Everything

It's a cold rainy night in the middle of nowhere on November 25th. There's a house next to a gravel road surrounded by the cornfields of Iowa. Inside, a man named Tucker is sitting at his dining room table drinking his fifth beer. He usually isn't this bad of a drinker, but it has been two days since he found his wife, Leah, hung in their closet, she committed suicide. Tucker, even though he mourned her death, had a good understanding of why she did it. Within this past month, Leah has lost both of her children, Jacob and Nancy. They were all grown up and already starting families of their own. Those children were also Tuckers step kids, but he loved them like his own. It was just unusual for them to pass away in just a short amount of time.

Little over a month ago, on Halloween night, Nancy was murdered in her bed with multiple stab wounds all over her body. According to the news, she showed signs of a struggle, and it looks as if it was a crime of passion. Her husband, found alive, was covered in her blood and shown to be hit in the head, he got charged with murder. He proclaimed he was innocent and kept repeating the same story that the detectives believed to be "ridiculous." He kept on mentioning that he got knocked out and that someone in an olive-green raincoat with a Hulk-looking mask was in the house while the murder took place. He also said that the smell of burning sage was present, but Nancy and himself never burned sage in the house. Unfortunately, No one believed him, not even Tucker, who had a good relationship with him before the murder.

Two weeks after Nancy was murdered, Jacob ended up in a horrific car crash that killed him instantly. He was struggling to get sleep after the death of his sister. Jacob started to take medication to help him sleep. Sadly, he took too many pills that night after work and fell asleep behind the wheel and crashed headfirst into a pickup truck. He left behind his wife and his one-year-old daughter. In the news, police determined that the crash was accidental. It was something that Tucker believed because he knew that Jacob would never leave his daughter without a father on purpose.

It was one thing to lose one child, but it's a whole other situation when you lose both of your children. In this case, Leah lost both of her only kids, and Tucker lost his step kids. It was too much for Leah to handle. On November 23rd, she took a rope, put it around her neck, and jumped off the chair she was standing on like she was jumping off a diving board into the pool. Tucker found her lifeless body ten hours later when he got back from the Iowa state prison where he worked. What was strange was that there was no note to read, nor was there evidence that Leah planned to kill herself. It was just crazy for Tucker to think that he not only lost his family, but he was now alone.

As Tucker finished his fifth beer, he went to the kitchen to grab a white candle. He took a knife and carved Leah's name in it. Then places it next to two other candles that cut the words of Nancy and Jacob. He lit all three candle near the window located in his bedroom. He now had three candles in a window. Tucker stared at the flames in each candle for about thirty seconds.

As he returned to the dining room, he started to look through his mail. He found three letters from the police discussing the details of his family's death, but he refused to open them. He also found more than ten letters from a woman named Gertrude, who happens to be his ex-wife. The messages were not about how jealous she was of Leah or that she hated him, but more about the money he owns her for the past couple of years after they split. He never got around to paying her, and he hopes he will never have to. Tucker hated his ex-wife. His mother even told him that she married him for money. Strange enough, the letters mentioned that the money was not for her, but something else.

As Tucker went to grab himself another beer, he is suddenly interrupted by the shattering noise of glass. Panicked, he gets a shotgun from his collection of guns and slowly approaches his bedroom. Whatever was in his house, it was the last thing they will do because something or someone was trespassing onto his property. He can shoot and be acquitted for his actions. As he enters his bedroom, he felt the cold breeze and sprinkles from the rain that came from the broken window. It was the same window that had the candles; they were knocked over and destroyed. Tucker knew he was looking for a person.

"SHOW YOURSELF!" he yelled with his country accent. He was afraid at first, but now he was just furious.

He strolled throughout the house so the intruder wouldn't hear him. With each room he checked, they were empty and showed no evidence of the intruder. Tucker began to let his guard down.

"Maybe it was an animal or some kids playing a stupid prank." He told himself.

Then suddenly, he heard a noise in the bathroom. He put his shotgun up, took the safety off, and aimed for the shower curtain. He strolled through the bathroom, trying to stay quiet like he was Santa Clause delivering gifts on Christmas Eve so no child would hear him.

"Whoever you are, I'm giving you the chance to surrender yourself." He said.

No answer or movement. Everything was silent, except for the thumping sounds of Tucker's heartbeat.

"If you don't, there will be fatal consequences." Tucker was serious and furious at this point.

Still, there was no sound.

"FINE! YOU HAD YOU CHANCE!" he shouted.

He walked slowly to the curtain. He took a breather, grabbed the shower curtain, squeeze it like it was wet sand, and pulled the curtain back. He aimed his gun in the shower, ready to shoot.

But there was nothing in the shower. No animal. No person. The shower was empty.

Tucker puts the safety on the gun and points the barrel at the ground. At this point, Tucker thought that maybe he drank too much and he now is hearing and seeing things. His heartbeat slows down, and he starts to ease up.

"I must be losing my mind." He whispers to himself.

He turns to walk out of the bathroom. As he turns, he is suddenly on the ground, his gun out of reach, and his head was throbbing. He wondered if he slipped on the tile, but the ground was just cold, not wet. His head starts to sound like beating drums. He touches his head lightly with his fingers and realizes that he is bleeding. However, it was from the front of his head, close to the rights side. He didn't slip; he got hit in the head.

Tucker blacks out.

A high pitch ring is on replay as Tucker comes out of unconsciousness. His vision is blurry, and his head is still pounding. Within a few seconds, the ringing finally stops, and his vision comes back. Unfortunately, his head still hurt.

Tucker realizes that he is handcuffed in both his arms and his legs. He is sitting in a chair at the dining room table. Tucker noticed that the letters from the police were opened and lying in front of him. He was confused. Why were they opened? Why did the intruder want him to look at these? He already knew what happened to his family.

Or so he thought.

He looked at each report. He was shocked. The stories were different from what the news had said.

The first report showed that somebody killed Nancy by force to the neck. Most likely from a punch that killed her instantly. The stab wounds occurred after she was deceased. The actual killer framed her husband in doing the murder. He was released and acquitted from the crime. Tucker realized that he was telling the truth; he did not kill Nancy.

Jacob's report showed that he did not take sleeping pills; he was poisoned. The poison ended up killing him before he ended up in the car crash. On another note, some eyewitnesses said that Jacob did not take any medication during his work shift. Backing up the eyewitnesses with a coffee cup containing traces of arson, Jacob drank from the same cup.

Then. he looked at the last report, which was Leah's. There was a blunt force trauma on the back of her head. The hit took place before being hung. She didn't commit suicide; the death was a homicide.

Tucker leaned back in the chair, still handcuffed. He couldn't believe it; someone was targeting his family. First, starting with his step-kids, then moving on to his wife. Now, it was his turn.

Tucker had more questions than answers. Why was he the last one to go? Did the killer know him? Was the killer from the prison he worked? Was this a hired hitman? Why was his family killed in such an unexpected yet gruesome way? Who killed his family?

Suddenly, the killer shows up. They were walking around with a stick of burning blue sage. Was this the smell Nancy's husband was talking about in his witness statement? But that wasn't all. The killer was wearing an Olive-green raincoat with a mask, exactly like the description the husband described. The only thing was that it didn't look like the Hulk; it was of the Frankenstein creature.

Even with the pounding continuing in his head, Tucker became distraught and angry.

"WHO ARE YOU!?" he started yelling at the killer.

"WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!?" He continued.

"YOU TOOK EVERYTHING I LOVED FOR ME!" He concluded.

The killer stops, starts to look towards Tucker. There is a short pause before the killer finally responds.

"Everything?" as if it was more of a question than an answer.

For a moment, Tucker is silent. His blood becomes cold. His stomach starts to toss and turn. The drums in his head began to go faster, and his head throbs more. He starts to have a hard time breathing like he has asthma. He starts to forget how to speak. His fury becomes terror. Not only did he know the killer, but he wished he didn't.

Once the sage stops burning, the killer puts it down. Then they begin to take off the mask. Under the cover was a girl no older than twenty-two. Her hair was brunette with a bob cut. The eyes were as green as her raincoat. More muscular than a typical woman. She looked just like her mother, from facial features to bone structure.

That girls mother was his ex-wife, Gertrude. He now understood why she was asking for money as she said, it wasn't for her; it was for something else. That something was standing right in front of him.

"Maggie?" Tucker finally questions with terror in his voice.

She lays the masks on the dining room table and responds.

"Nice to see you too, dad."

THE END