Under The Willow Tree

I heard the impact before I felt it. My head hit the ground in a matter of seconds. My body was frozen from shock and it wasn't melting. It would never melt.

My body laid crumpled in the grass field just under the willow tree with a bullet wound that entered my chest and came out my back. My mama owned a farm just outside town. It was always peaceful there, or at least it used to be. A few days ago, some strange men showed up at our door asking questions that I didn't understand. Although they didn't make sense to me, they definitely had an effect on mama. That night she told me to stay under my bed and not come out till she came up to get me. She never came. I lay under my bed for two hours, she didn't come. I waited for one more hour, she wasn't there. It was the morning. Mama wasn't there. I crawled out from under my bed and I was shaking. My hands were shaking. My legs were shaking. My whole body was shaking
... I couldn't stop shaking.

Where was mama?

I slowly went to my door and twisted the handle. The house was so silent. I felt like an elephant trampling through the halls. I walked down the stairs and heard light voices coming from downstairs. It wasn't my mama's voice. I peered through the hand railing and saw the two men who came to our house yesterday. They were standing next to this bag; it was black and it looked like it was filled with... pillows? The men turned their heads and saw me. They said, "We can't have any witnesses' sweetie." I didn't understand what they meant, but the way they said it scared me. Next thing I knew, I was standing by the wilow tree, they told me that what they did was important, that it would bring peace to all. I still didn't understand. Then I was under the tree, and they pulled out a gun. How was this peace?