Perhaps it was the way the stars were aligned that night. Perhaps it was the way the wind trickled through the branches of little Oak Tree. The shadows of its branches dancing on the walls of the nursery. The little gurgles of the baby in its crib.

Everything happens for a reason they say. Maybe it was a blessing in disguise, that the sound of the rain had drowned out the screams of bloody murder from Eloise and Marcus. Thankfully, for their precious sleeping child wouldn’t wake. The precious sleeping child, who was blissfully unaware of the fact that they were now an orphan.

The blood of the sweet and innocent parents, now splattered on the walls, the frames of their family pictures hung up upon the stairway. They did nothing wrong. But maybe it was their time to leave. But who would be that cruel to take away the only protectors of an innocent little baby. It wasn’t special. A child like theirs of course was considered perfection and a blessing in their eyes, but nonetheless had no extreme importance within such a huge world.

It was strange though. The sweet couple had no grudges or hatred against anyone. They were pure angels. Yet, they were hated enough by someone to the point in which they didn’t care if a child was orphaned because of them. What was even stranger was the fact that the family lived in a small town. It would’ve taken a lot more noise than just rain to drown out the screams. How did nobody hear them? Why did nobody take their child in, when finding out about their murder, especially with all the kindness they showed towards everyone? Why was it that Eloise and Marcus were there every time one of the towns folk needed help, but yet nobody was there for them? I know.

Envy. Envy is a sick thing. You look at something or someone and have this longing to either be them or have it. And that longing turns to want, and want turns to jealousy, and the next thing you know your happy little life is surrounded by negativity because everyone wants to be you and have what you have. That was the case for Eloise and Marcus. In the beginning, everyone respected them and treated them as fairly as the two did to them. But then they all came to the realization that the couple’s life with their newborn child was far to perfect and happy compared to theirs. It wasn’t just one person. The whole town envied them but had put on fake smiles and sugarcoated their compliments whenever the couple was around. They all hired a hitman. Had organized the whole thing right to the very position the couples’ bodies would be in when the event happened. And their child? Oh, no one was to take that little bundle of joy and perfection in. They wanted no evidence that that family lived there.

Envy does horrible things to you. It fogs your brain up to the point in which you don’t even know who you are or what your actions are anymore. Envy hides the side of you that’s true and replaces it with a different person. Copies the person you wish to be. Maps out the materials needed to make the object they desire. Jealousy follows you all over till it corners you when you least expect it, and it overtakes you. Don’t let it.