 2-minute timer appeared on the see-through wall.
“You have two minutes,” The Dome said as I started to climb faster. I thought to myself, don’t look down, don’t look down. For some reason, I looked down and saw I was 40 feet in the air and I froze. I was afraid of heights and the ground looked tiny from my height. I was nervous but I continued.
“30 seconds,” The Dome said. I soon rushed to get to the top. I made it on top with 10 seconds to spare, but Molly was still climbing.
“Come on Molly!” I yelled.
“I’m trying!” Molly replied.
“Five” The Dome counted.
“Hurry up Molly!” I shouted.
“Four”
“I’m almost there!” Molly said.
“Three”
“Molly, reach for my hand!” I told her as I reached out my hand.
“Two”
“I’m so close!” Molly shouted.
“One”
“Got you,” I told her as I pulled her out.
“Self Destructing,” The Dome said in a robotic voice.
BOOM!!! That was the last sound I heard before I was flung into the air and knocked unconscious.
Everything was pitch black with not a sound to be heard and it was only me and my thoughts. I was in nothingness for what seemed like forever. Then after a very long time of hearing nothing, I heard voices, saying “Is my baby boy okay?” which must have been my mom. I heard another voice which must have been the doctor saying “He has two broken ribs, blood loss, and a concussion. “Will he recover?” I heard someone who must have been my dad ask.
It was so good to hear my parents’ voices after about 5 days in the dome and however long in the darkness after. “The girl has a broken rib and a minor concussion but she should recover,” The doctor said. This must have been Molly, I thought. I soon opened my eyes.
“You’re awake, you’re awake.” My mom screamed with joy.
“Son, can you hear me?” My dad asked.
“I can,” I replied weakly and after a few weeks, I was able to leave the hospital with my dad, mom, and Molly.
Chapter 3: A Mystery Still Remains
After a few months, Molly and I had almost fully recovered. We both were too shaken up to go back to school. We both decided we should enjoy a long summer even though summer had not even started yet. I would tell the story to my friends about my perseverance and not giving up in the dome, and everything was normal like I was never in the dome. I had gotten scars on my legs and my arms and I would show them to anybody who would ask. I was on the news as reporters flooded my house. At first, I liked the attention as I was happy to know people cared about what happened. Soon though I got tired of the knocks on my door and the reporters kept coming. I stayed inside my house the whole summer only going outside to get the mail or getting packages on the porch. Summer felt short still as it was ending soon. But there is one question inside me, who was The Dome and why did he trap Molly and me? I guess some things will always remain unsolved. Or will they?
It was late at night as I gazed up at the stars above me. It had been two months since I had been released from the hospital and I was on the roof of my brown house with my sister next to me. I pointed at a very small orange star and smiled because of the freedom we had. After all, it was terrible what we went through together. The stars morphed into little shapes and I knew that my medicine from the doctor was wearing off. I realized I would be going to school tomorrow so I told my sister we should go to bed she told me,
“Spencer, I don’t want to go to bed!”
I told her, “It’s a school night we need to be ready for school tomorrow”
She responded with, “Already! It feels like summer break just started”
I sighed and said, “Yup, let’s go to bed. We don’t want to be tired on the first day of school”
Neither of us had gone to school since the dome incident. The police were still searching for the dome and the person behind it, even though that was around 9 months ago. They had no progress yet and wondered if it was just a big lie. I went to the bathroom, brushed my teeth, and I went to my room with dull blue walls. RING!!!! I woke up to the loud sound of the alarm clock screaming at me. I opened my eyes to see my same old tan ceiling. I got up and went downstairs to the kitchen. I saw the same marble countertop filled with food everywhere. I sighed too tired to clean up and grabbed a cereal box realizing Molly was up. She looked despondent just staring out our window into the distance.
“What’s wrong?” I said
“Nothing,” she replied, “Just that ever since Grandma and Grandpa died in the terrible c…
I cut her off and said, ‘Remember we do not talk about the accident”
Molly snapped back, “Oh, sorry for caring about our family” then she stormed off out the front door. I sighed, knowing she was becoming a teen. I got in the car and drove myself to the school parking in the front. I was still thinking of what happened this morning with Molly as I sat in the car. Then I realized that I had my problems to worry about and I took a deep breath as I opened the door. I was instantly overwhelmed by the people and memories of this place. I walked down to my locker, surprised that I still remembered where it was, and tried to open it. I had forgotten the code and I was getting worried since all my school supplies were in there.
“Need help?” a familiar voice asked me.
“Yeah, I do,” I said as I looked around and saw my best friend from last year, Jimmy.
“Jimmy!” I said, “How have you been?”
“Good, but now even better because your back” he replied
DIINGGG!!! The bell rang as I said goodbye to my friend and went to class so I would not be late. I got to my seat and waited for the bell to ring. This was a weird sensation of getting to class early since I used to always be on time or late.
“Welcome class, I am Ms. Skeba and I’m your 10th-grade Language arts teacher,” Mrs. Skeba told us. I heard the class get excited as I remembered kids saying she was the best teacher at the school.
“We have a special guest today, Spencer Brooks, who makes his return to school,” She said. I got a lot of weird looks and saw people whisper to each other. I patiently waited until the period finished and as the bell rang and went to go to my next class. I then saw the kid I hated last year, but he had gotten a lot taller since I last saw him. I put my head down and hoped not to get noticed. It did not work as he grabbed my hoodie and pulled me back. Then he said in a taunting tone,
“Look who it is, little Spencer Brooks”
“Let go of me,” I told him as I ripped myself away from his grip.
“Looks like the little boy is afraid of me,” he said as his goons laughed. I ignored him thinking to myself that I better leave him be and not be late. One of his goons asked who I was and he responded, “He is the kid who made up the story about being trapped in a dome”
“I did not make that up!” I said as I turned around, jumped, and punched him in the jaw.
He laughed, as a line of blood dripped down from his lips. Kids all around us pulled me away from the bully.
“Let me at him!” he yelled as he was held back by a group of kids.
I was then called to the principal's office shortly after that and waited a few minutes until the principal came in. I braced myself, as I did not know what punishment awaited me. I closed my eyes and hoped that he would be nice to me even though it was like he was a hungry lion and I was a free meal. He spoke slowly and softly,
“I know it has been hard for you after all you have experienced,” he said. I was confused as to why he was not yelling at me.
“I get that some people may treat you differently,” he told me, “but you can not let that get in your way.”
“Just try to forget the past and focus on the future,” he said, “Don’t focus on the dome or what happened in it, it's over now.”
“Don’t worry, there will be no more explosions or secret maps leading to your sister” he said soothingly.
“How about you go home now,” he said, “and we will restart tomorrow”
“Thanks, Mr. Washeel,” I said. I then left the school and went home. I ate some food, put on the news. Later that same day, I replayed what Mr. Washeel said. I thought to myself, wait how did he know about the explosions and the map? I sat up and wondered about other possibilities. Did he trap me? Did I accidentally talk about my experience? I need to find more info. I thought to myself. I then realized that the face I saw when I was getting taken. I gasped as I realized the person who tortured me had been hiding right behind my nose. I then thought, how could I be certain? So I then decided to go investigate at the school.
Chapter 4: Looking For Clues
But before that, I waited for Molly to come up our cracked driveway and told her I would be gone for a little while. She did not question me and I got into my car and drove away. I arrived at the empty school parking lot and circled the school until I found an open window, but it was on the second story of the school I jumped on a windowsill. I then grabbed the windowsill above me and just got to reach the window when I fell. I landed on my back with a splash. Since it had rained a few days ago it was very muddy, so now I was filthy. I wiped myself off and tried to climb up again. This time, I grabbed the window and pulled myself in. I looked around the ominous, dark, and empty halls. No one was to be seen and I made my way to the principal’s office, seeing the blood stain on the floor after my encounter with my bully earlier that day. I got there and tried to open the door. To my dismay, it was locked. I then without thinking, kicked open the door and luckily the door opened, and had minimal damage. I immediately saw papers sticking out of the closet and opened it to find old tapes and diagrams of some project. When I looked closer I realized the diagrams were for a giant arena structure. Wait, I thought, these are blueprints for a dome. Not just any dome, the dome I was in. I thought it could be a coincidence but when looking at others I saw the exact location of the crates, the exploding ones, and much more info. I thought to myself that I could show this to the police. But I told myself that the police would think nothing of it. I then went to the tapes and put it in the T.V. that looked like it was from the 90’s.
The first tape I put in was labeled “Subject 1 - Day 1.” It was the same dome with the same setup but there was a kid who looked around 14 probably about my age when I went in. It was a sped-up tape of him entering the dome. I put in the net tape which was labeled “Subject 1 - Day 2.” It showed the same challenges I faced and I recalled memories from when I was there. The last tape in that series was labeled “Subject 1 - Day 3 Fail.” It showed him finding the map that I found with the same spot as mine. He went to the spot and found someone. Based on the looks it could have been his mother or his sister. They then tried to escape before the dome ran out of time. The camera went black as the tape blanked. I also noticed that at the top of the screen was the same symbol I saw on the man who took me. I knew it was him but the police did not. I decided I needed to check more of them. I found more tapes and the next set was labeled “Subject 2 - Day 1.” It showed a girl around our age. It was still the same challenge and I put in the next tape and then the next tape. I kept watching the tapes until I was on the last one in the series labeled “Subject 2 - Day 4 Fail.” It showed the same thing as the last set but instead of finding a sister or mother, she found her dad, by the looks of it. I went to the next series which was subject 3, which was male again. The series went to 5 days and the guy found his sister. The last one was a failure again. I kept watching the tapes as I noticed a pattern. A male goes in and finds a female counterpart. Then it went visa versa and every time it went up a day starting from 3 - 5 days. When someone lost at 5 days the next would be at 3. I realized I did not have much time so I just watched the final tape from each series. Once I got to subject 14, I pushed play and noticed something weird. This person was familiar. I then realized it was a girl who was a grade above me who was reported missing a while back. I noticed it was exactly 1 year before I disappeared. I then remembered that all the tapes had dates and were exactly 1 year apart.
I turned on subject 15 and was shocked to see that it was me. I saw myself finding the map and helping Molly escape. But I noticed something for the first time, my tape said pass instead of fail. I then grabbed the tapes knowing I could use them as evidence. So I grabbed my series of tapes and went out the window. I came back to the house finding Molly asleep on the comfy couch with the T.V. on. I then decided I should go to sleep and call them in the morning. I could not sleep, waiting for my sweet revenge, at about 5:00 A.M. I grabbed my phone which was dead, so I had to wait another 30 minutes until it was charged enough so I could call them. I called them and told them I had gotten info about my disappearance. The police were reluctant at first as they said they would come in about 30 minutes. As I waited I looked around the office more. I went into the hall to see if there was any trace of him. I could not find anything but as I turned to go into the room there was a walled-off area that had no door or room. I grew suspicious and looked around the room for a key and just as I was giving up I looked under his desk. I found a tiny switch and clicked it. I felt the room shake as a hidden door had been revealed. I looked in the room and it looked empty. I only saw a few notes left. When I inspected them I was shocked by what I found. It was all his next victims. The police soon came and they made their way to the office. I told them what I had found and I showed the tape to them and they chatted with each other organizing a plan. Once a plan was decided they all put the office the way I found it and we left. I went home and crawled back into bed. The next morning I woke up and went down to get some breakfast. I heard my mom cooking some waffles and eggs. She said, “Good morning Spencer.” She put my plate down and saw my shirt. She asked what happened. I told her I had just gone for a breather during the night and slipped. She then told me to get ready for school. The sun danced above me as I drove down to the school with many police cars behind me. I made my way to the principal’s office and knocked on the door. It was locked and I said, “Open the door Mr. Washeel, it’s over” Still no response as the policemen broke down the door. The room was lifeless as I showed them the closet which luckily was still full of the tapes. It seems like he knew this would happen as everything was taken out of the room except for those tapes. It almost seems like he wanted the police to see these tapes so we could watch these people suffer. I still wondered how he knew how he knew I would be here. When I found a hidden camera hanging up and pointed it to the police. Just as they were reaching it, it blew up destroying any information we could have gotten from the camera. The police then played some of the tapes, and they recognized a few people from cases they worked on. When I opened the secret room, they found other diagrams in secret places that showed documents of illegal trading and supplying terrorists. It also showed something that shocked me and made me hate him even more. My grandparents died from what we thought was a terrible car crash a few years ago. It turns out this was set up and there were plans of how it would happen, the date, etc. I guess they must have been involved in some secret work. After the police shared this news, the FBI began a search for the evil principal. It turned out that Mr. Washeel was just a cover for an infamous criminal. I felt safer knowing that we knew who the killer was. I was not satisfied yet though. I knew that the principal I used to hate, was on the run from the FBI. I checked my phone every day for years upon end. I would sometimes get a notification of a sighting of him but he was never caught. I was disappointed as I wanted to give him the revenge he deserved. I could not do anything though, as no one could find him. He soon became on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list. I eventually moved on.
Prologue
I went to Michigan and studied nature and wildlife. Molly graduated high school at 16 and went to UCLA. She studied law and became one of the world’s top lawyers. We grew apart seeing each other maybe once or twice a year. We tried to forget the dome had ever happened. I could never forget as nightmares played in my head over and over again. I eventually got married and had two kids. I did not tell them about the dome until they were both 15. I remember recalling the horrors as they listened to me.
I wanted to forget but I could not. No matter what, nothing helped. I eventually stopped worrying and moved on. I never was fully moved on but I now had two kids at Michigan College and let them move on with their lives. I wish I would have been closer with Molly and I probably would have been if we still had parents. I decided to try to meet with her and it turns out she was in town. We met for the first time in what had seemed like forever. We talked about our lives, families, jobs. Then we started recalling our childhood memories. We laughed, we cried, we had a hole in us that could never be filled. It grew late as the day became night. We went to our old childhood home recalling our time with our parents. We climbed to the top of the roof and gazed up. I got the same feeling that I had not gotten in many years, a sense of freedom. I pointed up to the same orange star I had 30 years ago and said,
“Our lives may be changing, but we should not forget the past as it has shaped us into who we are.”
She replied, “You got that quote from Dad right?”
I smiled and said “Yeah” We both laughed gazing up into a place far out of our reach. Now recalling that moment, I would say that was the best time I had ever experienced with my sister. It was at that moment that I stopped worrying about the mystery being solved and the killer being found. I finally started to move on and get my life together. Sometimes people just need to let go and just like my dad's saying, don’t forget the past that formed you, embrace it, and help it make your life now.
The End
