that's what happens - patricia nelcy (best novels to read for students .txt) 📗

She did not look back. She just kept running further and further. She stopped to catch her breath when she realized she was far away, from what happened. This isn’t happening to me, Brylee thought. Thick beads of sweat rolled down a forehead. She tried her greatest to keep the tears from getting out of her eyes but they just kept coming. They’re gone, she thought wretchedly. She fought back the tears that would not stop rolling down her puffy cheeks. One minute, Brylee was reading one of the Nancy Drew series and drinking cocoa from her favorite mug. Next minute, she is grabbing everything she would really needs, and bolting out the door of the cabin that her parents rented for their camping trip before the person who killed her parents realize that someone else was at the house and come after her. Brylee didn’t know why this happened, especially to her Goody-two shoes parents who did not deserve to die so gruesome. She clutched her koala backpack, which contained the belongings that were important to her. In the backpack, she had a crumpled hundred-dollar bill, her comb, her diary, a cell phone, a pair of flip-flops, a first aid kit, a flashlight, pencil, camera, and her teddy bear, Sir Macklet. Brylee stared in space for a while, then, she finally broke down into tears. She could not believe that her parents were dead. It all happened so fast…
Brylee and her parents lived in suburban part of Manchester. Her father was an accountant and her mother was a real estate agent. It was during the summer of high school and her parents wanted to go camping with her before she went to high school (Brylee did not plan to camp with her parents after entering high school. Now, she does not have a choice.) They decided to go somewhere secluded where they could feel the “camping spirit.” They decided to go to Twin Oaks. They had stayed on the far side of the camping area so they could have their own privacy. They had planned to stay from Monday to Friday.
They were murdered on a Wednesday night. They did not even make it through the whole week.
Brylee was sipping on cup of hot cocoa and reading one of the Nancy Drew series (Most Likely to Die, Case #27), when all of sudden the back door flew open very powerfully. She jumped to her feet to see what was going on but her gut feeling told her to hide behind the kitchen counter. She heard her father scream but she just stayed behind the counter whimpering softly to herself. She heard her mother started to scream and you could hear her fighting the person back but the person obviously won because there was a sudden silence. Brylee realized that if she just hid there, whoever was in their cabin would’ve found her. While everything was going on, Brylee tiptoed to her room and grabbed everything that she needed. she quickly went to her parents room and took a hundred dollar bill from her dad’s wallet. A pang of guilt went over her and then she quickly shook it away. As she was getting it, she heard slow creepy footsteps coming towards the room.she started to panic but when she saw the gap under the bed, she realized that she could fit in it. She quickly slid under the bed and stopped breathing as the footsteps entered the room. The person looked around and left. Brylee saw the bloody footprints all over the front of the room. She started feeling nauseous . When the person left the cabin and she heard the car reaved up she ran toward the door. She quickly looked out the window door scribbled the license plate number on her hand. She took a piece of paper and scribbled it again so she wouldn’t forget it. She started walking out until she felt as if she had to go see her parents. She saw her mother with her eyes rolled up and a barbwire wrapped around her neck. She choked back the tears. She looked over to her dad and saw a dagger in the middle of his chest. She kissed both of their foreheads and started to walk away. Suddenly she heard a low groan. She turned around to see her father with half an eyelid barely open.
“Bry, come here.” Brylee’s dad asked her weakly . Brylee ran over to him and started to cry.
“Yes Daddy?” Brylee said while sniffling.
“I’m gonna die in a few seconds, baby. I want you to take care of yourself,okay?” Her dad said. Blood slowly trickled down his jaw.
“Oh God, Daddy! Don’t leave me please! Mommy’s gone! I don’t know what to do,where to go, nothing!” Brylee cried.
“Don’t cry baby. Now, the man who did this to me and your mom was-” Brylee’s dad rolled his head over. He had a blank expression on his face. His slow heavy breathing had stopped.
“Daddy? Daddy? Answer me! Please don’t go! Noooooo!” Brylee howled. She looked at her dad once more, kissed his forehead again and got up and left the cabin.
Brylee stopped running when she noticed that she was getting near the street lights. She let out a big breath of relief. I’m not all alone no more, Brylee thought. She tied her curly hair in ponytail then gripped unto her backpack and continued to walk. As she was walking she felt her stomach rumble. Guess I’m hungry,Brylee thought. She saw a fast-food restaurant that said GRUB-DUB-DUB on the front. It looked shabby and run-down, but it would do. She walked in and took a seat at the last table. Across from her she saw a skinny boy with dark hair in raggedy clothes playing with his thumbs. His face looked pale and distraught and he was very skinny. He looks hungrier than me,Brylee contemplated.
The waitress came up to her and took out her notepad and a pen.
“ Whew! Dawlin, You look a hot mess and hungry! You know what? Orda anything you want. It on the house.” Which came out sounding like “haws”. The waitress was a tall skinny lady. She had chestnut-hair color and her breath smelled like cigarettes. She also had really long nails that were each a different color. The waitress had on a purple tank top with dark jeans and squeaky flip-flops. The waitress was chewing on a wad of gum very noisy.

“My name is Emilia. But you can call me E or Lia. Whicheverfloatyaboat.”

“Wuh?”

“I said, whichever floats ya boat.”

“Oh. OK then. Thank you. I think I’ll have two double cheeseburgers, fries and some potatoes chips to the side.” Brylee told Emilia. She then looked over at the skinny boy and saws how hungry he looked.

“No drinks?” Emilia asked.
“Oh yeah. I would like to have an orange soda and could you get that boy over there a double cheeseburger and a fruit smoothie too please? I’ll pay.” Brylee told Emilia while looking at the boy. Emilia gave her a puzzled look and just walked away.

“Oh, and sweethawt, no need to worry;its on the house. ‘Member?” Emilia asked and walked away again. Brylee wondered why the boy looked like that. She walked from her seat and went to the boy’s table. As soon as she sat down the boy looked up. He had a cut on his left arm that looked as if it had a heartbeat.
“Hey” Brylee said shyly.
“Hello. How may I help you?” The boy answered back sharply.
“If only you can help me.” Brylee said with a sigh. She blinked back tears.
“How?”
Brylee leaned in towards him and whispered,“Well, you see, my parents just got murdered about a half hour ago in a cabin. No one knows and now I have no clue of what to do next.”
Tears rolled down Brylee’s cheeks. The boy’s expression changed and he shot her sympathetic look.
“I’m really sorry to hear that. My name is Tony. My parents died last week on this day around this time too. Pretty weird. I’ve been living with my friend, Eloise but I don’t plan on staying. Her parents don’t know if I’m living with them.” Tony replied with a puzzled look on his face. Brylee started thinking how awkward that was. It seemed pretty weird that both of their parents died on the same day, different week. Not to mention that it was one week after. Whoever killed my parents must’ve killed his parents probably, Brylee thought curiously. Emilia -Lia came with their food and both Brylee and Tony wolfed down their meals in silent. While Brylee ate she couldn’t help but think how similar the murders were. She also thought of her parents being gone forever and if they here she wouldn’t have been there eating at some fast food place. She was bound to find out who killed her parents and whoever killed Tony’s parents. She has read practically read the whole Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys series. She had enough experience with mysteries, right? Though, she has never solved one she has read about them and they solved it. When we are done eating, I'll tell him about it, she thought again.
About half an hour later, Tony gave a loud burp.
“I’m sorry. It’s just been along time since I’ve ate.” Tony said with a fist over his mouth.
“It’s okay. Now that you're done eating, listen. Don’t you find very weird that our parents were murdered on the same day of a different week, practically the same time, same-”
“Where are you going with this?” Tony interrupted.
“I think the murders are related.” Brylee stated in a matter-of-factly tone.
“You mean like brothers and sisters?”
“No! I mean like, whoever killed my parents could’ve have been the one that killed your parents. Get it?”
“But what makes you think that? It could've been anybody for Pete sakes!’ Tony questioned.
“My gut feeling tells me that they are related.” Brylee answered boldly.
“ I guess.” Tony shrugged.
“OK then. Lets see what we got. Before the killer left, I wrote down the license plate number.” Brylee said while digging in her backpack. She found a crumpled piece of paper that had numbers and letters on them. She put it on the table and slide it toward him. He took a look at it then huffed.
“You have major issues.” He stated.
“Its called instinct OK? Plus, this could eventually lead us somewhere.” she replied to him. She could tell by his facial expression that he still wasn’t convinced. she leaned in closer to him.
“Look, we don’t have a single clue of who did this other than this license plate number. My gut feeling tells me to use this and my gut has never let me down and I'm pretty sure it wont let me down now OK? So don’t look at me like I've been smoking some crack. I know what I'm talking about. We will find this sucker and make him pay. Trust me.” Brylee told Tony coldly. She let the tears burn her cheeks because these were tears of anger and frustration. That guy is going to rue the day he killed my parents, Brylee thought to herself. She had a good feeling that the person who killed her parents killed his, but she still wasn’t so sure. Tony nodded