A woman was secluded in a room upstairs, holding so gently onto her hand—the hand of a friend. She rested on her knees, tilting her head down, and letting her eyes be covered by her hair…just to not see what was in front of her.

Anna…

She placed her hand down, also gently, and brushed her hair to the sides of her face.

“I won’t take that name from you.”

Having risen, she left the room.

***

“Nate!” said Johnny, a rather tall man who towered over every person in the house, “I don’t care if you scared!” He was unaware of his own frightfulness and as a result, most hated him.

“Dad we can’t! There’s no way in hell we could do it dammit!”

“Sit down! I’m gonna tell you what we gonna to do!”

Johnny slammed his large hand onto the table and began speaking. He pointed at Nate and himself and tapped the table several times during his explanation to Nate.

“Alright? We not livin’ like this no more.”

“I’ll do it…” Nate said.

“Yeah, imma hand you my gun, and you shoot her right in the head.”

“She’ll kill me—”

“NO! When she comes down those stairs you’ll kill her! Okay?!”

Soon after he said that—footsteps were heard. Slowly, she came.

Nate was scared and hurried to retrieve the weapon from Johnny, then moved to another end of the “family” room while concealing it.

After some time, she had finally reached the bottom of the staircase. She turned to her head to the left side of the room, eyeing Nate who was trembling profusely.

I-I can’t do it! She’ll know!

Then she directed her gaze toward Johnny, who didn’t seem to be afraid from appearances alone. He looked back at her with the most contemptuous of looks.

Step

Nevertheless, she walked forward. Each step she took rang louder for both father and son; each step was a sign of a forthcoming event that was to be unfavorable to any of the three.

“Anna” stopped at his feet and looked up at him.

“Good morning, you two,” said Anna.

“Anna…”

“That is not my name—”

“ANNA! Let me speak!”

She was someone he hated dearly, yet he never took matters into his own hands for the longest time to get rid of her.

“Listen, I’m movin’.”

“Moving?” she asked, “Where?”

“Me and Nate are goin’ back in town.”

Reverting her gaze back to Nate, a pause filled the room for a brief moment until Anna spoke up, “And what about this house?”

“It ain’t mine. You can do whatever I don’t care.”

Dad, if she knows you lied this won’t work! She’s too smart for that!

“Hmm,” Anna wondered, “when should I expect you two to leave?”

“I don’t know, but we leavin’ in a couple hours…”

“Are your belongings already packed?”

“It ain’t but—”

“This is very sudden news to me, Johnny.”

“What?”

His eyes twitched, not particularly from resentment, but in fact, from nervousness. Anna noticed Nate fixing onto his father with a bit of a frown covering his face.

“You, what’s the matter?” she asked Nate, her whole body shifted to face him now.

“What, what you want?”

“No, it just so seems that you might not be happy with this move.”

“W-Why…?”

“Perhaps your father would not survive a day back there.”

“I wouldn’t?” Johnny questioned her.

“Your father would be frowned upon, after returning for so long, it would cause much—”

“SHUT UP!” Johnny yelled, flailing his arms everywhere, “I’ll do whatever the HELL want! I don’t gotta listen to a damn word you gotta say!”

“I see.”

The harsh yelling from Johnny caused Nate’s body to jump, making him almost reveal the gun he did his best to hide. He glanced over to Johnny angrily for startling him so much.

“Just…” Nate said, beginning to speak up, “we just want you to help us pack. That’s why we’re up so early.”

“Packing your belongings?”

“YES! Could you do that, or not?!”

“Of course. I would like to.”

Anna volunteered to do all the sorting for them by herself while they stayed downstairs. When she turned around Nate took the pistol from out of his torn pocket and pointed it at her head.

You a smart boy Nate! Do it!

Having found success in convincing her, and lowering her guard, Nate however fell to his fears. He couldn’t even grip the pistol properly from all the sweat covering his hand. His sights on Anna’s head wavered to possibly shoot a nearby wall if he did decide to shoot at that particular moment.

SHOOT BOY!!!

I-I can’t, I’m sorry!

He hurriedly put the pistol back in his pocket. Taking deep breaths, he sat down holding his head with both of his hands out of pure disappointment.

Dammit boy…

Johnny then took a seat next to him, he waited for Anna to fully be gone before he spoke.

“Nate, is there something bothering you?” she asked, surprising the two of them.

“JUST LEA—”

Knock, Knock

Hmm…?

Anna narrowed her eyes, fixated at the door. Johnny was confused and Nate was scared, asking himself who on earth would stumble upon the home.

Then the door pushed open.

“What the hell did you knock for?”

It was another woman, a lady who lived with them. She was silent in speech and quiet in the movements. She passed by the table where the father and son were sitting and moved closer to Anna. The lady wore a long black dress down to her ankles, it contrasted well with her nearly whitish hair.

“You did not close the door completely,” Anna said, she spoke more coldly to her than she did to Nate and even Johnny.

When the lady approached her, she placed her hand on her shoulder, then slowly slid it to the back of her neck, then upwards. That was her way to say “Hello”.

Then the lady moved away from her to take a seat, very close to Nate.

There’s no way I can do it, no way!

“Dad…I’m gonna go outside…”

“Do what you want,” he told him.

Upon getting up he quickly turned his back to Anna firmly keeping his hand in his ripped pocket while approaching the door. It wasn’t entirely shut but he could take only slightly peak through from where he was.

He took one step outside.

Huh?

“Hello, sorry to bother you.”

“Who are…”

He encountered a young man like himself, wearing a coat and a hat that concealed much of his face. Stunned, he couldn’t speak properly.

The man told him, “Um, I don’t mean to bother you guys but I wanted to know if you guys ha—”

“…no, just leave.”

“Huh? I’m sorry?”

“It’s not safe. Just get out of here!” Nate shouted.

“Okay…I don’t want any trouble, but you could please just listen to what I have to—”

“I SAID LEAVE!!!”

He was scared and frustrated, so he didn’t hesitate in drawing his pistol to aim at the man. He placed it against his chest prompting him to get away from the house.

“What the hell…”

“You hear me?!” I don’t know where you came from, I’ve never even seen your face before but I DON’T CARE! Do not come around here!!”

“Alright…goddamn just relax…!” the man said.

“Then…then—”

“Nate!”

“Huh…”

She ain’t heard me, no way she did!

Nate turned to respond to the call, he found it more difficult to conceal the pistol in that position.

“Y-You called, Anna?”

“Let him in.”

That guy really had a gun on me...the hell’s going on?