Chapter 7: The Family
The word about Max’s son leaving and killing the officer had finally gotten around. Their family wasn’t treated the same in the town anymore. Everyone assumed it was because of bad parenting, so now Max’s parents were the talk of the town. They felt humiliated and were afraid to go outside in public. At home, it wasn’t any better. They stopped eating dinner together as a family, and they had grown so far apart, that even at home they were isolated.
One day Max’s father came home from work very angry. He yelled to both Betty’s loudly, “I am sick and tired of this family, we don’t even eat dinner together anymore! And it's terrible because we used to all be so close!” They both looked back at him speechless. Max’s sister, Betty cried, “I just want to be a family again. Can’t we at least try to live a normal life? My friends have already turned on me, I don’t want you both to leave me too.”
Adult Betty wiped a tear away from her face and replied, “You won’t leave us, and we won’t ever leave you. Come, child Betty, let’s set up dinner at the table.” Adult Max smiled, and for the first time since his son left he felt happy. The next day Max called his family to the table. “Now if anyone treats you different or calls you a name, I want you to respond, ‘I’m not Max and if you want to still be friends do not treat me any different.’ If that person really is your friend they will understand, if not they shouldn’t have been your friend in the first place.” Adult and child Betty beamed back at Max.
“Now you two have a great day. This milk won’t magically be delivered, I have to go to work.”
Betty went off to school that day very positive. She would say what her father had told her, if anyone made fun of her.
“Hey Katie!” Betty hollered from across the hall. Katie had been one of Betty’s best friends since her fourth birthday. It was both of their last years of school, before they got a husband and started taking care of the house. She stopped and smiled at Betty, “You haven’t said hi to me in ages.”
“I know Katie I’m sorry, I thought you would treat me different and I was scared you wouldn’t like me.” Katie walked next to Betty, “You should know I would never do that! I’m starving let’s go to lunch.” They went to the cafeteria together, but as they went to sit down, wherever Betty sat down, everyone would leave. “It’s alright Betty, they’re just jerks,” Katie told her.
“I understand Katie, but it’s obvious I’m not wanted anymore. Thanks for being such a good friend.” Then Betty stood up and ran out of the cafeteria crying. She bolted out of the school, not even caring if anyone saw her. No one had ever left school, not even Max. She stopped by the river that runs through the middle of the town. She lay down in the grass and stared up at the clouds. She had never relaxed on a regular day. She was always working, studying, or helping cook. Betty felt a warm tingling feeling all over her body. She realized it was the warmth of the sun. She had never sunbathed before, but she did now and just listened to the sounds of the water go down the river.
Her peaceful escape came to an end with a loud screech of a car. “Betty! Why in the heck are you not in school?” her mother screamed. Betty turned to look at her mother, “Well mom what’s the point? I don’t want to raise kids, I don’t want a spouse, and I sure as hell don’t want to clean and cook all day.”
Adult Betty became frustrated, stuttering as she tried to think of something to say, “You’re, you’re sounding like your little brother, look where he is now!” Betty sat up instantly and replied back, “Well maybe I am like Max, maybe I want more of a purpose than to waste my time maintaining a household!” Child Betty got up and walked away. Her mother stood frozen like an icicle, trying hard to believe she was dreaming. But she knew she wasn’t.
Now child Betty had learned to drive in these last couple of years. So she went back to her house, and went to her father’s Milkman van. The keys were still in the ignition and she yelled out, “I’m coming with you Max! Screw the town!”
She started driving, accelerating at a very high rate. Once she reached the town gate, she saw a lot more security than there used to be before Max had left. There were over twenty officers patrolling the grounds outside of the gate. She decided to make a dash for it since the front gate was open. She cleared the gate and had made it about ten feet past the wall when an officer shot a hole in one of the van’s tires. She spun out of control and jumped out the van. Betty then sprinted out into the forest, with officer chasing her.
“Shoot her!” a cop yelled out loud. “If the mayor hears we let anyone else get away we’ll all get fired!” The officers fired their weapons, but Betty was already a couple hundred feet out. “Stand back boys, I got a sniper ready to shoot,” another officer announced. Betty was now over 500 feet away and the sniper aimed and shot.
“Bam!” Her body fell to the ground, harder than a rock breaking through glass. “Oh my god, you shot her in the back of the head!” an officer yelled, scared out of his mind. “Couldn’t take any chances. I’m afraid I only had one bullet,” the sniper replied.
Betty’s body lay bleeding on the forest floor. Several officers ran over to her and they could see she was dead. They put her body in a bag and brought her back to the Mayor’s Office.
“Mayor George, a woman tried to escape. A sniper had to take her down,” yelled head officer Rock.
“Damn it boys! Another dead body! Couldn’t you have shot her in the leg?” The sniper stepped forward, “Only had one bullet sir,” he said in a low raspy voice.
“Well who is it then?” asked the Mayor. They pulled her body out of the bag and the Mayor turned pale, not able to believe what he was seeing. “That’s Betty, Max’s sister. He’s the boy who escaped!”