• 1. SUDDEN DEATH

    The high - pitched screech rippled like waves through the city. It caught the ears of everyone standing within a few miles away from it. People past that few miles were oblivious to the fact that half of the whole city went running to the scene. I – being the fastest runner out of the whole city – got there first. It wasn’t as scary as it sounded. The police came and all we saw was a dead girl that looked about fifteen years old.
    There was no evidence that she could have been shot, stabbed, or anything. Her body was perfect – flawless. Her eyes were open, but they had no color to them. They were just….blank. Of course, there was no heartbeat. She was dead, we knew that much, but we didn’t know how she died. She could have been shot, stabbed, knocked out, or in a coma for all we knew.
    That was one year ago and the body was still perfect. It didn’t decay, didn’t smell, the skin stayed soft and tan. Since my dad was a policeman, I got to visit the ‘girl’ every day. That also happened over summer break. Now we’re back in school starting the 8th grade. Oh joy.
    “Hey, Zack!” somebody shouted my name. Great, another congratulator. “Good job scoring that last touchdown. It was awesome.” It was Natasha. Humph. “Yeah, thanks.” I forced a smile. Apparently it wasn’t very convincing because her grin turned into a pout and then a…….gasp. What? “Natasha, what is it?” I asked, worried. She just started backing up and shaking her head. “No, no…….no, no, no, no. NO!” She turned her back on me and darted out toward the door.
    Then the other kids started running also. I finally turned my back and saw what they were scared of. It was the body that was found last year, the fifteen year old girl.
    She was walking straight toward me. The color was back in her eyes, it was a green kind of color. She had a heartbeat now, I could tell because she was breathing. It took me a moment to find out that I was holding my breath.
    When she finally approached me, I could tell that she was not fifteen. She was about my age.
    “Zack.” She called my name with a musical voice, like she was singing. “Huh?” Surprisingly I wasn’t scared. Why should I be? “Is that you?”
    “Yes I am Zack, this is me.”
    “Do you know who I am?”
    “I think, but you can’t be her.”
    “Who do you think I am?”
    “The girl who was…….”
    “Dead?” She finished my sentence.
    “Yeah.”
    “You’re right.”
    “What? But you were dead.”
    “I still am.”
    By then I realized that I was backing up because I hit the door. I also realized that no one else was here.
    “Are you afraid?”
    “No…..but you how can you be dead and have a heartbeat, you know - breathing.”
    “Zack.” She smiled and shook her head. “I don’t have my heart. You have it, when you saved me.”
    “Huh, but………” What? I couldn’t have her heart. Last time I checked, I only had one heart.
    “Just stop and listen, Zack. Feel your heartbeat intertwined with mine.” When I did, I gasped. She was right.
    She started grinning. She knew she was right. “Just don’t get hurt, ‘kay? You have my heart. What hurts you hurts me.”
    “That must have been how you died.”
    “Yes, the person who had my heart was shot.” She sighed and looked away.
    “Oh……..”
    She pondered what she just said for a moment, then started smiling, “By the way, I’m Jackie.”
    “Nice to meet you, uh, Jackie.”
    Right then the door swooshed open from behind me lunging me back until I almost fell. I turned to see all the kids running in. “What?” I asked Jackie confused. But when I turned back around, she wasn’t there.
    As the other kids practically trampled me to the ground I thought I recognized Natasha’s voice.
    “Zack?”
    “Yeah?”
    “Oh, there you are.”
    She walked up to me, “Where were you?”
    “I was in here with that one girl.”
    “What? What girl?”
    Ugh. So my friend had super-make-people-forget-stuff powers. Great.
    “Nothing,” I told her and walked to class.

    * * * * *
    The day seemed to go on forever. Class was so boring as always. When I got to the bike rack I unlocked my bike and hopped on. “Stupid, extra heart.” I muttered to myself.
    The road was pretty packed. There was barely enough room for me to bike past. My school isn’t that far away from home. My dad can’t pick me up because he’s busy tracking down Jackie. The girl who gave away her heart, to make it frozen into mine. Ugh.
    As I was turning the corner I saw a Ferrari parked on the curb. Wow. Sweet ride, I thought. I kept riding and looking at the car. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground. There was a rusty truck parked in the middle of the street. “Kid? Look, kid, can you hear me?”
    “Huh? What happened?” I asked dazed.
    “Well, you kind of hit my car.”
    As I got up a jolt of pain filled me. I gasped.
    “Maybe I should get help.”
    The man ran off to his car and got his phone. He dialed some number and put his phone to his ear.
    “Hello? This is Matt Grawk and I’ve got a kid down…………….What?.................a girl?............What do ya mean ya don’t know what happened?.......................No blood? No Nothin’?......................Whatever, just send some help here………..”
    As he was talking, I noticed that most of my black shirt was stained red. Practically all of the pain was coming from my left arm. Both my knees were scabbed and my arms were all bloody. “So I’m totally wrecked.” I mumbled. Then everything went black.
    * * * * *
    The next thing I knew, I was in a brightly lit room.
    “Oh good you’re awake.” Someone said in a New York accent, “You’ve been out for a while. Bike crash. Tsk, tsk, tsk. People these days. Well, ya broke you’re left arm. We cleaned all the blood. Pretty little white cast. That’s a bad break there, sweetheart. At least you can have all you’re little friends sign it.” She started laughing at her own joke then left.
    “Weird.” I muttered under my breath. I looked at my arm and there it was. The ‘pretty little’ white cast. I groaned. This was just great. Broken arm in the middle of football season. Ugh.
    The next day came and I was still caged in that bright room, but Jackie came to visit. She sat on my bed.
    “Hey, Zack. Sorry about the break.”
    “’S’okay. Hey, how come you don’t have a cast?”
    “I don’t break bones. I just feel pain.”
    “Oh.”
    “Anyway, the nurses said I could sign your cast if you let me. May I?”
    “Sure.”
    It felt weird on my arm when she signed the cast. A ticklish feeling. “Done.” She said.
    I looked at it.

    Zack,
    Srry ‘bout the break. Hope ya get better soon.
    - Jackie

    Right as I was about to thank her, my phone rang.
    “Hello?”
    “Zack? We think we’ve got her. Stay calm. Our trackers say that she’s in your hospital so be ready for us.”
    “Dad?”
    “Yes, son?”
    Jackie was eyeing me, pleading somehow, for me to cover for her.
    “You don’t have to come here, Jac - er - the girl doesn’t mean any harm. I think you should stop your search.”
    “What, how do you know that? Who gave you permission to stop us?”
    “Ummmm. Bye dad!”
    “Wait bu-”
    On my bed, Jackie was cracking up, “Way to cover for me, Zack. I’d better get out of here. Hope you get better soon.” And she disappeared.
    A few minutes later I heard the doors burst open down the hall. A policeman was calling through a bullhorn, “Everybody stay calm! Just mind yourselves!”
    It didn’t take my dad very long to find my room. I could tell he wasn’t very happy. “She was in here wasn’t she?”
    “Uh, no.”
    “Then why did you hang up on me? How do you think she knows no harm? Why did you just want us to stop our search for a dead girl? What-”
    “Dad,” I interrupted because he was raising his voice and I was afraid he might awaken the elders, “First, I said bye and bye means I hang up. Second, she’s just a girl. How’s she gonna kill anyone? And third, if she’s walkin’ around breathing how can she be dead?”
    My voice was even more threatening than his. I didn’t know I could talk so forceful.
    My dad looked away. Apparently he had no answers to my questions. “Coming!” he shouted to no one. And I was alone again.
    It was so quiet in that bright room. That left me a lot of time to think about my day.
    What’s to think about? You had school, learned, broke your arm in a bike crash, and met a pretty girl, a voice in my head said.
    Pretty girl? I think he likes her just as much as you like me, another voice replied.
    But I don’t like you.
    Exactly.
    The voices started wrestling in my head.
    I hate you!
    I hate you more!
    There was ripping and tearing of each others hair and a………….gunshot?
    Then more gunshots. It took me a long moment to realize that those gunshots were coming from right outside my door.





































    2. CHOICES

    Those can’t be real, I thought. It’s not really gun shots, I told myself over and over, it’s my imagination. I almost believed the thought, but then, a shot made a small hole in my door. “I have to get out there,” I told no one in particular.
    I struggled up from my bed, ignoring the pain in my left arm. It’s a good thing I was sort of short because a shot made another hole in my door that would have killed someone 6 feet tall. I tried to dodge the shots that made holes in my door, but it was so hard. There was a shot between my legs, 2 inches away from my head, 3 centimeters away from my right arm, and in so many other close places.
    Wow, I thought, I must be so lucky. None of the shots hit me. But, right then a shot hit my left arm. “Shoot!” so much for the good luck. Too bad it hit my left arm instead of my right arm. The bullet had to hit the arm in the cast. Great.
    The pain was agonizing and I wasn’t even out the door yet. I could imagine how much worse it would be out there for my dad……and all the others. But I had to find out the meaning of this.
    I reached my hand for the door knob, but as I touched it, it shocked me. I shrieked at the pain. So I was bolted in. Why? Why would they bolt me in?
    Now, both my arms were burning. The pain was unbearable. My left arm felt like someone lit ten matches and stuck them in between the gauze. My right arm felt like thirty different lightning bolts hit it at once. I think my right arm was paralyzed.
    I tried to move my right arm, but failed because it killed me too much. The pain………. Then a picture snapped in my head. “Jackie!” It was a picture of her suffering, along with me. This was my entire fault. Now both of us had to suffer because I was curious.
    You have to get out of here, something inside me told me.
    No! You need to find out what’s happening! What if your dad gets hurt? Something else told me. Great, here we go with the voices in my head again.
    His dad’s probably gonna die anyway! If he goes out there, that makes two for the grave. Zack, give into your pain. Leave now and you won’t have to suffer.
    He’s already suffering! Zack, get out there. You can still save your dad, and Jackie, too.
    What?! If he goes out there, then Jackie’s gonna suffer more! And so is he! If he leaves now, somebody can cure him and this will all be of the past.
    If that happens, then he’ll be stabbed every day with the thought of, ‘What was happening beyond that door, I should have gone out there.’
    Yeah right!
    “Guys, just shut up already!” I yelled to my own voices in my head.
    Well, somebody’s grumpy.
    Whatever. Just go your own way kid. We, or at least I, won’t bother you anymore.
    Neither will I. Oh, well. He needs us. Sooner or later, he’ll be begging for our advice.
    Bye, Zack.
    “Thank you.”
    But, they were right, in a way. I wanted advice, but not from too different sides. I wanted one choice. I didn’t want to choose between going out there or getting out of the hospital. I didn’t want to choose between hurting Jackie or letting my father die. There were just two choices. I wanted the one that made everyone happy. I wanted a plan C. But there was no plan C. There was no choice that made everyone happy. There were two choices. Two very different choices. Two choices that determined my life, or my death. Two choices………
    I had to think fast. I had to choose. I had no time to lollygag and ignore the fact that something that was important to me lied outside my door. My door filled with holes. Holes! That was it. Maybe I could get a glimpse of what was happening through the bullet holes.
    So I chose the closest hole to me and looked through. I saw policeman and weird guys in suits with guns. Lots of guns. Gunshots. Right then a bullet hit my leg. More pain. I didn’t know if I shrieked or not. There was too much pain. I was on fire. There was fire all around me. I fell to the floor. My vision was blurred. I heard someone screaming. Was that me? It must have been because someone heard me.
    “Zack? Zack, can you hear me? Zack, are you ok?”
    “Dad?”
    “I’m here, son. It’s all right. You’re fine, I’m fine. It’s gonna be ok.”
    Then he shrieked.
    “Dad?! What happened?! What’s happening?!”
    Then there were footsteps. I heard people speak in low voices, “Did you find him? Over.”
    “Roger, we have found the boy. Over.”
    “Good, now bring him to me. Over.”
    “Roger that. Over.”
    Then somebody picked me up and murmured to me, “Poor little boy. It’s too bad……” I found out that it was a woman speaking to me. I wanted to ask where I was going. What was happening, I wanted to ask what had happened to my dad. Although, I was pretty sure I knew the answer. By the sound of his shriek, I thought, he must be dead. They must have shot him. But I didn’t know because I couldn’t see. There was too much pain. I was feeling too weak. I was on fire. I was confused, angry, sad, and worried all at the same time. What was happening? My dad better not be dead. Is he hurt? Are he and Jackie okay? Am I okay? I could not answer any of these questions. But I wanted someone to answer them for me.
    The woman carrying me placed me on a cushion, it felt like. She told me to relax, but I couldn’t. I was still burning. My vision was still blurred. I still couldn’t see. Being set down just made the pain worse. My leg still hurt along with my arms. Someone was dabbing the hole in my leg from the bullet. These people were trying to help me? Then someone else came.
    “Great job, Myrna. He’ll be better in no time.”
    “Thank you officer. But he seems to have already broken his left arm. His right arm is paralyzed and his leg must have gotten shot by one of the bullets.”
    “Ooh. This boy has been through a lot. Myrna, see if he can talk.
    “Okay. What’s his name?”
    “I believe its Zachary.”
    “Thank you. Zachary? Zachary, are you awake?”
    I didn’t think I could answer, but the words came right out of my mouth, “Burning….I’m on fire……my leg……my ARMS!” My arms started hurting more than ever. The pain increased by a ton.
    “Myrna, what’s happening to him?”
    “He-he’s. I-I don’t know officer.”
    “Well go get me someone that actually knows!”
    “Yes, officer.”
    “NOW!”
    I heard her footsteps pound on the dirt as she ran.
    “We cannot afford to loose this boy.” He mumbled to himself.
    One pair of footsteps came back. Just in time. I was shaking with the pain and shrieking every three seconds.
    “You called, officer.”
    “Find out what’s wrong with this boy.”
    “Yes, officer.”
    Her knees cracked when she kneeled down by me. She started running her hands along my arms. She picked my left arm up. I yelled with pain. She put my left arm down, and picked my right arm up. It was numb so I couldn’t feel anything.
    “Poor boy. So his right arm is paralyzed, his left arm is broken, and his leg was shot.”
    “We know that already, just tell me why he’s shaking and shrieking.”
    “He’s confused.”
    “What? That’s what’s causing his pain?”
    “Yes. He has so many unanswered questions and it’s bringing him down. This has happened before.”
    “What are his questions?”
    “I don’t know. He has to ask us.”
    “But he can’t because he’s hurt and he won’t stop hurting until they’re answered. So we’re tied up in a knot.”
    “He’s in too much pain. I think we should put him to sleep.”
    “No! Absolutely not!”
    “But, officer. He’s going to die anyway. Why make him suffer?”
    “Because we need him to answer questions for us. He has some girl’s heart and we want some answers.”
    The pain eased. So that’s why they wanted me.
    “Officer! You did it!”
    “Did what?”
    “You figured out one of his questions. Now we just have to figure out the rest and he’ll be good as new. Well, good as new with a broken arm, paralyzed arm, and a leg with a bullet hole.”
    “Okay…let’s see. Wait, the man that we saw with him. Maybe that’s his dad. Maybe he wants to know what happened to his dad.”
    “Okay, go for it.”
    “Zachary, your father is dead. One of our men killed him. We’re so sorry.”
    “WHAT!?” I shrieked. The pain left me and I felt powerful. Strength ran through my veins and I could see again. My voice changed to a threatening voice, “WHY DID YOU KILL MY FATHER?!”
    It turns out that I was sitting on a truck bed. I was so mad that I picked up the truck and threw it far away.
    “We-we didn’t mean to.” The officer replied, “Please spare us.”
    I looked at the woman who was nursing me. She had tan skin and green eyes and………she reminded me of Jackie.
    “YOU? WHAT’S YOUR NAME?”
    “Me?” the lady asked.
    “YES YOU.”
    “My name is Jordan.”
    That was too much. I wanted Jackie right now, I wanted my father, I wanted my friends, and I wanted…….peace.
    The power left me. I fell to the ground and the pain came back. But not as hard.
    “Jordan.” I called weakly.
    “Yes?”
    “I-I’m so sorry.”
    “It’s okay.”
    I had never thought about my mom. The fact that she died because of me. She died because she didn’t eat right with me in her stomach. She died after I came out. She died…….and it was my entire fault.
    “Zachary, do you know where your mother is. We need to talk to her.” Jordan asked.
    “I don’t have a mother. I don’t have a father.”
    “Oh my. Poor boy.”
    The officer got impatient, “Yeah maybe you should be his mother Jordan.” He said sarcastically.
    “Well, that can work.”
    “Oh please Jordan. Imagine what John would think of this.”
    “I’m sure he’ll be fine. Two children won’t hurt.”
    “You have a child?” I asked.
    “Yes, she’s a girl. Her name is Jackie.”
    “Jackie?” I got up. The pain left me again. “Can I see her?”
    “Well, sure I guess.”
    She got up and told me to follow her. We walked over to a nice car and got in. She didn’t live that far away. Once we got to their house, I followed Jordan in.
    “Jackie!” she called. “You have a visitor.”
    And sure enough if was the Jackie I knew. It was the person I had made suffer.
    “Zack!” she ran up to me and hugged me. “You’re okay!”
    “Ouch.” I moaned.
    “Oh, sorry.”
    “You know this boy?” Jordan asked.
    “Yes, I do. He’s the one with my heart.”
    “Oh. So this is the handsome young man who found you. You must be hurt really bad. What a horrible choice of person to put your heart in after he’s been through so much!” she joked. We all laughed.
    “Yeah, it was very painful, but when you guys were driving here it eased up.” She smiled, “And now we’re all here safe.” She clapped.
    “Jackie. The officers killed his father.”
    “Oh my gosh. I’m so sorry Zack.”
    “It’s ok.”
    “Doesn’t he have a mother?” she asked Jordan.
    “No, he doesn’t.” Jordan replied.
    I looked away.
    “Well he can stay here with us.” Jackie offered.
    “He is always welcome here if he needs a home,” Jordan smiled.
    “Thanks you guys.”
    Jordan and Jackie both hugged me. I moaned and they let go. “Sorry.” They both replied at the same time.
    “Who’s the boy?” a man asked from somewhere.
    “John. This is Zachary, the boy who has Jackie’s heart.”
    “Oh, my. Well what a pleasure to meet you Zachary.”
    “Same here, sir.” I said and shook his hand.
    “You can call me John.”
    “Okay John.”
    “John,” Jordan started, “This boy has been through a lot. He lost his father and has no mother, so we want him to stay here for a while.”
    “Well that’s fine by me. Welcome to the family, Zachary.”
    “Thanks so much. This means a lot.” I said.
    “We’re glad to be of service. Now you better go upstairs so we can take care of that leg.” Jordan said.
    “Oh gosh. Your leg! You got shot?” Jackie asked.
    “Yes he did now let’s not dillydally. This boy needs care.”
    And that I did for the pain in my leg was torture. Jackie and Jordan helped me get up the stairs. John just watched. I rolled up my pants to my knees. The shot was right under my knee. And let me tell you, it was gruesome, disgusting.
    “Wow. That’s a bad shot there, Zack.” Jackie commented.
    “You didn’t notice the one in my arm?” I asked.
    She looked at my arm, and then gasped. “And it was on your broken arm too!”
    “Yeah. You can imagine how painful that was, since you felt it, too.”
    “I thought that you fell on your broken arm and that was why it hurt, but I guess I was wrong. Since it’s not exactly happening to me I can never know what’s going on.”
    “And also, I think my right arm is paralyzed.”
    “Paralyzed?” Jackie asked.
    “You know, can’t move-”
    “I know what it means, but how did it get paralyzed?” Jackie interrupted.
    “The door knob was bolted.”
    “Why would they bolt you in?”
    “I have no idea.”
    “I think I might know why.” Jordan said.
    “Why?” Jackie and I both asked.
    “Maybe they were trying to protect you, Zack. You’re a very special boy. Did you see what happened back at the hospital? Where you threw the truck? You are the strongest man ever known when you’re mad.”
    “Really? I am?”
    “Yes, and you could have killed Officer Luke if you hadn’t stopped and saw Jackie in me.”
    “Wow, Zack. You’re awesome.” Jackie complimented.
    “Thanks, Jackie. So the guy’s name was Luke? I had a great friend named Luke…..”
    “What about him?” Jackie asked.
    “Well, he and I were the best of friends. He would come over to my house and we would do our homework then play games. We both played football and basketball together. Both of us were the best athletes in school. But, one day, Luke’s mom died. He was really down those following weeks. And…he wasn’t himself. He got really crabby and nobody dared to bother him. I tried to cheer him up, but he’d just tell me to ‘Shut up’ and ‘Bug someone else.’ Luke never came around. He started to eat by himself, play by himself, and his athletic skills were really dropping. He turned into his mother, a really mean, crabby, self-absorbed egomaniac. As the days went by, he called himself ‘cool’ because he was mean. He always bragged about how his dad took him to concerts and how he got to meet all the celebrities. The time came when nobody ever listened to him. He got so mad that he punched some kid in the face, giving him a bloody nose. Then he screamed at a teacher. And, this was the worst; he punched the principle in the stomach. He got expelled for that. After he got expelled, nobody knew what happened to him. His house was empty, but the furniture was still there. People guessed that he killed himself. I never got to see my buddy Luke again. I missed him a lot even though he was mean. He was my best friend.”
    “Wow, Zack. That must have been hard.” Jackie said.
    “It was.”
    “I just can’t believe that he punched the principle, of all people, in the stomach.” Jordan pointed out.
    “I know. Losing his mom was really hard for him.”
    Jackie shook her head, “But he didn’t have to react that way. I mean, I know I wouldn’t do that if I lost my mom. I’d get sad, but I wouldn’t punch people.”
    “Neither would I. I guess Luke was a sensitive person.”
    “Definitely.” Jackie agreed.
    “All done,” Jordan said, “Your leg is patched up. Be careful not to put too much pressure on it.”
    “Okay, thanks Jordan.”
    “You’re welcome.”
    Then, we heard John screech downstairs.