Part 1

The day was awfully hot, even for Louisiana. The humidity was oppressive and unforgiving, similar to the people living there. As Konnie Renee Sanders woke up, a feeling of unease came upon her almost as vigorously as the humidity itself. She turned to her clock; it read “6:04 AM”. How strange Konnie thought, 6 o’clock in the summer? Suddenly, loud footsteps came running towards her as she sat up in bed. They weren’t heavy, but they were urgent. Konnie Renee quickly twisted her head to face her door. She waited to see who those footsteps belonged to, her heartbeat growing stronger as each second went by. The footsteps slowed down and she felt a presence grow near. Then it came through the doorway. Konnie’s heart almost seemed to skip a beat. Then she looked down and she saw who had entered her room. Her beautiful golden lab Bau. 

“How could you scare me like that Bau!”

The dog looked at her and cocked his head. 

Konnie got up from her bed and stared out the window. The humidity outside made everything look distorted. Two adolescents walked by. They each quickly chugged a jug of water taking turns as the other wiped sweat off of their forehead. 

“It’s really hot outside isn’t it?”

She looked at the dog. She almost seemed to be waiting for a response even though she knew it would never come. How naïve he is; so innocent and pure. So unknowing of the sins each person in this town carries, Konnie thought, unaware of her own naivety. 

She began walking towards the door, her faithful companion following her. She started walking down the hallway of her house. Konnie suddenly and abruptly stopped. At this point she had been halfway down the hall. She stared into her mother and step-father’s room and noticed a peculiar thing. Konnie saw her step-father’s pajamas thrown about on the floor. His cologne, socks and glasses were scattered on his dresser, and their bed was unmade as if he was in a rush. It must have been 6:10 by then. He usually left for work around 7, exactly an hour and a half later than her mother. Why would he, the biggest neat-freak I know, be in such a rush that he wouldn’t the take time to make the bed or fold his clothes? Konnie’s slowly shrinking feeling of unease promptly grew. She felt a pain in her gut, a pain that only meant trouble.

She continued down the hall making her way towards the kitchen and trying to shake off her nervousness. She entered her white tiled kitchen and turned the corner automatically. She bent down to a red bucket labeled “Bau’s treats”. She grabbed one, it was smooth and shaped like a bone. She held it above her head.

“Sit!” she commanded.

“Gimmie paw!” she fed the dog the treat.

“Who’s a good boy?! You are, you are!”

While Bau enjoyed his treat and praise for being in fact, a good boy, Konnie headed towards the pantry pulling out her favorite cereal. She opened the cupboard next to the pantry and pulled out a bowl, spoon and cup. She set everything on the table and once again Bau followed her. She opened the fridge pulling out the orange juice and soon to be expired milk. She sat at the kitchen table and reached for the TV remote. Bau settled down under the table at her feet, and together they watched their favorite Monday morning cartoons and her feeling of unease drifted away. 

The Sander family’s one story house filled with the warm scent of lavender body soap and the faint smell of lemon dish soap. Konnie opened the door to the bathroom releasing more of the refreshing lavender scent. She emerged from the steam wrapped in a blue towel. She walked down the hall and into her room. She changed into a pair of loose blue jean shorts and tucked in a tight red shirt that complimented her deep caramel-colored skin perfectly. She quickly braided her kinky, curly hair into three cornrows and met them into one ponytail.

“Bau!” she called. “Time for your walk!”.

Her faithful companion came running into her room. He sat down, mouth open and panting. She turned out of her room and crouched at another red bucket, this time merely labeled with “Bau”. From the bucket she pulled out a black cloth leash and bright blue doggy bags. She attached the leash to Bau's faded red collar. She shoved the doggy bags into her pocket and made her way down the hall pulling Bau along with her. Together they walked across the house to the front door. She opened the dark wood door and walked through it quickly to make sure a minimum amount of the unwelcomed hot air  from outside entered her house.

Konnie and Bau walked down the front steps of the house and began their walk. Every single step was in unison; any passerby could tell that they had done this a million times before. As she walked down the sidewalk she noticed a peculiar thing. There were dark well-defined skid marks leading out of her driveway. The skid marks put Konnie in an uneasy mood and once again she tried her hardest to shake it off. Slightly nervous Bau and Konnie followed their routine. No matter how hot or cold, they always did the same things on their morning walk. They first walked for about 5 minutes to the corner store a few blocks away. There Konnie would grab a snack or something to drink. The old clerk would always stop her and they would engage in quick small talk. Once their idle conversation was over, the clerk would offer Bau a treat. After the corner store they walked for about another 15 minutes before reaching her town's only park, which was on the white side of town. [It was named "Robert E. Lee Park" after the leader of the Confederate army. Many people who were uncomfortable with saying the name of the person who led the south during the Civil War every time they wanted to go to the park, nicknamed it R.E.L. park and merely pronounced it as "REL". The whole "REL"] thing never really caught on with the white people in town. For, it was mainly the black members of town who were uncomfortable with saying the name of such person so often. 

As Konnie and Bau drew closer to the park something seemed off. They were about a block away and something unusual was starting to grasp her attention. Usually she could hear they laughter and playful screams of the children in the park from almost two blocks away but, today everything was silent almost. The only noise was the faint cry of police sirens and ringing of a bell which called for a town meeting on the white side of town. Even though Konnie had an early start to her day, the children still should be in full "time-to-scream-and-play" mode. Suddenly her feet started moving faster and unease fell upon her again. As their slow stroll turned into a speed-walk with purpose Bau followed keeping up with her rushed pace.

They walked through the park's metal gate. The pathway of the park was newly spray painted with streaks of red. Konnie looked to her right, her heart beating so fast she could hear her own pulse echoing throughout her head. In the near distance she spotted a tree with rope tied around it. Above the rope was a red arrow pointing straight ahead. She quickly ran towards the tree. Bau jogged next to her exausted from the heat. As she grew nearer to the tree she noticed many other trees all with the same arrow and rope. She realized they made a trail and whatever it led to only contributed to her now justified feeling of unease. 

She finally reached the last arrow marked tree. Both her and Bau were out of breath. Her heartbeat slowed down as she did too. Konnie glaced at her feet, she was once again back on the pathway of the park. As she looked up something caught her eye. On the concreate in front of her there was something written largely in the same red spray paint. It looked like some kind of old forgotten language like Latin. It read "et admonitus in tenebris". Next to it was an arrow pointing forward. She followed the arrow which she hoped to be the last one. She looked around her. Konnie had reached the far end of REL park. Around her were only trees and the ends of the pathway. She looked up to where the arrow had led. Her unease grew to an anxious panic. Konnie Renee finally saw what the path had led to. A black man hanged from the tree in front of her. His neck was covered in blood and it dripped onto his once clean white and blue striped button down shirt. She stood there frozen. Her hands began trembling and without thinking her feet unintentionally moved forward closer to the hanging body, giving her a better look of the victim. Konnie stared deep into the soul of the dead man unsure of what to do. Then it hit her... the man was her own step-father.