OBSESSION

[Annie Camden]

My first story:

OBSESSION - Part 1

“Hi Mrs. Camden.” Crystal said as she and Lucy were entering the house. “Well, hello there, how was school today, you two?” Crystal, a big smile on her face said “It was nice, we had a pop quiz today in math, and I think I did a wonderful job!” Annie looked at her daughter Lucy, and you how do you think you did?” “Well, I think I did ok.” She replied. Annie started to reach for a plate of cookies, when Crystal saw what she was doing, she got it for Annie. “Well, thank you so much Crystal, you are so helpful to me. Now, take the cookies, and you and Lucy have a nice time together.” “We will, Ms. Camden.” “Hey mom, do you think that Crystal can stay over for dinner?” Annie looked at Crystal “Just as long as you call your father and let him know first, I think it will not be a problem.” The two girls looked at each other, giggled, and then with that, Lucy grabbed her friend by her coat sleeve, and started to walk up the stairs to her bedroom.

Annie was a little bit puzzled by that, but figured that it was already set up, and they just needed her approval. So, she started to prepare the dinner when all of us sudden Eric snuck up behind her and gave her a hug. She was startled, but then turned her head a little bit to the left to give him a kiss. “Well, hi there.” She said after they were finished kissing. “Hello, my beautiful wife. Sorry I scared you, when I came in, but, I just couldn’t help myself.” Said Eric. Annie laughed and then said “Lucy’s friend Crystal is here and is staying for dinner. Mary and Matt are at friends house tonight.” “Lucy and Crystal sure are great friends huh, Crystal comes here so often, I almost forget that she isn’t a Camden.” Annie laughed at the remark.

IN LUCY’S BEDROOM

Lucy and Crystal were in her bedroom listening to music, and talking, yep, you guessed it, about BOYS! Crystal said “Lucy, I hope that you know how lucky you are to have a mother as nice and loving as Annie.” Lucy was going to answer that but then Crystal quickly changed the subject, she asked “do you want me to go downstairs and get us something to drink? I’m sure that your mother can help me find something.” Lucy said “That’s ok, we both can go – but first, let me run in and just check on Ruthie, since I have not seen or even heard her.” “Ok.” Crystal said, so it’s settled, I will meet you downstairs in the kitchen.

IN RUTHIE’S BEDROOM

Lucy opened up her sister’s door very quietly, to see what she was doing. She found her at her table coloring a horse. When she heard the door open, she looked up. “Hi” she said. “Hi Ruthie, I’m just checking up on you, since I didn’t see you when we got home.” “Yea, I know. Mom told me to stay out of your way, since your friend, Crystal is over.” “She did?” Lucy was puzzled, normally Annie doesn’t tell Ruthie to stay out of their way, but she kind of was glad. Ruthie shrugged “I really don’t like her.” Ah! So maybe Ruthie confided in Annie and was afraid that she would say something to hurt her friend’s feelings. “Well, Ruthie, why don’t you like her, she hasn’t said anything nasty to you, she’s a very nice person.” “Yea, a little too nice. Have you noticed whenever she is here, she is always talking about mom, and when she sees her, she gets this big smile on her face.” Lucy thought about it and said “Yea, I know, she’s just a nice person, that’s all.” Ruthie shrugged and said “ok” and went back to her coloring of the horse.

[Annie Camden]

PART 2

DOWNSTAIRS, BY THE KITCHEN.

Crystal came down the stairs really quietly. She looked around, saw no one, and took an envelope out of her jacket that she still had on. She went to the counter were the mail was still, it seemed the Camden’s didn’t look at their mail yet, and slipped the envelope which, was addressed to Annie, with the rest of the mail. She smiled, and then turned around and went to open the refrigerator to look for something for her and Lucy. Annie came into the room at that time, and smiled at Crystal, and then started to gather the bowls to set the table. Crystal noticed what she was doing, put the drinks down and offered to help. Annie said no, that she was ok.” Crystal insisted that she should help her, and Annie back down and gave her the bowls to set the table. As Annie went to stir the pasta that they were having, out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Crystal kept looking at her. She was a little uncomfortable with that, so, she said “Crystal, when your done, could you please run up and get Lucy and Ruthie, to come down to dinner now, we are almost ready.” “Sure, thing Mrs. Camden, I will be happy to do that for you.” Was the response. And after she was finished she went back upstairs.

Eric came in, in his sweats and walked over to see what was in the mail “Bill, Bill, Bill, hmmm, what is this?” Annie looked at him “I know, there are a lot of bills in there today. I have been trying to raise the checking account, since I kind of knew that they were coming.” He shook his head “No, this one has your name on it, but it doesn’t look like it came in the mail, it doesn’t have a stamp on it.” Annie put the sthingy down that she was using, and took the envelope that Eric was holding out for her. She opened it, and started to read the letter. It said:

Dear Ms. Camden,

I really like coming over to your house, I do like your
Daughter, Lucy, but the real reason I like coming over
Is that I get to see you all of the time.

Is it possible that we can be friends, and go out, and
Talk on the phone like I do with Lucy? Please
Think about this before you answer.

Also, our difference in ages doesn’t bother me.


Please don’t tell anyone about this letter. As a matter
Of fact, please, throw it in the trash.

Thank you,
Crystal.


Annie read the note, and looked at Eric. She handed him the note to read. Her and Eric well, they don’t keep secrets from each other. After Eric read it, he looked at his wife “What are you going to do?” She shrugged “I guess I will have to have a little talk with Crystal after dinner, alone, the two of us. This is flattering, that one of my children’s friends wants to be my friend, but this just can’t work. I was getting this feeling that she wanted a friendship, with all the little nice things she has been doing for me when she came over. It just wasn’t the same with her other friends, a hello, and then that’s it, I don’t see them. But, with Crystal it’s just different. She tries to spend as much time around me as possible, and the gifts that I get from her. I should have known something was up, I just thought she was a nice girl, that’s all.” Eric nodded his head. “Yea, I remember the earrings, and perfume she gave you.” Annie nodded her head “I returned them to her. That caused quite a commotion. She started to cry, and she ran out of the house, and didn’t come back. I never told Lucy what happened, as we discussed. Lucy tried calling her back, but she never returned it for a while. Then, she got out of that faze, and started coming around again and now, I get this note from her. Oh! that was such a long time ago, I thought everything was back to normal, but then I guess I was wrong.” Eric took her in his arms, hugged her, and said ‘You are an amazing person, Annie, and I’m sure the whole world would want to be friends with you.” Annie looked at her husband and said “the whole world, huh, great!” and they laughed. Annie had made up her mind, and was determined to talk to Crystal after dinner, to get this mess dealt with. She was feeling a little uncomfortable at the moment.

Crystal, Lucy and Ruthie came running down the stairs. Crystal immediately went over to Annie and asked “Is it possible for me to sit next to you?” Ruthie moaned a little and then said “No, I always sit next to my mom at dinner, you sit next to Lucy, after all, don’t forget, you’re her friend, not my mothers.” Crystal looked at Annie to see what she was going to say “Why don’t you sit next to Lucy.” Was Annie’s response. Annie put the food on the table, and tried not to glance over at either Crystal nor Eric.

“Wow, that was great” explained Crystal as she finished her ice cream for desert. “Thank you, why don’t you guys go upstairs? Oh, and Crystal, what time are you due home?” asked Annie “I guess I should go now, it is getting kind of late, and I have things around the house to do before school tomorrow.” Crystal and Lucy started to get up, and Crystal ran up to Lucy’s room to get her belongs. Eric picked up some dishes and went to the sink. He whispered in Annie’s ear ‘I think you should drive her home.” Annie was going to protest, but the girls were back. Annie quickly said “are you read, Eric will drive you home now.” Eric said “Geesh, Annie, I thought I told you, I have to make that phone call, yes, for the church, I have to go now.” He practically ran out of the room, leaving Annie standing there with a silly look on her face. “Yea, thanks a lot, my sweet hubby.” She said under her breath. Well, if she was going to get this done, she better do it now. “Ok, Lucy, you finish cleaning the dishes, and Crystal and I will leave now.” Crystal said goodnight to Lucy, and Lucy noticed that Crystal was really happy that Annie was taking her home.

[Annie Camden]

Part 3
IN ANNIE’S CAR

“Thanks for driving me home, Mrs. Camden” said Crystal. “Your welcome, but there is a reason why I wanted to drive you, and I asked Lucy to stay home.” “Ah,” she begins, “you got my letter, didn’t you.” She nodded her head. “I am flatter, truly I am that you want to be my friend, but, honey, it can’t work. I like you, truly I do, but I’m in a different position in my life right now, and your just beginning your life. You will look on this and laugh.” Crystal shrugged her shoulder “I gave you some time, I though that you would come around, I guess I will have to take another approach.” Annie pulled into Crystal’s driveway. She knew the way by heart, and now, remembering all of the times that Crystal demanded that Annie drove her home, claiming she had a problem with a girlfriend that she knew, and wanted to talk to her, alone, about it. Annie could have slapped herself, now, realizing that friend was HER that Crystal was really talking about. “Have a nice night, we will talk about this more I have to get you to understand” Crystal grabbed her belongs and said “You are right, we ARE going to talk about this more, and you will change your mind, I promise you will.” And was gone, leaving Annie even a little more uncomfortable.

AT THE CAMDEN HOUSE AGAIN

Annie walked into her house, hung her keys on the key rack, and went right to the cleaned up kitchen table, sat down, and started to bang her head against the table. Eric saw her pull up, so he came out of his study to see how her talk went, saw her banging her head and replied “Well, it went that well huh??” She turned around, and Eric saw that she really was scared. He could see the glazed look in her eyes. He immediately went over to her, and gave her a hug, and kissed her, and just held her for a couple of minutes. He could tell that she was starting to cry. “Why are you crying?” he asked her. She responded “I just have this feeling I can’t shake that something is going to happen.” He started to laugh, then stopped when she gave him a dirty look. He said to her, “Annie, my dear, she’s just a child. What harm could a child do?” She shook her head “Eric, Eric, you didn’t hear her when I dropped her off, what she said to me.” She stopped talking, and cried once again. “What did she say to you that makes you so upset like this Annie?” After Annie was calmed down by Eric, massaging her back, which she really likes when she is upset, she was able to say “When I dropped her off at home, I told her that we will talk about this more – she said you are right, we ARE going to talk about this more, and you will change your mind, I promise you will.”
“That is enough, I’m calling her parents and maybe I can get this finished. In the mean time, I don’t want her here, nor do I want Lucy to talk to her on the phone. Understand, what is her phone number?” Annie shook her head, “Lucy never speaks about her mother, just her father – I don’t know her situation, Eric interrupted her “But I intend to find out, they go to our church, so I’ll check the family information.” Annie interrupted him “no, no, let me handle all of this, someone I was involved, I don’t know what I did or said, but I will get myself out of it, right now, I just want to go to sleep. It’s after 9:00, and I’m tired. I’m going to look in on Lucy and Ruthie who should be asleep because it’s a school night, and then I’m turning in.” Eric nodded “I will be there soon.”





AT CRYSTAL’S HOUSE

Crystal walked into her home, still with the happy grin on her face, just because she was with Annie. She walked around looking for her father, and found a note on the table. Going to be late, don’t wait up for me, love, Dad. She took the note, crumbled it up, and threw it in the trash. Yep, going to be late once again, huh? He probably is at one of his girlfriend’s house. She walked over to a picture of her mother, and sighed. How she missed her mother. She died when Crystal was young, her father, after his morning for her, decided to go out and date again. Crystal didn’t like that idea at all. He was hardly at home with her. That was why she really liked the Camden family. She wished that her mother could have been just like Mrs. Camden. Oh, how she wished she was a Camden! Her life would be so different then. Crystal started to slowly walk around the house, made sure that everything was locked, and then went into her bedroom to get ready to go to bed. When she was all prepared, she went over to her night stand, took a picture out of the drawer, and said “Have a good night, Annie, my dear, we will see each other soon, kissed it, and put it away.” Then she fell asleep, of course, with that silly grin on her face.

The next day, Crystal was getting ready to go to school. She was excited that today was Friday, and that the weekend was coming. She was going to try to invite herself over to a sleepover at the Camden’s – she just had to think of an excuse that would let Annie let her stay over. As she was preparing her breakfast, her father came out of his room, looking really happy. “Hiya, Crystal. I have to go away for the weekend, so will you mind being alone?” she smiled “oh no, Dad, you do what you have to do, and I will do what I have to do. She had an idea. “Will I see you when I get home from school today?” He shook his head “no, I am going to be leaving as soon as I get myself ready.” She laughed to herself and thought, well, that might take all morning and afternoon. He was so slow in getting ready for anything. He gave her a peck on the cheek, and left. She figured he was going to be away for the weekend with his girlfriend. Oh well, that made her free to figure out her next move and what she was going to do to Mrs. Camden.

[Annie Camden]

Part 4

THE NEXT MORNING

Annie’s alarm clock went off. She went downstairs, started to make breakfast for her family. After she was done, she yelled up the stairs “COME ON EVERYONE, BREAKFAST IS READY!” Eric, Ruthie, Lucy, Matt & Mary all came down the stairs, kissed her good morning, and then sat down to eat their pancakes. They knew something was up, she only made pancakes when she was upset, but they didn’t ask her about it, at least not yet. Mary said that she would drive them in, while Matt said he had some things to do before he went to school, and he left the house. Mary packed up the kids, and took them to school. Eric helped her clean up, and they talked a little bit. “How are you?” he asked. “Fine” she said. “Did you sleep well?” “No” she replied. When she starts with those answers, he knows to leave her alone. He tried to hug her, she quickly got out of his way. It broke Eric’s heart to see her like this. So fragile. He hated this, and decided to do some background checking on Crystal. He needed to know her last name. He didn’t want to do this, go into Lucy’s room, but, he had to find her address book, to help Annie. He wanted her back, he didn’t want her upset, and if he could talk to Crystal’s father, he thought he could solve all of this. After Annie was done cleaning, she said she needed some fresh air, and went outside to talk a walk. Eric used this time to go into his daughter’s room and after some searching (hopefully, he put the items in the correct place so that it doesn’t look like anyone was searching) found what he was looking for. He started from the beginning and checked everyone’s first name, looking for Crystal’s name. He found the address and phone number it, was Rissall. He put the book away, ran down the stairs, left a note for Annie that he had some church work to do, and that he would call her when he returned to the church’s office. He was going to have a chat with Mr. Rissall, and have this taken care of.

AT CRYSTAL’S HOUSE AGAIN

“Can I help you?” a man’s voice said from the door “I’m Rev. Camden. You go to my church, I would like to talk to you about your daughter, Crystal.” “Is she in trouble again?” the voice said ‘No, but please, I really need to talk to you.” The door opened, and Mr. Rissall let Mr. Camden in. Mr. Rissall said “It’s 10:00 now, She’s at school” “I wanted to talk to you.” “what about?” Mr. Rissall asked. “Your daughter is making my wife very uncomfortable with talk about friendship. My wife talked to her, told her that it just wouldn’t work and she hoped that the situation would have died right then and there, but she said something when Annie dropped her off, that completely took her off guard, and since that night, my wife just isn’t the same. She is scared.” Mr. Rissall said “Scared? Of Crystal, now, come on Rev. Camden, she is just a child, what could she have said now?” Rev. Camden said “What could she have said now? Has this kind of thing happened before?” Mr. Rissall said “Yes, a couple of years ago, before we moved to Glen Oak. She liked another one of her friends’ mother, and she kept giving her gifts, and making nice remarks to her, including trying to help in any way that she can, calling the house and asking for the mother, asking silly household questions, since she doesn’t have a mother. My wife died when she was young.” “I’m sorry” said Eric. “Your probably wondering what happened to her friends’ mother? Crystal was like a nightmare to her, bothering her with stupid questions, giving her gifts – the wife, I rather not say any names, went completely mad. Her family told us that if she didn’t stop they would see us in court. It didn’t. It got worse. She started to follow the women all over now. It was a bad time in our life. She was completely obsessed with this women. I felt helpless. I went to a support group, saw doctors, they all said just to wait it out, she will get over it. She didn’t. We moved, we moved here. And now your telling me she’s starting all over again with your wife? Please tell your wife I said to be careful. There is no telling what she can do. I will talk to her. I don’t think she could harm your wife, but, keep a close eye on her, ok? I can’t believe she is doing this once again.

THE NEXT DAY, SATURDAY

AT THE CAMDEN HOUSE

Rev. Camden and Annie were at the kitchen table drinking coffee by 7:00 am. Both of them today got up early, because neither one of them got any sleep. Annie was dressed, but Eric wasn’t. After she finished her coffee, she went over to the sink to clean her cup, and she decided she wanted to go out for a walk. “Eric, I think I am going to take a walk – the weather is so beautiful today.” He smiles “Not as beautiful as you, though, my dear.” She smiles at him, goes over to his chair, gives him a great big hug and a great big kiss. “I will not be gone very long, I just want to go around the neighborhood to see what’s going on.” Eric looked a little uncomfortable “Annie, remember what I told you about last night at Mr. Rissall’s house?” “I do, but I can’t let her control my life, plus she is on the other side of town, what harm could she do to me, on this side of town?” “I would feel better if I went with you, Annie.” “Eric, please, I just want everything to be normal, I’m only going to be gone for a little bit anyway, plus, I will have my cell phone on if anything happens to me.” All of a sudden, Eric jumped up from the chair, almost knocking it over, grabbed her, and hugged her hard and began to stroke her hair. His voice cracked as he said “Annie, I don’t know what I would do if I ever lost you – I would loose a huge part of myself, I would go crazy, and I probably wouldn’t want to go on.” “Eric,” Annie begins “Nothing, my sweet husband, will happen to me now. It isn’t my time yet, but when it is and our good LORD calls me home, please, you have to go on – for the kids, you can’t fall apart, just as I can’t fall apart if something happens to you. You know, promise me right now, that when it is my time, you will be strong for the children.” He nodded “I promise” “Good.” Annie says “Now, I will do the same for you.” She smiled, kissed him, looked deep into his eyes, and saw that he was ok, and opened the back door, and left the house.

[Annie Camden]

Part 6

AT CRYSTAL’S GRANDPARENTS HOUSE

Annie was coming to now, Crystal heard her moaning. She was excited that she was now coming back to her. “Mrs. Camden” she said, “how do you feel?” She looked at Crystal “how do you think I feel? WHAT DID YOU DO TO ME?” She screamed at Crystal. “I have to go home, how long have I been out?” “Today is Sunday, and its morning.” Crystal said. Annie moaned again, tried to get up, then noticed that she was tied up. “What the!” She said “I had to tie you up so that you don’t get the idea to go home, since, your home now.” “I’m what?” she said “Yep, your home, with me and this is my grandparents house where you will stay for good.” Annie looked at her “you have got to be kidding me, I’m not staying with you, I don’t even want to be in the same room as you, let alone even talk to you for one hour you are a very sick person who needs help, QUICKLY!” After Annie finished saying that, she knew that what she did was wrong. Crystal got this look on her face and Annie was very scared. Who knows what else she would do to her. Crystal took her hand and slapped Annie across the face. She then took her hands and started to choke Annie. Annie saw her whole life in her mind. She thought that this was it, that her time was up. She thought of her children, her husband, that she would never see again. All of a sudden, as it was getting hard for her to breath, she heard a voice in her head, saying “pretend you are dead.” So, she gasped, and then she closed her eyes, and slumped her head down to her chest. Crystal stopped, kissed Annie once again and just sat right next to her dead body.

Since Crystal wasn’t in her right mind, and she thought that she really did kill Annie, she dried her tears, and got up, and left the house! Annie woke up, and stopped holding her breath. Thanking the LORD that Crystal did not stay very long, since she was holding her breath, to make it look like she was dead. Annie thought to herself that if Crystal stayed any longer, she really would be dead. Shaking her head to clear that thought, she tried to get out of the binds that Crystal put her in.

Lucy called her best friend, but at Crystal’s house, no one answered the phone. She did get the answering machine, but, she really wanted to see her face to face, wanted to get the comfort that she knew that she would get from her. So, she snuck downstairs, and decided to go get her bike, and go see Crystal.

Lucy got to Crystal’s house, and put her bike next to the door. She rang the bell, no one answered. Funny, Lucy thought, why wouldn’t she be home, her father was away, where was she?? All of a sudden, she saw her coming up the driveway. “What are you doing here?” She asked. “I needed to see you – something has happened to my mother, I am so upset, and I just wanted to be with you, since you know me so well.” Lucy said “Oh, come here, Lucy” and the two girls hugged each other.

AT THE CAMDEN HOUSE

The Camden crew started to get up and start their day, without their Mother’s smiling face. Eric still was in their bedroom, he hardly got any sleep. He had a hunch that his darling Annie was at Crystal’s but he couldn’t go on his hunch. All of a sudden, the door opened a little bit “Dad?” Ruthie asked “Come in, Ruthie, Come in.” Ruthie got up on the bed and looked at her father, who still had the remains of tears on his face. “Dad” she began “I think I know what happened to mom, I think Crystal did something.” Her father was really curious about why she too, thought it might be Crystal “Why do you think that, honey?” “I overheard you guys on many several occasions talking about her. How she wanted to be friends with her, and the gifts a while back that mom got, from Crystal. It just wasn’t normal. And, how she always wanted to help mom out, and even when she was here at the house, if she could get her way, she would have just followed mom all over the place.” “How do you know this?” her father asked. She looked at him “Lucy told me that she kind of felt annoyed when Crystal came over, she had to practically drag Crystal upstairs, just to get her out of mom’s way.” “oh” came Eric’s remark. I think I am going to go over and visit with Crystal now. And he got up, made sure that the kids had something for breakfast, and ran upstairs, got himself ready and said again “Hang in there, Mrs. Camden, help is on the way!” and ran down, and asked the kids to stay home just in case she should call home.






AT CRYSTAL’S HOUSE

“Lucy, I’m so, so sorry to hear all about that.” Crystal said. “Thanks” Lucy said. “Let me treat you to some breakfast at the diner, and we will talk more about this, come, get your bike, let’s go.” Ice Cream? Lucy thought, her mother was missing, they all thought she was kidnapped, who knows were she is now, was she ok, was she taken care of, was she hurt in any way? All of those questions are in Lucy’s mind, and Crystal wants to go out for breakfast, Lucy could hardly eat, but then, she thought that her mother would want her to eat, so, she took her bike, and followed Crystal to this diner.

[Annie Camden]

Part 7

THE NEXT DAY (MONDAY)
AT THE CAMDEN’S HOUSE

The kids where all the breakfast table, Eric decided to keep them home from school because he wanted them at the house just incase something should happen. Eric, stood up and said “I have called Sergeant Michaels. He is coming over, and I do have a hunch about were your mother is being held against her will.” “No,” he said after the kids tried to talk him into telling them. “I will not tell you because if this is wrong, I don’t want all of us to be embarrassed, me and Sergeant Michaels will be embarrassed enough for all of us.” Lucy looked at her father and said “Good luck, dad, Please, bring mom home to us.” He hugged her “I will”. Right then, the door bell rang, and he went to leave with Sergeant Michaels.

In Sergeant Michael’s car, Eric filled him in again on what happened. “Eric, we will find Annie, we will” And then, they went off to see Mr. Rissall.

AT MR. RISSALL’S HOUSE


Eric and Sergeant Michael pulled up in Mr. Rissall’s driveway. They went to the
door, rang the bell and he answered. “Mr. Camden, what is going on?” he asked while looking at Sergeant Michael. Sergeant Michael answered “We need to talk to you about Crystal – Mrs. Camden is missing, and we have reason to believe….” “I know, you think Crystal has her” They both nodded their heads “I do hope your wrong, come in, come in.” They both sat, and Sargent Michaels started to ask the regular questions, but, one really got Mr. Rissall, and he thought really hard about it. “Sargent, your question if she had a favorite place to hang out, well, um, no, it can’t be.” Eric said “What are you thinking? Please, I need to find my wife before something happens to her, something bad.” “Well, my parents had a house, I didn’t have the heart to sell it after they both died, and sometimes she does go



there, come, let us go and see, but I hope that she isn’t there, either your wife or my daughter.”

AT CRYSTAL’S GRANDPARENTS HOUSE

Crystal came back just to see Annie’s dead body. Annie was trying so hard to get out of the ties that Crystal did to her, she already got the ones off from her arms, with a lot of pain, she really did a great job in tying her up. She was so engrossed in that, that she didn’t hear Crystal come in the house. When she went to the bedroom, for that was were Annie still was in, and saw her moving, and alive she said “Thank god your ok, Annie! I’m so happy that I didn’t harm you.” Annie looked scared once again and stopped trying to escape when she came back into the house. Then, Crystal came and she started to play with Annie’s hair – Annie looked at her really weird. All of a sudden, Annie started to hear a key in a lock, and the door opening, and some voices and one of them was ERIC’S!!! She was so excited, but Crystal was so deep into whatever her little mind was like that she didn’t hear them. So, Annie said, so they would know where she is, Crystal, please, let me go.:” “No she said, your staying with me, right here, so don’t ask me that question anymore.” Right then, the door opened to the bedroom, and there stood Mr. Rissall, Sergeant Michaels, and Eric. “It’s over, Crystal.” Eric said. Crystal went up behind Annie and said “no, she’s mine, you can’t take her.” “You are in serious trouble, young lady, please, don’t make this any harder on your family or yourself, let Annie go, now.” Sargent Michaels replied. “no, like I said, Annie belongs to me, you can’t take her away from me, no no no.” Her father walked toward her, and Crystal afraid that he was going to grab Annie and take her away from her forever, that, she reached into her bag that she still had next to her, on the bed, and pulled out a gun. She raised it to Annie’s back, and shot it. Right then, Annie’s eyes went wide, and looked down, and saw blood, her own blood oozing from a hole in her chest, for the gun went right through, and fell to the ground. Sargent Michaels ran over to Crystal, since now, she had the put the gun on the bed, he read her, her rights, and cuffed her. Mr. Rissall was crying that his daughter actually shot someone. Eric ran over to were Annie fell, and holding her, said “Please, please stay with me, with us, Sargent Michaels, already called for an ambulance, you will make it, you have to be strong, for us.” Eric, started to cry. Annie looked at him, very weakly said “Eric, you must be strong, please go on, but, it has to be without me. I see a beautiful white light, and it’s so calming, and there, oh my, there are my parents. Mom! Dad! I see you, I’m here! It’s me, Annie.” And after she said that, she breathed her last breath, and passed quietly away.

[Annie Camden]

PART EIGHT

Sergeant Michaels went over to Eric, and tried to move him away from Annie’s body. “Eric, you must go, tell your family what happened. As a last offering to Annie, let me take care of the funeral arrangements, you go be with your family, as they need to know, and they need to be with you.” He nodded, got up, looked at Annie one last time, and left the Rissall house. Right after he left, the coroner came to pick up Annie’s body and take her to the funeral home that Sergeant Michels has already picked out. He knew he could get her in because the owner was a friend of his, and deeply cared for the Camden family, as so did the rest of Glen Oak. So, Sergeant Michels gave the coroner, Bill, a business card so he knew what place to go to. He shook his head, and started to cry as he was picking up Annie’s body, and putting her in the body bag. He zipped the bag, and put her in the van, and left to go to the funeral home.

AT THE CAMDEN HOUSE, ONCE AGAIN

It was all over the neighborhood that Annie Camden was gunned down by a teenager that was sick. So many flowers, and food came into the Camden household. The children, after Eric told them what happened, couldn’t believe what they were hearing. Lucy wanted to kill Crystal, just like she killed her mother. She felt so stupid to think that they really were close friends, and look what happened – Lucy didn’t want another best friend for the rest of her life. They now had to get ready and go to their mother’s funeral. Oh, how that thought tortured Lucy, and everyone, especially Eric. He was so gloomy, and who knows what would happen to him without his sole mate. Lucy will have to tell the rest of the kids to keep a close eye on him, since they needed him, especially now.

The bell rang, Lucy went downstairs, meet up with Ruthie, and Matt, hugged them each, while Mary went to see who was at the door. It was another flower arrangement, this time, as Mary went to look at the card, it was from Mr. Rissall. Mary wanted to smash it to peaces, but, she put it on the floor next to the door to see what her father wanted to do with it. Although, she hoped that he would let her smash it.

AT ANGELS ARE AMONG US FUNERAL HOME

As the Camden kids went into the room were their mother was laid out, even in death she was so beautiful. They went up to her casket, and prayed for her soul. Then, one by one, they took their seats. So many friends and relatives and neighbors came to give Annie their last respects, and to give her family their support. Then, all of a sudden, who should walk in but no other then Crystal and Sergeant Micheals. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE” Eric asked. “Give her a minute, Eric.” Sergeant Micheals said. “I am so sorry that I did all of this. I never meant to hurt her one bit. I am besides myself. I’m sick in my mind, Reverend Camden, and I am going to get help. I’m going away to get the help that I need.” “Why did you do it?” Lucy asked. “The truth, I wanted to kidnap your mother, so that she could become mine. I truly loved your mother, and wanted her and my father to get married, and be with me for the rest of my life. I wanted to steal her away from you.” “Where did you get the gun?” Lucy asked “My grandfather, who passed away, was a police officer. I had it with me, I just wanted to threaten Annie with it, I never thought I would use it against her.” And with that, Sergeant Micheals took her, and she left.

THE NEXT DAY, AT THE FUNERAL SERVICE

The church was packed. Annie really touched a lot of people, Eric thought, as the organ’s music filled the air, and the choir was singing Annie’s favorite song. Eric couldn’t keep his eyes off of Annie’s casket. His beautiful wife, taken from him, laying in that cold, cold casket. He started to cry. All of a sudden, he saw a women, dressed in black, and had a hood on, so he couldn’t see her face walk into the church. He was touched that someone that he did not know would come. But, then, all of a sudden she started to walk up to where he was sitting. He became uncomfortable, his first thought was it was Crystal coming that somehow she got out of Sergeant Michaels’ custody and came to the church. She got right in front of him, took the cloak off, and standing right in front of Eric was none other then his – ANNIE CAMDEN!! A yell, and screaming from the kids went out – the church was in an uproar, and Eric, thinking that he was dreaming, went over to this vision, and pinched it. “Hey, that hurt, Eric, come on now, aren’t you going to welcome me home?” Annie said, smiling at him. “My GOD, it’s really you, you are ALIVE!” “Yes, and waiting for you to hug me.” He looked her over, no wound was visible, and she shook her head “I didn’t get shot, since everyone in Glen Oak is here, let me explain everything.” Her children have already surrounded her, this time, crying not in grief but in joy. As a matter of fact, so was the whole church, and Glen Oak too, for that matter. Eric got up from his chair, went over to his wife, and kissed her hard, and long. Then he let her go, and they walked over to the microphone together as…..

[Annie Camden]

Part 9

ANNIE EXPLANS EVERTHING….

“I am so sorry that I had to put everyone through this, making it seem like I was dead. I didn’t want to do this at all, I wanted the police to handle it, but, after learning what I found out about the teenager, Crystal – I had to do what Sergeant Michels asked of me, to stop her.” Annie continued, “Yes, the child is sick in her mind. She was a friend of my daughter, and for some reason became attached to me. She wanted to kidnap me, and keep me as her mother. I also know that she has been arrested on many other times. She even strangled another one of her victims, which landed her in jail. The family, her father and herself went to town to town, driven away because of Crystal and her sick mind. The time in jail, she only served a couple of weeks, and was freed. I had to do something, and I did.” Annie still continued “Yes, it is true, she did fire a real gun, and that bullet did strike me. Not my body though. I had on a special kind of body suit. It had fluid in it. After the bullet went into the suit, the fluid made to look like blood, came oozing out. I pretended to have gotten shot, and fell to the ground. That was tough for me, I did tell my husband to move on with his life, then I was supposed to have died. I really was holding my breath the whole time after that, so no one could see my chest moving. Sergeant Michael (she looked over at the right side of the church, were she saw him sneak in, just in case she needed him to clarify anything) quickly got Eric out of the way, and the cornier quickly came. The coroner, Bill, isn’t a real coroner at all, but a police officer. He knew that I was still alive, and holding my breath. He put my body in the body bag, and zipped it up, leaving a little bit open for me to get air, then we went to Angels Are Among Us Funeral home, where the owner is a friend of Sargent Michaels, and he was also involved in this trap for Crystal. We met Sargent Micheal there at the Funeral home, where he gave me a pill to make my body look like it was sleeping. I had on another suit so that no one can tell that I was still breathing. I could hear though, so I did hear everything that was going on at the Funeral Home. I heard what Crystal said when she came to visit my body, and my family. We had to do something drastic to make Crystal’s jail time stick and not just for two or three weeks, and for her to get off.” Sargent Michel got up from where he was, and walked over to Annie. “Let me take over from here, Annie.” She nodded “It was drastic, we told Annie what she had to do. At first, she didn’t like the idea at all, but then, after hearing about the other women that Crystal became attached to, and when we told her about the one she strangled, she changed her mind, and decided to put an end to this before she hurt someone else. So, we put the suit on Annie, and just waited to see what she would do. We had everyone on call. We had people following Annie at all times.” Eric looked at him “You knew where she was at all times, and here my family and I were hurting all of that time, and you knew where she was!” Annie said “Don’t be upset with him, Eric, he had to do that to protect the mission.” Sergeant Michael nodded his head, and it worked, the Judge put her in a special hospital for patients like her, and she will be guarded at all times.” Annie spoke “what about when they think she is ready to be set out into the public again?” He shook his head “She will always have a guard with her at all times, until the day she dies, so that nothing like this will ever happen again to someone. Of course, if anyone has any questions for Annie, please fell free to ask her later.

Eric looked at his congregation and said “So there you have it. Crystal will be getting help, and I have my wife back. I understand that there was going to be a little gathering downstairs held in Annie’s memory, I want to change that and make it in her honor, since she’s still alive and looking really beautiful as ever, I might add.” Annie blushed a little, then the whole church went downstairs and went to hug and kiss Annie and to tell her how glad they are that she is alive and well.

AT THE CAMDEN HOUSEHOLD

After everyone was settled into the house, Eric began to look for Matt. He put money in his hand, and said to him “Do me a favor? Take the kids out for a movie, go for ice cream do whatever you guys want to do – celebrate that your mother is alive, I want to be alone with her for a while.” He smiled, put his arm around his father and said “you deserve it, after what the both of you guys were put through.” And he left, with the Camden children.

Eric found his beautiful wife in the hallway upstairs putting away clothes. He picked her up, put her in his arms and said “The whole house is ours. Kids are with Matt, and we have a lot of time in the world.” She smiled at him and said “Did I tell you how much I love you, and that I love being your wife?” Eric looked at her “You can still tell me again, you know.” He said “Oh, I will” and Eric and Annie kissed. Annie, still in Eric’s arms, stretched out her leg, and with her foot closed their bedroom door, so that was and is. . . . .

THE END.

[Mary Camden]

wow, long!

[Ruthie Camden]

lol

it sure was!