Laney grabs the house phone and manages to dial 911 while her bloody hand shakes uncontrollably. She glances down and begins to fidget with the piece of paper left near her brother’s lifeless body, but she is too scared to open it.
Just a day ago, Laney’s life seemed just as normal as any other awkward teenage girl’s. Laney woke up Monday morning to the smell of fresh greasy bacon being fried on the pan. She hurried out of bed and went to the kitchen. “I made your favorite”, Laney’s mom said as she handed her a plate. “This is going to be your year, Laney, I just know it! But hurry, you can’t be late for your first day of high school!” her mother exclaims. “Yes ma’am”, Laney replied with a bit of attitude in her voice. She walked into the bathroom and glanced at herself. She was very insecure. She grabbed her makeup and began to cover up her freckles. Then, she brushed out her long blonde hair, before walking back to her room to find her outfit for the day. Laney’s mother begged and begged her to go school shopping with her this year, but Laney insisted that she would be fine with the bland clothes she had now. She found a t-shirt bundled up in her messy closet and got out her favorite pair of jeans. She shoved her feet into her worn down tennis shoes, grabbed her stuff, and waited for her mom and her brother, Ben, to meet her in the kitchen.
Laney blames all her insecurities on the situation with her father. He walked out on her and her pregnant mother when she was just six years old. She hasn’t talked to him since, but would like to because she has many questions. But unfortunately, she nor her mother knows where he is now. Her mother really does not talk much about it. Laney thinks that there is something she is hiding.
When Laney arrives at school, she dashes in and heads straight for her first class of the day. When she finally finds the classroom, she walks in and finds an open desk in the back corner. Laney hates having any kind of attention drawn to her. After the day is finally over, she drags her feet across the sidewalk until she makes it to her mother’s car. “So, Laney, how was your first day?”, her mother asks. “Okay”, she replies sarcastically. “Why don’t you like school? I love it!”, Ben chimes in. The rest of the car ride is silent. Laney has been thinking a lot about her father lately. She wonders where he is now, and why he even left in the first place.
When Laney gets home she grabs her laptop and goes up to her room. She begins to do some research in hopes of finding out where her father is. Hours later, she finally finds something about him, but wishes that she hadn’t. He has been in prison for the last 7 years. She begins to cry. She doesn’t know if it is out of relief or sadness. She was almost satisfied when she found this out, because this explained why she hadn’t heard from him. “Maybe he actually wants to hear from me, but doesn’t know how to reach me” Laney whispers to herself. She hurries to  go get a piece of notebook paper. She grabs a blue ink pen and begins to write him a letter.
Hey, this is Laney, your daughter. I don’t really remember that much
about you but I would love to get to know you! I’m also really curious to
    know why you left. Maybe you have a perfectly good explanation for it. But
                yeah, you might also remember Ben, your son. Well I guess you don’t remember
     him, because he wasn’t born yet. But yeah. If you want to write back I’ll leave
         the return address on the envelope. I really hope to hear from you soon.
    -Laney
Laney finds an envelope, writes the address of the prison and her return address and sticks it in the mail before her mom finds out. A little while later, she goes into her mother’s room to tell her and Ben goodnight. When she walks in she finds her mother lying on the bed watching the news. “Laney, have you heard? Six convicts from the prison down the road have escaped.” her mother said with terror in her voice. “I’m sure they’ll catch them by morning, mom”, Laney says and rolls her eyes. “I’m sure they will. Goodnight Laney. Say your prayers.” “Yes ma’am. Goodnight.” Laney replies.
In the morning Laney wakes up late. Usually her mother wakes her up. “She probably overslept too”, she tells herself. But when she heads toward the kitchen the only thing she sees are big bloody shoe prints on the hardwoods. And her brother’s lifeless body on the ground. “What’s going on? Where’s my mom?” Laney said outloud. She ran to her mother’s room but found no one. She went back into the kitchen and slowly walked up to the piece of paper beside Ben’s body. She clenches on to it as she walks to the phone. She dials 911. “911 what’s your emergency?” says the woman on the line. “My brother is dead and I can’t find my mom.” Laney replies frantically as she finally builds up the courage to open up the paper. “Okay ma’am where are you?” the lady asks. But Laney does not reply she just stares down at the letter. “Ma’am are you there? Is everything okay?” the lady exclaims. But still no reply. Laney was speechless. All she could do was look down at the letter. In all caps it read: I SAVED THE BEST FOR LAST. YOU’RE NEXT. LOVE DADDY.