Laura
When I stepped through the door, my first thought was that I needed to get Charlie, get out, and figure out what to do from there, maybe, as a distant third step. Seeing a large man framed by the textured glass, in the middle of the hall, meant that either I was doomed to fail, or that someone else was already working on it.
Against my better judgment, I stepped into the room. My courage was rewarded, and at the same time, punished. Dave was there. The hand further from me was cocked back like he was holding it against his hip. The hand closer to me reached for the door handle. Between them, his white shirt had a bright red stain.
Was he hurt? Had he gotten himself hurt? I swallowed hard. I don’t know what I would do with myself if he got himself seriously hurt while he was looking out for me, and my son.
He looked over at me. His expression was serious. And then he pushed the door open, and lunged inside. I could hear a scuffle, but I couldn’t see it. So I did what I could in the situation: I grabbed a beer bottle.
It felt heavy and solid in my hand, and then I hefted it high over my head and moved, ever so slowly, towards the door.
By the time I made it to the hallway, only a few short seconds had passed, but the room was already quiet. I hefted my bottle higher and stepped into the doorway, ready for whatever was going to come at me.
At least, I thought I was. But somehow, I wasn’t expecting what I found.
Dave was on the ground. He had the younger of the two men with his arm twisted into a wicked, painful-looking hold. What surprised me was the third person. I recognized him, a little bit. He was younger still than the guy who still tried to wriggle out from under Dave’s knee.
He was an honor student, as far as I knew, and he did plenty of volunteering at the elementary school. Plenty of volunteering everywhere, as far as I can tell. He had a wild terror in his eyes and a long knife in his hands. He didn’t seem to know what he wanted to do with it, except that he wanted it vaguely near Charlie. Near enough to be menacing, even if I didn’t think he would actually do anything.
“Let him go,” Dave said. He twisted the kid’s arm and he let out a yelp of pain. “Or I’ll break it.”
“Y-you can’t afford that,” the kid said. He looked like a horse about to bolt, more than someone about to commit a murder, but people get weird when they’re panicking. They make bad decisions. “You’d lose all your leverage.”
“No,” Dave said gruffly. He held his knife in his hand, the blade pulled back against his own forearm where it was out of the way, in his free hand. “I really wouldn’t.”
The youngest’s eyes widened even more, if that were even possible. “Just… just let him go, okay? Drop the knife and let my brother go!”
“You first,” Dave said. His eyes narrowed.
“I can’t,” the kid answered.
I realized with a sick feeling in my gut that we weren’t going to get anywhere. That this was just going to get worse.
“Give me the knife,” I said softly. “I’ll go, and I’ll take him with me. He’s not going to hurt anyone, if you just give me the knife, okay?”
Tears streaked Charlie’s cheeks, but he was silent. He was so brave. I could feel my own eyes burning, but I had to be strong for him. For everyone. To make sure we all got out of this.
The boy turned to me with wide eyes and seemed to register that I was there for the first time.
“You,” he said. “You shouldn’t be here.”
“Or what?”
“My brothers, they said…”
“Forget what they said,” Dave growled. “Give her the knife, if you don’t want to give it to me. Count of three. You give up the knife and I give up your brother. That sound fair?”
The kid looked from me to his brother and to Dave, and back. The boy on the floor squirmed and moaned. The kid with his knife on Charlie let his hand slip at the same time that he said “Garrett, are you okay?”
Dave cut in before Garrett could answer. “One.”
I watched the whole thing in slow motion, terrified that something was going to go horribly wrong. I held my hand out, the beer bottle still brandished.
“Two.”
The kid looked from his brother to me. His eyes were wide with panic, but he saw a way out of this and he was going to take it.
“Three.”
The blade was heavy in my hand as he put it there, handle first. He moved slowly, probably afraid that he was going to alarm Dave. I worried the same thing.
Something in the corner of my vision moved, and then a voice was low and right by my ear. “Let’s get out of here.”
I started moving first. I think he wanted to be behind me. The last one out. I didn’t waste any time questioning him. This wasn’t the time for questions.
It wasn’t until I was in the car, the doors locked and the engine turned over, that I finally spoke as I slipped it from park into reverse.
“Are you okay, baby?”
“Mom?”
“Tell me, are you okay?”
“I’m okay,” he said. “But can we stop by the house before we do anything?”
I looked in the mirror and he silently pleaded with me not to talk about why. I let out a low breath and put it into drive. “Dave? Talk to me.”
“I’m fine,” he said. Like he meant it. “A little winded, is all.”
“Whose blood is that all over your shirt?”
“Blood?” He looked down and seemed to notice it for the first time. “I guess it’s mine. Maybe I ripped a stitch running all this way.”
“You ran all the way here?”
“It was a pretty good distance,” he said. Then he added, “Just out of the hospital, I mean.”
“You’re an idiot.”
“You’re an idiot.”
He had a point. I don’t usually like to admit it, but this time, I couldn’t deny it. And there was something else that I was being an idiot about, too.
“There’s something I need to tell you. I don’t want you to get mad, but I understand if you do.”
“Okay,” Dave said. He laid his head back and closed his eyes. “I’m still listening.”
“Do you remember senior prom?”
“No,” he said. “Except that it was a bad time.”
“I imagine that you would feel that way,” I said. “You didn’t want to talk about what happened, but you were upset when you came to me.”
“My girlfriend left me. Said she’d been sleeping with Tom.”
“You were a little sauced.”
“I remember that, kind of. Getting drunk, I mean.”
“And you were terribly vulnerable.”
“You’re kidding.”
“I’m not kidding,” I said softly. “And there’s something else.”
His face scrunched up. “You’re not serious.”
“I understand if you’re angry,” I said again. “But you didn’t want to talk about it, and by the time I found out, you had already left, and… I mean, you never came back, so…”
“All this time?” He let out a long breath. “I missed all this time?”
“I’m sorry,” I said again. “I know it’s not fair.”
“It’s not about fair. I can’t believe it.”
“I wouldn’t blame you if you left and never came back.”
Dave’s hand reached across the center console and rested on my thigh. Just the feeling of him through all the layers of my fabric set my nerves on edge.
“I’m not going to leave,” he said. His voice was hard, but it still didn’t manage to hide the shakiness in it. “I’m not going to leave ever again, if you’ll have me.”
I put my hand on his and his thumb traced across the back of my palm, and for a moment I felt something welling up in my chest. I eased the car onto our street, before I took Dave back to the hospital.
Then, out of the silence, Charlie spoke up. “What are you guys talking about?”