Short Story - The Twisted Truth

 Author's Note: In Honors English 10, we got an assignment to write a creative short story that manipulated a defense mechanism.  My story is somewhat based off of the movie "Uninvited", in which a girl represses the memory of accidentally killing her mother.  I took that idea and twisted it to make it my own and make a unique story out of it.  The same defense mechanism, repression, is used in my story by the main character while she is in court and has flashbacks of her recent past. 

            “He killed them.  He killed them all.  Why?  Why did you do it?  WHY?”  Tears stream down my cheeks, smudging the black frames of my eyes. 

            “I-I I swear I didn’t do it!”  A buzz begins belligerently in the court as the audience contemplates each side of the story.  Collin sits there looking like a lost puppy, as if he will be able to persuade people into believing his innocence; -- but he can’t; he just can’t. 

            “ORDER IN THE COURT!  Prosecutor, please continue.”  Judge Conley grits her perfect white teeth.  Tension and restlessness fill the room, occupying the space left by the sudden silence. 

            “Alright, Lauren, what do you remember about that night?” 

            Here we go again.

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            Never, and I mean never, have I been so frustrated.  Mom snatched my phone, Dad kicked me off of basketball, and to top it all off with a beautiful, glistening freakin’ cherry, Logan dumped me.  Everyone has just been acting really strange, like one of those scary movies.  Scream is my favorite, you know, the one where the killer calls his victims and makes them answer questions about scary movies in order to survive?  Anyways, weird stuff happens and then everyone ends up dying in the end.  Usually the people deserve to die for different reasons.  Sometimes I feel that way about my whole family.  My mother is the worst; she comes home insanely late almost every night and acts all mysterious about it – as IF we don’t know she’s cheating.  Well my dad sits at home drunk all day anyways, so I guess he probably doesn’t have a clue.  Then there’s my brother, Ryan.  He brings home his slutty girlfriend, Anna, and she parades around our house acting like it’s hers.  It drives me insane and I’m pretty sure I dislike her more than all of them.  Ugh, I hate my life.

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            “Lauren?  Can you please tell us how you found your family?  I know we have heard the story and it will hurt you to tell us, but for the jury’s sake, please tell us.”  Judge Conley drums her fingers on the table, the beat thrumming along with my heart, filling my world.

            “Of course.”  I choke, remembering. 

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            Blood, my God, there is so much blood.  A knife is laying on the floor next to my mother, caked with blood in remembrance of its last victim.  Her eyes are locked with mine but I know that she sees nothing; the blue of those eyes already clouding as I stare at them.  Her body is mangled; the fresh indents marking their new territory.  Subconsciously, I hear the puddle squish beneath my bare feet as I inch closer to her body.  My mom, whose voice had nurtured me during childhood, and whose soothing arms had enveloped me in a heaven unknown to anyone else, is dead.  The world stops as I take in what is around me; my mother dead and the knowledge that if I search the rest of the house, I will find my father, my brother, and possibly even Anna in a bloody mess as well. 

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The court is silent as each and every human being awaits what I have to say.  I feel everything building up inside me, and my brain and my mouth seem to work together without

my permission.

            “That day, with extreme aggravation, I took the knife from its cradle and sunk it into the womb of my mother; -- sunk it as the screams escaped from her mouth, and with a wonderful enjoyment in my heart; -- sunk it because she knew that she had deserved it, and because I thought she had given me many instances of hate; -- sunk it because I knew that in so doing I was helping the family.” 

            Shock fills the room as those who thought I was innocent wrap their minds around what I just said and those who thought Collin was innocent try to suppress their joy.  Judge Conley’s eyes widen as she and I simultaneously realize the truth; -- I killed my family.

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            The knife is gleaming as I stare at it; beckoning me to grab it, just this once.  While I carefully contemplate this choice – which I can hardly think it as less – my desire and my excitement are evident.  Why not make them suffer as they have made me suffer for most of my life?  The choice is easy; -- all of them deserve to die for so many reasons.  I grip the handle, and it seems to fit perfectly in my hand, as if it were molded just for me, just for this moment.  The sound of the knife coming out of the knife block closely resembles the metallic sigh of a sword being removed from its sheath. 

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I ascend the stairs, courage filling me with each step.  I can hear Ryan and Anna in Ryan’s bedroom, which finalizes my decision.  They both gasp as I shove open the door.

“I have a test for you two.  It’s about a scary movie.  Who ends up being the killer in the original Scream?”  My voice fills the room and my fingers confidently twirl the knife behind my back where it has yet to be discovered by Ryan and Anna.

“It’s those two guys, the boyfriend and his friend.  That movie is hilarious.”  Ryan nervously chuckles and says, “What’s going on, Laur?” 

“I have one more question.  Answer it right, and you get to live.  This story features a girl whose family rejected her her whole life and now she wants revenge.  Who survives?”  The darkness seeps through my words, more and more until I get to the last two. 

“I don’t know, Lauren.  One of the victims always survives.” 

“Wrong…”  A smile creeps over my face as my adrenaline finally gets the best of me.  “No one survives.” 

Screams fill the house; -- the perfect ending to my own little horror story.

Mimic Lines:

#1: “… whose craft had seduced me into murder, and whose informing voice had consigned me to the hangman.”

#2: “One morning, in cool blood, I slipped a noose about its neck and hung it to the limb of a tree; -- hung it with the tears streaming from my eyes, and with the bitterest remorse at my heart; -- hung it because I knew that it had loved me, and because I felt it had given me no reason of offence; -- hung it because I knew that in so doing I was committing a sin…”

#3: “When I first beheld this apparition – for I could scarcely regard it as less – my wonder and my terror were extreme.”