I unlocked the front door to my house and to my surprise, shards of glass covered the floor as each and every piece of furniture in the living room was nowhere near its original place. As my eyes slid down to the marble floor ahead of me, I gasped.

Bloody footprints led to my sister, Marylyn's room. I grabbed the aluminium bat propped against the frame of the door and crept along the bloody trail. A million thoughts raced through my mind as I tried to make out what has happened here. My knees wobbled and my chest tied a knot on itself. Our house is a mess. There is blood on the floor. As many Crime Scene Investigation movies I have ever watched, I could never have imagined what was about to greet me.

Marylyn's room looked as if a hurricane had just swept through it. Book shelves were knocked over, her pillows laid everywhere, her favorite books strewn across the floor. As I was observing the wreckage, I felt a presence behind me. Instinctively, I swung the bat as hard as I could. It all happened so fast, I could not see what happened, but I felt my bat hit something. Lying on the ground in front of me was Edwin, Marylyn's boyfriend, with blood smeared on his arms, clothes and his unconscious face. His bloodstained fingers were curled around a little black pistol. Shocked to the core, my bat slipped from my fingers and fell onto the bloody marble floor with an ear-piercing clang.

My heart raced as I tried to recover from the shock. I turned around and saw, smack bang on the floor a few feet away, someone I had missed when I entered this room.

Marylyn.

And there, where her eye should have been, was a gaping, bloody bullet hole, with blood trickling madly onto the floor. Blood pooled around her unconscious body, staining her clothes and silvery blonde hair brilliant crimson. Her limbs were bent into impossible angles. The room began to spin as I tried to wrap my head around the idea that, Edwin had murdered Marylyn. He had shot her in the eye.

And Marylyn, the only family I had, was dead.

I could not breathe. The walls seemed to close around me. There was not enough air in my lungs. I was going to pass out. I stumbled out of the room, desperately trying to get out of that suddenly claustrophobic room. Desperately trying to get away from that grotesque scene. I wanted to scream, but it was as if there was something lodged in my throat, a lump I could not swallow, stopping anything from coming out. I did not know which way was up as I tripped over pieces furniture and stumbled out of the house. Images of Marylyn and her eye flashed in my mind. I had to get out. I had to breathe. I had to run away.

I burst through the front door and felt a flush of relief as I got out of the claustrophobic house. But my feet continued to pad quickly across the lawn. They would not stop. I was so focused on getting away from that murder scene of a house, I did not see the car coming towards the stretch of road ahead of me, I did not see the car heading at deadly speed towards me.

I felt the road beneath my feet and the next thing I knew, I was knocked over by a huge force and my body hurt like a million tons of rubble had just fell on me. My vision turned crimson like the blood that pooled around Marylyn, a metallic taste filled my mouth. Through the pain and haze I heard a frantic voice asking if I were okay. All I could think about is Marylyn. I muttered her name, desperate for someone to help her.

Stars filled my eyes and my eyeballs rolled back in their sockets. A blinding light was coming towards me. It was warm, bright and somehow, it has taken all the pain away from my broken body.

I stood up, and walked towards a shimmering veil of golden light. Marylyn was there, beautiful as she always was, on the other side.

But the story doesn't end here