• i heard the crunch of leaves underfoot and felt the soft chilling snow on my face, thinking about anything and everything. looking at my street, at all the broken down duplexes. i knew it would be the last time i would see this street walking home from work. i am 16 and i dropped school so i could support my dad and sister. my sister is mentally dis-abled and my dad has been in a state of shock ever since my mom went to the county asylum. i am dying in about 2 weeks due to cancer. the cancer that is eating away my heart. i dont know whats going to happen to my family after im gone. i am not worried about my life or even really my dad's. i am worried about my sister. i am the only thing left for her.
    i jerked open the door to our duplex and took in the mess. it looked like a tornado had been in here and i heard loud banging and screaming coming from one of the back rooms. alarmed, i ran in and dropped my stuff on the ground and threw open the door where the sound was coming from. it was the bathroom and i screamed when i saw the cause of the commotion. there, laying naked in the bathtub filled with water was my sister. hunched over her was my dad holding a bloody knife. it was then that i noticed the bloody walls and floor; and staining my sisters blonde hair and pale skin. my dad was carving strange symbols into her skin that looked like demonic runes. my dad turned around when he heard my peircing screams telling him to stop. his eyes glowed red and his features were contorted into phyco rage. he only laughed then whirled around and viciously began stabbing her repeatadly in the stomach. her face shaped shock and pain. suddenly my heart felt as though poisoned with a jagged dagger. i clutched my chest and fell to the ground. i breathed my last words: why...this way?