Page 11 - The Final Words

The police officer decided to give Stephen his space. “I’m going to leave now, but I’ll be
back later to check on you and take you to your friend’s house. I’m not leaving you here alone,”
he said and left before Stephen could answer.

Stephen kicked the recliner and threw the magazines off the coffee table. They landed
near the window where his Mom always looked out. That disturbed him even more to the point
where he couldn’t hold it in anymore and let out a scream and cried. He kneeled on the floor
rocking and begging God to bring her back. He blamed himself for not being home. If he had
been home, he would’ve known she wasn’t feeling well and could’ve gotten her to the doctor,
then she’d still be alive. His grief consumed him, and he stared at the ceiling, quietly
whimpering.

“Mom, I’m so sorry I let you down,” he said and thought he heard something.

He did hear something. It was noise coming from Denise’s bedroom. Stephen pushed
himself up and went into his mother’s bedroom. The sound came from the closet. Stephen
opened the door and there sat a typewriter, typing on its own.

“What the hell is going on here?”

Stephen took the typewriter down and placed it on his mother’s desk. He pulled the
paper out and the sentences all read the same.

Your parents did not finish the story.

Stephen, baffled, wondered if the typewriter had something to do with his parent’s
death. He had enough. He just lost his mother and he wasn’t about to get sucked into whatever
the typewriter wanted of him.

“I don’t know what you did to my parent’s, but I’m not going to let you hurt anyone
else.” Stephen took the typewriter to the back alley and put it in the dumpster. He lit a match
and set it on fire. He watched it burn until the flames settled, and the typewriter had turned to
dust. “It’s finally over. Stephen walked away feeling relieved and sad at the same time. He may
have killed the thing that took his parents away, but it didn’t bring them back. What would he
do without his mother. It had been always the two of them. Living with his friend Jerry and his
family would only be temporary. He’d probably be placed in foster care. He didn’t want that. He
had to figure something out before he’d be taken away. That cop would be coming to get him
in a few hours.

Stephen went back to the apartment and started packing. He took whatever money his
mother had and stuffed it in his wallet. He’d have to leave the state, find a job and a new
identity. He didn’t know how he would go about doing that, but he just knew he couldn’t stay.
After he finished packing, he didn’t hang around. He left and headed for the train station. He
threw his cell phone in the nearest garbage can and didn’t call Jerry. He had to break loose. If
he called Jerry, his family would have the authorities looking for him. He needed to start fresh.