Monster in Hiding

August 10th, 1984

Police were surrounding the house. People were watching in awe and horror as three bodies were pulled from the house, and loaded up into a van. A few feet away, a social worker cradled a hysterical young girl in her arms.

A man came home from work, slaughtered his wife and youngest daughter- then himself after. The oldest daughter was only three and had been at day care when her mother never showed up to get her at three that afternoon. The day cares policy required that in the event a child's parents did not show up by five o'clock social services be contacted in this situation.

The social worked, Anna, drove the young girl home. As soon as they pulled up in the driveway, Anna knew something was off; but was too slow to stop the girl from unbuckling herself and running into the house. The sight inside of the house was absolutely horrifying, Anna screamed at the top of her lungs. "Mommy?" The young girl asked.

It was a sight that Anna would never be able to forget.

The young girl was on her knees, next to her mothers body in the floor. Anna's hand shook as she watched the young girl become confused as to why her mother wasn't waking up; and when her eyes landed on the woman's face, her stomach churned. The girls mother had been beaten bloody, and unrecognizable.

Only after Anna had called the police, did she finally realize that she needed to get the young girl out of the house. Grabbing the girl, she carried her out the house- causing her to scream. "Mommy! I want my mommy!" Tears streamed down the young girls cheeks. Anna clutched the girl to her chest, her heart beating so hard she thought it was about to pop right out of her chest. She was worried that she'd never forget what she had seen inside of that house; and prayed that Elle would never remember. It was a sight that was going to haunt her forever.

May 14th, 1999

Smoothing out the front of my dress, I took a deep breath as I looked at myself in the mirror. Today was the day- graduation.

I honestly couldn't believe I had made it this far. I didn't think that this day was ever going to come. "Elle! Are you ready? Matt's here!" Anna's voice echoed through the house from where she stood at the bottom of the stairs. "I'll be down in just a second!" I responded. I looked myself over in the mirror once more before walking out of my bedroom and heading downstairs.

Just like Anna said, Matt was standing just in front of the front door looking handsome as ever. His hands were shoved down into his pockets, and a large smile appeared on his face when I came into the room.

"You look beautiful." Matt smiled, his dimples appearing on his cheeks. "Thank-you Matty." Looking over, I saw Anna standing there with a giant smile on her face. I could tell how proud she was, it was radiating off of her. I'm sure Matt had noticed it too. With how much he had been around Anna, it should've been obvious to him.

"So I'll meet the two of you after the ceremony, and we'll go out to dinner. Everyone's invited, all the boys, and their girls." Reaching out, she moved a stay strand of hair away from my face.

I couldn't stop myself from stepping forward and wrapping my arms around her. "Thank-you for everything you've done for me." I whispered. Her hold tightened slightly before she pushed herself away from me. "You two better get going, or you're going to be late!" She very suddenly began pushing the two of us towards the door.

Taking my hand, Matt escorted me out of the house and over to the very large truck he drove. "Can we not take my car?" I pouted, nodding my head in the direction of the black charger sitting in the driveway. It hadn't been the car I wanted, but it was my baby either way. "I'm too big to be squeezing into your tiny ass car. Plus I'm parked behind you, so let's just take my truck." He laughed loudly. He did have a point. I might've given in to what he wanted, but I sure as hell wasn't about to do so quietly.

"That's not what you said in bed two nights ago." I mumbled, walking up to the passenger side of the truck. "What was that?" I heard him choke on air and he whipped his head around to look at me. Ever the gentleman, Matt opened the car door and helped me climb into the rather large vehicle.

"I said, I'm wearing a dress so you can't get all pissy when everyone sees my fucking underwear when I attempt climbing out of this monster truck!" It was my turn to laugh now. Shaking his head, he walked around the side of the jeep and climbed into the seat. Though, he obviously didn't struggling getting in like I did.

The drive to the high school was a quiet one, but Matt held my hand the entire way there. When we arrived, we were immediately surrounded by our group of friends. Brian, Zacky, and Jimmy along with their girlfriends: Michelle, Gena, and Leana. The other two, Johnny and Lacey, were there as well however they still had another year until they graduated. "Elle! Come on, we have to go put on our gowns before we line up!" Grabbing my hand, Michelle quickly began pulling me away from Matt.

The guys simply laughed, and waved as the girls pulled me away. "We'll meet here after the ceremony!" Matt laughed the loudest.

I waved to him in return before walking along with the girls. I couldn't believe that this was the last time we would be walking through these halls. Four long years behind us, it was finally over. "Elle, are you listening?" Leana's voice snapped me out of my thoughts. "I'm sorry, what were you saying?" I hummed, looking down at the shorter girl. Well, in this moment, seeing as she was wearing heels she wasn't exactly shorter.

"I said, you look absolutely stunning! Well, we all do actually, because it's graduation!" She squeeled loudly in my ear. We walked into the girls changing room in the gym together. Gena had all of our caps and gowns draped over her arm. She had been the one who wanted to make sure they were perfect for pictures tonight.

"Guys, you have to promise me something." Gena spoke as she handed each of us what we needed. "What's that?" Michelle hummed, taking the plastic off of her gown.

"We will never let anything come between us. That we won't fade from each others lives after tonight." Gena had this pitifully sad look in her eyes. I couldn't stop myself from lunging forward and wrapping my arms around the blonde girl standing in front of me. When we pulled away, I placed my hands on her cheeks and looked into her eyes. "We are always going to be together, all of us. No matter what happens, I promise you that." I whispered. "Now, lets get dressed and graduate out of this hell hole so we can go out and eat with Anna." I laughed ever so slightly.

It all went by in a flash. Lining up, I was directly next to Jimmy who was too giddy to stand or sit still. Walking into the gymnasium, I almost tripped over my own two feet, Jimmy made a joke about it once I finally reached my seat next to him.

Zacky was the first of us all to walk across the stage, and Brian came second. After that, it all became a blur. Parts of me could remember my name being called, walking across the stage and collecting my diploma while all the people who cared for me cheered.

The next thing I knew, I with sitting in a very high end french restaurant with all the people I cared about. Matt was sitting next to me, while Anna sat across on me with a smirk on her lips. There was something she knew but wasn't saying; and I wanted to know what. "So, everyone, I have news." Brian spoke. He also had some kind of sly smirk playing on his lips.

Everyone turned their eyes to him, curious to hear what it was he had to say. "I got a call this morning, and we have officially been signed. We leave in two months for LA to record our first album, and after it's out, we're going on a cross country tour." The group of people around me began cheering. Except for me....I couldn't bring myself to cheer. As happy as I was for the boys, part of me dreaded being so far away from Matt.

My eyes stayed on Brian, watching as Michelle leaned over and pressed her lips to his cheek in congratulations. How was she not thinking about him being away for so long?

Feeling a hand on top of my own, my eyes shot over to where Matt was sitting to my left. "Hey, are you alright?" He whispered, there was so much concern in his voice. The boy sitting next to me really cared about me, I could see it in his eyes. How much he cared actually almost hurt me.

"I'm fine, I mean, I'm happy for you all, I just didn't think it was going to happen so fast. You're going to be leaving soon." The end of my confession ended in a whispered. When our eyes connected, I saw something flash through his beautiful hazel orbs. It was almost like he could read my mind, reaching out he took hold of my hand. "Baby, I'm not going anywhere. I'm right here." He tried reassuring me.

"But when you leave for tour. You'll be meeting so many new people, I'll be the last thing on your mind." I told him, but I put the words I spoke more nice than what had been running through my mind. "Don't say that, you're always on my mind. You always will be, fuck everyone else. You're the only one that matters." Neither of us noticed nor cared about the eyes that were watching the two of us like hawks.

"You say that now, but you don't know what's going to happen you go." I shook my head ever so slightly. Letting out a soft sigh, Matt reached down into his pocket and pulled out a little velvet black box. "I was going to do this later, but I don't think I should wait." He started. "Elle, we've been together for six years now. You're all I've been able to think about since the very first moment I laid eyes on you. I want you to be with me always. I guess, what I'm trying to say, er well ask. Well, I want you to be mine. I want to marry you.....so what do you say?"

His words shocked me and shook me to my very core. My eyes flashed down to the ring he was holding out to me, and I instantly recognized it as one his mother wore. She had told me it belonged to his grandmother who had passed away.

One of my hands came up to cover my mouth, while the other reached out and landed on his cheek. Tears came to my eyes as I looked at Matt, unable to find the words to say. My heart hurt I was so happy. "Matt, I..." The words caught in my throat. They were there, they just wouldn't come out. "God damn it, just say yes already!" Someone shouted, slamming their hand down on the table.

Still unable to speak, I simply nodded my head before throwing my arms around Matt's shoulders. I felt his arms slide around my waist and pull me closer to him.

"Finally! It's been weeks since he asked to propose!" Anna rejoiced, clapping her hands together.