LIVING WITH THE GUILT OF MURDER.

It was late I thought. Almost midnight yet I was still unable to

sleep. I stared thoughtlessly at the moving shadows mumbling to myself,
"it was just a story" but in my heart I knew it wasn't, it was more than a
story, much, much more. Then, a crow appeared in the middle of my
room. The crow stared at me with such intensity that I fell backwards
into the safety of my pillow. I stared at the crow in shock as it
disappeared into my closet and that's when I heard it, a long piercing
whine that was like a nail to a chalkboard. I prayed that it would go
away, I prayed with all my heart but it stayed there continuing its long
whine. It was then when I caught a glimpse of it. I saw two glowing
bloodshot eyes stared at me. I let out a scream born from terror and
almost immediately my dad came bursting into my room. He stared at me
with confusion but all I could do was point a shaking finger at my closet
door. Cautiously, my father marched into the closet only to find nothing
inside. Then, without warning, the door slammed shut along with my
father still inside.
It all started last year during summer break. I was with a couple of
friends when he came along. He was short, round and had a learning
disability. We thought that it'd be fun to pick on him for a while. We took
turns shoving him around. I guess I shoved him too hard and he rolled
down the hill we were on. When we found him he was barely breathing.
We tried to help him because we thought that it'd be the right thing to do
but then we realized that this was entirely our fault. We couldn't let him
go so we carried him into the forest for the animals to finish him off.
Days later, we returned to the forest only to find his body with teeth
marks all over, he even lost his leg to a pack of coyotes. The worst part of
it was that in the midst of all this, he was still alive slowly enduring this
torture. We took our turns saying our apologies but we knew that it
would never be enough. We thought of ending his misery but that would
only put our fingerprints on him. The next day we returned again only to
find his body in the same condition. The only difference was that he is
now dead. I tried many times to tell someone but I took an oath with my

friends that we were never to speak of it. Although we were never caught,
the guilt we had to endure was almost worse than being put in the
juvenile hall, for in our minds we were forever branded as murderers.

Now its ten past midnight. Im still in shock, trying to figure out
what has happened to my dad. Did this really happened or was it a
dream? The curiosity was overwhelming for me. I wanted to know whats
behind that closet door. I got up from my bed and slowly walked to the
closet. That curiosity suddenly became to fear. As I got closer to the door,
my heart started beating crazily. I opened the door as slowly as possible.
As I opened the door it made this screeching sound, like nails on a
chalkboard. When the doors were opened, I was surprised to find nothing
inside. My dad wasnt in here either. At this moment my mind went
completely blank. "I could have sworn I saw it." I mumbled to myself.
Maybe Im just hallucinating. I slowly walked back to my bed with my
mind still confused. I lay in bed and closed my eyes so that I could fall
asleep. Suddenly, I felt someone breathing on me. I opened my eyes, and
there it was, staring at me one inch from my face. It was the guy I
murdered. Im paralyzed. His dead soul was haunting me and now its
here to take my soul away.
But then all of a sudden I heard my fathers voice from afar. "Wake
up!" He said. When I woke up, I shouted, "I was all a dream." But I knew
even if it was a dream my heart is still full of fears. Because the guy I
murdered was hunting me, even when Im asleep. Something about that
scares me. What if he gets a revenge on me someday? The guilt was
strong. The fear was even stronger. Even if no one ever figures out what
has happened. I am still branded as a murderer and soon the guilt will
be the one hunting me.