Until She Came: Who Killed Samantha Grey

1. Write about someone who wants to stay home alone, only for their plans to be disrupted.

“‘Lightning crashed down onto the grey cast city of Norfolk. Thunder shrieked at the sight of the clouds that hung low with anger. They seemed to be filled with hatred as rocks fell from the heavens and water washed over the civilians who scrambled to cover themselves from the Gods’ wrath. Through the winding streets and across the ocean to High Park, yelling and the shattering of glass was heard in a large mansion that overlooked the Layfayette River. 

The yelling was by a man who seemed to be in more distress than anything and all he wanted from the people who were visiting him, or in his case torturing him, was to leave him alone. With every yell, the wind grew stronger and the thunder bellowed lower until all hope was lost for him. Seasons changed and months turned into years before the man was ever seen or heard from again. That was until she came. One Spring morning in March, the man watched from his window sill over the river. His dark eyes were sunken with bloodshot veins pushing through the whites and blue bruises shone through his pale complexion. Bones seemed to push their ways through his skin that was filled with scars and dried blood. His mouth was carved into a smile with his raven hair slick with oil; growing past his shoulders to accentuate his thin collar bones. Tapping a boney finger against his chapped lips, the man contemplated his last breath. Until she came. 

A lady. No older than 20 years old. She seemed like the sun on a shining summer’s day in June with her baby blue sundress flowing back in the wind to show off her slender and tanned right leg. The ruffles around the bust blew against her beautiful face as if Aphrodite herself was trying to hide the beauty that walked through the courtyard. Not even the white roses could compare to her. Blonde hair blew back with ringlets that seemed too perfect to be made by a human. The sunken man could see glimpses of dimples on her rosy cheeks as she smiled at a man who stood out front of the house. For a second, his heart skipped a beat and his drawn smile grew into a slight smirk as his brain cogs whirred into realization and remembrance. 

“Good morning Reverand. Glad to see you are still around these parts.” The lady grinned so widely before dropping a freshly manicured hand into a wooden picnic basket to pull out a chocolate chip muffin that seemed to be created by the Gods. She handed the muffin over to Reverand, who took it with a much larger hand than her whole face.

Reverend stood about 6’3” over the girl who seemed to be only 5’9”. He was a darker tone, but his complexion matched the suit and tie attire he was fit to wear. He smiled a toothy grin back at the lady before leading her in with a muffinless hand. The lady graciously took this as an opportunity to climb u the dark oak porch and begin her journey into the palace-like home.

“Madame Samantha, as you may have gotten through our last email we sent you requiring your assistance, you must know the circumstances that lay ahead of you.”

Samantha stopped herself at the foot of the marble stairs and smiled down at the taller man who was stopped in the middle of the staircase.

“I have known Tony for the past eighteen years of my life. I have my ways.” With that, she flung the door open in front of her yelling ‘surprise’, yet she was the one meeting with the surprise.

Bookshelves were overturned, food was left to rot and roaches were scurrying around the room as if it were their own scavenger’s palace. With hands-on her hips and stern eyes forming on her perfect face, she stepped a black heel into the room and closed the door behind her to leave Reverend wondering what was going on.

“Toe, I leave you for five months and this is what you are doing? Throwing things to the ground and letting roaches fester where you are sleeping? Is that what your mother taught you? How your father raised you?” Samantha’s Texan accent came out in force as she knelt and began to brush books into her hand and placing them in neat piles in the corner. Her scent wafted through the room like a lavender bush in a dumpster. She muttered under her breath and yelled at Tony for a few hours as she tidied up his room. All he could do was stare out the window as if he had no thoughts at all until he turned back and came face to face with...her.

Until she came, he had forgotten what love felt like. How when you look into another’s eyes your heart stops and your brain goes silent. His brain hasn’t been silent in months before he spoke to her.

“Hh-how can you look at me without-” Before he could say another word, Sam takes a seat next to her friend and puts the picnic basket in between them. “What are you doing?” 

“Bucket List Before I Die: Task 1: Picnic when I’m sad.” She smirked before pulling out a coke and holding it in front of his face with a small head tilt. “If you’re gonna die, you might as well do your bucket list.”

Tony looked at the coke with wide eyes and began salivating, but turned his head in refusal.

“It’s not your fault, Toe-Jam.” With a side-eyed glance, the man raised a thick eyebrow and smirked.

“Toe-Jam? I haven’t heard that since…”

“Pre-K? I know. Y’know, I haven’t forgotten everything since I left for NYU. Except for the fact that you’re kinda okay looking.” The smirk faded and turned into a frown as he looked at the girl who began to drink a Mango Lipton Iced Tea.

“Okay looking?” He queried.

“Yeah. You were ugly before.” 

Getting up, Samantha placed a blanket over the middle of the now clean room as Tony chuckled to himself and looked over to see platters of his favourite food before his eyes. He tried to hold back the temptation to eat and drink with Aphrodite herself, but he just had to give in. he crawled his boney body to the floor and sat in front of everything. With a quivering arm, he picked up a ham and cheese sandwich on rye and munched down. Stifling his moans as he shoved food and drink down his throat as Samantha simply just sat, read a book and glanced over every few minutes. Until she came, he gave up, but this was the start of something special.

----

Five Months Later

“Come on, you shouldn’t look that bad.”

It had been exactly a month since Samantha convinced Tony to leave his dusty old room to communicate with the outside world. Today was Task 72/110 which was to pick a whole new wardrobe with my best friend. However, as the months changed, he saw his old best friend as a new flame yet he didn’t want to disturb the time that they had together. Until she came, he was alone. 

Exactly ten months ago he was involved in a bank robbery. Not the robbery part, however. The robbers were in all black with masks and everything and told everyone not to move. He thought he could save everyone and gave his mum and dad instructions to leave the building. He was security Afterall and they owned the biggest bank in town, so they knew the ins and outs. He was going to distract the robbers as they got out, but it didn’t go to plan. The robbers waited on the other side of the door and shot them both at the last minute before the SWAT came in. since then he never believed in security or armed forces again. 

“Sam, I look weird. I don’t know about this.” 

“Just come out. I’m the only one looking.” 

Samantha had bought out the entire clothing store just so that she could be in there alone with him. She folded a cream coloured coat across her lap and crossed her arms against her blacktop. She bit her red lips in anticipation before jumping up with a wide grin. Her white converse squeaked against the tiles as she ran up to the man in the suit. Thinking about how dashing he looked. Sam began tying the bow on the suit with delicate fingers as Tony looked down at her with a real smile. Until she came, he felt like dying. He thought about it for days on end, but now he feels more alive than ever. Then, their eyes met. Sparks could be visibly seen between them. 

“Sam...How can you see past the scars?” 

“I….” Snapping herself out of the realization, she stepped back and smiled before shoving him back into the dressing room. “Tony! Get dressed into that other one! We have lunch in an hour!”

“Lunch?”

That day, the pair went through at least ten tasks from having lunch in NYC to tandem biking and yacht sailing. Days went by and the pair were inseparable. Until she came, the world was silent, but she was like a whirlwind breaking through a farmhouse. Nothing then everything. All at once. Something had to be wrong with her. Something terrible. Someone like her couldn’t exist. So, as the pair watched the sunset on Sunset Blvd, Tony finally gained the courage to ask,

“Look, I want us to be more than best friends.” Samantha turned her head to face her partner in crime with a small smile on her face. Will this be the day that Task 100 is done? Will he finally ask out the girl of his dreams. “But…” But? There can’t be a but. What is the but? What is…? “What’s wrong with you?” Huh?

“What?”

“One day you just show up looking like the sun in the middle of a downpour and you’ve gotten me out into the open and going to therapy and all that, but there has to be a catch. There has to be.”

Leaning back on the park bench Samantha readied herself to tell her backstory. How will she do it? This could drive him away. This could mean death for both of them.

“I have this...condition. I didn’t have long to live and...I just thought...I…” As Samantha’s eyes began to fall like waterfalls, Tony stood up and scowled at her. He opened his mouth to say something but instead left the weeping woman without another word. 

The two were never in contact again. She never called. He never wrote. The world was back to normal.’”

Leaning forward in the police chair, a man with greying roots scowled at the shadow that cast over a young boy’s face with evil brown eyes.

“Why in the hell are you reading me one of your bedtime stories that you wrote?”

The shadow moved to lean in as well to show a carved smile and a scarred face. 

“Because I, Tony Macnnarra, killed Samantha Grey. Sorry, Deputy Damion Grey, but your daughter was a great woman, but I shot her in the mouth with no remorse. I loved her, but all good things come to an end….