The library had always felt like home to Cora; the scent of books always relaxed her. The sight of rows and rows of stories helped to calm her when she was struggling or anxious, especially after her mother left. Her mother had been the sun in Cora’s life, her light brown hair that flowed in the breeze when she took Cora on picnics, and her piercing, hazel eyes, changing from blue to green, which gave away how she was feeling, never failing to brighten her day. Her mother was also always there when father yelled, or when she was having trouble in school. Cora’s mom was also the one who introduced her to the little book store a few blocks from their house. Her mom used to take her there and read her stories for hours until the sunset. That was until the big fight. 

Cora’s parents were constantly at war with each other, often involving young Cora. “Cora dear, will you tell your mother that you don’t want to be friends with the McCain's daughter, Peony?” her father once commented. Cora of course refused, as Peony had been Cora’s only friend at the time. Cora’s parents owned a famous company and her father, at least, was always peculiar about simple things such as how she dressed or her education, as everything had to be the best to show off the family's wealth.  There were many other times Cora was asked to tell her mother this or her father that but Cora only remembered a few. 

The last fight her parents had was when Cora was eleven. It had been a cold October day, and Cora and her mother spent the afternoon at the bookshop together, and coming home on the later side. When they got home, Cora’s dad was sitting in the living room watching the door. “Cora, please go to your room, me and your mother need to talk,” her father ordered.The second Cora’s door shut, the yelling started. It went on for hours, and Cora just sat on her bed with tears streaming down her face as she tried to fall asleep with the screaming of her parents filling her ears. 

Then, all of a sudden, it stopped. In fact, everything stopped. No sound of the slight breeze by Cora’s window, no sound of the owl that was usually calling out at this time, or even the sound of the clock always ticking throughout the day. Just silence. After a few minutes there was a loud “BANG!” that came from the front door, which caused Cora to jump and her breathing to deepen. Cora ran down the stairs to see what happened, only to find her father sitting on the couch with a glisten in his eyes. Was it a trickle of light, or her father starting to cry? 

Her father had never cried in front of her, her entire life. So, to see him cry spooked Cora, so badly in fact that Cora locked herself in her room for days after this. Only leaving to get food, use the bathroom, or check to see if, by some miracle, her mother came back. She never did, which even though Cora’s father never seemed to care about her or her mother, Cora could tell it had impacted him deeply. His usually calm, composed self became a man with heavy, dark eyebags and yelling at anything Cora did that slightly annoyed him. Cora, who already didn’t particularly like her father, due to his long absences from home and the constant yelling at her or her mother when he was, so Cora began to hate her father more and more.

Cora began to spend more time away from home, whether it was at the library or at Peony’s house, which Cora knew strongly upset her father. Her father always disapproved of their friendship due to the fact that her father deemed their friendship as socially unacceptable since Peony’s family had always been not the best with money, while Cora’s parents owned a business setting them at a decently better spot with money. 

So, a wedge grew between Cora and her father slowly, pulling them apart. As time went on, the hope to mend their relationship decreased faster and faster. Then, the final push to the entire relationship and trust just snapped.

It was a warm afternoon for late March and Cora was walking home from the bookstore down the road when she spotted a somewhat familiar figure. “Is that.. My mother?..” Cora thought to herself as she started walking toward the figure. Cora started walking, then jogging, then into a full out sprint as she noticed the familiar brown hair of her mother, then the hazel eyes, which were widened in fear? Cora slowed to a stop as she got closer to her mother who seemed to calm slightly when Cora stopped. “Mother..?” Cora called out. “Oh, Cora darling is that you?” Cora’s mother asked, her face slowly moving from fear to love and tears. “Yes! Yes mother, it is me!” Cora replied, also starting to tear up after seeing her mother again. Cora and her mother then decided to take a walk and discuss what exactly happened that night, the night of the fight.

Cora’s mother explained that her father had told her that not only had he sold the family company to a rival without consulting her first, he had done it to prove his love to his mistress, the daughter of the rival company. Cora’s mother also tried to reach out to her, sending multiple letters and tried to visit, but Cora’s father always somehow prevented it.  After being told this, Cora, extremely pissed at her father, rushed home to confront him.

So now, as Cora sat in the back of her and her mother’s favorite bookstore, hands covered in blood, with the flashing of red and blue, and the piercing shriek of the police sirens driving past, Cora began to wonder, if she should have done it.