Love, Pain, and Memory

When a family cannot function, society will fail.

"SHUT UP!" His father yelled "I TOLD YOU TO NEVER TALK ABOUT HER AGAIN!"

"ARE WE JUST SUPPOSED TO FORGET ABOUT HER! JUST LET HER MEMORY GO AWAY!" Cameron yelled back.

"NO!" His father yelled then a little more quietly, "no…."

His mother suddenly broke in, "THEN WHAT ARE WE SUPPOSED TO DO?" she screamed before bursting in to tears. Cameron got up and walked away from the table, he went upstairs and slammed the door to his room. He walked over to the picture of Maddie that was hanging on the wall. She had silky black hair, brown eyes, and a smile that said "No matter what, I will never let you down!"

He slammed his fist on the wall and cursed the murderous rapist who killed her. He pushed his hair back and stared in to his mirror. His mother said brown looked good on him and he hoped she was right for he was brown everything, brown hair, eyes, even his growing moustache was brown! He liked to get lost in his own thoughts to escape from reality. He picked up his phone and started texting his friends and eventually fell asleep.

He went to school the next morning and was greeted by his orange haired and freckled friend Jeremiah. They gave each other half a nod that told them everything about what had happened the previous night. He was also greeted by his blonde friends Joey and Clara, his brunette friend Sasha, His orange haired crush Morgan, and his black haired black friend Ryan.

School proceeded like school always did, nothing new nothing interesting. After school as he and his friends were walking home for they all lived in the same neighborhood a man with a fancy suit and clipboard stopped them.

"Hello kids! Can I trouble you for a minute of your time?" He had a long twines moustache, an eerie top hat and a face that screamed gambler. Cameron took a few steps back but Clara decided to be brave.

"Sure." She said.

"Good, good" The man replied, "Just come over here were your friends can't hear you and take this survey, and you all range from 12-13 right?"

"All of us are 12 except for me." Clara said proudly, "I'm 13!"

"Good deal." Said the man and led Clara away and slowly did to everyone else and when it boiled down to Cameron his friends pressured him to do it.

"Fine!" He snapped, "I'll do it."

"Great now come over here." After a series of odd questions such as how do your friends describe you to what's your favorite food, the man stopped wrote something down and smiled.

"You, my good sir" He said pausing to look at his clipboard, "Are a fox. Here you go." He said and handed him what felt like a playing card but was wrapped in paper so you couldn't see it.

"And for you….." He said staring him over, "Open it when your love causes painful memories." Then I should open this right now, but he didn't. His friends all told him different things and he categorized them in his head:

(twin birds)Clara- With a multitude of faces open this when they become too much.

(catty)Sasha- In the darkness, there is but one light when you find it open this.

(bite)Joey- When the light beckons open this.

(mouse)Jeremiah- Life cannot work on only one wheel, when you understand open this.

(evolution)Morgan- Knowledge from books can get you only so far, when hungry for more open this.

(feeling)Ryan- Peace and calm arrive at the surface, when what's below becomes threatening open this.

"What the hell?" Cameron said after the man left, "Did he just call us random crap and leave?"

"I'm bite." Joey said, "It doesn't make much sense." They all nodded and went home without another word.

Three hours later…

Cameron emerged from his room. It was about 7:00 and he wasn't the least bit tired, mostly because of what the creepy survey man said. How did he learn so much about him by taking a random survey? He went to the bathroom and 2 hours later went to sleep.

He woke up in the morning and on the news was a list of names and the reporter was saying:

Children have been disappearing in just one day. So far the missing children are:

Joey Cladashio

Clara Vermuse

Sasha Gilp

Jeremiah Kettle

And Ryan Nojure

If you have any information on the whereabouts of these children please contact this number…

Cameron ignored whatever else she said and stared at the TV in shock and horror. How? What? It must have been the survey man! I gotta call Morgan. NOW! He scrambled around looking for his cell phone and when he did found Morgan's number in his contacts and called. A few seconds later he heard her.

"I'm guessing your watching the news?" She asked.

"Yeah! Do you have any idea what happened!" Cameron asked frantically taken aback by her calm attitude.

"I think it's the card…Oh! Gotta go! Bye!"

"Wait!" But he was too late she had already hung up. The card huh? Well he should trash it… NOW. But what if that's the only way his friends could come home? And why was Morgan so calm and then so rushed? Damn. Too many questions, not enough answers. Cameron's head had a sharp pain and he fell to the ground. Damn it! No! He thought, Not the voices! Where… where's my medicine? He had the voices ever since Maddie was killed, he heard her voice, her laughter, and her screams and they hurt. He found his pills in the small plastic container and popped the lid off. He flipped it upside down… But nothing came out. No! He thought, No! What the survey man said came to mind and he stumbled out of the kitchen, past the living room, and in to this bedroom. He found the card on his dresser and tore away the white paper and instantly the pain was gone. He stared at the cared and was amazed at what he saw. "It's a….Pokémon card!" He said, "and it's a vulpix, a fox Pokémon. The hell! How'd this cure my pain? And-" But was cut off by a bright light that flashed from the card. Pictures flew through his head. Clara seemed to be fighting herself and she opened the card. Sasha was in some random dark place stumbling around with the card as her light. Joey got shot in a drive by and had the card on him. Jeremiah was slumped in his chair, bruised and bloody and he opened the card. He saw Ryan running outside with a large man with a knife chasing him, but Ryan's expression was calm when he opened the card. Morgan she just hung up the phone and was holding the unopened card in her hand staring at it in awe.

The light flashed again and all he could see was white, and the survey man's laughing in the distance.