Alive

It all started on Christmas day. They were poor, so not much really happened in the one-room house. Just a few small streamers on the old walls where the paint was peeling off. Just a few gifts that they could barely afford: A comb, a meager tie, and most of them all- a small watch strap for the father. 

There were three of them: John, Amy, and Alice. They were a close family of three, with Alice being the youngest. 

They were poor, certainly, but that didn’t get into their heads. Amy had high goals for herself to bring her family out of poverty. John did whatever he could to help her. It was hard being a single father. But what could they do? A simple car crash had turned their life upside down. 

They were getting ready to celebrate when there was a knock at the door. 

“Amy, can you get that?”

When she opened the door, she was met by Seth, her friend from school. She stepped outside tentatively, and slowly closed the door behind her. 

“Hi, Seth. What do you need?”

She had never liked him. He always caused trouble in class, and his grades were terrifying. He was rich, and he never cared. Not her type.

Seth looked at the ground, shy. He never acted like that. 

Then he got on one knee and held out a rose to her. Amy gasped. 

“No Seth. I’m sorry. I can’t do this. I have to focus on school. Not now.” Instantly, his eyes were filled with hurt. And then it turned into seething anger, and Amy backed away slowly. She muttered a quiet bye and slipped behind the door. 

“Who was that, Amy?” her father asked, jovially putting up the tattered streamers. 

“Nobody. Just a friend from school.”

She sat in the corner for a few minutes, reflecting on the conversation. Had she been mean? Was he going to have revenge?

Then she yelped as the door burst open. It fell to the floor with a thump, kicking up dust. 

She couldn’t see who it was at first, but she could recognize the silhouette. It was Seth. 

She could see the anger in his eyes. And then he spoke to her father: “I’m in love with Amy. I love her. She doesn’t love me. Tell her.”

Amy looked back at her father, helpless. 

John bellowed in rage and picked up the Christmas tree. Seth flinched and ducked, but it was too late. The metal pole of the artificial tree slammed into his head dead center. He cried out in pain, and then went limp. 

“Oh no…” John began muttering. He ran over and crouched by Seth. 

There was no pulse. He wasn’t breathing. And blood was spilling out of the side of his head. 

Amy couldn’t believe it. And Alice stood there in the corner, her hands over her eyes. 

“Quick. Help me,” her father said quietly, dragging Seth out the door. Wordlessly, Amy complied. 

There were juge beads of sweat on John’s forehead, and the scorching sun wasn’t helping. 

He quickly dug a pit-which took up a fourth of the space in the backyard. They dragged the body into the pit, making sure the dirt was firmly packed on top. When they were done, it looked like the incident never happened. 

Later than night, the both girls sat on the bed, crying. John knew there was nothing he could  do to stop them from crying. They had just witnessed a murderer.

“Dad? What do we do now?”

John was in a dilemma. He could tell the police, but that would hurt his daughter’s future. Or… they could keep it a secret. Who knew that Seth would be at their home? What if they never told anyone?

“Listen carefully.” The crying and sniffles stopped for the moment. 

“We are not going to tell anybody about this. If anybody asks, we say that we were in New York City for Christmas. The city was an hour-long bus ride away, so nobody would suspect a thing. Nobody is home anyway now, being Christmas and all.”

“I need to go do something. I want you both to stay here, with the doors locked. If anybody knocks, do not open it. Understand?”

They both nodded, and so he set out. 

John returned at around midnight, clutching something that was folded up.

“What’s that?” Amy and Alice asked, still not asleep.

John wordlessly set it on the ground, and started unfolding it. It was a wheelchair. 

“Amy. You need to sit in this for around a year. To prove that you didn’t do anything. You are now immobilized temporarily from the waist up.”

Amy nodded, understanding what she was getting herself into.

“It’s all for your good, my dear. You couldn’t hurt anybody if you were immobilized.”

Across town, Seth’s parents were worried. Their son had said that them that he would be back by the evening. But it was the evening of the next day. 

“What do we do?”

“Should we talk to his friends?” suggested his mom. 

Without hesitating, they headed out.

“So, who is this Amy?” 

“Well… She’s a girl that Seth likes,” said Seth’s friends hesitantly. 

“And that’s the last place he went to?”

“Yeah. He told us he’d come to us to tell how it went. But he never came. We figured he went home.”

Seth’s parents glanced at each other, scared. The fright was starting to set in. They quickly hurried over to Amy's house.

A knock at the door startled John Alice and Amy. 

“I need you to remember that no matter what you were out of town yesterday. We just got back today morning. 

Seth's parents walked in. 

“Hello there how are you guys doing today?” John tried to be as innocent as possible.

“We're doing good. Thank you. We just came to inquire about my son Seth. He's been missing since yesterday and the last place we heard he was was at your house. Do you guys have any idea about his whereabouts?

“Sorry I did not know anything about Seth. I never met him.”

“Amy, have you ever met him?” She shook her head.

“All I know about Seth is that he is one of the kids at my school. I'm not really that much of a friend with him.”

“Okay my dear. Thank you for letting us know. By the way what happened to you? Are you okay?

“Yeah, I'm fine. I just had a very bad fall and now I'm paralyzed from the waist up for one year.”

“I'm sorry to hear that. We better get going.” They turned away, sorrow showing on their faces.

John didn't say anything as they left. His heart was beating too fast.

“I'm convinced they’re lying,” said Seth’s mom.

“Honey, they can't be lying! Why would they lie?”

“I don't know... I have a feeling that they're just lying. Something is off about them.”

“Look at the facts. How can this be? How could they have done anything? This girl couldn't have-she's immobilized!”

“I don't know. Something seems fishy. I want to go back to their house and make sure and check if they were really out of town.”

Seth’s parents returned the next day. Luckily, John's family was prepared. 

They had the bills ready for Seth's parents to see, especially the doctor's bill. They had all the bills from the hotel that they stayed at and the movie that they went to watch.

“All in the name of just cheering Amy up.” John commented. “She was really glum because of her immobilisation.

But the questions didn't stop. Seth’s parents kept coming back. They weren't convinced. They even got the police involved.

This continued to go on for 11 months straight. They would give up, only to come back again because of more evidence. 

The media had started getting some attention to it too.

But John’s family never left their home once.

And finally, one day it happened. Alice cracked. 

“Fine! I'll tell you!” She said, sobbing. She looked back at her father with fear but he nodded. Seth’s parents looked at each other and were frightened, understanding what the situation meant. They took Alice in their hands and just pleaded to her.

“Please just tell me where Seth is. We miss him and we want him.” They were practically crying.

Up till now they had done all the interrogation so far with a cold-hearted face. But had seemed to be getting into them. They just had no other lead. All the evidence pointed right back at John and his family. Alice, wordless, led them into the backyard. She pointed at the dirt where Seth’s body was buried. 

The police came and uncovered the body. Everybody held their breath. This was the moment of truth.

But it wasn't Seth they uncovered.

It was a dead dog.

Seth wasn't there.

And all broke loose. The media is protesting. Seth’s parents had tormented John's family for 11 months. They gave one last final look at John and left.

--A few months later--

“Dad what did you do with the body?”

“Amy, you don't want to know. I switched it out.”

John left the conversation alone.

“I have one last question. How did you get all those bills? 

“All I had to do was steal them,” he answered simply. 

And the truth continued to stay with them forever. It was Christmas time again. It had been a whole year. The horrible truth of Seth would haunt their hearts forever.