Stay Dead

• Charlee Hennessy, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2019

I should’ve let them stay dead. Maybe if I did, the horrors I created wouldn’t have happened, but I didn’t, I had to mess with the natural order. This is the story of a man who couldn’t say goodbye.
It started when my family, my two children and my wife left to visit my wife’s sister. I didn’t go as I had too much work to do, with the tonic I was creating. It was a form of pet medicine. A decision I will forever regret. My family died that day, my boy Sammy, was 8, my girl Alice was 12 and my wife, my beautiful wife Susie. Dead. They died in a plane crash that killed 82 people. Their bodies were returned to me. I couldn’t bury them. I laid them in their beds as if they were sleeping.
I set out to adjust my tonic to work on humans. Yes, I was working to bring back the dead.
It worked. I first administered the tonic to my wife Susie. She started to recall those final minutes on the plane, the pilot was a terrorist and had intentionally crashed the plane killing himself and everyone onboard. She needed to rest; she was so tired. Next, I gave it to Sammy; he opened his eyes and screamed. I laid him down on the bed to calm him. Last was Alice. She was the hardest to bring back. While the others had been strapped into their seats when the plane crashed and sustained minor wounds, Alice’s arm was torn off. She was walking down the aisle of the plane when it happened. She sat up, noticed her arm and motioned for me to come to her ear, she told me I should’ve left her dead, and warned they would never be the same. “Goodbye”, she said. She then pulled a knife from behind her and plunged it into her stomach. Her dress now stained red. I walked back into the room, tears running down my face. Susie was awake and knew something was wrong. I turned toward the doorway and felt a sharp pain behind my head. The world went black.
When I awoke I first saw Susie. She had a knife. She must have grabbed it from the kitchen. She was standing over me! “What are you doing?” I asked. She said nothing. Then I noticed it, she looked different. Her face was pale. She shook her head at me. I ran but was cornered in the hall my son Sammy. He was holding my hunting bow. “Bye” he said. He looked like Susie. I turned; Susie was there with the knife. Nowhere to run. Sammy released the arrow, I ducked. the arrow was now protruding from Susie’s stomach. She dropped. Sammy looked mortified. I grabbed the knife off the floor and ran at Sammy. How could I do this? “Goodbye” I whispered. As I drove the knife into him, He wailed. They were gone. What had I done?