Compositions: A Random Collection

Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

(an excerpt and a summary, so W
SPOILER WARNING ⚠ DO NOT READ FURTHER IF YOU DON'T PLAN TO BE SPOILED)

The Days were a clan that mighta lived long
But Ben Day's head got screwed on wrong
That boy craved dark Satan's power
So he killed his family in one nasty hour
Little Michelle he strangled in the night
Then chopped up Debby a bloody sight
Mother Patty he saved for last
Blew off her head with a shotgun blast

Baby Libby somehow survived
But to live through that ain't much a life

               ~SCHOOLYARD RHYME, CIRCA 1985

Summary:
The novel is about how Libby Day dealt with her past. She didn't want to delve more into it to avoid the 'dark places' (her bad memories). But when Lyle Wirth came she had to face it again by meeting Ben, her brother which she had always believed murdered her sisters, Michelle and Debby, and their mother, Patty. But when she slowly realized that she was just only scared to know the truth (whether Ben killed them or not), Lyle helped her through it all, not just because of the financing support but also genuine friendship. She talked to Ben, Runner Day (their stupid, selfish father), and Diondra (Ben's secret girlfriend). When she talked to Diondra, Libby already discovered to herself who she is. It's that she was pregnant when Ben was sent to prison. The story then reveals that Diondra strangled Michelle to death and some other guy chopped up Debby with an ax and shot Patty in the head.

And then the twist continues.

Patty happened to send a letter to a Calvin Deihl saying that she wanted to end her life but didn't want to do it herself because of her children. So she wanted him to kill her but at the time only he knows. Unfortunately, that time was the same time when Ben and Diondra came into the house to pack up Ben's things so he can run away with her.

The same night Diondra killed Michelle while Ben was watching.

The same night when Debby saw her mother stabbed by a stranger.

The same night when Debby was then chopped up to death and while Patty watched, bleeding.

The same night Libby heard it all and jumped out of the window and ran, leaving her love and life behind.

Calvin Deihl got arrested and they found out that he only kills people for their own death wishes (literally). But he said that he never meant to kill a child (which was Debby), he stopped killing after that 'accident' he made 'coz he was sorry.

Diondra and Crystal (Diondra and Ben's offspring xD) tried to kill Libby after meeting her. Libby eacaped. Diondra was caught and locked up. Crystal ran away to who-the-corn-knows-where. Ben got out and Libby then finally lived free from her past. But we all still don't know what the future holds.

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The past doesn't define who we are. It's what we choose to be in the future. Wounds heal. Scars also heal. Move on. There we'll find inner peace.