Reasons

I can still hear the sounds from school as I walk back to my house. My plaid skirt hitting against my thighs as I take light steps. The buildings laid out perfectly, to my side. My black shoes made loud noises as I trudged through the brush. I stroked through my brown hair with my hand. I opened the front door to my house, and stepped through.

My house is the normal size for a house. It only has three regular sized bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a large kitchen and living room.

I walked in; my mom reading on the couch, my brother taking his nap in his room, and my dad at work. “Hey, how was school?,” my mom said as she looked into my brown eyes. “It was good, I guess,” I replied blankly. My mom sighed, knowing I wasn’t going to give up what happened. It really wasn’t that interesting. I don’t know why every mom has to ask what happened. It's not like a murderer came in, and almost killed us all.

She went back to reading her book, and let down the walls around me so I could pass. My mom and I have a good relationship, I just don’t think she would understand what I was going through. As I reached the kitchen my brother ran out into the living room. “Mommy! Mommy,” he shouted at her. “Can we watch TV?!,” he cried. “No, honey. You’ve had enough screens today,” she replied tiredly. “But-,” he tried to say. I could hear the determination in his voice.

“We can go to the park, though,” she said, filled with hope. “We can!? Can we invite Josh over?! Please Please!,” She said. I had no idea where he got all of this energy from. “Of course, silly. In Fact I’ll go call his mom right now,” she replied in her cheery voice. She reached over to grab her phone. Then, she dialed her number. I kind of cowered away. “Hi Michael, was wondering if Josh wanted to come to the park with him?,” she said. I couldn’t quite make out the words that were being said on the other end. “Oh, that’s fine, yes that would work. Okay see you then,” she said, and then hung up. “So what did she say?,” I asked. “She said that she could have around three, but she is going to bring Aiden too.” I frowned at that. Why? What could be the reason this time? “Well, it’s already around two thirty so you should get going,” I said. “Nope, you are coming too,” she replied snarky. “But mom…….” “Just come on and stop complaining,” she spoke again. I sighed, knowing there was nothing I could do.

We walked to the car, and I got in the front seat. When we got there I remembered something that I was sure would come back to haunt me, and I was right. I hit him after he pulled my hair. “Hey mom can I go over somewhere and read?,” I asked. “At least say hi first,” she replied. No no no I can’t say hi. We walked over to where Josh was waiting. His mom and Aiden sat on a bench to Josh’s left. “Josh! What’s UP!?,” he yelled. As Aiden’s eyes met mine he glared. I shifted nervously. It was really hot outside, and it just made the situation I was in harder.

“Hey, how are you?,” she asked my mom. I quit listening to them as they got sucked into their conversation. “I’m gonna go talk to Britney,” Aiden told his Mom as he inched closer to me. As soon as we got off of their radar, he started chasing me. I didn’t scream, I knew not to, or it would only be worse. Instead I ran deep in the woods, closer to the pond. I knew I needed to turn away from it but I underestimated how close it was. Instead of falling into the deep water, I started to slide on its surface. I reached the middle of the pond, and immediately started getting cold. “What the-,” he started to say. The pond was frozen. I was in the middle, the weakest spot. I heard a small sound as I started to fall in. Then I screamed. I was drowned by the freezing water. Trying to get to the top. But there was only one place where it broke, and I wasn’t under it. The water was stirring around me. After fighting for what felt like forever, I felt a hand. I grasped it with a hard grip. I felt my body being lifted by two strong arms. Man he must have worked out a lot, and it paid off. I could feel the difference in temperature as I was lifted.

Before I knew it I was laying on him shaking with his shirt wrapped around me. He knew what to do. He dragged me back to the warmer area. I was still cold but it was better. Good thing my brother played for hours, or we wouldn’t have had time to get warmer. There was no way I was telling my mom. She would ask why he was chasing me and I’d have to explain….everything. I looked normal as we walked back to our parents. We acted as if we were friends. There were so many questions buzzing around my head.

We rode home and the first thing I did was go to my room. I had to acknowledge dad so they wouldn’t be suspicious. Why was the pond frozen when it's so hot? I was so confused and frustrated. I knew I almost died but that wasn’t what worried me. I finally decided to go to bed.

The noises buzzed around his head as the technology failed. It wasn’t freezing properly. “Sir there have been some conspiracies in the North wing about our research,” a voice said from behind him. “What kind of conspiracies?,” He replied. “That if we don’t tell the public what we are doing…….it would be catastrophic,” the voice said. “How so?,” “when they find out. They will attack us, because this weapon we’ve created….if used in the wrong hands it-,” he spoke softly. “They could freeze the earth even in the hottest summers. Yes we know the risks. But we can also use it to help with global warming. Or even freeze an army of soldiers, and even the UFO’s that have been showing up. There are probably AI’s. This weapon will save humanity.” he replied harshly. “She will find out. The girl from the pond,” “and when she does the government will be ready for her,” he replied.

I went to school. Ready for my classes. Aiden would give me the occasional glance but there was no more bullying. I got my stuff done and went home. My relationship with my family grew distant. One night I finally decided to call him. I dialed his number, and he answered. “Hi um I just wanted to ask you if you wanted to come over tonight,” I asked slowly. “Sure.. I guess,” he said. I hung up. I got changed into hiking stuff, and packed extra jackets. He got here around nine. He didn’t even have time to respond before I dragged him into the car.

I got in the driver seat. “Wait, do you know how to drive,” he asked, not worried at all. “Idiot,” I muttered. He sighed. I drove to the park. I walked over madly towards the pond. “Why are you mad?,” he asked. “Because, don’t you see who did this?” I yelled. “No, I don't, so explain,” he said. I ran over to the still frozen pond. “Look here,” I pointed to where I had fallen. “In the water it still moves even when there is no breeze,” I said. “So, what does that mean?,” he asked. “It means it’s a weapon. It's blasting tiny particles at the water but the particles are extremely cold.” I explained. “And the only person capable of this is…….-,” I said. “The government,” he said as he sighed. He sure does sigh a lot. “This could be devastating to the human population in the wrong hands. We need to stop them before that happens.” I said. “And how would we do that?” he asked. “Simple, we tell everyone.” I answered. “What do you think they will do? They can easily make people think otherwise. They have control over the media. More power than we have.” he said. “We have proof. The pond. Easily proven by scientists, then some people will understand, and riot. Then the rest will join in.” I said. He grinned a little trying to hide it. “Why are you smiling? This is serious.” I asked. “It’s just….you're beautiful when you're mad.” he replied. I walked over to him. Stared at him for a second before I went for it. A big step. I kissed him, but then quickly backed away.

He looked at me with his brown eyes. I blushed. Then he came towards me telling me it was okay, he felt the same. We ended up sitting there for hours on how we were going to do it. I got home around one in the morning. In a month. The day we would reveal. We were ready. Time decided to move slowly for me. We didn’t go to school because we didn’t have school. I asked mom if I could leave for a little bit, and she allowed it. I met him at the pond but he had a friend. We both pitched in with money we had made and we hired a scientist. It took a lot but we did it. He looked confused. But he didn’t argue.

“We have to stop her,” he yelled. “I have an Idea sir but it might not work.” his assistant said. “What is it?” he asked madly. The assistant cowered down at his tone. “We could torture the boy. They seem to like each other sir.” he responded. “That's perfect,” he said. “Get the boy. NOW!,” he yelled dramatically.

Aiden sat on the bench at the park while Britney and the scientist did their thing. He was eating some lunch before a rag was pulled over his nose. He couldn’t breathe and things began to blacken. His lungs thirsty for air. Begging for it. Finally the rag was released. But he was only able to lay restlessly on the ground as he was being taken away.

I stayed with the scientist so he could run tests. But soon I decided to go check on Aiden. But what I was checking on wasn’t him at all. It was a note left for me. It read:

Dear Britney, your boyfriend won’t die if you do one simple thing. Stop revealing our secrets. If you knew it all you would know the reason for this inconvenience. If you don’t decide in thirty minutes, you know. Meet at the fountain in the park.

I was stunned. This couldn’t be happening. Should I kill the few to save the many? What was there to do? Would they really do all of that for one weapon? I couldn’t decide. This is so messed up. I had set a timer for thirty minutes just in case, and it rang. I gulped, as I walked over to the fountain. He was there. His hands tied behind his back. His mouth was covered. He was struggling to get free. “So which do you choose?”