William Gordon always said he would return to his
hometown once he retired. What he didn’t think about was how he’d be forced
into early retirement. William had an accident at work that made his return to
his hometown occur twenty years earlier than he expected. William left his
hometown immediately after high school and only came back when his mother died
ten years ago. William is now moving into the house his mother left him in her
will. Once moved in though, William remembered why he left his hometown in the
first place.
William
left in the first place because he never felt he belonged in a small town. He
wasn’t like anyone else and it made him an easy target by his former classmates
and the people of the town. William started having flashbacks about his teenage
years. After only being in town for a week, William was already losing sleep to
the flashbacks. He would wake up after remembering being thrown in a dumpster
when the trucks were getting ready to pick them up, or the time three of his classmates
decided to beat him up, the teacher was the parent to one of the guys that beat
William up so this made it difficult for William o go to anyone. After weeks of
nightmares from his earlier years in town William decides to find only person
he ever considered a true friend to make his return more enjoyable.
Marissa
Draiman was William’s only friend growing up in town. She was also frowned upon
by classmates and the locals in town. However, unlike William, Marissa had to
stay in town after high school to help take care of her aunt. Marissa’s aunt
was her guardian because Marissa’s parents died when she was four and her aunt
was the only one who would take her in. Shortly after William left town,
Marissa’s aunt finally succumbed to her medical conditions and died. After
being treated like an outcast her whole life and the only people close to her
no longer in her life. Marissa was gradually losing her sanity.
The
last time William was in town, he did not get to see her because he was
informed she was sent to an asylum after her aunt died. She was deemed unfit to
live amongst other people. William found out this time around she was back in
her old house and he wanted to see the one friend he did have when he was
growing up. He knocked on the door to what looked like an abandoned house to
find her in horrible condition. Marissa had shaved her head because she was
pulling her hair out while in the asylum, she also had a rope mark around her
neck from where she tried to commit suicide when she left the asylum. It was
obvious to William that Marissa was mentally broken and as her only friend he
wanted to help her. He also felt this was needed for his own sake to prevent
him from having the flashbacks he had been having lately.
After
talking to Marissa for an hour he was starting to feel sympathy for her ending
up in an asylum, he also felt guilt because he felt that he was partially
responsible for her ending up there. William
was also slightly confused, after every few sentences, Marissa would mumble the
words “I didn’t kill me” and when William would ask Marissa to repeat herself,
she’d simply say nothing. Despite Marissa being mentally broken, William felt
he needed to be with his friend, especially since he wasn’t around after he
graduated high school.
Even
though William wanted to comfort his friend, Marissa would only talk about her
time in the asylum. He wanted her to talk about other topics, especially since
Marissa speaking of the asylum was only making William’s flashbacks from high
school worse. After hearing her talk of the asylum for three hours, Marissa
passed out. William was on his way out the door when he saw a newspaper, he
couldn’t believe what he was looking at. The paper was opened to Marissa’s
obituary, according to the article, she committed suicide in the asylum over a
year ago. He turned around, Marissa was floating in the air, and she yelled “I
DID NOT KILL ME!” and disappeared. William took the paper and any other
evidence and went back to his house.
After
seeing why Marissa’s house was abandoned, William wondered to himself how
exactly did he see her and was having a conversation with her without noticing
the obituary. However, he decided he wanted to know why she kept saying “I
didn’t kill me.” He went to the house of one of the doctors at the asylum, the
doctor let him in and they talked for an hour. He found out Marissa’s suicide
was actually a cover-up by the doctor. He gave Marissa the wrong medication,
which killed her instantly, the doctor, made it look like a suicide and knew no
one, would look into it. A month after Marissa’s death, the doctor stepped down
and he admits to William this was the first time he told the truth about
Marissa. William looked at the doctor and forgave him for the incident but he
wanted the doctor to admit the truth to the asylum.
On his
way out, he saw a newspaper, this one was flipped to the doctor’s obituary. The
doctor killed himself leaving a note saying he did something unforgiveable.
Nothing else was on the note other than “I’m sorry”. William went to the
cemetery where Marissa was buried and looked at the grave. He simply said he
would find a way to prove her death was an accident by another person. After he
said those words he heard Marissa’s voice say “Thank you!” He turned around but
he did not see his friend. He saw a newly dug grave and walked to it.
William
could not believe his eyes, he was staring at his own grave, and he realized he
saw Marissa and the doctor because he himself was also dead. Then William
remembered, the accident at work did not put him in retirement, the accident
killed him. He remembered before dying, he said he would not leave the earth
until he could prove his best friend did not kill herself. The flashbacks were
occurring but they were not his memories, they were Marissa’s memories. He was
remembering her pain and torture as a way to motivate him to find out the truth
about his friend.
After finding out the truth about Marissa’s death and the
truth to the doctor’s death, the information appeared on the news shortly
after. As William saw the truth unravel about his friend, an angel appeared
before him. The angel looked at him and told him it was time for him to come
home. William reached out to the angel and he went home.
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