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The Story of Scarlett Ashwell

Hello, my name is Scarlett Ashwell , and I have been hidden in silence for years now and you have found this story. It is a story of my life. I use to live in Baker California, you know the place you have to pass by to get to Las Vegas. That really creepy place where you don’t even want to stop to use the bathroom, yup that was my home. Don’t worry it scared me also. The main reason lived here was because of my husband.
He felt it was a great start in out lives. And it was also extremely cheap, so what was it to him if I was unhappy? At that time I did love him, very much. He had been my life. As he intended it to be.
My life had been going very well, I had my great job as the teacher for my small town. Until my husband decided to destroy it all with his sick issues. I will never forgive Walter Ashwell for what he did to me trough out my life.
I was very young when I met Walter. We had met in high school. Everyone seemed to ignore him, because he was different. He always wore the same green stripped shirt and worn out jeans. His hair always covered his eyes, as if he was hiding something. His hair a light brown and at this time I could never see his eyes. He was very tall and slim, and very, very quiet. He was strange he never spoke to anyone in school, no one ever saw him get picked up. He was a mystery.
Walter Ashwell was the complete opposite of me. I was the normal California Girl, blonde hair, blue eyes, popular. I did what I was suppose to do and acted how I should. Some people say I had a perfect life. I could not imagine a thing like that. I was very distant from everyone, everyday as I arrived to school, I put on a mask. A smile that says I am great, how are you? And everyone believed it. Everyone wanted to be the fake me. Shot, I would want to be her also. But I’m not. I’m very emotional all the time. I cant help it. Don’t even ask if my parents are a help they are so useless, they don’t even help they cause the problem. I wish they were dead! My father is a drunk, and he has a psycho day. About once a week. He goes on a rage and destroys everything in sight. He hits my mother plenty of times. But she doesn’t care. Nope not one bit. When I see him like this I run to hide in my room like the coward I was. Some perfect life I have.
My dad had his psycho day, 3 days ago. I was still a little hurt by it, but in time I learned not to show emotion in school. To be the person, they want you to be. So I did.
One day in chemistry, I was almost late to class. I got the seat way in the back next to Walter Ashwell. Perfect.
I was trying very hard to look the other way but there were freaks all around me so I just looked infuriated toward my paper.
“ Are you okay?” Walter asked. I looked at him with my mouth open. What?
“What?” I said. Unable to think of a better response. This boy never talked in his life and now he is worried about whether I was okay or not? He just ignored me. It was so strange.
After school I saw him again and turned the other way. What the hell does he want? I was starting to feel scared. What does he want!?
“ Scarlett!” he yelled. I wanted to turn from reflex but I did not. I walked toward the doors to the exit as quickly as possible. I did not want to run because that would be out of character. As I touched the handle to the door, he screamed, “ Wait! I can help you with your parents?”
“ What,” I yelled? How could he know about my parents. “ How did you know about that?” I continued.
He sighed, “ I can see it in your face Scarlett.” Right there I went to the stairs and began to cry, heavily. He came over and comforted me. He had told me things about his life and how he dealt with them. He told me that he lived in the back of a barn and that he ran away from home when he was 13. These things made me feel like I was not alone, and that I had someone to rely on to be in at least the same pain as me. He understood me. And he let me rest my head in his lap and cried till the lights turned off in the halls.
“ Thank you.” I managed to say.
“ Anytime.” he said, and kissed the palm of my hand. From that point on I realized that I relied on Walter far to much. I needed him to be there for me when I got hurt. I loved him. Later that year I stood up to my parents, I felt strong with Walter, I felt I could face anything no matter how hard. Soon I started to hang out with him at lunch. He never talked to anyone but me. I felt like he loved me too. That he needed me with him as much as I need him.
In 11th grade we decided to run away when he proposed to me. So we wanted to run away too Las Vegas. It turned out we ran out of gas and we ended up staying in Baker. I wanted to leave but we seemed to never make the money.
So for 3 months we lived in the back of a barn. Walter would go work, in the fields. He was getting minimum wag but it was all we could get and all we had to pay for was food mostly no way enough for gas.
It was a miracle, the owner of the barn and the house suddenly disappeared one day. He went to work and never came back. He had 2 cars and gas in one of then so I told Walter to go steal. He said “ Why?” and he laughed strangely. “ We have everything we need here. He has food in his fridge and I no where he keeps his expensive stuff. Why should we run when the treasure is right here?”
I never thought about it? The brilliance of the idea. I suppose I was so happy we would be working so hard our entire lives. At the time it seemed so brilliant.
We ran from house to house when they went to work, watching them all day, and stealing when they left. Easy living right. We went on like this for about a month, then I started to have second thoughts. I told Walter how I felt. And he got so red in one second.
“ I thought this is what you wanted! Do you want to live penny to penny. What do you want from me Scarlett?” He feel down to his knees and began to cry. I started to cry also. I took his face in my hands.
“ Walter I don’t want to live like this. Stealing, what if we get caught? I cant live without you!” He hugged me.
“ You love me more then I deserve.” He told me. I began crying some more. I did love him dearly.
“Walter, I don’t deserve you. So stop complaining.” We wept and laughed and stopped living like this. Things got better. Walter got a job as the manager of the grocery store, and I got a substitute teaching job, when the teacher retired I took over. We purchased a good home. My perfect life was finally here, somewhat.
I am now 28. My life seemed fine until I decided to feed the animals once. We had bought the farm we had lived in the first time we came up here. It was the only one for sale.
This day I remembered clearly. It is one of the worst days of my life. It was June 16, 2004. Summer was hot on my neck as I cooked some food for the animals. I tied my hair up in a bun and waited for it too cook. I was afraid to go outside because it was so hot and Walter said there was a bad cause of coyotes that was killing all of our animals. I wanted to be useful so I went outside with the hot food. Sweat began to come very quick and I walked faster into the barn. I heard the dogs barking at a door. Stupid dogs I thought. How wrong I was. I poured the food into their bowl and 3 out of the 4 dogs came to eat. Sam our eldest dog would not eat. He just stared at the door and cried. I got annoyed and opened the door.
“See there is nothing-” I looked at the girl who could only be 12 or 14. She was tired onto a chair, There was a strange smell of urine in there. Her face was filled with pure terror and fear. She had a muffled scream as I screamed at the same time. Her mouth was gagged by a sock and she had blood in her hair and she was a mess. I didn’t know what to do. I was terrified.
How could Walter have done this? That is not possible this must be a mistake! He would not have done this. Maybe someone put her here and it wasn’t Walter. I un-gagged the little girl but I did not untie her in fear that she would run.
“ Why are you here!?” I screamed, tears were already down my face. None of this made since.
“ Please don’t hurt me! I wont tell anyone I swear just don’t kill me.” The girl began to cry.
“ Who did this to you?!” I repeated She kept crying and biting her lip. “Who did this to you!?” I screamed more loudly. She cringed away from me afraid I might hit her. I started to notice the bruised on the side of her face. She shook her head in fear.
“ I cant tell you. He told me not to tell you.” she whispered.
“I’m gonna help you okay, Was the man that took you, was he tall and skinny, brown hair and green eyes?” I asked. The girl looked down and nodded yes.
I broke into a hysterical of cries and yells. “Why? Why would he do this!? How could he do this to me? I loved him! I need him. How can he destroy everything I have in one second.” I yelled everything in my head to that little girl. She began to cry again and whisper, “ please don’t kill me.” She reaped this the whole time.
I heard Walters car pull up. I froze. The girl was still crying.
“ Shut up!” I hushed her. She obeyed quickly. I untied her as fast as my hands could manage, tears still streamed down both our faces.
“Hurry fallow me.” I whispered. She fallowed me willingly. We I came outside the barn the dogs were quiet everything was so quiet. Then I started to run and the girl fallowed right next to me.
“Scarlett! You making mistake. Don’t make me do this.” I ran faster toward the car. I knew it was our only way out. Relief washed trough me as I mad it into the drivers seat. I heard the passengers door close. I saw the girl next to me.
Then I tried to start the car. Holy crap! I don’t have a key oh my god were both going to die. The girl looked at me with a panicked look. I returned one back to her. We are so dead. Then 20 seconds after we were in the car out came Walter with his shotgun. He had a sinned smile on his face.
“Get out of the car!” He yelled, I could hear the anger in his voice. We both obeyed quickly. He motioned his hand for me to go over with the girl. I fallowed the orders. I did what I was told.
“Perfect” he shouted. Looking straight at the girl. “ Look what you have done.”
“Shame I could have kept you longer, it a quite a pity.” He looked at me with wide eyes filled with love. He looked at me like he had before all this mess.
“ Scarlett, honey can you please turn around.” I began to cry. I knew the end was near. I cried and hoped that heaven would be better. It strange how when people need god they believe in him. I never believed in god before. I always believed that if he was real he world have done a better job at making the world and people. If I was god and I had seen the world so screwed up, I would throw it away. What is it worth anyways?
The first time in years I prayed to god while Walter cocked his gun. I turned around. And waited for the sweet end to this madness…..
I heard a gunshot and a scream, but they were not mine. They were from the girl. I did not even learn her name who was she? How can he kill her like that and feel nothing! What is wrong with him? Where is my Walter that I feel in love with.
Shock crossed my face then pure anger took its place.
“ How can you do that Walter!” I cried again and held the dead girl in my arms, blood dripping onto the floor. Walter did not answer me, he just looked at me with an apologized look. “ Walter?!” I cried again. His face hardened.
In a hush whisper he explained, “ Do you think I like doing this to people? Do you think I enjoy seeing you cry? I cant take it! It is the only way I can live trough this world! These people,” he pointed to the girl in my arms, “ These people deserve this! They have destroyed our lives and look how we live! Scarlett this people do not deserve to live.” He finished.
“Who made you god Walter? When did this happen. You do not have the right to say who lives and dies. How can you do suck terrible things! How can you end a persons life without even thinking?”
“ Scarlett, It is what they deserve. They ruined our lives.” He began to walk away.
“ How can you blame you misfortunes on them! You destroyed our lives! Walter! How can you do this? You have always been the one who destroyed my life! I would have been fine without you! I would have gotten over my parents had a good job and never noticed the likes of you. You pitiful creature! Burn to hell!” I spit on where he stood. He stopped and turned his head slightly.
“ Its too late for that now isn’t it.” He whispered. I cried all night with the dead girls hot blood running down my body. I looked into her blue eyes to see some kind of evil but I saw nothing. Her clear blue eyes has no shine to them. Her face had no life. She had been so alive before and now she was dead. I didn’t have the strength to do anything. I heard Walter come over and I felt a pinch on the side of my neck. Then I just sat there and felt numb I fought it, till sleep took me over.
I woke up in my bed the next morning, no longer in my blood stained clothes seeming as if it was normal. Maybe it was a dream but it seemed far to real. I could not understand. I peeked outside the window to find Walter, but his car was gone. He went to work I suppose. I tip toed to the kitchen to look at the fount yard where I had left the girl. I saw no blood. Relief struck over me, I was just dreaming. I still did not feel safe in my own home. I walked inside the bathroom. I caught my reflection in the mirror and saw my eyes were swollen. I went into a panic attack. My breath was faster and my heart rate began to increase and I felt light headed.
I run as quickly and as quietly as I could to the barn and I open the door as quickly as I could. My fears have been confirmed. I saw the chair that I only saw in my “dream” with ropes untied at there sides and a sock on the floor. The floor was covered with maggot and flies. It still smelled as I remember and then I saw blue eyes staring back at me, I saw her. The girl from my dream. She was on the floor looking limb and you could barely see her because of the darkness, her hair was as messed up as ever and her expression was frightened. She was dead and I could do nothing about it.
I ran to the house being sure to get the keys first. I knew I had to go to the police. I love Walter but I can not love him when he is doing this. Tear came again, also doubt came. Should I really do this? I loved Walter enough to know that I cant live without him. I froze as I heard his car drive in. I tried to work on he face that I hadn’t used since high school. I wiped the tears away quickly.
“Hi honey, I’m going to the market. I’ll be back in 10 minutes,” My voice was as even as I could manage as I walked quickly toward the door, looking only on the floor. He was blocking the doorway. I looked up, his face was a harden mask of cement.
“ Don’t lie to me.” He stuck me across my face and I feel to the floor unconscious.
Hours later I woke up in our room tired onto a chair. I felt drowsy like right after you get up to fast after a long nap. I blinked a lot and noticed it was dark outside.
Across the room in the corner was Walter with his shot gun. I opened my eyes wide finally comprehending the situation I am in. Walter walked up to me his face was only the harden mask I has rarely seen before. He shone no emotions.
“Don’t you love me Scarlett?” He said. I nodded. “ I want to hear you say it.” He continued.
“ I love you Walter,” I said knowing the end was near. I would do anything to save myself.
“So why would you go to the police?” I could not answer. I just shook my head and cried.
“ I thought so.” Were his final words. Then the end came.
I died on June 18, 2004. My murderer was my husband. I should thank him. Here I feel nothing if I chose to. I feel what I want to feel. I walk over earth not seeing others like me. I protect the ones that need to be protected and kill the others who don’t.
On June 22, 2004 I killed my husband. It felt good and right there I knew what I was suppose to do with the rest of my life. I protect the world of people like Walter and I do it well.