This school really was a dumpster fire. And that wasn’t just a joke that the seniors came up with.

  Which would explain why she was standing at the back of the school, watching a group of boys throw gasoline and matches into a school dumpster. Just a regular Tuesday morning, right?

  “You guys are going to get into so much trouble when you get caught.” Summer called.

  “But you wouldn’t rat us out, would you?” one of them yelled back.

  Summer just rolled her eyes.

  This wasn’t the first time she had caught someone doing something wrong, and in some cases, downright illegal.

  Before they got any farther, though, a loud siren echoed off the brick wall in front of them.

  “It’s Officer Coates! Scram!” the leader of the boys shouted.

  A few minutes later all of them were rounded up and put in the back of a police car. Officer Coates dusted off his jeans and sighed.

  “Is that all of them, Summer?” he muttered.

  “Yes, Aaron. Down to the smallest midget.” she chuckled.

  “Sorry that you have to help us out with this. We should be getting better at realizing when something is going on, but it doesn't look like that’s going to happen anytime soon.”

  Summer smiled up at him.

  “It’s alright. I love helping you guys catch perps.”

  Aaron laughed at her antics. She had been helping catch kids and getting them thrown in juvie for months, and the cops couldn't have been happier.

  A sudden thumping interrupted what Officer Coates was going to say next.

  “Well… I better get these boys to the station. It was good seeing you.” he said.

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  “Good seeing you too.” Summer muttered.

  *   *   *

  “Finally home…” Summer sighed.

  But before she could even set down her backpack, a small shape knocked her down.

  “You’re finally home!” a small voice screeched.

  It was her little sister, Autumn.

  “Hiya, Autumn. How was school today? Please tell me you didn’t get into trouble.”

  The little girl smiled deviously, clearly stating that she had indeed gotten into trouble. The only thing that was unclear was how much.

  “Don’t even try to ask her what she did.” another voice chuckled, “She has yet to tell me, and I’ve been asking for the past hour.”

  The voice came from their older brother, Liam. He had been taking care of them while their parents were on a long business trip.

  “And I never will.” Autumn said with an evil laugh.

  Summer just sighed and walked up to her room. As she opened the door, a small shape jumped onto her chest.

  “Hi Bella.” Summer said fondly.

  The small white cat purred as she scratched her between the ears.

  She walked over to her desk, Bella following right behind her. Summer opened her laptop and pulled up the recent news. The first thing that was brought up was a new gossip story about the Realm.

  The story mentioned the recent attack on one of the animatronics. Someone had sneaked a dagger into the park and attacked the Astraeus character, causing immense damage.

  But the strangest thing happened when the dagger was removed. An odd purple substance leaked out of the wound, slowly pooling under the broken animatronic.

  The security guards had quickly evacuated the scene, covering up any trace that Astraeus had been broken at all.

  A soft meow came from underneath the desk and Summer bent down to look at Bella.

  The cat was backed up so far, she might as well have merged with the wall. Bella’s hackles were raised and she started to hiss at something behind her.

  Hello Miss Smith…

  The voice sent a chill down her spine.

  So you do remember me, don’t you? It’s kind of hard to forget.

  “Go away!” she whispered to the wind.

  Your family can’t run from your past forever. Just you wait, someday soon everything will fall apart, no matter how hard you try.