Once I gave Molly a cookie, we both headed outside. I quickly grabbed my worms and my fishing pole. I saw Patrick walking up my driveway and I told him that Molly had to come with us. He was fine with it and we started walking to the river.

“So, are we going to teach Molly how to fish?” he said.

“No. I don’t want Molly to cut herself.” This was true that I didn’t want Molly to cut herself because I didn’t want to get blamed for it.

“That’s fine. I didn’t think she would even want to anyways,” Patrick said.

As we were walking I noticed that Molly wasn’t by us and I got really scared. I knew that if I couldn’t find her in time I would be in so much trouble when my mom found out.

“Patrick? Where did Molly go?”

“I don’t know man, but she is not with us,” he said.

I think we were both in shock that we lost her because we weren’t panicking at all. We were both just standing there staring at the ground.

“Well, let’s go find her. We can’t just stand here! She could be anywhere!”

“Don’t yell at me I wasn’t the one who lost her!”

“Well, you were the one who was walking right next to her!”

“Well...”

“Well let’s just go find her already!”

As we started looking for Molly, I thought of a good idea. “Hey Patrick?”

“Yeah?”

“I have an idea. How about I go to the left and you go to the right, ok?”

“Sure. But we need to meet up somewhere after,” said Patrick.

“Ok. Lets meet….. Um… by those two slanted trees over the river,” I said.

“Ok, perfect. Let’s go,” Patrick said and then we were off looking for Molly.

“Did you find her yet?” I said after we meet up at the trees.

“No. Did you?” he said.

“No.” I got really scared because I didn’t want to get in trouble for something as stupid as losing my sister. “Well. I should probably go. We have been looking for hours. Let’s face it, we aren’t going to find her.”

“Yeah man. We aren’t. I should get home too. My mom is probably worried,” said Patrick.

“Well bye,” I said. Now I knew I was in so much trouble. Patrick and I have been looking for ages and we can’t find her. My mom also said that she was going to be home in an hour from the time she left the house, so now I am dead meat.

As I am walking home I hear a really interesting noise but I didn’t dare look back because I should be home right now already. But the noise was so weird. It was really pretty and calming but I couldn’t figure out what it was. Anyways, I put my fishing pole and worms in our garage and walk inside. There my mom was standing. Her face was very red and her eyes were looking straight at me. For a second it kind of scared me, but then I realized my mom found out about my sister. Molly was standing right behind my mother. Now I am really dead meat. All of a sudden I felt myself start to bubble up. I knew I was going to start crying, but I couldn’t hold it back. I started balling my eyes out. My mom was going to kill me.

“How was your fishing trip down at the river, Liam?” said my mom. I could tell she did not have a nice tone in her voice.

“Fine,” I said because I was too scared to say anything else.

“It was just fine?” she said.

Now I was only nodding because I didn’t think I could talk anymore or else I would explode. I started to cry again because I still couldn’t help it.

“WELL YOU WON’T BE GOING ANYWHERE ANYMORE! DO YOU UNDERSTAND? I AM VERY DISAPPOINTED IN YOU.”

Yup. Dead meat. “ Mom, I didn’t mean to lose Molly, she just kind of walked off.”

“ I DON’T CARE WHAT HAPPENED! ALL I KNOW IS THAT WHEN I CAME HOME FROM THE GROCERY STORE, MOLLY WAS SITTING IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROAD. AND THAT IS NOT OK. NOW GO UPSTAIRS AND THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU DID. I WILL BE UP TO TALK TO YOU IN A MINUTE!” said my mom. Just then, I heard a knock at the door.

As I walked upstairs I heard my mom answering the door. I decided to stay upstairs and listen to the conversation. But then I realized that it was my dad. This was really bad because my mom and I hate my dad.

“Peter, what are you doing here?” my mom said.

“I wanted to say hi to my children, darling. Now move.”

“Peter no! You are not going to get even close to my children. And do NOT call them your children.”

“What did you just say to me, Mary? Were you just yelling at me?” I started to get so scared, because I didn’t want my mom to get hurt. When my dad is like this, that means he is drunk. And when my dad is drunk, he can be very abusive.

“LIAM! GRAB YOU SISTER AND GET INTO A ROOM. LOCK THE DOOR TOO.” I could tell my mom wasn’t actually yelling at me. It sounded more like she needed help which is what I was going to do. I quickly ran downstairs and picked up my sister. Of course she started  crying but it didn’t matter. Then I ran back upstairs, went in my room and locked the door. I put down Molly on my bed and gave her something to play with. After that, I layed down and looked out through the little crack under the door. I did this because I was trying to hear and see as much as I could.

“Peter, you are NOT allowed to come inside. I can call the police right now and you will be arrested. Now you either leave or go to jail!”

“Mary, I ain’t goin’ anywhere! And you ain’t allowed to tell me what to do! I am the boss of you and better listen to me!” I could see the anger in my moms eyes but I could also see my mom was scared. She was scared of him and that’s not ok.

I really wanted to do something for her but I knew I couldn’t. I was the safest right here in my room, right now. Just then I saw my dad walk even closer to my mom. My dad isn’t allowed to even come into our house so he was in big trouble. Then, he kissed my mom. HE KISSED HER. This was not ok! He isn’t even allowed to touch her! I then saw my mom quickly pull back and run to the kitchen. I knew she ran to the kitchen because I could hear a pan rattling against other pans. Now this was going to be fun to watch! My mom ran back to my dad with her phone and a pan.

“I swear Peter, if you touch me again you are going to be in jail for the rest of your life and you won’t be allowed to see anyone ever again! Now leave my house!” Wow! I have never heard my mom in this kind of tone before. I decided to check on Molly, because she was probably scared of what was happening.

“Hey Molly. Are you ok?” I said. She wasn’t answering. “Hey Molly, it’ll be ok. We are perfectly safe here in my room.” Even though I said that we were going to be perfectly safe here, I didn’t think that we really were safe here. I mean, my dad was pretty violent and really strong so, couldn’t he just knock the door open? Anyways, I decided to give Molly one of my stuffed animals to borrow to make her feel better. “Here Molly, you can borrow this stuffed animal, ok?” I could hear that no one was talking downstairs anymore so I decided to go and see what was going on. “Molly stay here. I am going to go check on mom.”

Once I got outside of my room I looked around just to see if it was safe to walk downstairs until I saw the door of my moms room closed. I mean I guess it doesn’t really matter because a door can be closed when a door wants to be closed, right? But then I thought some more. When I came upstairs before, my moms door was open. Actually, all the doors were open. I didn’t know for sure, but I wanted to see if my dad was gone or not. I mean, I couldn't hear anyone downstairs. All I could hear was the noise of the furnace turning on, the wind blowing outside making it seem like it’s trying to come in, the clock ticking, and my footsteps. Anyways, I didn’t want to wait any longer because I was also really hungry. I walked downstairs, quietly, and checked the kitchen first. Of course I checked the kitchen first so that I could get a snack but before I walked in, I saw my dad. I wanted to walk backwards so that he wouldn’t notice but he did. It was so weird though. He was standing with his back towards me and he was looking out the window with a beer in his hand.  

“Hi Liam. I knew you would come downstairs. I still love you. You know that, right?”

“My mom told you to get out of the house. And where is my mom?”

“Liam, she is in our room. She didn’t want to talk to me.”

“What do you mean our room. You guys are divorced. And you are not allowed to even be in this house. Now, like mom said, GET OUT!” Wow, I actually just yelled at my dad. Oh no, that means he is going to get mad, right? Oh no.

“What did you just say to me?” I really want to just run up the stairs, to my room, lock the door, and stay there forever. But instead, I just stood there. I don’t know why but I was. I tried to move my legs and just run for it but I couldn’t. It felt like I was glued to the ground unable to go anywhere.

“Please, just get out,” I said.

“Ok, jeez. I am going. But I will be back here though,” he said as he walked out the door. He then slammed it and once he got outside, I decided to look for my mom.

“Hey mom. I saw your door closed. Dad left and now we are safe again,” I said. I then walked into her room so that she could see me. I saw that she was crying. But it didn’t look like she was sad. It looked more like happy crying. “Hey mom. Are you ok?”

“Yes sweetie, I am fine. It’s just that Jason said that he wants us to get married. Don’t worry, we already made all our plans. I am crying because I am so glad this all worked out. Are you happy?”

“No I’m not happy for you. I mean yes I am. I mean, I don’t really know.” Just run away Liam. Just run for your life. He will never be your dad, ever. Just run for it. Never come back Liam. Never come back. But I didn’t run. I didn’t. And I don’t know why.

The next day, I was not in a good mood. I think that it’s because of all the things that were going on in my life. Especially because my mom and Jason were getting married soon.

Ding Dong.

“Who is it?”

“It’s Patrick. You want to go for a walk?”

“Sure. I’ll meet you outside,” I said.

Once I was outside, I could tell that Patrick had something very important to tell me. I could just see it on his face.

“Hey Liam. Can I tell you something?” Yup, he does.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Well, last night I went to the woods to grab my fishing pole because I forgot it the other day. Anyways while I was there I saw a tree by the river.”

“Wow, you saw a tree? That’s so cool.”

“Liam, just listen, ok? The tree was magical.”

“Oh come on Patrick, you’re so babyish. There is no such thing as a “magical tree”. You’re so stupid!”

“I have to go,” Patrick said and he ran off.

“WAIT, PATRICK. I’M SORRY.” Saying that was really stupid though because he didn’t even hear it.

                                 5 Months Later    

The wedding was very small. There was only about 30 people there. I didn’t speak once. I didn’t want to speak at all. When we got home from the wedding my “dad” came with us. “Hey, sport. Do you want to go anywhere? If you do, you can pick the place. Today can be all about dad and son. Only because it’s official.”

“Oh Jason, that was so sweet asking your son to go anywhere he wants. Isn’t that sweet, Liam? Maybe you and your dad can go to that new ice cream place downtown. How about that, Jason?”

“That would be an awesome idea, but I have to do homework,” I say. I actually really don’t need to do homework, but it seems like a good excuse not to go somewhere with Jason. “ALSO, DON’T CALL ME SPORT.”

“Oh, come on Liam. It will be a fun bonding experience.”  

“YOU AREN’T MY DAD!” I quickly run upstairs and sit in my room. I wasn’t going to go anywhere. He’s is NOT my dad and will never be. And now he is calling me his son? But I do have to say, it felt good to get that out. I mean, my mom and Jason just came up with more things to do and I didn’t want to do any of those. Well at least not with Jason. I just want to run away and start a new life. But first, I would need to get some rest.

As I was asleep, I imagined a wonderful place. It was almost like the one Patrick was explaining to me. I felt bad. I shouldn’t of yelled at him. Anyways, the forest had a sparkling river flowing through the woods. It almost looked like the place where Patrick and I went fishing. This place also had those two leaning trees I saw with Patrick too. It was weird how it looked the exact same. Anyways I “told” my mind to “move me” and I saw the trees’ leaves. They were fluttering in the wind. Some of them were even falling off the trees. Then, in the corner of my eye, I saw a tree. This was no regular tree, this was a tree with a whole at the bottom of the trunk. It was so weird though because I have never seen that in my life. I decided to “walk” inside of it. When I did, it felt like a place I could relax. It felt like a place I could get away from Jason, my dad Peter, and everything else that made me mad. It felt magical.

All of a sudden I wake up. I hear my mom and Molly downstairs with Jason. I could tell they were talking about me because they all were quiet. To be honest, it sounded really depressing. I felt really bad about what I did, but at the same time I didn’t. What I really wanted to do was go outside and see if my dream was actually true. The only problem was my mom or Jason might see me. So what I decided to do was make “The Ultimate Plan.”:

Put on all black clothes.
Quietly sneak to the door.
Run to the woods.
After I make “The Ultimate Plan” I get dressed and quietly sneak out the door. Then I run to the woods as fast as I can. When I’m there, I start walking where I always walk to get to the river. Through the woods, past the trail, and to the river. I see the two trees leaning in and I know in my dream that I walked past them in order to get to the tree. Just then, I see in the corner of my eye, the tree with the whole at the bottom. I decide to walk in. “It’s true, it’s really true!”

The End!