Overnight, I, Esmerelda Maria Rodriguez, had turned from the shy, nerdy, the most unknown girl at school to the most popular and known girl there. The girl who was known as a ghost was the headline story on the news, that everyone had heard about. Bright Lights, Shining Stars, this all felt like a dream. Everyone knew my name and rushed up to me to say hi, they all wanted the same thing, they wanted the story, the news,the chaos. They all wanted to be friends with me, even my sworn enemies. The most popular kids at school looked at me like their queen.I liked it a lot, but I was really tired of repeating the story over and over from last night's swarm of reporters wanting to get their fingers on any good news story. Since, everyone wanted to hear the story so bad, I repeated it one last time. If you would like to tune in, you are more then welcome to because this will be your last chance ever to hear it from me, a primary source. And here it goes again!

¨The once colorful, now dried up leaves cracked with each step I took, as the blaring sun gleamed heavily upon me and the cool, crisp breeze messed up my hair. As, I continue to walk the way back to my house from Sante Fe Middle School, I breathe in the nice, fresh fall breeze and notice there is a very long text from my dad. 

The text said,  ¨ Esmeralda, honey I will not be able to make it home on time tonight. I have some last minute glitches for a big project I have been working on due tomorrow, which will cause me to come home very late. You can order your choice of dinner with the money I left you with the key underneath the ¨Welcome Home¨ mat. I promise I´ll make sure to make it up to you tomorrow. Remember sleep at 10 p.m. ¨ 

My stomach churns and spins like  rollercoaster as I read the message. I absolutely hate staying home all alone, in the crazy big house I moved to over the summer. The house is like mansion-big and you can hear paranormal noises like doors opening and closing when there is no one there. There has been no action in this house, so there are spiders all over.¨Yuck¨, I shudder just thinking about it. My house is like a replica of a haunted house. My dad just thinks it is my wild always running imagination.

I approach my house and climb the three  old , rustic wooden steps that creak with every step you take, and then slide my fingers under the,¨Welcome Home¨ mat and grab the key and the big wad of one dollar bills. I walk up to the old  wooden foyer, which has nail sticking out and unlock the wooden door which is standing on it's last pair of hinges. I rush inside the humongous, empty house , remembering to lock the door behind me with the ancient wooden latch. 

Right away I climb on top of the counter and grab my favorite snack consisting of oreos and milk from the fridge. Then, I start on my long and boring homework up in my bedroom. A few hours later, I finish all of my hard, mind crushing  homework and order a small pizza with pepperoni and extra cheese from my favorite pizza parlor, Pizza Hut.

     A few minutes later,  “Ding Dong”, the doorbell rings. I jump back, startled as the bell was unexpected. As, I get up to go open the door, I wonder how could the pizza already be here. I have a large wad of one dollar bills in one hand and I grasp the door handle tightly with the other hand. As, I open the door there was no one there.

     I was weirded out, as I step out to look for someone of my foyer, my foot hit an object spongy to touch. When I look down to see what was there, ÄAAAAAAHHHHH”, I leap back,in horror. It was a dead human body, drenched in blood. The more I looked at it, the more I trembled. A body all wrapped up like a piece of meat. The skin squeezing cerene wrap pressed tightly around the body , with blood staining the clear plastic. The head was tightly positioned in between the legs in which looked like a very uncomfortable position. Gross.There was even a label which said, Humans Inc.( 636-935-9893, 123 Mascare Drive, Des Moines) and even a label which said  28 Pounds= $58.87 . I was in complete shock, I was paralyzed from the head down. 

As, I recovered from the shock, I ran inside grabbed my cellphone and called my dad with my hands trembling with each digit, I punched in.

“Dad, there is a dead body on our front porch.”, I said frantically 

“Wait, what?”

          “ There is a dead body on our porch wrapped up like a piece of meat.”, I said more calmly 

           “Is this a prank, Esmeralda because it’s not at all funny”

           “ No, I swear this is not a prank.”

          ” Honey, lock all of the doors, call the police, I am coming home.”

I dash to go lock the wooden latch as I grasp onto my phone ready to call the police as soon that was taken care of.

My hand is shaking hard when, I type in 911 to alert the police.

¨What is your emergency?¨

¨There is a human corpse on my doorstep.¨

¨How old are you?¨

¨I am 12 years old¨ 

“Do you have a parent I can talk to?¨

“I am home alone.¨

¨Can I have your full name and address?¨

¨My name is Esmeralda Maria Rodriguez and I live at 800 Holly Brook Meadow in Sante Fa, New Mexico.¨

¨I have alerted the police and they are on there way.¨

¨Thanks.¨

A couple minutes later, I hear blaring sirens, so I run outside and start waving my hand frantically. I wonder as, the police cars come to a sudden stop along with the pizza delivery man trailing behind them, the emergency service officers rush out and start gazing at the corpse, how this only happened to me, a shy 8th grader at Sante Fe Middle School and not anyone else.One of the officer is the odd duckling out and starts putting ,“Crime Scene Do Not Cross” bold yellow tape all over the perimeter of the house. It is very hectic around the house. 

The pizza delivery man got out, looking all confused and delivered the pizza. After, I pay him, he was weirdly looking at me. I bet he was just wondering why my house was surrounded in “Crime Scene Do Not Cross” tape and why  there was a swarm of police officers all over. He just ran and drove away after I gave him the money. 

 The police finally stop looking at the corpse and secretly whispering to each other to come to an agreement to call and go to Humans Inc. They were still confuzzled because they had never seen a case as weird as this. The police officer with the badge that said,”Deputy” took out his phone and called 636-935-9893. He put the call on speaker for his fellow buddies to hear. The phone rang 7 times before saying, “You have reached the voicemail box of Humans Inc. Please leave your message along with your name and number.” The deputy chief sighed loudly. After this he made another call,  he looked on the package and then called the police in Des Moines, Iowa. He put it on speaker again, so this is what I heard…

You have reached the Des Moines Police Station, how may I assist you?”

”This is Sante Fe's Deputy,Alejandro Ramez speaking, can I talk to the Deputy?”

”Just hold for a second please”

Sure.”

”This is John Hill, Deputy of Des Moines police station speaking and who might you be?”

“My name is Alejandro Ramez.”

“What is your concern?”

”I am on a case back in Sante Fa, where we found a  corpse packaged like a piece of meat.There is an address on it. The address is 123 Massacre Drive. Could you go check it out with a partner?”

”Sure”

”Thanks”

After this 5 minute chat, they hung up.  The deputy and his partner got into their uniforms and drove to the crime scene with blaring sirens.As, the officer and his partner in Des Moines creep upon  the sketchy place, the police officers back here were examining the crime scene. The officers in Des Moines had walked around the premises before kicking the door open. They walked inside in as they see thousands of more corpses. Gallons of blood spinning in the machines. This was all a sight of horror to them.

Alejandro just started laughing afer he got a phone call, when we asked him what happened, he took a minute to stop laughing before he explained to us that Humans Inc is actually who makes realistic gummy bodies drenched with blood, on pre order.  The packages was supposed to be sent to 008 Holly Brook Drive.

        We all laughed until the police officers then walked up to my neighbor’s house and asked if the gummy corpse was theirs.Thankfully,it was, they had ordered it for a Halloween party, they were hosting tomorrow at their house. We wondered how the mix up happened. 

Later, when a strong gust of wind blew by, we noticed the house sign flipped over. That is when everything came together. The wind blew the house sign over making it look like 088 Holly Brook Meadow. We got all worked up for a piece of candy. We made sure to bolt the sign in tightly, so the wind couldn't blow it over again and another mixup like this wouldn't happen. I was so relieved that it wasn`t a real dead corpse, but one premade gummy for the Halloween party, I would soon enjoy.

 A few minutes later, my dad frantically rushed out of his car, so in a rush that he couldn`t remember to close the door to the car, all worried about me. He said he was sorry for not being there earlier, he was stuck in a hectic traffic jam caused by a huge accident. I then explained to him how we got all worked up for a piece of candy. Later that night, we got phone calls, knocks at the doors,everything from news reporters wanting to be the first to get this headline story out. And that was the story of the great candy mix up in 2017 that happened to I, Esmeralda Maria Rodriguez on the night before Halloween!” This is the story of how I turned into the most popular girl at Sante Fe Midlle School overnight.