• Sara's footsteps echoed down the eerily quiet streets as she ran through town. Where was everyone? It was almost noon and yet everything was quiet. She rushed into her house and everything looked normal other than no one being there. There were still plates on the table from breakfast, no doubt because her mom and rushed out of the house for work. The TV in the living room was still on with the channel 9 News playing, probably from her father. Where was her family? Why did it seem as if they had just disappeared in the middle of their daily routine?

    She went up stairs to her room to see it completely stripped down. WHere was all her stuff? Her bed didn't have sheets on it anymore and her bookcase that had been full to bursting with her prized books was empty. Her computer wasn't there anymore either as well as any of her school things. Even her clothes and shoes were gone. What the heck was going on?

    Sara dug into her pocket and took out her cell phone. "This is just some practical joke that mom and dad are playing on me. Yeah, that's right just some joke," she muttered to herself as she started to dial her mom's work. Her phone didn't even ring and she saw that she didn't have any signal. No signal, in an upstairs room by a window? What was going on?

    She rushed down stairs and picked up the land line. There wasn't even a dial tone and Sara slammed it back down in frustration. She went back up stairs but this time went into her parents' room. She sighed in slight relief as everything in here was still the same. She looked around for some kind of clue to what had happened to her room. She rummaged through draws but didn't find anything until she looked at the bedside table.

    Stuffed into a draw with one corner sticking out was an envelope. Curious Sara carefully opened the envelope and pulled out the note. She stared at it in disbelief as she realized it was in her hand writing. She as she read it she couldn't remember ever writing this. It read:
    Hey rentals,
    I'm not going to be around this afternoon. I gotta go meet someone. Don't worry about me if you don't see me tomorrow either. I'll find my way back here, no problem.
    love ya,
    Sara


    Sara looked at it confused. Where was she planning on going and who was she supposed to meet? And her greeting, she never called her parents rentals unless she was worried about something and wanted to make light of it. She groaned as she sat back on her parents' bed and rested her head in her hands. It felt like she should know what was going on, but what was it? Something told her that whatever she had been planning on doing was very bad.

    She went over to the closet and saw that everything was still normal there. A box in the corner though caught her eye. It had writing on the top that simply said, "Sara." She quickly took the box and put in on the bed. She was almost reluctant to open it. It could tell her what was going on but what if she didn't like the answer? She pushed away her doubts, she had to know.

    She opened hte box with shaking hands. Inside the box where some of her more important items that had been missing from her room. There was her bracelet that her godmother had given her before she died; and there was her diary that she had had since she had started high school last year. She picked up her diary and opened up to yesterday's date. She always wrote in her diary, everyday right before she went to bed. It was a habit and nowadays if she forgot she wouldn't be able to sleep.

    She stared in shock at the blank white page. She always wrote in her diary no exception, so why hadn't she yesterday? SHe quickly turned it to the page before and sighed alittle when she saw words there. Sara scanned the page, hoping there would be some hint as to what had happened to her life. She paused when she came to the last part of her entry.

    I'm meeting him tonight. The thought of seeing him, hearing him, even smelling him gives me the creeps and freezes me with terror. But I have to go. He says he has some info that I won't be able to live without. I have no idea what he's talking about, but I don't know what he'll do if I don't show up. I know what he's capable of and I'm scared of what he might do. I have a bad feeling about this meeting but what can I do? I hope I won't regret this.(830)


    At the bottom was a time and place of her meeting. She searched her mind but she couldn't remember who she had been planning on meeting. And she couldn't think of anyone that effected like whoever she had described in the entry. It looked like she had met that guy yesterday, which was the same day that she hadn't written in her diary. Whatever had happened must have had something to do with that meeting. Maybe she could get a clue of what had happened if she went to the meeting place.

    Sara stood resolutely and walked out of her house. She headed toward the edge of town where she had been supposed to meet this guy. Ironically the meeting place was someplace she had always held as a special place in her past. She stopped a moment when the palce came in site. It was a cliff edge with a solitary oak a few feet from the edge. She had loved to draw the sunsets from this vantage point and had even set up a bench so that she could sit easier here.

    As she drew closer to the tree, she thought she saw something next to the tree. There lying on the ground next to the tree was a gun. Her eyes widened when she saw that on the tree was a splattering of blood. What had happened here? She felt dizzy and almost fell back onto the bench and the bottom of the tree. She forced herself to get up and look around alittle more. She needed ot figure out what had happened.

    She moved toward the edge of the cliff and looked down. At the bottom she could see broken branches and displaced rocks. Had she fallen? Was that why she couldn't remember anything, because she hit her head and got amnesia? She turned back toward the tree. There was still something important missing from this situation, she could feel it.

    She looked down at the gun that was badly hidden next to the bench. She had seen it coming over here but she still didn't know what it meant. She knelt down next to the gun and rummaged through the grass clumps around it. She felt something rough and hemplike brush her fingers and recoiled. She had to force herself to find it again and take it out of the grass for a better look.

    It was a rope, old and torn. It was brown with age and looked as if it had been stained with something. Her eyes widened as she realized what it was. In a rush it all came back to her.

    His name was Jason, and he had raped her. He had tied her down to this very bench with this rope and raped her. She had just finally gotten up the courage to press charges against him and that's when he had contacted her. He had threatened her with some information that would change her life. In reality it had changed her life. He had showed up with a gun and shot her. End the problem right there, were his words for the situation. But she had turned the tables on him. When he thought she was dead she had pushed him and sent him fallng to his death at the bottom of the cliff.

    She had died. Sara realized that she was in pergatory, waiting to pass on. She jumped as someone touched her on the shoulder. "You've remembered what happened. It's time to go," the grim reaper said to her kindly.

    Sara looked up at the reaper calmly. She wasn't scared for some reason but she thought that this seemed right. As she stood and started to leave with the grim reaper, she grinned at the cliche she was 'living' out. Death really was the beginning.