Stella and Hank were close. They always had been. Hank took in Stella at eight years old. Stella had built a very close relationship with Hank. They lived in downtown Seattle. Everything was normal until one book changed everything.

“Hey Kiddo how was school?” Says Hank. “It was ok” says Stella. She went upstairs to do her homework like normal. When Stella went downstairs for dinner, Hank seemed a little off but Stella paid no mind to it.

Stella was a very untrusting girl. She used to live in a home where her father and Mother beat her. They were always drunk. She never got fed and her parents were doing drugs most of the time. Eventually her school called the police and she was put in a foster home. That's when she met Hank. Stella was always hesitant to trust anybody. She barely ever spoke once Hank took her in.  After a few trials, Hank adopted Stella and became her legal guardian.

Stella had the biggest brown eyes Hank had ever seen. She had long wavy dirty blond hair and a smile that could make everything better. Hank was tall, round, he had dark brown eyes and a very cheerful attitude most of the time. After about three years living with Hank, Stella built a trust with Hank. She is thirteen and Hank is 66.

The two sat down at the dinner table to eat. Stella was nervously tapping her foot because she could see Hank seemed different. Hank wasn’t seeming his normal self. He wasn’t blinking much and wasn’t really talking either, which was unusual for him. Stella looked at him, “Are you ok?” She said. “Oh me, I’m fine, I couldn't be better.” Hank said abruptly. Stella grew more nervous. She looked at him and asked “How was your day? Anything interesting happen?” She said with a stronger tone. “Why so curious child?” Hank said passively.

When Hank was young he made lots of bad decisions. His friends talked him into drugs and smoking. For awhile there he even sold drugs. He was out partying and getting high while his wife, Martha was at home working and holding the household up. Martha knew something was up. She never had the guts to say something. He would come home high as heaven and she knew it too. When Martha decided to say something, he screamed at her. She screamed back. This went on for weeks. He kept getting high, she kept dangling in the wind to what they used to have. She eventually had enough. She grabbed the bottle of aspirin. She overdosed and that was it.

Hank developed major anger issues. Once he regained the energy to clean up his act and get a real job he vowed to himself that he would never do such a thing to anyone ever again. He then opened a publishing company and became a foster parent.

Hank sent Stella upstairs to get ready for school the next day. Stella snuck into his room to see what was up. His room was unusually messy. Everything was pulled out of the drawers and his bed wasn’t made. There was a journal looking thing on his bed, it was beat up and it had the initials M.A. Normally Hanks room was always tidy, everything had a place. This was just odd.

Hanks room was at the end of the hallway and the bathroom was on the right hand side of the hallway so the bathroom mirror, mirrored Hanks bedroom. As Stella brushed her teeth she looked into Hanks room. It was completely tidy. The book was gone and Hank was also preparing for the next day. Stella kept watching deep in curiosity. Hank took a gun out from under the mattress and made sure that it was loaded and he put it under the mattress again.

Stella started to worry. Her eyes becoming filled with more and more anxiety. She began to bite her thumb. She tended to do that when she was really concentrating. She went to sleep. She thought that whatever she was thinking probably wasn’t true. Hank was somebody she really could trust. He would never dare Hurt her.

The next morning when Stella was walking to school she stopped by the Sheriff's department. She asked for all the files under the name Hank Aaron. She looked through the files even though she was a bit surprised they just gave her the files. She read.

Aaron, Hank.
Resident of Seattle WA
Tried for: Drug Abuse
Decided, NOT GUILTY.

Stella couldn’t believe what she had read. “Drug abuse?” She thought to herself. She arrived at school and couldn’t concentrate at all, all day. She knew Hank was going to be working late that night. So, Stella looked through his room to find that journal that was on his bed from the night before.

She found it under Hanks pillow. She took it to her room and examined it. Most of the pages were ripped out. On the inside it said, Martha Arron. Stella had wondered who the heck Martha was. Hank had never mentioned a sister or mother or wife. When Stella read the last page she couldn’t believe what she had read.

November 6th 1973
Today was another rough day. Hank won’t listen to me. I just miss him. I miss the way he used to talk to me. I miss the notes he used to leave me. I miss the way he would hold me at night. Now he just comes home at night high and hungover. It’s painful to watch him become this different  person. It makes me question whether or not everything we worked for was worth it. I’m just tired of it. I think I’m just going to end it. I just want to be gone. Do you ever feel like you're in this cozy safe room and then suddenly someone leaves a window open and the cold air invades your coziness? Your dream atcher soon becomes a wind chime and you're no longer at peace? That's how I feel. So anyway, Hank, If you're reading this I’m probably already dead. If you're somebody else, don’t take this entry lightly. Goodbye for now.

“What the hell are you doing?” Hank was in the door frame, his nostrils flaring and his jaw clenched. “I uh.. I just found it lying around.” Said Stella nervously. Stella was petrified. She was in shock, panic if you will. Hank rushed to the journal and snatched it out of Stella's hand. “I’m sorry, I was just curious.” Stella said with a quiver to her voice. “What did you read?” Hank said angrily. “I just read the last page.” As Hank calmed down, he sat on the edge of the bed and said “I’m sorry that you read this.” Stella was staring daggers at him. She had felt stupid for thinking she could trust somebody at all. “I can’t believe, I thought I could trust you. I can’t believe you just hid your life from me.” Stella said with clear pain in her voice. You could almost hear her heart breaking. “I’m sorry Stell. BUT YOU HAD NO RIGHT TO LOOK THROUGH MY THINGS.” Hank said and stormed out.

Stella thought to herself. She needed time to cool off. Hank was the only family she had ever known. He had been her last resort. After everything she had been through and then a tornado of lies captured her once again. Something she could never get past. She was lying in her bed writing in her journal that Hank bought her for her birthday. It had her initials on it, S. A.  And at that moment Hank stormed in. He had the gun that Stella had seen under his mattress. He yelled “I’M SORRY, I LOVE YOU.” And within two seconds, the barrel was pointed to his head. His fingers wrapped around the trigger, he pulled and he was gone.

Stella screamed and broke out in sobs as her father fell to the floor, a pool of blood filling the room the way the tears flooded her eyes. She cried and cried. The neighbors busted the door down to find the scene. The police and ambulance came and Stella was taken to a mental hospital. It was all happening so fast. Stella was sobbing and she didn’t sleep at all that night.

Shrinks just kept trying to talk to her. She hadn’t slept in 5 days since she witnessed Hanks suicide. Every Time she shut her eyes flashbacks of the sound, the blood, the screams, the sirens. They all just came back.

At his funeral many family friends came.Everyone gave Stella the “I’m sorry.” Look. She didn’t speak at the funeral. When it came time to burry him, she threw the T-Shirt Stella wore the day Hank took her in and Martha’s journal in the coffin. And as the tears fell down her eyes she remembered Martha’s journal entry.

Do you ever feel like you're in this warm cozy room and then someone leaves the window open. Then all this cold wind invades your coziness. Your dream catcher becomes a wind chime and you're no longer at peace?

Stella was sent to live with Jay, Hank’s brother. She grew up to be a psychologist. She now lives in Boston and she is also a Foster parent.

The End.