“ARE YOU SURE IT’S OKAY if I stay here a while?” I asked, blowing my nose in a tissue that was starting to fall apart. “I don’t want to be a bother.”
“Girl, please. You’re welcome to stay here,” Trish said, handing me a new tissue. “I just really wish you’d tell me what the hell is going on.”
She seemed genuinely concerned, but I wasn’t ready to talk. Not to mention, I still didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know if I should call the police, or what. I just needed a place to hide out until I got my head on straight.
I had a week before Kyle came home, and there was no way in the world I was going back to that condo. I wasn’t going to let the man who killed my parents take care of me.
“I can’t,” I said through my tears. “I wish I could, but I just can’t.”
She reached out and smoothed the hair on the side of my head. “When you’re ready to talk, I’m here.”
Trish attempted to call off the date she’d been talking about for the last two weeks, but I refused to let her do that. I was an emotional mess and I wanted to spend the night alone. I was more than happy to watch Trish walk out the door an hour later.
I laid on the couch and cried for most of the night. At some point, I fell into a fitful sleep. Memories of the night I’d kept under lock and key were released and I had no choice but to relive it all over again. Except my nightmare was different this time. This time I was the victim.
The sound of gunshots rang out and Kyle’s screams broke my heart all over again. And then there was the intruder’s face—Sebastian’s icy eyes cut through me, leaving me feeling cold and afraid.
He turned away from my mother’s lifeless body and made his way toward me.
“You’re next you little bitch,” he growled in my face.
His fingers dug into my arms, pinning me to the door of my parents’ room, and then he leaned in and kissed me.
I was tossing on the couch, when I heard a strange noise. My eyes opened, my senses on alert, and I sat up in the darkness of the room. I gasped when a shadow shifted against the wall across from me.
When the face was no longer shielded by the obscurities of the night, I wasn’t flooded with any sort of relief. She stood across from me, a gun in her hand, and there was no tremble as she took a step forward and pointed it at me.
“What are you doing here, Vick?” I asked, standing from the couch and praying my knees held me up.
“Don’t play stupid, Rosslyn, you know why I’m here,” she hissed.
The moonlight peeking through the curtains reflected against the metal in her grasp, and I watched her eyes shift toward the gun briefly before turning hate-filled eyes on me.
“Ironic, isn’t it?” she asked.
“What?” I tried to keep the shudder from my voice.
“That I’m going kill you with the gun I killed your parents with. I know you don’t want to hear this,” she shrugged, “but it was a fucking rush like no other.”
My stomach lurched, but I didn’t give her the satisfaction of reacting to her words.
“You’re lying. That gun’s in Sebastian’s safe.”
She scoffed, “I took it, you little twit. After you ran out and Sebastian followed, it wasn’t hard to grab.”
“Why are you doing this?”
“Because you’re a bitch who took something that didn’t belong to you. Sebastian’s mine—always has been. I should’ve been the one he fell in love with. We’re the same, him and I.”
“You’re wrong,” I said calmly. “He’s not a killer.”
“Even after everything he told you, you’re still in love with him, aren’t you?”
I knew answering her was only going to piss her off even more, but if I was going to die, I needed to say it out loud.
“Yes. I still love him.”
I closed my eyes and envisioned Sebastian’s face—his smile. He was such a loving person—broken, but loving. I suddenly had a clear head, which was weird, considering there was a gun pointed at me.
The clarity of the situation hit me. Seeing how sick and twisted Vick really was, there was no way Sebastian was anything like her. Sure, he had no business being in my house the night of my parent’s murder, but Sebastian could never kill someone—he couldn’t.
“You forgive him?”
“I’m not so sure there’s anything to forgive. He didn’t pull the trigger, you did. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“You’re a stupid bitch. I’ll be doing the world a favor by taking you out,” she said, leveling the gun at my face.
My heart was beating so hard, it was beginning to hurt. “If being in love means being stupid, then yeah, I guess I’m a stupid bitch.”
“Well, the world’s about to be one stupid bitch short. He’s mine, and I don’t share.”
“I’m not going to tell anyone, Vick.”
“And I should believe you, why?”
“Because, if I was going to turn you in I would have gone straight to the police station after I left Sebastian.”
“Maybe you won’t tell, but I’m not taking any chances.”
“Sebastian won’t want you just because I’m dead. And when he finds out you’re the one who…” I couldn’t get the words past my lips.
“Killed you? Pulled the trigger? Ended your sorry life? Don’t worry, Sebastian will realize I did this for him. I’m the one who stuck with him over the years. I watched from the side as he fucked everything with a pussy, but I never had to worry because Sebastian didn’t fall in love. At least he didn’t, until you.”
“I’ll leave.” I grasped for straws. “I’ll go far away from here and then you can have Sebastian all to yourself. He doesn’t have to know and he won’t be upset if I’m still alive.”
She looked as if she was actually thinking about it, and for a moment, I felt some sort of hope.
“Nah, killing you sounds better. Sebastian won’t just let you leave. He’ll search until he finds you. I’m sorry, Jessica, but this is the only way.”
“No, it’s not, Victoria.” Sebastian’s voice sounded from beside us.
I nearly cried out in relief at the sound of his voice and Vick spun around, just as stunned as I was.
He stood tall in the doorway. The darkness of the night covering half of his face. He stepped into the room, making it feel smaller. I wanted to run to him. I wanted to hold him in my arms and tell him I forgave him. If I was going to die, he needed to know he could go on with my forgiveness.
“What are you doing here?” Vick hissed. “You just had to come to her rescue, didn’t you?”
“I’m not going to let you kill her,” Sebastian’s deep voice brought me an ounce of relief.
“Well, since I’m the only one with a gun here, it looks like you’re fucked out of a choice.”
“Don’t do this. Even if Rosslyn wasn’t in the picture, you and I would’ve never happened. You were different after killing her parents and I never looked at you the same.”
I listened to Sebastian try and talk Vick down, all the while trying to think of a plan. He wasn’t going to be able to distract her forever. I reached back toward the table next to the couch, my fingers barely touching the edge of the bag I’d brought with me.
I breathed a silent sigh of relief when my fingers brushed against the cold metal tucked beneath my wallet. Wrapping my fingers around it, I stood up and held the gun behind my back.
“After everything we’ve been through, I can’t believe you’re saying this to me,” Vick sniffled. Raising the gun again, she began to silently cry. Except this time, the gun wasn’t pointed at me, it was pointed at Sebastian.
“I guess this isn’t going to end in anyone’s favor because if I can’t have you, than neither can she.”
I froze, her words destroying my whole world. The dreaded sound of a gunshot filled the apartment, echoing off the walls and slamming into my chest.
“No!” I screamed.
Sebastian fell back against the wall. His eyes locked on mine in anguish, as he began to slide down to the floor. His body went limp when he fell to the carpet and his eyes closed.
Vick turned toward me, black mascara-filled tears streaming down her face. She raised her gun at me again. “You did this, you bitch. You made me kill him.”
My grip tightened around the gun in my hand as my thumb went over the safety, unlocking it. “You were wrong about one thing, Vick. You’re not the only one...”
Her eyes filled with confusion and then panic when I pulled the gun from behind my back and shot once.
Vick’s eyes went blank as she blinked and stumbled backwards. She looked down and touched her chest, blood tainting the tips of her fingers. She fell to the floor with a heavy thud and the gun fell from her hand sliding on the floor.
I moved across the room toward Sebastian, and fell to my knees next to his still frame. Snatching my cell from my pocket, I dialed 9-1-1 and screamed into the phone that I needed help.
I didn’t listen to the dispatcher, instead, I pulled Sebastian’s head into my lap and pressed my cheek to his.
“Sebastian,” I sobbed, shaking him. “Don’t you dare die. You can’t leave me, you can’t. We just found each other, remember? Please, I just found you,” I cried into his neck.
He didn’t move. I held him close and waited until I heard the sirens from afar. I remained there, holding him in my arms, begging him not to leave, while the cops burst through the door.
Everything happened in a blur and I felt like I was no longer a part of my body as I watched them cover Vick’s body. When they finally got me to let go of Sebastian, I was pulled over to the couch and questioned. I nodded my answers and cried.
“So then she pulled the gun on you?” the officer asked. “Can you tell me what happened then?”
I was talking, but it didn’t sound like me. I explained to them everything that happened, and how Vick had been the one who killed my parents twelve years before. I didn’t tell them about Sebastian, I didn’t want his name linked to their murder. He was there, but I knew in my heart that he was just as much a victim as they were.
I was outside, standing on the sidewalk, when they brought Vick’s lifeless body down and wheeled her past me. I wrapped my arms tightly around myself and cried when Sebastian’s followed.
“I want to ride with him.” I told the paramedic as they put Sebastian in the ambulance.
The paramedic looked at me funny, but nodded and helped me into the back. Another paramedic got in behind me and closed the doors.
I didn’t know if they were scared of my catatonic like state or what, but they didn’t protest when I crawled onto the gurney with Sebastian and wrapped my arms around him. He was still warm, and his pulse was slow, but at least it was still there.