The Tale Of Three Brothers

Once there was three brothers. They all wanted different things out of life. The oldest brother, Roosevelt, wanted to live as happily as he could. He didn’t want to dwell on things that went wrong, so he didn’t. He lived a very umm, happy life. The second oldest brother, Boyd, wanted to live a simple life. He didn’t want to invent the flying car, be the next big thing, or be the next millionaire. He just wanted to start a family and be happy like his older brother. The last and youngest brother, Leland, wanted to be the center of attention. Leland wanted to be the next millionaire, the next biggest movie star, the next biggest thing.

Roosevelt, the oldest brother, decided to be a teacher and help children receive the knowledge they needed for life. He decided to teach Biology at a local high school. Boyd, the second oldest brother, decided to be an architect. He designed almost 10,000 different houses for people to live in and about 1,000 different buildings on top of that. Leland, the youngest brother, decided to be an actor. That didn’t go so well for Leland, so he decided that he would become an entrepreneur. He invented a product that he put on the market and it took off in a matter of weeks. He still is selling hunreds of thousands of that product to this day.

Leland was different from his older brothers. He was often overlooked because of his brothers. Neither of his brothers were famous, but they knew lots of people. Leland was jealous of this. His brothers wanted to live simply, Leland wanted to be famous. Leland soon realized that his brothers were more well known than he was. This made Leland envious.

Leland was a selfish person, Boyd was a humble man that didn’t know how much people appreciate him, Roosevelt was an easy going man that was easy to get along with. That’s another way that Leland differs from his brothers. Leland is not easy to get along with, his brothers are easy to get along with. Leland barely has any friends, and he has no family of his own. His brothers both have many friends and have started families of their own. This is something Leland didn’t like about his brothers. He didn’t like that they were semi-famous and he wasn’t fully famous. Leland thought that he had tried harder than both of his brothers to get where he is.

Boyd was wealthy but not too wealthy. Boyd lived in a 3-story townhouse with his wife and 4 kids. Roosevelt was the same way. Roosevelt wasn’t rich but he wasn’t poor. He had more money than what he liked to admit, but he was about in the same financial state as Boyd. Roosevelt lived in a 2-story Victorian with his wife and 3 kids. Roosevelt lived in what looked like a mini mansion. Roosevelt and Boyd were both happy. They both had lots of friends, had the jobs they had always wanted, and were happy in life. Leland wasn’t really happy in life. He was envious and jealous of his brothers, he didn’t have a job that he wanted, and he was pretty much broke. Leland wouldn’t mind if he could be like his brothers. Leland wanted everything that his brothers wanted.

“Come now brothers, couldn’t you help your brother out. I have little to nothing, you both have everything.” Leland told his brothers.

“Why don’t you make friends Leland? You need to build alliances, friendships, and have to be able to cope with problems.” Said Boyd.

“Yes Leland you must be able to work with other people.” Said Roosevelt. “That’s how we got where we are today.”

“Well I’ve done all of those things. Why am I here? Why am I below both of you in this world? Why am I not rich and famous?” Asked Leland.

“Well you need to work hard to be famous and rich.” Boyd explained.

“YOU ARE SAYING THAT I DON’T WORK HARD?!? I HAVE WORKED HARD FOR EVERYTHING I HAVE AND I HAVE FAILED MISERABLY TIME AND TIME AGAIN!” Leland yelled as he stormed off leaving his brothers behind.

Leland was not the happiest person in the world. Leland always thought that he was better than his brothers in every shape, way, and form. Leland always thought that he was superior. He always knew that he was their mother’s favorite. He always knew that he was the so called chosen one. One night, during the late hours of the night, Lelands jealousy for his brothers got to a peak. Leland was at his wits end with his brothers. Then he went for a walk in the middle of the night. There was no one around him at all. Then he went to Boyds house and broke into the house. Luckily no one in the house was up. Leland was creeping around the house and he found different things that Boyd had collected over the years.

He found awards, drawings, paintings, and many other things that had much value to them. Leland being the person he was decided to take one of the things from his brother.

“One thing might not hurt. After all, they have so much when I have so little. Boyd won’t even notice if one of his paintings is gone. He won’t even notice if I stole maybe $100 off the counter.” Leland muttered to himself as he looked around his brother’s house for more expensive things.

Leland knew that what he was doing was wrong but then he looked back on what his brother had. His brothers had everything as were his brothers had everything they could ever imagine. They actually had more than Leland could ever imagine. They each had fame, fortune, a family that loved them, a life that loved them back, they were surrounded by people who would care. They both had people who would listen to them and hang on to every word as if they were telling a thrilling story. A sudden thought came over Leland as he was looking over his brother Boyd’s house.

“Maybe I could, but no, I couldn’t do that. What would everyone think if I did. I can’t do that. But what do I have to lose? Nothing, but I really shouldn’t. I could get in trouble and then where would I be?” Leland thought out loud to himself as he pondered his own plan.

He was fighting with his mind and his body. His body wanted him to do one thing and his mind was trying to talk him out of doing it. Leland knew that he was going to get in trouble and that he was going to possibly get caught red handed for doing so, but he did it anyways. He tiptoed quietly into the kitchen and he grabbed something out of one of the drawers. He couldn’t see what he had grabbed out of the drawer through the inky black darkness so he ran it across the palm of his hand and he heard the dripping if his own blood on the floor. It was pooling in Lelands hand and he quickly ran over to the sink and he watched his blood run down the drain.

“I grabbed a knife. How big of a knife I don’t know. I really shouldn’t do this but I’m doing it anyways. Why do I let myself do these things? If I get in trouble I’m going to be paying for it big time.” Leland said as he walked up the stairs as if he had pins and needles on the bottoms of his feet.

Leland looked in every room once he got to the second level and then he finally found the room that his brother was sleeping in. His brother was in a nightcap with a candle that was half melted and lit up on the nightstand. The candle was emitting very little light and Leland licked his blood dyed fingers and he put them around the candle and extinguished the flames.

“This will be painless for you, but for me I wouldn’t think that it would be.” Leland said as he held the knife up above his head.

Leland hesitated before bringing the knife down and he was arguing with himself. He was arguing with his shoulder angels, and he wasn’t sure what he was going to do. Should he or should he not was the question and there was only one right answer. But then after a long time of thought Leland made up his mind. He knew what he had to do and as far as he knew, it was the most right thing that he could do.

Dead. He had killed his brother with 10 stabs of his knife. Boyd didn’t even move when Leland stabbed him. There was Boyd’s blood seeping from the bedspread and dripping into the floor. Leland had killed his brother and he stayed in the room until Boyd’s body was moving no more. Leland stayed standing as straight as a pole in the middle of the room listening to the dripping of his brothers blood from the bed’s sheets to the floor. He couldn’t believe that he had done it. He thought that he didn’t have the heart or guts to kill someone up until now. This wasn’t the end though. Once Leland couldn’t hear Boyd breathe anymore he prayed and told Boyd to send him a postcard from heaven. That wouldn’t be where Leland was going.

After Leland’s mini funeral for his brother he went and ransacked the house. He took everything that he could carry and he walked out without saying another word. Leland soon came to his “house” under an overpass in the middle of the city. It wasn’t really much of a house. It was really a lean-to that Leland slept in at night. Leland would be lucky if after tonight he would be able to sleep in a place as luxurious as this. Where Leland was going, he would be lucky if he got a bunch of newspapers to sleep on.

Leland didn’t want anyone to find out what he had done so he took some of the blankets he had in his hut and he covered the money that he had stolen so no one would find it. With the rest of the things he placed them inside a secret passage that only he knew about inside one of the pillars holding up the overpass. He shoved the remaining things such as artwork, jewelry, money, and countless other things into the pillar. Then he went off to find another friend of his.

“Why did I do that? I can’t believe that I did. I couldn’t have, this has to be some kind of dream. Not a dream, a nightmare,” Leland then slapped himself, stopped for a minute, and then he walked on.

He kept talking to himself all the way to his brother Roosevelt’s house. It was around 12:00 in the morning when Leland came to his eldest brother’s house. Leland stopped outside his brother’s mini mansion and then he went inside. The door was unlocked and then he started to look around for things to take. During his search, Leland was stepping ever so delicately across the tiled floors. Then Leland heard something coming from across the room. Then the lights turned on and there was Roosevelt staring right at Leland in the middle of his living room.

“Leland what are you doing here?” Roosevelt asked as he noticed the knife in Leland’s backpack.

“Nothing, I thought this was my friend’s house, but I was apparently wrong. I tried to find a way out of the house without turning the lights on because I didn’t wish to disturb you.” Leland explained.

“Why thank you for being considerate brother. Since you are here why don’t you stay for the rest of the night and we will provide breakfast in the morning.” Roosevelt exclaimed as Lelands eyes went wide.

It had been so long since Leland was given an actual meal let alone a homemade breakfast. With his brother being so kindhearted and hospitable Leland decided to stay the night with his brother. His brother was overjoyed that he was staying and he showed Leland to the guest bedroom that they had. Roosevelt also let Leland bathe in his bathtub because he looked like he had been through the works. Leland had bags under his eyes, ratty and unkempt hair, a bloody and bandaged up hand, dark circles all around his eyes, and dirt was all over his clothes and face.

“Leland, let me get you some clean clothes and soap then you can go right to bed. You look like you haven’t slept in ages.” Roosevelt said as he walked out of the room.

Roosevelt came back with a bar of soap, a pair of pajamas, and a nightcap for Leland to wear to bed, and then he also had a pair of jeans, a bright red polo shirt, a pair of socks and underwear, and a baseball cap that had the Oakland Athletics logo on it. Leland got out of the tub and he put on the warm and fluffy pajamas as his brother got the bedroom ready for him. The feeling of having actual clothes again was an amazing feeling. Leland couldn’t believe that his brother had been so generous considering that he just waltzed into his house. Leland hadn’t slept on an actual bed in months. He had forgotten what all of these things were like.

“Leland, if you had let me know that you were struggling this badly I would have let you stay here and I would have helped you get back on your feet.” Roosevelt told Leland as he bandaged up Lelands hand. “Where did your hand get cut up so badly? It looks like this just happened not too long ago.”

“Oh, I cut it trying to make dinner for myself tonight. I came across some nice potatoes in the streets and I decided that I would go home and make some fried potatoes with some garlic salt that my buddy picked up. Well I was cutting up the potatoes and I wasn’t watching what I was doing and I slashed my hand right open.” Leland explained as Roosevelt cringed with the last words.

“Well that explains it doesn’t it. That was always your favorite food while we were growing up was fried potatoes with a touch of garlic, a warm ham and cheese sandwich, and strawberries. That was what you would always ask mother to make for dinner. Do you remember, Leland?”

“Yes Roosevelt, I remember perfectly. I can never find strawberries anymore. I can find potatoes every once in a great while though.”

“Leland, I promise tomorrow we will have strawberries, hash browns, and all the pancakes you want. I have a bunch of strawberries for you and I’ve got hash browns for days.”

“Thank you so much Roosevelt. I can’t believe that I just walk into your house and you’re so chill about it. If I walked into Boyd’s house like this he would have probably given me some food and sent me out the door.” The boys laughed and then Roosevelt finished wrapping Leland’s hand.

“Do you remember when we were kids and we would try to play three on none baseball?” Roosevelt asked as Leland smiled.

“Yes I do, and yet the other team would always win! I’m still questioning to this day how that’s possible!” Leland said as Roosevelt burst out laughing.

“You couldn’t hit for the life of you. Lee, we would put the ball up on a tee and you wouldn’t be able to hit it.”

“I was three at the time give me a break!” Leland said laughing so hard that he thought he was going to die.

“Well brother, it’s getting late and we should go to bed. I’ll have everything ready in the morning and I have all of your clothes laid out on that chair over there. Sleep well Leland,” Roosevelt said as he walked out of the room.

As soon as Roosevelt turned off the lights and Leland’s head hit the pillow Leland was fast asleep. While Leland was asleep, he had a very peculiar dream.

“Leland,” a voice said from a distance.

“What, who is this?” Leland asked.

Leland was standing on pink and red clouds that looked like a sunset. As he looked around he could see nothing in the distance as far as his eyes could see. Then he looked to his side and there was a man that was standing there. He had red hair and was slightly taller than Leland. He was dressed like a math teacher would dress and he was wearing a necklace with an opal on the end. Inside of the opal there was what looked like a golden dolphin swimming through the ocean.

“Leland,” the voice in the distance repeated itself.

“Who are you?! I demand to know who you are!” Leland screamed, and all he could hear was his voice echoing off of nothingness.

“Leland, you know who I am.” the voice said as the man with red hair mouthed the words.

“Is it you? Are you the one talking to me?” Leland asked the ginger man.

“No Leland, he isn’t talking to you. Chi-Chi can’t talk, you know who I am.” The voice said as the ginger man mouthed the words again.

“So you can’t talk, can you?” Leland asked the ginger man.

The man just shook his head from side to side. The man was Chi-Chi and Leland was still confused as to why the man was here. If the man was mute, but he could comprehend everything he said then why was he here.

“Wait so if he can’t talk then who are you?” Leland asked the voice.

“I thought that it would be obvious, but that’s okay. I’m your brother, Boyd. I wouldn’t expect you to remember since you were the one that KILLED ME!” Boyd said in rising frustration.

“Wait if you’re the voice of my brother then who is this Chi-Chi man?” Leland asked his brother.

“Chi-Chi is one of my friends. We have made a deal in the short time that I have been here.” Boyd said as the lightbulb came on for Leland.

“Boyd, is this heaven?”

“No, it’s Iowa. Of course it’s heaven you idiot.” Boyd replied.

“Wait does that mean I’m dead?”

“No, you can go to heaven even if you aren’t dead.” Boyd said sarcastically.

“So I’m dead, noted.” Leland muttered.

“Anyways back to Chi-Chi and I’s deal. We have made big plans for you up here in heaven. Although, Chi-Chi isn’t like me and you. Chi-Chi has been here for many, many years. Chi-Chi hasn’t lived since ancient times, but he has seen all of the things that have happened since then. The thing with Chi-Chi though, is he did some not so nice things while he was alive all those years ago. He has become a being of power with those deeds.”

Leland just looked up to where the voice was coming from and thought about what his brother had just told him. The only power that he could think of that was purely made off of bad deeds. Then the thought hit Leland right in the face. Leland looked over to Chi-Chi and his red hair atop his head curled up into hideous horns that poked out of his head. He then grew a tail and he was all of the sudden Chi-Chi’s sweater vest and khakis melted away and changed into a red jumpsuit. Leland was struck with horror at Chi-Chi and what he had turned into.

“You might recognize Chi-Chi now that he is in his common form instead of his mortal form.” Boyd said.

“What does this mean Boyd?”

“Hopefully you have fun with Chi-Chi. You will be spending the rest of your dead life with him.” Boyd said as the clouds opened up.

The clouds opened up and then Leland and Chi-Chi started falling down to the ground. They both landed hard on the ground and then the ground cracked upon their impact and then they started falling downwards once again. They continued to fall until they reached the underlayer of the ground.

“Welcome to Hell. You will be spending a lot of time here.” Chi-Chi said as he evilly laughed.

“What do you mean? Why am I going to Hell? I thought you were mute!” Leland was completely lost, he didn’t know what was happening or why.

“I think you know the answer to that one. Leland, you need to follow me now.”

Chi-Chi led Leland down one of the roads of the Underworld. There was fire and red lava everywhere Leland looked. Then Chi-Chi and Leland stopped when they came to a ramp leading downwards.

“You know, I didn’t want you to end like this.” Chi-Chi said.

“Wait, what did you say?!” Leland yelled as Chi-Chi pushed Leland over the edge and into the fiery pit of lava.

It was at that moment that Leland woke up and the first thing he saw was Roosevelt. Roosevelt jumped because Leland woke up screaming and it woke the whole house up.

“Lee, are you okay?” Roosevelt asked.

“Yes I’m fine, I just had a scary dream. Just making sure, I’m alive right?” Leland asked his brother.

“Yes, you are alive and well. Now come downstairs and we will have breakfast.” Roosevelt said as he helped Leland get dressed.

“Uncle Leland, why are you here?” Asked Roosevelts only daughter, Elise.

“You’re Uncle Leland came here last night thinking that he was at a friend’s house. So I welcomed him in and now he is here.” Roosevelt told her.

“Uncle Leland, you can sit right next to me!” Said Roosevelt’s youngest son, Mitchell. “How did you end up here anyways?”

“Well Mitchell, I was walking in the dark and I came upon your house and it looks very similar to a house of my friends. I walked in and I saw the pictures of you and your father on the walls and then I knew I was in the wrong place.”

“Uncle Leland, are you going to stay here every night?” Roosevelt’s first born son, Alberto, said.

“No sadly, he can’t stay every night. I wish that he could but he can’t.” Roosevelt exclaimed as he flipped on the TV.

When Roosevelt turned on the TV everyone had seen what Leland did the night before. Everyone was looking at the TV in awe as if they had announced Christmas was cancelled.

“Breaking news, overnight a man was stabbed in his sleep. His name was Lonnie Caldwell. He was murdered last night by an unknown suspect.” The TV announced as everyone looked at the TV in shock.

Even Leland was mortified by the scene. Leland meant to kill his brother, not his brother’s son. Leland Caldwell was now a criminal that had mistaken his own brother for the son. Everyone in the room was overcome with sadness and was in disbelief whether the rumor was true or not that was what Leland knew and no one else did. Then everyone heard a knocking at the door and it was none other than Boyd. The man that Leland meant to kill.

“Roosevelt, Leland, my son has been killed! I don’t know who but he has been killed! He was my one and only son that was the star of the soccer team and the one that was my prized gem!” Boyd practically in tears was stuttering through the words.

“Boyd, I’m sorry for your loss. I’m sure that you’ll find who did it eventually.” Leland said trying to comfort his brother.

Leland knew that deep down he had to confess eventually. Leland knew that if he didn’t then he was going to get in even more trouble later on. If they ever found out they would give him the electric chair for sure. There was no doubt about that. Leland knew what he had to do and he started to gather up some of the strawberries and some of the food and stuffed it into the bag that he had brought. Leland made sure that no one saw the knife with Lonnie’s blood on it. If he did then he would be dead for sure.

“Brother, I’m sorry for your loss, but I must go now. Thank you Roosevelt, for welcoming me into your home and giving me all of these things.” Leland said as he left Roosevelts house.

As Leland walked out of the house the knife had cut a hole in his bag that was slung over his back. Then just as he reached for the door the knife he had in his bag fell out and stabbed the floor. Both of his brothers looked at him in pure horror. They saw the bloody knife and then they immediately knew who killed Boyd’s only son.

“Leland, why was there a knife in your bag?!” Boyd asked as Leland looked at him with the same look of horror.

“Oh, that’s a knife that I use every night to make my meals with. I also will sometimes kill rats and different animals with it.” Leland responded.

“Why would you bring a knife to a friend’s house? I know that’s where you were going. What were you doing with a knife in the first place?” Roosevelt asked Leland as he picked up the knife.

“I’ve had some very bad friends in the past and I brought this along because I just met him a few weeks ago and he still seems a little sketchy.” Leland said as Boyd took the knife from Leland’s hand.

“This looks like one of my kitchen knives.” Boyd said as he examined the knife.

Leland saw Boyd look at the knife, and Boyd look at the handle of the butcher knife. As he examined the knives red oak wood handle Boyd saw the one thing that proved it was his own. The knife had the initials BC carved into the knife with golden plates. The initials stood for Boyd Caldwell. Boyd had figured out who had killed his son.

“Leland, did you kill my son?”

“Boyd, I promise you that I didn’t. You gave me that knife when I came by the other week and I asked for it. You said that I could keep it because you had a dozen more in your kitchen drawers.”

“I might have, but how come it has blood all over the blade?”

“I killed a rabbit with it and cooked the rabbit for dinner on Friday night last week.”

“It’s Friday right now so it’s been a week and this blood isn’t completely dried up.”

Leland was running out of excuses. His brother was too manipulative for Leland to escape. Leland had no other choice than to either confess, or grab the knife and run away as a fugitive.

“I killed a chipmunk on my way over here.”

“Are you sure about that, Leland?” Boyd asked his brother as he smacked the knife in his hand.

“Yes, I am 100% sure.”

“Then who killed my son?”

Leland had no choice, the guilt was overcoming him greatly. Leland didn’t know what other options there were. It seemed like his annihilation was the only other option there was.

“Boyd, I’m so sorry. I’m the one that killed Lonnie. I didn’t mean to though, I promise.” Leland said as he put his back against the door.

Leland had his hand on the doorknob and he was ready to run. Leland was in for what he had planned. Leland was now a killer that was going to be wanted in every state, country, and city.

“Then how did my son become a casualty of one of your plans?!” Boyd was almost on the verge of yelling, Leland was scared

“Well, that’s the part you probably aren’t going to like. I was trying to kill you hoping that you left me something in your will that would get me back on my feet. I was going to do the same thing to Roosevelt, but I was caught when I was looking around his kitchen for things to steal.” Leland confessed as both of his brothers looked at him in shock.

“So you were going to kill us because you thought that since you are our brother we would have left you something in our will?!” Boyd asked in alarm and anger.

“I don’t think I even have a will setup. I should probably get that done and leave LELAND out of it!” Roosevelt exclaimed.

“I promise you that I didn’t know what I was doing at the time. I was drunk, I was mentally insane, I didn’t think it would be this bad, I thought that I would chicken out before I actually did it, but I swear that I didn’t do it on purpose.” Leland explained trying to get his brothers to forgive him for his “mistake.”

“Leland, how would that have been an accident exactly? You killed my son, how could that have been an accident.” Boyd asked with the knife now at his side.

“Uhh, I don’t know but I didn’t think that I would do it.” Leland explained as his brothers both looked at each other.

The tension in the room was building at an alarming rate. No one knew what to think of Leland or what he had done. All they knew was that Leland couldn’t be trusted. Leland couldn’t be looked at without everyone thinking about the shame that he had brought upon himself.

“But why would you kill anyone in the first place how could you do that to someone?” Boyd asked his brother.

Leland was silent. He couldn’t respond even if he wanted to. He knew that at the time it was pure hatred. He couldn’t explain it but he knew it and everyone in the room knew it. Then Leland did the only thing that he could think of doing at the time. He grasped the door knob and then he ran out the door with his brothers at his heels. He heard his brothers call the police and Leland ran as fast as he could into the forest. Leland ran until he was deep into the dense forest and then he set up a small camp.

“Great, now what do I do,” Leland thought out loud. “I can’t really do anything because I’m on the run for killing someone that I didn’t even mean to kill. I’m alone in the woods without anyone or anything but a knife with probably 20 dozen cops after me!” Leland was yelling in the woods and there was nothing he could do about the deeds he had done.

Leland heard something prowling in the woods. He thought it was just an animal, but was on high guard in case it wasn’t. Leland had nothing to lose, yet everything to hide. He had a tree branch grasped in his pale, sore hands and looked around the forest. Leland was trying desperately not to get caught. He didn’t know what was in these woods. Leland couldn’t do anything or go anywhere without the risk of being seen. Leland did the only logical thing and he built a shelter for the night. As soon as Leland built himself a shelter he fell right asleep. Leland didn’t want to think about what was going to happen to him.

When Leland woke up he heard something outside his shelter. Leland woke up instantly and listened to what it was saying. It sounded like a man and Leland stayed on the ground not making a single sound.

“Where do you think he could be? He couldn’t have gotten very far.” A man said from just outside of Leland’s hut.

“I mean he could have gotten fairly far if he’s been running farther and farther away all night.” A woman replied.

“Maybe we should look around the area, maybe we will find something or someone here soon.” The man and the woman then split and started searching the area.

Leland didn’t know who they were looking for, but Leland knew it was probably him. Leland couldn’t think. All he could think about was his brother and how he meant to kill him, not his son. Leland was mortified and didn’t know what to do. He could hear the man getting closer to his hut and he was trying to find a way to escape. Leland was thinking this was the end and that he was done for and that he was going to die.

“Hey, I found this hut over here! It looks like it was just built!” A man’s voice bellowed out as Leland’s heart stopped.

The man and the woman both came over to investigate the tent. Leland was trapped, he didn’t know what to do. The man and the woman both stepped into the tent. Leland tried to stand up to make a get away and the tent collapsed on both him and the man and woman.

“HEY!” The man said as Leland tried to run away.

Both the man and the woman were caught up in the tent and Leland fell backwards and tore the back of the tent. Leland quickly shimmied free and ran away from the man and woman. Leland got about 20 feet before they started to run after him. Leland started to sprint off into the woods with the investigators right at his heels. The man dove on Leland and took him to the ground.

“You’re coming with us bucko.” The man exclaimed as he pulled an ID card out of his jacket.

The card had a picture of Leland Caldwell on it and all of his personal information. The man looked at the card and then looked at Leland and his innocent face. Leland knew that he wasn’t innocent. He knew that he was done for. No one could save him now.

“Are you Mr. Leland Caldwell? Tell the truth.” The man told him.

“And what if I don’t tell the truth?” Leland retorted.

“Then we have a gun and you will be ending your life short.” The man said as the woman pulled a gun off her belt.

“Yes, I am Leland Francis Caldwell.” Leland had no choice but to tell the truth, there was a slight chance he would be let off free, but that was in a fantasy world.

“What day and what year were you born?” The woman asked as she looked at the card.

“I was born on March 20th, 1932.” Leland said quietly.

“And who are your close relatives? Who are the people that you lived with when you were a child?” The man asked.

“My father, Francis Caldwell, my mother, Lora Conner- Caldwell, my oldest brother, Roosevelt Caldwell, and my older brother, Boyd Caldwell.” The man and the woman both looked at each other and they knew they had their killer.

“You’re coming with us and just in case you try to say no, remember that we have a gun and we know how to use it.” Leland followed the pair without hesitation.

Leland had to accept his fate, he would have to eventually. He might as well accept his fate now instead of later. If he waited until later he would have been in even more trouble because he was running from the authorities. Leland got into the back of the policemens car and all of them drove off in the car. The whole ride was in silence. Leland didn’t know where he was going or what was going to happen to him, but he knew it was going to be bad. Leland was thinking about Boyd and how sad he must be. Boyd must have been distraught that his only son had died because of his younger brother. Leland saw the man take his right hand off of the gear shifter and tune the radio in the car. The man had changed it to the news station to break the silence.

“Breaking news, last night a man named Leland Caldwell killed his nephew in the act of trying to kill his older brother Boyd Caldwell.”

Leland had heard that phrase too many times. He was already sick of it, and just listening to it gave him a guilty sickness in his stomach. Leland still couldn’t believe what he had done.

“This just in, we have word from Roosevelt Caldwell that Boyd Caldwell is dead. There was no foul play or suicide in Boyd Caldwell’s death. Roosevelt Caldwell said that he died because of his son being murdered. More on this story as it develops.”

Leland couldn’t believe his ears. He didn’t mean for it to go this far. He didn’t want it to go this far. Leland was in total shock and there was nothing he could do about it now. Boyd was dead, he was gone, never to be seen again by a living human being. Then that got Leland thinking, who would be next? Who would be the next casualty of his actions? Would it be Roosevelt, Boyds kids, Leland couldn’t bear the thought. Leland had to put an end to the chain reaction that he had created. Leland didn’t have the knife with him anymore, he left it at the camp, a mistake. Leland just kept looking around the backseat for something, he didn’t know what, but something. Leland then saw a safety kit on the seat next to him. He quietly opened the safety kit.

Inside, Leland found a bunch of bandages, a dull swiss army knife, and hydrogen peroxide. Then Leland remembered in the forest, the woman pulled a gun off of her belt. Leland took the swiss army knife and pulled out the sharpest blade. He then started writing on his forearm. Then the car came to a stop outside the courthouse and the woman let Leland out of the car. Leland then acted fast before the woman could take notice and he swiped the gun off of the woman’s belt and put it to his head. It was as quick as a flash and over faster than that. There then lied Leland Caldwell, the man who caused the deaths of both his nephew and in turn his own brother. Leland died with the message across both his forearms, “Let my body burn and allow me to go to Hell with Chi-Chi. I accept my fate. I have done wrong and someday I will live a better life.”