Scoundrel

"oh! Help!"

When we arrived we saw Candy. She's in the quagmire. She tries to grab the branches of the trees, but she couldn't reach them, slipping, sinking deeper and deeper.

"Don't move!" Michael grabbed a tree trunk with one hand, and held out the other one towards Candy. "Grab my hands!"

"I can't reach!" Using the last of her strength Candy jerked forward, closer to the shore. Mike stoop lower.

"Just a little more!" One more push, and Michael grabbed Candy by the hand, then the second one, and pulled her out to dry land. Candy fell on the ground with exhaustion, breathing heavily. She was squeezing in a stranglehold some Violet flower. They were the same as the one I saw beside Sam when Luke and I found him.

A familiar smell hit my nose, the flower smells pleasant but now, they were associated only with death. I tried to get rid of the obsession, tried not to look at the flowers and should focus on my friend. Candy was trembling with fear and shock.

"Candy, are you alright?" I wanted to calm her down, but she pushed me away.

"If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have fallen into the stupid swamp!" She hissed angrily.

"What are you talking about?" Shouldn't she be saying thank you?

"You called me here!" She screamed again.

I frowned slightly and said with a slightly annoyed tone. She could avoid the embarrassment in a different way but she can do better than framing me. "I didn't call you anywhere."

"How do! Do you think I'm an idiot?" She hissed again.

Michael looked at me then back at Candy. "She's been with us here for quite a while, Candy. Sarah did not call out to anyone."

Candy turned to Micheal then to Adele, looking for reassurance in their faces. "But I....heard..." Candy trembled and wrapped her hands around herself.

"You need to go home, let's go." I helped Candy up.

I returned my friend to her home late in the evening. At home, she kept repeating that it was me who called her towards the swamp. 'she's in shock. No wonder.'

On my way home, I kept thinking about everything that had happened since the day I arrived at Saintfour. 'This town is small, but there's more going on here than in Baltimore...'

I shook my head and took in everything around me. 'And the scariest part is that I'm getting used to it.'

When I reached home, I heard some strange noises. I listened...

BAM! BAM!

Something broke. There were screams.

"Mom?!" I rushed inside the house and looked around but there were no signs of her. "Mom!"

CRASH!

Glass shattered throughout the living room. I heard mom voice from the bedroom. "Scoundrel! Liar! Cheater!"

CRASH!

Mom grabbed the dishes, silverware—anything within arm's reach—and threw them at my dad. He tried to dodge the best he could.

"Stop it!" He said trying to calm mom down.

I stepped into the room. "What is going on here?"

Mom abruptly turned around, nervously straightening her hair.

"Here's what!" She handed me a letter.

"A subpoena?" I looked at sad with complicated gaze.

"I'll explain everything!" He sights. This whole stuff is clearly stressing him out.

Mom sneered and turned to me. "He is been accused of complicity in Money laundering!" Mom collapsed in the sofa and bursts into tears.

Dad sat on his knees before her, Trying to look her in the eyes, but she turned away, angrily shrugging her shoulders.

"Dad, is it true?" I asked after taking a deep breath.

"Everyone makes mistakes..." He started with that cliche line but Mom cuts him off. "But your mistake will cost our family everything!"

I looked at Mom then back at dad. "Can you go to jail for that?"

Even though I asked my dad, it's my mom that answered. "They'll lock him up forever!"

Dad turned to her, as if worried that It'll scare me. "Stop talking nonsense. I did it for your sake, and now you accost me with this? You should be thanking me, you ungrateful..."

Dad stopped mid way into his cursing, came up to me and kissed my forehead, hugging me. He wanted to show fatherly affection, but it honestly seemed ostentatious. I barely restrained myself from pushing him away. "We'll manage somehow." He whispered against my hears but Mom still heard it anyways.

"Somehow? We just got out of Baltimore and moved into this hole!" Mom was trembling from the emotions. She looked pale and emaciated, and seeing her like this my anger for dad only multiplied.

"Dad, you should have told us about all this before!" I finally pushed him away .

"I don't owe you anything, my private affairs died not concern you! And don't get involved in this! This is an issue for the adults to deal with!" Dad screamed at me too. The stress is getting to all of us.

"Don't talk to her like that!"

I ignored mom voice and kept quiet for some seconds trying to hold back my tears. "Because of you, we cast everything away and came all the way out here! And now..." I did not complete my statement as my dad recoiled, pacing nervously around the room, and then threw his hands in the air.

"I'm not going to prison! I promise you that. If we sell this house, we can hire some lawyers..."

"No." Mom said. Even though it pained her to let her husband go to jail she stood up for herself.

"What?" Even Dad was surprised, he thought she'll just throw a little tantrum and agree but her voice is resolute.

"We are not selling a Damm thing. You got yourself into this mess—you'll get yourself out." This is one of the times mom make resolute decisions. And I have to support her. It's either I become homeless with an uncaring father or I stay here and support Mom and have a bright future with a dad In jail. And I know which one I'm going to pick.

"I have to agree with mom.

Dad's eyes were bloodshot. Anger made his face flushed , and his hands clutched so tightly into the back of the chair that his knuckles went white. Silence fell on the living room. Everyone was thinking through their own place in the matter, and what would happen next.

For some reason, I got the feeling that it had reached a point of no return—Everything will be different from now on. A wall has suddenly risen between my parents, but will they be able to tear it down as quickly as they built it?

"Sarah, could you leave your father and I alone for a minute?" I looked at the tense atmosphere between them and nodded dryly.

"Sure, mom..."