The continuation – and conclusion – of my 7th grade novella, Shadows of the Night.

“How’s your shoulder?” I asked when I walked though the door to Laurie’s hospital room.
“It’s holding up,” she answered. “The doctor says I can go home tomorrow if I take it easy.”
“That’s great!” I pulled out some of Laurie’s clothes that her mother gave me. “Here, I brought you some cloths so you can get out of the nightgown.”
“Why? This night gown is comfortable.”
“Well I think you’re going to have some visitors today, besides your family and me.”
“Oh, really? Who?”
“You’ll see. Different people.”
“Different people? Are they the ‘corny’ people?”
I laughed. In middle school Laurie’s family and I went to a farm on the outside of town. They had feilds and feilds of corn. We had never seen so much before. Just as we were leaving, Laurie had called out, “Gosh, you sure are corny people!” She meant, of course, they grew a lot of corn, but that’s not exactly how it came out.
“No, it’s not the ‘corny’ people. I mean they’re different because different groups of people are coming.”
She got dressed and got back in bed.
“Oh, Maria, I forgot to tell you I found my necklace! You’ll never guess where I found it.”
“Where?”
“In my sleeping bag!”
It was a week after she was shot. We both missed school that Thursday. Laurie went to the hospital and I was at the police station all day answering questions. They never caught the “criminal”, but there was still a watch for him in the county.
Marcy had announced that her family would not put up with such nonsense and was moving back to Virginia. Miss Ramsel was still around, but there were rumors that she was retiring after this year.
Just about everything was clearing up, and even Karen was getting better. I had thought she would in the first place because they didn’t really want to kill her, just scare me. When she gets out of the hospital, she’ll have to wear a brace on her leg for awile, and she may limp a little, but other than that she’s okay.
“Well, if it isn’t Cagney and Lacey themselves.”
“Oh, Chuck, hi! Yes, let me introduce you to my partner, Marybeth,” I said seriously.
“I believe we have already met. You seem to be doing fine since the shoot-out,” he said to Laurie.
“I’m working on it,” she replied.
“Hey, what is this, a party?” Kelly came though the door. “Did someone here order homework?”
Laurie groaned. “Yeah. Hi, Kel. I think that’s mine.”
“They wouldn’t let us all in at once, so there’s a surprize for you out the window.”
“A surprize?” Laurie sat up. “What kind of surprize?”
“Go look and see,” I told her.
She walked over to the window and looked down. She was on the third floor of the hospital, and there on the lawn were Mary Anne, the twins and some other friends of ours holding a sign horizontally over their heads that said: GET WELL WITH A BANG!!
Laurie started laughing even though it wasn’t really funny. Soon we were all laughing.
Just then Cathy walked through the door. “What’s so funny?”
Everyone stopped laughing. I think the twins remembered who she was, and Laurie knew she was my mother.
“Uh, you guys all know I’m adopted, right?”
Chuck pretended to be shocked. “You mean you’re not a pure Cagney?” Everyone groaned.
“No, I’m afraid not, but this is Cathy and she’s related to my real mom.”
“Yeah, she does look like you,” Chuck proclaimed.
I couldn’t tell them she was my real mother because if my parents found out, or anyone that knew Cathy was supposed to be dead, I’d be in a big mess.
“Aren’t you the one who found Maria when she wandered off?” Casey asked suspiciously.
“Actually, I am. Quite a coincidence, huh?”
The twins exchanged a look.
When everyone but Cathy left, Tara came in.
“Hi, Laurie. Are you ready?”
“I’m as ready as I’ll ever be,” she answered.
Cathy walked over to the bed. “Alright, now close your eyes…” We went on performing the ritual to give Laurie the powers to protect me.
When we were done, Cathy said, “You know, I don’t think you really need these powers because it was love that saved both of you. The man that was chasing you was shaking his head because he couldn’t stand the love. These powers are just for a precaution, but don’t stop using the love.”

That night I sat on my rock thinking about all that had happened. Laurie and I had a bond tighter than ever now. I may have problems, but they weren’t the worst problems in the world. I had a loving family, great friends, a place to live, food to eat…and so on. I was still having nightmares, but I could handle them.
Some things are going to have to change in this world, I thought, and that’s all anyone ever says. It’s time for someone to take action. I decided to start by helping our church deliver food baskets to the poor when I get my driver’s license in two weeks.
The warm evening wind blew my hair around me as I watched the colors of the sunset melt into the shadows of the night.

THE END!!

If you’ve made it through all of the middle school angst, bad theology and careless spelling, kudos to you!