Alex Walker, a man who is a single parent with two children, both teenagers, one a boy and the other a girl. His son is named Benjamin Walker and his daughter is named Ashley Walker. His son Benjamin usually dresses in all black from head to toe and his daughter Ashley dresses more of someone in the preppy category of clothing and usually hangs out with people who do the same, although Benjamin has no friends. Benjamin is sixteen years old and Ashley is seventeen years old. Benjamin and Ashley's contrasting clothing styles are not the only thing that separates them, they argue constantly and Ashley often publicly embarrasses her brother, Benjamin. Alex Walker also has a golden retriever named Chase who he has had for seven years. The Walkers live in a large scale house in the Hamptons, it is a two story house complete with one kitchen, one living room, one dinning room, four bathrooms, four bedrooms, Mr. Walker's personal office and a large porch. Their house is surrounded by a forest, so Benjamin and Ashley have to take a bus every morning to school. The events that follow will change the lives of everyone. This is where the story begins.

"Hello loser", says Ashley entering the kitchen for breakfast. Ashley is wearing a bright pink Hollister T-shirt with faded blue jeans and open toed sandals which displayed Ashley's bright pink, nail polished, toe nails. After that remark Benjamin just starred at her, hatred in his eyes. Benjamin is dressed in all black from his demonic pentagon symbol T-shirt to his black sneakers. Benjamin is sitting at a table next to the window eating a bowl of cereal and drinking a glass of orange juice, an empty cereal bowl, a box of Frosted Flakes, a container of milk, an orange juice container, a glass and two spoons is also on the table for Ashley. Ashley pulls out a chair and sits at the other end of the table, far from her brother, Benjamin. She then pours Frosted Flakes into her bowl, then pours milk on her Frosted Flakes and pours herself a glass of orange juice. "Why don't you understand me?", says Benjamin. "What do you mean, understand you? No one understands you. You're a fucking loser, K?", says Ashley. "You know what, I'm getting pretty sick and tired of the way you treat me", says Benjamin. "Oh yeah? What are you going to do about it?", says Ashley. Benjamin and Ashley's father, Alex Walker then walks into the kitchen. "Hey Ashley. Hey Ben", says Mr. Walker. "Hi daddy", says Ashley. "Hey", says Benjamin. "So how are you daddy? Anything special you going to do today?", says Ashley batting her eyes. "Well yes, um, I have to go see Ben's guidance counselor and talk to her for some reason. She said it was urgent. You know anything about this, Ben?", says Mr. Walker. "Nope. I don't have a clue", says Benjamin. "It's because they're worried about you because of your lack of friends", says Ashley. "Shut up. I have friends", says Benjamin. "Okay then, name one of them", says Ashley. "Uhhhh, Michael", says Benjamin. "You just made that up. You have no friends", says Ashley. "Shut up", says Benjamin. "Now kids, get along.", says Mr. Walker pouring himself a cup of coffee. "It's no good for you two to be fighting. Brothers and sisters should stick together, not argue." "It's not my fault. She always bothers me", says Benjamin. "Well maybe, I'll stop bothering you once you stop being a fucking loser", says Ashley. "Excuse me?!", says Mr. Walker. "Nothing daddy", says Ashley. "Say sorry to your brother, that was uncalled for", says Mr. Walker. "Sorry Ben", says Ashley, but still with a nasty look on her face. "That's better", says Mr. Walker. "I want you, two, to get along, not fight and argue." "Yes daddy", says Ashley. "Will I still have the sleep over with Brittney, Michelle and Kelly?" "Yes, but only if you be nice to your brother", says Mr. Walker. "I will, daddy", says Ashley. "Okay kids", says Mr. Walker just finishing his cup of coffee. "I'll be leaving now to the meeting. I left your lunches on the counter. Now be good and no more fighting, okay?" "Okay, daddy", says Ashley. "Uh huh", says Benjamin. Alex then kisses his two children on the forehand and leaves the house to the meeting with Ben's guidance counselor.

"Hello, Mr. Walker. You know, why you are hear today, right?", says Mrs. Michelle Greene, Benjamin's guidance counselor. There are three other people in the room, Mr. Julian Richburg; the principal, Ms. Ann Gardner; the art teacher and Mr. Arnold Quinn; the social worker, their chairs are in a circular row in the office. "No, I don't know", says Mr. Walker. "Well, we are very concerned about your son, Benjamin", says Mr. Quinn. "Why is that?", says Mr. Walker. "Show him the pictures Benjamin drew in art class", says Mrs. Greene. Ms. Gardner then takes out a large purple folder that says "Benjamin Walker" on the side and took out a drawing. Ms. Gardner shows Mr. Walker a very detailed drawing of a man with a haunting smile on his face, with dark red eyes and black hair stabbing a terrified women in the chest, the women had blond hair and skylark blue eyes and had a pinkish hue on her cheeks, a look of shock and horror was the expression on her face, blood streamed down from the wound in her chest. "This is Benjamin's latest drawing, Mr. Walker. Have you ever considered taking him to therapy?", says Mrs. Greene. "Well no", says Mr. Walker. "You see my son, Benjamin is into the whole gothic thing with the dark, satanic, weird stuff those kids are into. That doesn't particularly mean there is something wrong with him. I mean, I haven't seen anything strange about him at home." "Well, that may be true, but besides those drawings, Benjamin hardly even talks, he has no friends that we are aware of and the kid's in Ms. Gardner's class claim to be afraid of him. I seriously recommend that you take Benjamin to some sort of counseling or in the way I see it, even a mental evaluation, if necessary", says Mrs. Greene. "You know, this is my son you are talking about, he is a completely normal, healthy, young boy and there is nothing wrong with him. All because he likes to dress in all black and is unpopular doesn't mean there is something wrong with him. Hell, I was unpopular in school and I didn't have that much friends and that didn't make me a psychopath and I'm far from one. So, what if he likes to draw things about killing people, he's gothic, gothic people draw stuff like that and does that make a whole sub culture of adolescence crazy? Absolutely not", says Mr. Walker. "Well, it was only a suggestion. We care for your son, Benjamin, almost as much as you do, Mr. Walker and we want the absolute best for him", says Mr. Quinn. "Yes and it is mandatory to have a conference with the child's parents if he or she draws something like this", says Mr. Richburg. "It appears to me, Mr. Walker that you son Benjamin is displaying the early signs of a sociopath. The drawings, his isolation from his peers, disturbing drawings about murder, among others. I would recommend immediate counseling for the boy and see if something is troubling him and get to the root of this situation before anything bad happens where he could endanger the lives of himself and or anyone around him. It would be a highly wise choice if you get your child help as soon as possible", says Mr. Quinn. "Excuse me? I think you people are the ones who should be mentally evaluated, not him. You're so quick to judge someone when you don't know them personally. I've known Benjamin all his life, I raised him, I think I know a little more about my son then you people do. From my knowledge of Benjamin and I don't know which one is accurate, me, someone who's known him for all his life or you people who only see him a few hours in the day, my knowledge is that my son, Benjamin is an intelligent, good looking, normal, young man and there is nothing wrong with him", says Mr. Walker. "But Mr. Walker-", says Mr. Quinn. "Nothing!", says Mr. Walker interrupting him. "I can't believe the nerve of some people." Mr. Walker then gets up from his chair and storms out of the room, very frustrated.

Now at home, Mr Walker sits at his desk in his personal office and reflects upon the past. Mr. Walker is staring at a picture he is holding in his left hand of his late wife, Charlotte. "You know what I did today Charlotte? I had to meet with people at Benjamin's school and they said they think that he might be a sociopath and suggested counseling for him. Counseling? Our son have counseling, that is completely ridiculous. Those people sure have some nerve to say something like that. They don't know him like we do." Mr. Walker then rests his right hand on his forehand in grief. "Oh Charlotte, what am I going to do? Our children hardly even talk to me anymore. Ashley is always out with her friends and I don't even know where Ben goes during the day. I try my best to connect with them and try to be their friend, but it never seems to work. It might mean they're growing up...I don't know. Everything seemed to be much better when you were alive, God...I'd do anything to being you back. Anything." Mr. Walker then puts the picture down on his desk and sits back in his chair and stares off in space, trying to find a way to relax.

A few minutes later, Chase walked into Mr. Walker's office. Chase looked up at Mr. Walker sitting in his chair. At this moment Mr. Walker is no longer in a dazed, day dream like state, he is now looking down at his dog, Chase and there is something in his mouth. Something red. "What do you got there, Chase?", says Mr. Walker. Chase continued to look up at Mr. Walker with his large brown eyes. Blood dripped from Chase's mouth. "What the hell do you have in your mouth?", says Mr. Walker. Chase let go of the bloody object from his mouth and it fell at Mr. Walker's feet. The object that dropped from Chase's mouth appeared to be a skinned, dead rabbit. Blood stained the hard wood floor of Mr. Walker's office. "Oh my God", says Mr. Walker in utter shock. Chase then strangely, quickly ran out of Mr. Walker's office, heading down the stairs. "What the fuck?", says Mr. Walker. "Where are you going, Chase?" Mr. Walker then runs out of his office and down the stairs following Chase without disposing of the dead, skinned rabbit lying on the floor. Chase ran out the large blue doggy door in the side door and Mr. Walker opened the side door after him to see where he is going and if he is trying to show him something important, possibly where he found that dead, skinned rabbit. Chase ran to the far end of the house, where the porch is and Mr. Walker followed. Chase stopped at the side of the porch and started barking. Mr. Walker made it up to where Chase was and noticed that Chase was barking at a very large hole on the side of the porch. Splinters of sharp, jagged wood surrounded the hole in the porch and beyond that is of a dark abyss. "Is this what you wanted to show me? Is this where you got that dead rabbit from, Chase?", says Mr. Walker to his dog. Chase just stood there, glaring and bearing his teeth at the hole. The appearance of the hole seemed as if it was made by a person or some kind of animal, possibly a shelter for the animal. "Looks like a raccoon nest, they probably are the ones who did that to the rabbit, too. Good thing you showed me this, Chase. Raccoons are very dangerous. I better board this up. I wouldn't want a raccoon problem", says Mr. Walker to his dog. Mr. Walker then walks to the tool shed, only several yards away from the porch, where he would acquire wood and nails to which he would board up the hole on the side of the porch, supposedly made by raccoons.

At eight in the afternoon, a pale, yellow moon rose in the sky and darkness fell on the Walker House and the surrounding forest. Inside the Walker House, Ashley sat on a couch in the living room surrounding her three friends that will be spending the night there, all sitting Indian style on top of their sleeping bags, conversing with each other about the day at hand, until Ashley pulled out a purple spiral notebook out of her backpack which she displayed great interest in by the devilish grin displayed on her face. "You know what this is?", says Ashley. "What?", says all of her friends at once. "This is my brother, Ben's diary", said Ashley. "Oh my God, your loser brother's diary. This should be interesting", says Kelly. "Yeah, read it", says Brittney. "Yeah", says Michelle. "Okay, girls. Here goes nothing", says Ashley. Ashley then opens her brother's diary and flips to a random page and begins reading aloud.

"Dear Diary,

Everyday seems longer and more painful, more painful to be alive. I have layed awake many, many nights wondering how life would be like if I was a normal boy. I wonder how life would be like if I wasn't who I truly am, a homosexual. Curse these urges. I wish I could be like everyone else, but I can't because of the way God has made me. God is pure evil. I assume that he finds great pleasure in my daily torment that goes through every waking moment of my being. I have had thoughts of suicide, but why bother? I greatly fear on what's waiting for me beyond the grave because I don't know what it is. Will it be nothing and will I simply just shut down and there will be no form of an afterlife? Will there be an afterlife where I will be judged on my time spent on Earth and that will therefore tell if I am going to Heaven or Hell? I have no idea of the answers of those questions and I have no intention to find out. Well, life isn't all bad if you think about it. I still pursue activities that I truly enjoy. Activities that give me great pleasure. Everybody has a purpose in life and I have my finger on that purpose, but just can't realise what it is, yet, but I have a feeling that sooner or later the time will come when I find out.

-Benjamin Walker

August 12, 2007"

"Oh my God", says Ashley just finishing reading aloud, her brother Benjamin's diary entry. "Holy shit", says Kelly. "Wow, I totally knew your brother was a fucking fagget", says Michelle. "Oh my God, Ben is gay", says Ashley. "Well, who didn't see that coming?", says Brittney. "Yeah, really", says Ashley. Ashley and her friends then all break out in laughter. "Oh my God, this is too funny", says Kelly. "I know", says Ashley. Benjamin then walks into the room. "What's so funny?", says Benjamin. "Hello fagget", says Ashley. "What?", says Benjamin. Benjamin then notices that Ashley has his diary in her hand. "Where'd you get that?", says Benjamin. "Your room", says Ashley. "Give it back!", says Benjamin. Benjamin then goes over to Ashley to grab his diary out of her hand, but she throws it over to Kelly and Kelly then throws it to Michelle and Michelle then throws it to Brittney and so on. As they are playing keep away from Benjamin they laugh at him, calling him a fag. "We read your diary, Benjamin. We read that you are gay", says Ashley. "I hate you!", says Benjamin with searing hatred in his eyes. Ashley and her friends continue to laugh and call Benjamin a fag as Mr. Walker enters the room. "What is going on?", says Mr. Walker. "Nothing daddy, we are just, um, playing", says Ashley. "No dad, Ashley stole my diary and now she is reading it to her friends and won't give it back to me", says Benjamin. Mr. Walker then notices the purple notebook in Michelle's hands. "Ashley, give Benjamin back his diary!", says Mr. Walker. Michelle was just about to give Benjamin his diary back, when Mr. Walker says, "No Michelle, I want Ashley to give her brother his diary back." Michelle then tosses the diary over to Ashley and Ashley gives the diary back to Benjamin with a nasty look on her face. "Now, Ashley", says Mr. Walker. "I told you this morning at breakfast to be nice to your brother Benjamin and your friends can sleep over, but you disobeyed me and intentionally and cruelly embarrassed him in front of your friends. You've crossed the line this time, Ashley and you're going to pay for your actions. Tell all you friends to go home, now!" "But daddy-", says Ashley. "I said now!", boomed Mr. Walker. "Sorry guys, you have to go home", says Ashley to her friends. "Oh man", says all her friends under their breath as they picked up their sleeping bags and prepared to go home. "Call all of your parents and tell them, you're not going to sleep over here tonight and tell them to come pick you guys up here", says Mr. Walker. Ashley then breaks out in tears. "You can't tell me what to do! I'm almost eighteen years old. I'm almost a grown women. Go fuck yourself!", says Ashley. Ashley's three friends and Benjamin gasps in shock of what she just said to her father. Mr. Walker then pulls his hand back in an opened palm position and smacked Ashley across the face, leaving a red mark of a hand print on her face. Ashley then grabs the diary out of Benjamin's hand and runs out of the house, tears streaming from her eyes. "Ashley, wait!", says Mr. Walker.

At 7 am, a bright, yellow sun rose in the sky and shinned beams of light above the Walker House and the surrounding forest. Inside the Walker House, Mr. Walker is getting out of bed to go downstairs and eat breakfast and start his day. Mr. Walker then gets out of his bed and then opens his closet where he would retrieve and put on his robe and slippers and then he leaves his room and makes his way downstairs. While approaching the kitchen downstairs, he notices a note and Benjamin's diary lying on the dining room table. Mr. Walker picks up the note on the table and begins reading.

It says:

Dear Father,

I am sick and tired of the way you treat me. I can't believe you slapped me and I'm not going to take it anymore. I'm running away and you're never gonna see me again. I hope you're happy. Also, here's Ben's stupid diary, I don't know why it's so important, anyway and for what I care, you and Ben can go to hell, so have a nice life with me not around.

-Ashley

"Jesus Christ", says Mr. Walker as he puts the note back on the dining room table. "I'm going to call the police", says Mr. Walker to himself. Mr. Walker then walks into the kitchen and picks up the wired phone which is attached to the wall and dials 911. The phone rings on the other end. "Hello?", says a female voice answering the 911 call. "Hello, I'll like to report a run away", says Mr. Walker. "What is your name, sir?", says the women. "My name is Alex Walker", says Mr. Walker. "Okay, sir what is your address?", says the woman. "My address is 439 Buscher Terrance, Hamptons", says Mr. Walker. "Okay, police will come by shortly, so they can make a report", says the woman. "Alright, thanks a lot", says Mr. Walker. Mr. Walker then hangs up the phone and puts his right hand on his forehead in grief. "What the hell did I do to deserve this shit?", says Mr. Walker to himself.

Two police officers arrive at the Walker House twenty minutes later and Mr. Walker lets them inside the house and leads them into the kitchen. Mr. Walker sits down in a chair at the kitchen table and looks up at the two police officers. "Go ahead. Have a seat", says Mr. Walker. "Nah, no thank you", says both police officers at once. The two police officers, both seem to be middle-aged, one is of African American decent and the other is of Caucasian decent. The African American police officer has a name tag that says, "Lt. Johnson" on his navy blue police jacket, right next to his badge and the Caucasian police officer has a name tag that says, "Lt. Richardson" in the same position on his navy blue police jacket as Lt. Johnson. "So, Mr. Walker, do you know of anything that could of made your daughter to run away?", says Lt. Johnson. "Well, we had an argument last night and she told me to go fuck myself and then I slapped her in the face and then she ran out of the house crying", says Mr. Walker. "Oh crap, yeah I'd probably do the same thing if my daughter told me to go fuck myself", says Lt. Richardson. "What was the agrument about?", says Lt. Johnson as he takes a notepad and a pen from his pants pocket. "Well, she always bothers her brother Benjamin and I told her she could have a sleepover with her friends if she's nice to him, but she didn't listen. She didn't give a fuck about what I had to say, so she took her poor brother's diary and read God knows what to her friends about his personal business, so then, I walk into the room and her friends are playing keep away with her brother's diary and I tell her that her friends have to go back to their houses and the sleepover was off. She disobeyed me and I had it. Then she starts crying and saying stuff like she's almost eighteen years old and that I can't tell her what to do and I can go fuck myself and so after that I felt so angry, so I slapped her, the most discipline that she ever had in her life and then she grabs her brother's diary from his hand and runs out of the house. Everything has been going downhill since their mother died with their behavior and everything, espically her. This is complete fucking bullshit, I tell ya, complete fucking bullshit", says Mr. Walker with a troubled look on his face. "Yeah, I know what you mean. My wife died, too. Unfortunally, I was never able to have children of my own because of a bicycle accident when I was twelve", says Lt. Richardson. "Wow, that's messed up, man. Sorry to hear that", says Lt. Johnson. "So, did she leave a run away note or anything?" "Oh yeah", says Mr. Walker now getting up out of the chair. "I'll be back in a second." "Alright", says Lt. Johnson. Mr. Walker than leaves the kitchen and enters the dining room and picks up Ashley's run away note from the table and then returns to the kitchen. "Here you go", says Mr. Walker as he hands the note to Lt. Johnson. "This is my daughter's run away letter." Lt. Johnson then reads the note, looking at it very carefully and then hands it over to Lt. Richardson to look at. Lt. Johnson then puts the pen and the notepad back into his pants pocket. "Well, do you have a picture of her, so we can make a report of this and hope we can find a resolution to this problem", says Lt. Richardson as he is handing the run away note back to Mr. Walker. "Yeah", says Mr. Walker as he places Ashley's run away note on the kitchen table and reaches into his pants pocket. Mr. Walker takes his wallet out of his pocket and opens it and takes out a small photo of his daughter, Ashley and hands it to Lt. Richardson. "Okay, we'll make copies of this and make some fliers and we're going to run this on the evening news tonight, so we can help you find your daughter", says Lt. Richardson. "Thank you a lot", says Mr. Walker. "Well, we're going to go back to the station now and we'll do our best on finding your daughter", says Lt. Johnson. "Thank you a lot", says Mr. Walker. "I really appreciate it." "No problem, sir. Just doing my job", says Lt. Johnson with a smile on his face. Mr. Walker then shakes hands with both police officers and then they both leave the house and go back to their police car and drive off to the police station.

Many hours has past since the two police officers visited Mr. Walker's house. Outside the Walker House, the sun is setting, brilliant colors of yellow and orange fill the evening sky. Mr. Walker is now sitting at his desk in his office staring at a picture he is holding in his left hand of his late wife, Charlotte. "Oh Charlotte, things are just getting worse and worse. You know what I did today, Charlotte? I had to call the police because our little girl, Ashley ran away." Mr. Walker then takes in a dramatic deep breath as he continues to talk to a picture of his late wife, Charlotte. "She wrote in her run away letter that she is sick and tired of the way I treat her and that Benjamin and I can go to hell. What did I do wrong? Sure I slapped her, but she deserved what she got, she went over the line. God, Charlotte, how did our daughter become so mean and nasty? I remember when she was a sweet, little girl, now she tells me to go fuck myself and tortures our poor son, Benjamin practially everyday and enjoys doing it. Maybe it is my fault....I don't know. All I want is our daughter back. God, Charlotte, only if you were still here, things would of been much better." Mr. Walker than places the picture down on his desk and buries his hands in his face in grief. "What am I going to do? What am I going to do?", says Mr. Walker to himself. Mr. Walker then takes his hands off his face and sits backs in his chair. Mr. Walker then notices Benjamin's diary lying on his desk which he brought up to his office a couple of hours ago with him. "I'll just sneak a peak", thinks Mr. Walker to himself. Mr. Walker then picks up the diary and opens it and then flips to a random page in the diary and begins reading.

It says:

Dear Diary,

In my latest entry, I have pondered about what my meaning in life was and I have a pretty good idea on what it is. I realise that I was put on Earth to do what I do best. Things that I enjoy doing. Oh, what a joy life is, I can't wait to share my superb talents with the rest of the world. Oh, how happy I am. Oh, how happy I am to be alive.

-Benjamin Walker

August 13, 2007

Mr. Walker then places the diary back on his desk. "Well, that was strange", says Mr. Walker with a confused look on his face. Mr. Walker then takes in a deep breath. "God, what did I do to deserve this?", says Mr. Walker reflecting on his situation with Ashley. Mr. Walker then rests his left elbow on his desk and then rests his left hand on the side of his head, trying to relax. Mr. Walker then picks up Ashley's runaway letter with his right hand to read it for a second time, but then notices something. Something strange. "Wait a minute", says Mr. Walker as he takes his left elbow off the table and his left hand off the side of his head and picks up Benjamin's opened diary with his left hand, looking at his latest diary entry. He then looks at Ashley's runaway letter, again. Then he looks at Benjamin's diary entry for a second time. The handwriting to Benjamin's diary entry and to Ashley's runaway letter is identical. "What the fuck?!", says Mr. Walker. Mr. Walker then notices Chase walk into his office in the corner of his eye. "Benjamin, come up here!", yells Mr. Walker. "Coming dad!", yells Benjamin from downstairs. Mr. Walker then turns in his chair to look at his dog, Chase. Chase looked up at Mr. Walker with his large brown eyes and there was something in his mouth. Something red and bloody. "Chase...what the fuck do you have in your mouth, this time?", says Mr. Walker. Chase then opened his mouth and the bloody object fell out of his mouth and on to the hard wood floor of Mr. Walker's office. The object that fell from Chase's mouth was a severed foot, dismembered by the ankle and had bright pink, nail polished, toe nails. A puddle of blood stained the hard wood floor of Mr. Walker's office. Mr. Walker froze in complete horror. "Ashley?" says Mr. Walker with a heavy breathing voice. "Coming right up, dad", says a distant voice of Benjamin. Outside the door of Mr. Walker's office, a shadow can be seen casted on the wall above the staircase with a figure slowly creeping its way up the stairs with a butcher knife in hand.