The Secret Box

Parents are always available to you no matter what. Parents are the ones you turn to when you need them the most. As a kid, you see them as heroes, caregivers, providers, friend, pal etc. Especially the good ones. When you have good parents, it's a blessing. Of course, it's not always the case for some unfortunately. In this case, Andrew is one of the lucky ones. He is an only child raised by probably the best parents he can ever ask for. His mom is the perfect mother, she worked, she cooked, she cleaned, helped with his homework. His father did the same also take him out fishing, teaching him to swim, and occasional starting the car.

Andrew has it all. He's got a great bedroom full of Star Wars posters, Harry Potter, king size bed, and one of Emma Watson in her teen years where every boy had a crush on her. Andrew would get bullied at school; a couple of kids will beat him up in the boy's bathroom. Of course, the teacher asks for both parents to show up. The bullies' parents, of course, side with their kids that they are innocent while blaming Andrew as the one starting the fights. However, Andrew's parents do not believe a word of it. They fight for his innocence. On the way home, Andrew's parents assure him he's innocent they'll take care of everything.

A week later, something awful happened at school. Instead of Andrew getting bullied in the bathroom, his bully was crying in the sink. He wonders why. The bullied says his parents are dead. Andrew is shocked and despaired. The cops show up at school to escort his bully. The cops are convinced it's a double murder. The parents were found on the road buried covered in bruises, scars, cuts. The kids are gossiping wondering who could've murdered his parents. Andrew's friend makes a joke maybe Andrew's parents did it. Andrew laughs it off because it's ridiculous. Anyway, at home, Andrew tells his parents the tragedy news. They know because they saw it on the news. They feel guilty they just saw them a few days ago.

Andrew's parents are concerned telling him he needs to watch his surroundings when he walks home from school. Everyone in the community is alarmed. Andrew's bully is devastated. He needs to go to a foster home, so he has to transfer schools. Andrew feels guilty but also sort of happy he's no longer being bullied. His bully apologizes for the awful things he did to him. Everybody in the community goes to the memorial to mourn the bully's parents. Andrew is overwhelmed by everything that's happening. He's only 12 years old. The worst things he has to worry about is talking to girls, getting the first chest hair. In other words, puberty.

Yet, the double murder is the only thing keeping him at night. He wakes up in horror that the serial is coming after him. He screams so loud at night, his parents come in wondering what's wrong. He breaks down crying. They comfort him. They promise whoever did it is not going to come to their house and hurt them. They won't let anything happen to him. One day, Andrew went downstairs to the basement to borrow his father's notebooks he needs for school. He came across a shoe box. He's never seen it before because his father told him it's his work shoes and to never use them. But somehow curiosity got the best of him.

He decides to look through his father's shoes maybe they'll fit. He opens the box and what he sees is not shoes. He saw something horrifying. So, horrifying he can't take his eyes off it. In the box is full of graphical photos of body parts, blood, and his bully's parents tied up in chairs. He hears his father coming downstairs and quickly puts the box away. He grabs the notebook by the time his dad sees him. Andrew runs upstairs. He's so horrified he doesn't know what he saw. He goes in his room and locks the door. His father knocks on his door asking if Andrew is okay, Andrew answers he is fine with a squeaky tone. His father leaves.

Andrew agonizes everything maybe it was just his imagination since he had nightmares perhaps it was all in his head. There's no way his parents are the murders of his bully. Maybe he was thinking it and what he saw was an illusion. He saw an illusion, it's not real. Those pictures are not real. Or his parents are undercover cops and they're just holding for evidence. Sure, that makes sense. He never wondered what they do for a living it might be the case. He wants to believe his parents are heroes, so they probably volunteered to help solve the murder case. Yes, that has to be it. He's going to stick to that explanation. Then again, his parents told him before they will take care of everything with the bully situation. What did they mean by that? He wonders. But he goes into denial.

At dinner, Andrew starts asking questions about his bully's parents if they were murdered by a serial killer. His parents tell him to not ask any questions it's not something he should discuss. But he wants to know if they are safe. His parents promise they are safe nothing bad will happen. He takes a moment to eat his mash potatoes. However, he can't eat without that imagine in his head. His mother asks why he's not eating. Andrew can't hold his secret anymore he has to confess to them he saw the photo. He takes a deep breath and confesses he saw the photos in the box. His parent's glance at each other. His mother leans over and whispers to him, "Don't tell anybody. Let's keep it between us, okay, honey?" And so that was the end of the discussion.

To this day no one knows the truth only three people who appear to everyone else as the ideal perfect family.