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Fiction

Ten years ago, a tragedy occur in Maple falls. No one saw it coming, but when it happened, the whole town changed forever.

Mateo, the person responsible for the tragedy disappeared shortly after the investigation finished. No one in Maple falls has ever rom him since.

What he did stained and tarnished the reputation of Maple falls. Maple falls use to be the No. 1 destination for holiday vacations, now no wants to visit.

The tragedy as it is called happened on the night of October 31st 2011, that night Mateo and four friends went to a Halloween party, but only one came home. No knows what happened . The only person who knows the truth is Mateo.

It's two weeks before Halloween and the anniversary of the Tragedy, the town of Maple falls is sadly celebrating the holiday.

Halloween has become an afterthought for the community, but for the kids who don't understand or weren't born when the Tragedy happened, Halloween is a time for candy, costumes, pumpkins, ghosts and witches.

Maple falls is putting up decorations and pictures of the four friends when a stranger arrives.

The stranger, who nobody recognizes stops by the pictures of the fallen friends Lilly, Gabriels, Everly and Nathan.

The stranger stares at the pictures shedding a tear. The stranger knows them, he is Mateo, the person responsible for the Tragedy.

This is the first time Mateo has been back to Maple falls since the Tragedy. He hopes to find peace and forgiveness.

Mateo walks away from the pictures. The people are staring at him wondering who he is. Mateo walks away not caring who sees him, he's going to the site of the Tragedy.

The site of the Tragedy is located on the isolated Williams farm, a perfect place to host a Halloween party and a perfect place for something to go wrong and for a cover up to take place.

Mateo arrives at the Williams farm. He sees nobody around. Mateo goes to the barn, he opens the door and the memories of that night comes rushing like a tidal wave. Mateo begins to cry and apologize.

"I'm so sorry Lilly, Gabriel, Everly, and Nathan that this happen to you."

Mateo stands and leaves, but not before coming face to face with Mr. Williams, Lilly's father.

Mr. Williams has a craze look on his face, he pulls down Mateo's hoodie, he reaches for his gun and prepares to shoot Mateo, sheriff Brody comes just in time to stop Mr. Williams.

"Hank, put the gun down."

"No can do, this boy killed my daughter."

"I'm not going to ask you again, put the gun down."

Mr. Williams puts the gun down, but not before telling Mateo to watch his back.

Mateo stares at sheriff Brody not saying a word, sheriff Brody tells Mateo he should have never came back to Maple falls.

Mateo tells sheriff Brody "I need to make amends with the people and tell my story."

Word has spread through Maple falls that the stranger is Mateo, they are hungry for blood.

Sheriff Brody tells Mateo "Everyone knows you are back. You can't hide from us, as for making amends the only way you can do that is by confessing the truth."

"How do they know I'm back?"

"Andi spotted you. She told her mother, and so on."

Mateo walks pass sheriff Brody on his way to his house. The community of Maple falls are angry Mateo is back, they come out of their houses and shops to shout at him "you ruined Maple falls. You killed our children."

The people begin to chase Mateo, he runs and runs until they corner him. Mateo is scared, but the people don't care.

They shout "you killed our children, you killed our children, you killed our children."

Mateo attempts to get away from the crowd, they push him down and start to beat him. Sheriff Brody arrives, he stops the crowd and gets Mateo out of harms way.

Sheriff Brody takes Mateo to the sheriffs station, the crowd follows.

Mateo and sheriff Brody arrive at the sheriffs station, he hauls Mateo inside and tells the crowd to go home.

Gabriel's father Carlos shouts at sheriff Brody "he killed my son!"

"I will get to the bottom of what happened, now all of you go home."

Carlos and the rest of the people go home. Sheriff Brody goes to talk to Mateo.

"Be honest with me. What happened that night"

"The night started off good. We were having a good time, then I don't know what happened. I's all a blur. One minute we were laughing then all of a sudden things started to get out of control."

"What do you mean things got out of control?"

Mateo sighs

"We were drinking sheriff, all of us."

"Underage drinking."

Mateo nods.

Mateo explains to sheriff Brody that he was only trying to help when it all happened. Sheriff Brody doesn't believe Mateo, he explains, Gabriel and Nathan had too much to drink, they were betting on who can get into Everly's and Lilly's pants quickly.

"What were you doing?"

"I was drinking, but not as much as Nathan and Gabriel. Lilly and Everly were also drinking, they weren't drunk. Nathan and Gabriel were. I try to stop them, but I couldn't."

Mateo begins to cry

"The people are right. This is all my fault. If I had been a better friend, they would still be alive."

Sheriff Brody gets down on one knee and calmly asks Mateo what he did next?

Mateo calms himself down and tells sheriff Brody the rest of his story.

"Me, Nathan, and Gabriel got into a fight, since they were drunk I had the upper hand. I hit Gabriel, then I hit Nathan, they fell on the floor. I try to get Lilly and Everly out, but I didn't realize Gabriel and Nathan had gotten up and blocked the door. The look on their faces was something I never seen. It was like they were possessed."

Mateo gets up and begins to pace the room, he takes his sweater off. Mateo tells sheriff Brody it wasn't his fault, he was protecting Lilly and Everly from Nathan and Gabriel.

"Finish it Mateo."

"Gabriel and Nathan got a hold of knives, they attacked me. I try to get them off of me. I under estimated them. They were too strong for me. I managed to get Gabriel's knife, he came at me and I had no choice. I had to defend myself."

"You killed them?"

"Only Gabriel and Nathan. Now you are going to ask me about Lilly and Everly."

Sheriff Brody nods

Mateo explains to sheriff Brody "Lilly and Everly tried to help me. After I killed Gabriel in self defense Nathan tackled me, he was beating me when Lilly and Everly tried to push him away. Nathan punched Lilly, I got up and went after Nathan, but he hit me over the head with the knife. He then went after Everly,. he tackled her and stabbed her over and over and over again. When he was done he went after Lilly and did the same."

"What happened next?"

Mateo tells sheriff Brody "Nathan saw Gabriel's body and he turned his fury against me. Nathan rushed me, I side stepped him. Nathan fell on top of the knife."

"Mateo, I don't know what to say. It's your word against the town."

Mateo tells sheriff Brody Gabrielle, Gabriel's sister was there, she was hiding when it all happened, he also tells sheriff Brody that he's been in contact with Gabrielle for the last ten years.

"I will go talk to her."

Mateo nods

Sheriff Brody goes to talk to Gabrielle. She tells sheriff Brody the whole truth. It was just like what Mateo said.

Carlos and his wife Karina are both shocked at the revelation.

Sheriff Brody tells Carlos and Karina "there will be a town hall meeting where Mateo will tell his story."

Sheriff Brody arrives back at the sheriff's station he asks Mateo Why he left?

Mateo tells sheriff Brody he was scared and he had no choice, but to leave.

Sheriff Brody tells Mateo about the town hall meeting. Mateo agrees to go.

The town hall meeting is held at the community center, the entire town is there. Mateo tells the town how sorry he is for not coming forward and for running away, He tells them the truth.

Once Mateo is finished, Lilly's father Hank Williams stands up and before the entire community of Maple falls, he tells Mateo he forgives him.

The community of Maple falls follows Hank Williams and forgives Mateo.

Maple falls reputation is not immediately saved, but they can finally heal as a community.

October 20, 2021 19:22

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