Her Name was Scarlet by Fernanda Medina (best non fiction books of all time TXT) 📕

and get a big garbage bag, okay?” I look at him as if he were an angel. “Okay.” I tell him trying to fight back my tears. It takes us four hours to get all the toilet paper out. “Phew! That took longer than expected.” Sam says wiping off the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve. He starts looking around my house as if a ghost is going to pop out of nowhere. “What’s wrong?” I ask him. He stops looking and asks me “Where’s the old hag?” I keep on wondering why he refers to Aunt Lauren as “old hag” when she just turned thirty-three. “Aunt Lauren and her boyfriend are going to stay in Las Vegas for a few weeks.” Sam doesn’t seem too happy. “And she just left you here alone?” Sam says. You can tell in his voice that he is seriously angry. “Basically.” I tell him. “Someone has to watch the house. And it’s not like she can take me with her.” Sam is really pissed. If you stare in his deep blue eyes long enough you can see a red fire blazing in them. “How can she possibly do that?! How can she leave you all alone at home?!” Sam screams. My throat is starting to get dry again. “It can’t be helped.” I tell him. I’m already used to Aunt Lauren leaving me home alone. She only let me stay with her because I’m her sister’s daughter. That’s all. But I don’t complain. It’s better than staying in an orphanage again.
Sam lets out a breath that he was holding in. “Melinda.” I look up and stare at him. “Can you have dinner with me tonight?” he asks. I stare at him with confusion. “The only kinds of dinner I’ve had these couple of days were with business men that would laugh like hyenas that ate a bunch of dolphins. Plus, it gets kind of lonely eating dinner alone.” It does get lonely… and scary. Being the only one in a big house and getting scared of every sound that echoes on the empty walls. Sam stays there waiting for a response while I’m getting flashbacks of locking all the doors and windows and just huddling in a corner with my teddy bear. “You don’t want to?” he asks. “No!” I yell. “I don’t mean no… I mean yes... yes yes!” I tell him. “Well which is it? Yes or no?” Sam says chuckling. “It’s a yes. Definitely a yes.” I tell him running out of breath. “I would love to have dinner with you.” He seems surprised. “Ha…” ha? Did he just laugh? “Ha… hahahahaha!” What? Wait, why is he laughing? Did I say something weird? “Okay.” He says. “Come over at nine o’clock, got it?” Oh well. At least he’s smiling again. “Got it.” I tell him. “Mean while I’ll go and buy a bunch of food and make a feast. We’ll celebrate my new promotion and your acceptance to Harvard University.” He says.
He goes off in his cool, bat-man like car with his sweet but cocky smile. That smile is always boosting up my energy. Now I have to get ready to have dinner with Sam. I wonder what I should wear. “How disgusting.” I turn around and see that it’s Alex with a baseball bat and his two sidekicks Brian and Jason. “Say Melinda…” Alex says. This isn’t good. “Everyone around here knows exactly what you did to Juan and Drew.” I can’t breathe. “So why not just confess already.” I’m scared. “… I …” I say trying to control my breathing and trying to get words to come out of my mouth. “I told you already… I didn’t … do …. anything.” I can’t think straight. My mind is going blank. But for some reason I can still see Alex’s face getting madder. “Liar.” What? Did he say something? “Liar…” he starts walking towards me. “LIAR!” Alex yells. Now I’m dead scared. I turn around to start running but Brian and Jason grab a hold of me before I can even try to escape. They both hold my arms and pin me to the ground. I start moving my whole body doing anything that can possibly make them let go of me. But it’s useless. I can’t shake them off. Alex starts walking towards us. His face looks like a demon looking at a helpless dove. He tightens his grip on the baseball bat and raises it in the air.
I’m sorry Sam. I don’t think I can make it to dinner.
Chapter 3: The healthy man does not torture others. Generally it is the tortured who turns into the tortures. – Carl Jung

The weather man was wrong again. It’s raining really hard tonight. I don’t even know where I am. My body aches. My legs keep shaking with every step I take. I can’t even tell if I’m dripping blood or if water is just dripping off of me. There aren’t any cars stopping to check if I’m alright. Not that that’s a surprise. My stomach hurts too. I reach my pocket to see if I have my phone. I do. It’s eleven and I have twenty missed calls, all from Sam. I can’t possibly call him and tell him where I am. I DON’T EVEN KNOW WHERE I AM. And I definitely don’t want him to look at me like this. I put my hands in my pockets and feel something on one of them. Its Agent Reid’s number. I look at my phone. Two bars. I try to dial the numbers and control my shaking hands. After it rings for about what feels like five years someone finally picks up. “Hello?” a man says. I try to use all the oxygen I have left in me to speak. “He-hello?” I say. “I-is Agent Reid th-there?” My head is throbbing. “This is he. Is this Melinda?” he asks. “Yes it’s Melinda.” I tell him. “C-c-can you pick m-me up please?” I can’t breathe. “Melinda, are you all right?! What’s wrong?!” he says in a worry voice. I try to respond but I can’t get the words to get out of my mouth. “Where are you?!” he asks, although it feels more like a demand. My legs loose all their energy and I fall on my knees. “Melinda, stay where you are I’m coming to get you!” I can hear him tossing everything aside and running to get me. I try to use all my energy to crawl to a tree and I lean on it for support. “Melinda, are you still there?” he yells. I manage to get a sound come out of my mouth to let him know I’m still there. “Melinda you have to stay with me, okay? Do anything you can to let me know that you’re still there.” I can’t move. “Alouette, gentille Alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai ” a voice starts to sing. “What? What did you say Melinda?” I hear Agent Reid yell from the phone that I can barely keep a hold of. Someone is singing. Je te plumerai la tête”. Melinda is there someone else there?” Reid asks. “Alouette, gentille Alouette. Alouette, je te plumerai.” What a sweet voice, its giving me shivers all around my body but… I want to keep listening to it. “Don’t worry Melinda.” The sweet voice tells me. “It’ll soon be all over. For now you just need to go to sleep.” What will be over? “Who are you?” I ask. “It’s okay Melinda... Just sleep.” Then a big white light flashes next to me. “Melinda?!” Agent Reid yells from his car. He and two other agents come out of the car and run towards me. I turn to my side to try and see who was talking to me. But I still can see anything. My eyes are still blurred. “Sleep.” The voice tells me. “Melinda! Are you okay?! Melinda?! Look at me. Look at me! Its okay, it’s okay. I’m here. I’m here now. I’m going to take you the hospital.” I’m so tired. Reid picks me up. I want to escape from this world. I want it to be over. So I do as the sweet voice told me to do. I sleep.

Chapter 4: It is those we live with and love and should know who elude us. - Norman Maclean

When I open my eyes I’m in a big white room. The first thought that I have in my head is that I’m dead. But reality destroys my illusion when I see I.V. tubes on my arms and me in a hospital gown. My body aches so much when I try to sit up. My body is covered in bandages head to toe. The only thing that isn’t bandage is my left eye. On the rest of my face have band aids all around it. Somehow I got myself able to sit. How did I even get here? I can’t remember anything. I can’t ask anyone what happened; I’m the only one in the room. It’s really bright outside. I think it’s already past noon. You would think that this room would at least have a clock. “What do you mean her aunt isn’t coming?!” some man outside my room screams. That really surprised me. I just had a mini heart attack. Who else is there? “I mean what I said.” Says another man. I think its Agent Harrison. This voice is deep and serious, so it must be Agent Harrison. “Harrison, Reid, I got the information on Melinda Jammer that you wanted.” Says a woman. I don’t know who she is. I think it might be another agent… Wait! What information about me? “Thank you D.J.”Agent Harrison says. Who’s DJ? “Melinda Jammer…” Agent Harrison starts. “Sixteen year old senior in high school; born May 25, 1996; has a scholarship to Harvard University; both parents murdered in 2001; lives with her mother’s sister. That’s it?” “That’s it, sir.” says D.J. I can tell this disappoints Harrison his voice goes softer and deeper. “No criminal records, no school complaint, anything?” “No sir. Straight A model student and star athlete. It seems she hasn’t done one bad thing her whole life. ” That’s not true. “But what I do know…” D.J. goes on. “Is that when she was five she witnessed her parent’s death and was later traumatized. She was