• The following links are prior chapters to this story:
    Death is no joke: http://gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100410509
    Death is no joke-part 2: http://gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100411039
    Death is no joke-part 3: http://gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100447527
    Death is no joke-part 4:
    http://www.gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100507329
    Death is no joke-part 5:
    http://www.gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100652857
    Death is no joke-part 6: http://gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100657349
    Death is no joke-part 7: http://gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100657779
    Death is no joke-part 8:
    http://gaiaonline.com/arena/writing/fiction/vote/?entry_id=100661319









    I hardly could grasp what was going on. There was so much stuff I had learned about my past in the last 10 minutes...too much stuff. My dad killed someone. This murderer in front of me was once happy and prosperous. And, most surprising of all, he was my father's brother. This knowledge answered all my questions, true enough, but maybe I didn't need to know. Or, more of, maybe I just didn't WANT to know.

    As I thought some more, which was basically the only thing I could do while sitting wired to a chair, I thought about why I was here in the first place. The reason was because I went to the slumber party instead of visiting mother. That was the reason. Otherwise, the murderer wouldn't see me, and I would be safe at home sleeping.

    I thought maybe I was paying for my bad decision, that this was just God's way of telling me mother first, than fun. Maybe. And a shroud of guilt covered me, just like the guilt that covered me after I had run away from the murderer as he shot my parents. And I was only left with one thought in my mind: "What next?" It was apparent that this was some sort of ransom. I heard Frank talking on the phone, probably with my grand-parents.

    "Yes, he's with me...hm? No...yes. I need money. ...$10,000. ...Yes, $10,000. Don't try to get anyone else in this, especially the police, or you'll never see him again. ...No, I'm not joking. I am dead serious. Please drop the money off, unarmed. ...Yes, then you can have him. No harm done. That is, unless you cheat on me. ...What?...Yes, by midnight. ...There's no talk about it. Give me the money, or your he will be dead. By morning, I promise you. ...No, $10,000. No less. Good-bye. I am not compromising."

    I could feel my heart thumping. Hard, and very fast, and not just in the nervous way like it was with Linda. But in the fearful way, the way that you do when you know there's no way out of a situation, and you knew that it was a lose-lose situation.

    Frank smiled at me.

    "You like my conversation?" he said smugly. I growled at him.

    "Now, now," he cooned. "No need to have a bad attidtude about it. Just bringing justice to the table. Just getting what I deserve, the $10,000 your father couldn't scrap up to me."

    "You didn't have to bring ME to the table though!" I exclaimed, gone with all the sorrow and surprise.

    "Your father didn't have to kill MY daughter," he retorted. And I knew this was it. The end of me, or the end of all my grand-parents finances, all because of an irrelevent event that happened 15 years ago, all because of the anger of Frank.

    Frank had left. He said he was gonna have a nice, big breakfeast before the $10,000 was brought to him. He had locked the doors, and was off.

    I was waiting. Waiting for a miracle, but I shook my head. Get out, miracles don't happen. Your mom didn't revive, what makes you think your getting out of this?

    Suddenly, I heard rapping at the window behind me. I turned my head. I was stunned. Miracles were real, because there he was, my best friend in the world.

    You guessed it. Jerred.

    The windows were locked, but NOTHING stopped Jerred when he was determined to do something. He took a rock, and smashed the glass. The window shattered, and I was worried for a second he might get caught. But he didn't.

    He climbed inside, and took out a knife, quickly and carefully sawing off the wire.

    "I thought you were a gonner, man," he said as he cut off the first wire. "Man, I was followin' you. Never saw anything like that. Ya know, the way you got bashed and stuff. Must've been tough, huh?" I was over joyed, but I couldn't show that in front of Jerred. I looked at him and said,

    "Jerred?" He looked back at me and said,

    "Yeeeeees?"

    "Stop talking. This wire is killing me." He smiled.

    "Okey-dokey."


    It took 10 minutes to cut the wire. I was so glad I was out, and as I rushed out the door with Jerred, I thought something. Miracles can happen, you just have to be patient. And suddenly, I wanted to see mother. After all, she could be revived at any time, right? Because miracles happen. They weren't a fantasy story.