by MK Schiller
“Eddie, don’t do this. What happened to your family wasn’t Sylvie’s fault.”
“Her name is Gabby. That is her fucking name,” he screamed at me.
“I’m sorry, Gabby.”
“Do you think I even fucking care about my family? They’re dead to me.”
Sylvie whispered something just then. I grimaced as Eddie bent down to hear her. “Let him go? But I want him to watch and he wants to be here too, don’t you, Cal?”
“Yes.”
“This is going to be fun. Here’s how it works, Tanner. In the beginning, she’ll beg me for her life, praying the whole time, but after a few hours, she’ll beg me to end her. To take her away from the pain. I live for that moment. I don’t want to kill the girl. I want to murder her hope, her spirit.”
“Don’t do this. You know you’ll never get away with it.” As if to cement my argument, we heard a car pull up on the gravel driveway. “The cops are here.”
“That’s a real fucking shame, because I won’t get to enjoy this as much as I wanted.” He kissed Sylvie on the cheek, grazing his teeth against her neck. She closed her eyes tightly, but the tears still fell. I felt their sting against my own skin.
“Don’t… Don’t hurt her,” I pleaded.
I saw Joe, emerging from a back bedroom so quietly I thought he might be floating. He placed his finger to his lips, holding his gun up. I struggled to maintain the rigid mask of fear, against the sense of hope his presence brought. I knew my task was to keep Eddie occupied so Joe could get a clear shot.
“You must have nine lives, Tanner, because I emptied my clip in you that night.”
Before I could register his statement, Eddie turned and shot Joe in the chest. My heart sank and my own hope died as Joe’s body fell backwards from the impact. His head slammed on the floor as if it was made of concrete, not wood. The echo of the shot was unbearably loud and reverberating, competing with my heartbeat. Eddie turned back to me, smiling malevolently. “I’m a much better shot now.”
Sylvie started shaking at the sight of Joe sprawled on the ground. She let out a small scream. Eddie gripped her hair, pulling her back.
“Don’t move,” I commanded to her as Eddie took the heated gun, running it down her skin. She winced in response. “Stop! You’re burning her!”
“Cal, it’s been great catching up, but I need to end this.” He pointed the gun at me.
“Whatever you do to her, I will do to you tenfold. I promise I will kill you, even if I have to rise from the depths of hell to do it. Your whole body will be as useless as your dick. And like you, I will enjoy every minute of it.” I put down my hands.
He laughed, as if we were sharing a personal joke. “You think you can taunt me, you piece of white trash shit? Tell you what, maybe I’ll shoot your leg again. That way, you can just sit there and watch us. Because the truth is, I would love you to see me in action. I’m going to make your precious Lenore scream in a way that you could only dream of.”
I soaked in the finality of his words. I looked at my girl, feeling the weight of the words I needed to communicate. Think of me. I’m in your heart. I love you. But I didn’t utter a word, because the look she gave me wasn’t one of resignation, but revenge. I shook my head slightly. She was readying to do something that she shouldn’t. Her deep earthy eyes spoke to me as though we had our own language. I knew her well enough to know she wasn’t going to heed my warning.
She bit into the flesh of his arm, draped around her neck, drawing blood. He screamed and pushed her with such force that my mind couldn’t react to it. Her head broke through the glass of the iron table, smashing it into a million pieces. She lay there bleeding with his tools of torture around her.
I didn’t think. I reacted, sprinting the small gap between us. I knocked him to the ground. His gun fell, skidding a few feet. He tried to struggle, but I used all six feet two inches of my frame to hold him still. I punched his face. The years of frustration, rage and misery coursed through my arms, which felt as powerful as missiles and just as heavy. I slammed my fists until the hard bones in his head caved and his features became a mushy, bloody pulp, causing his physical appearance to mirror the monster that lived within him.
I crawled over to Sylvie. I cradled her in my arms. “Baby, look at me.” I picked the glass out of her hair and rocked her. “You’re going to be okay, my brave girl. Please fight for me one more time.”
“Is she alive?” Joe croaked from the corner, bringing coherence back to my thoughts. “She hit her head hard.”
I felt for a pulse, praying to God to let me hear her heart beat. I exhaled a long breath when I felt it. “She is. It’s faint, but I feel it. She’s alive.”
“So is he,” Joe replied as the faint sounds of sirens, signaling more cars, were heard.
I looked over and heard Eddie wheeze. He shifted in the corner as if his body refused surrender. He was no danger now. I had torn his face apart. I doubted he could see let alone hear. It wasn’t now that I was worried about, though.
I saw the gun lying in front of me. I grabbed it, holding Sylvie close to my chest and covering her other ear to protect her eardrums. I pointed it at the oozing red bullseye that was his head and pulled the trigger.
I kept my body steady under the recoil. Hell, I even savored the ringing in my ears and metallic taste in the air. My other senses could fail as long as I had my eyes. As long as I could see him die. His body twitched, so I shot another round. Until the slight tremble of his hands ceased.
“Now he’s not.”
“Good,” Joe said, laying his head back down. It occurred to me that Joe had wanted me to kill Eddie. What he’d wanted to do himself.
Could a jail hold Eddie? A mental hospital? It was highly probable. Was I willing to take the risk? Not a fucking chance in hell. Not when it came to her. He didn’t deserve to exist in the same world as her.
I looked down at her, whispering the only words I knew. “I’ll see you soon. Stay awake. I love you. I need you. Do not die on me.” I whispered the mantra praying she had heard my words.
Chapter Twenty-Two
Excerpt from Raven Girl
Age 13
“Cal?”
I stirred slightly.
“I need to talk to you.” She was shaking my shoulder. We’d fallen asleep staring at the night sky. The sleeping bag provided little padding against the hard earth, so I’d suggested she rest her head on my chest. I had ulterior motives for that. We’d been testing out my telescope, but then we’d started talking about constellations, books, music and anything else that came into our heads. The dialog of youth, vibrant and exciting, was a thing of wonder, rarely recaptured in adulthood. As usual, our conversation had lasted long into the night until we’d both fallen asleep.
“Are you awake?”
“I am now,” I grumbled. “Jesus, girl, you know I have to leave in a little bit to get home before my daddy wakes up. Why won’t you let a man get any sleep?”
“I have something I need to tell you. It’s important.”
“Can’t you wait until morning?”
“I’m afraid I’ll chicken out in the morning. I’m going to say it and then we’ll never have to talk about it again. Will you listen?”
“Shoot.”
She was quiet for a minute, and I almost wondered if she had fallen asleep again. I hadn’t opened my eyes at all, so part of me thought I might be dreaming. “If I ever go away or leave unexpectedly, you can find me in Portland.”
Sudden panic gripped me, vacating the possibility of sleep. “Huh? Why would you go away?” I tightened my arm around her.
“That’s not important. The important part is where I’ll be. Will you come find me?”
“Why the hell would I want to go to Portland?”
“Because I’ll be there.” The anxiety in her usually confident voice worried me. She whispered the next part to me. “I think I’m your Lenore.”
“Are you smoking crack or something?”
>
“No, I just had to tell you that. Sorry.” She sounded disappointed in my response. I embraced her.
“Portland, Oregon or Portland, Maine?” I asked.
She laughed with relief. “I’m glad you’re paying attention. Portland, Oregon.”
“It would be just like you to send me to the wrong state.”
She giggled, patting my chest, “Goodnight, Tex.”
I was almost asleep again, but a question seized me, fighting against my need to rest. “Why Portland?”
“I’ve researched it. It’s nice there. Sometimes the sky is blue and sometimes it’s gray. It’s a city big enough that it’ll be difficult to find me, but small enough that I won’t get lost.”
“How the hell am I supposed to find you then?”
“I’ll find you. You just have to come there. Will you promise?”
“I think you’re crazy.”
“I know.”
“I’ll promise you anything if you go to sleep.”
“’Kay.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Sylvie
I heard the two voices, talking quietly in the room with me. Cal and Joe. Joe and Cal. I loved them both, but in different ways. Joe was my friend and he’d been there for me. I would always love him for that, but Cal… Cal owned my heart.
I called out to them, but no sound escaped my lips. It was exhausting just trying, so I stopped and concentrated on what they were saying, but that was difficult too. I just got bits and pieces. One called me Sophie and the other Sylvie. I was glad neither called me Gabby. Gabby was dead, but I was alive…wasn’t I?
Then darkness fell.
I heard him. Cal’s deep voice, sexy and soothing at the same time, spoke quietly, barely louder than a whisper. His slow Southern twang with the hint of gravel broke through my clouded mind like sunshine. He was reading to me. After a while, I recognized the text as Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men. It was close to the end. Had he read the whole book? Then I heard him shuffle closer to me. I felt his warm breath against my ear. I wanted to turn toward him, but my body betrayed me. “Hey, Sleeping Beauty, I know you’re not a fan, but that’s exactly why I’m reading it. You’re so stubborn that I wouldn’t put it past you to wake up and tell me to stop.” The next sentence, he said slower, each word dripping with anguish. “Please wake up, baby. Please fight.”
Then darkness fell.
I heard him again, but someone else’s voice too. “I can’t believe this, son. I feel so guilty for doubting you. For what this girl’s been through.”
“It’s okay, Momma, it wouldn’t have turned out any different if you had believed me. I’m just glad I can tell you now.”
It was Cal and his mother?
“What can we do?”
Mandy?
“The doctors say she might be able to hear us. I’ve been reading to her and talking to her. They say it can help. Why don’t you sing to her, princess? She’d like that.”
I heard the riff of a guitar. Mandy was playing the guitar?
Then the familiar lyrics of a song. I tried to place it, but it wasn’t until Cal joined her that I could. It was Who Says You Can’t Go Home.
Mandy stopped suddenly. “Cal, don’t sing with me. You’re no Bon Jovi.”
“What? It’s a duet, and besides, you’re no Jennifer Nettles either.”
I wanted to laugh at their amusing sibling banter, but no sounds formed.
“I’m closer than you. Besides, you know you’re tone deaf. Do you want this girl to wake up with a headache?”
“As long as she wakes up,” he said in a quiet, sad voice.
“She will.”
“Mandy, I’m a good man, right? God wouldn’t let me find her again only to take her away from me, would he? I know I’m the reason she’s here.”
“You’re not, Cal. He’s the reason. And I don’t know what God’s plans are for our Sylvie, but I do know that my big brother is the best kind of man there is.”
I tried my hardest fighting the darkness this time. I wanted to see him. To touch him. I felt my eyes flutter awake. He was hovering above me, bloodshot eyes and a few days’ worth of stubble on his face. The relieved, hopeful smile he gave me broke my heart. “Baby, don’t try to talk. Mandy, get the nurse.” I saw long auburn spirals and heard the click of heels as she ran out of the room. She was grown up.
He stared at me, a tear forming at the corner of his eye. I wanted to wipe it away, but he clutched one of my hands and the other wouldn’t move.
Then darkness came.
I woke up, more alert this time. It was dark in the room, except for the dim lighting coming from the hallway. I searched for him until I saw his sleeping form on the chair beside me. I blinked my eyes until he came into focus. His strong jaw, covered in stubble, and wrinkled shirt did nothing to detract from his striking good looks. His sandy blond hair, longer than I remembered, flopped seductively against the chiseled planes of his face. He was an incredibly handsome man. I wouldn’t think twice of describing him as beautiful, although his masculine conscious wouldn’t have appreciated that description. He shifted uncomfortably in the chair, where his legs stretched out so far that I feared he might fall. The seating definitely wasn’t the right fit for his tall frame.
He must have sensed I was awake because he opened his eyes. They looked blue tonight, but bloodshot and tired. He let out a long relieved sigh that quickly turned into a happy grin. “Hi, gorgeous girl, how was your nap?”
“Are you all right?” I didn’t even recognize my own voice. It sounded strained and harsh, like I’d smoked a million cigarettes.
He chuckled, but there was an ache in it like it reverberated from his gut. “You would ask me that before I could ask you. I’m just fine. How are you feeling, sweetheart?”
I thought about it for a moment. My body felt stiff, like lifting a limb would require major effort, and my face felt tight for some reason, but other than that, I felt good. “I think I’m good.” I tried to shift, but my body wouldn’t let me move. “What…what’s happened?”
“Don’t try to move. You’ve been in a coma. It was from head trauma.” He winced, grasping my hand as if the explanation was difficult for him. “He hit you in the head really hard and knocked you into an iron table. I couldn’t stop it.”
“How long?”
“Almost two weeks.” Two weeks? How was that possible? “I’m going to get you some water.” He held a cup with a straw out to me. I took a sip, but it burned a little going down. “They had a tube in your throat. It’s going to hurt for a little while.” He set the cup down, stroking my hair.
The last thing I remembered was Joe being shot. I gasped, “Joe?”
“He’s okay. He had to have surgery, but he recuperated just fine. It turns out Eddie’s aim wasn’t as accurate as he proclaimed after all.”
I took a deep breath, relieved that Joe was alive. “Where is he?”
“He had to go back to work, but I called him earlier to tell him you were awake.”
“Did he say anything?”
Cal smirked. “Yeah, he said if I fuck this up with you, he’ll be waiting.” My mouth dropped open, but Cal put me at ease by brushing his fingers against my cheek. “It’s okay, baby. We have an understanding. I shook his hand before he left. I’ll always be indebted to him.”
“Why?”
“Because he took care of you when I couldn’t.”
I tried to wrap my head around the idea of Cal and Joe being friends or even friendly, but it was difficult to grasp. “What I had with him was different than what I feel for you.”
“I know that. You don’t have to justify it to me. I never thought I’d say this, but in the end, I’m glad you had both of us.”
Then a cold dread filled me. “Eddie?”
“He’s dead. Joe says all indications are that you’re safe.”
It felt like a heavy weight had finally been lifted off my chest. I didn’t have to worry anymore about myself or Cal. It was t
he most amazing gift I could have received. “How did he die?”
“I shot him.”
I stared up at the ceiling, feeling the weight of his words against the freedom of their meaning.
“Tell me what you’re thinking, sweetheart. I need to know.”
“I’m relieved that he’s dead.”
“My only regret is that I didn’t do it ten years ago.”
“No regrets, Cal. Just relief. We don’t have to hide anymore.”
He took my hand and kissed it. “No, we don’t. I can’t wait to scream how much I love you to anyone who’ll listen.”
I laughed, but it came out a choked raspy sound. “Don’t do it too much, Tex. They’ll think you’re crazy.”
I saw the guilt in his eyes, but I had no idea how to take it away, so I asked another question. “Are Mandy and your mom here? I thought I heard them.”
“Yes, I called them. I figured since there was no danger, they could know. I hope that’s okay. I really needed their support.”
“Of course it is. I want to see them. Are they here?”
“No, they’re at my place. It’s very late and visiting hours are over, but they’ll be back in the morning.”
“Then why are you here?”
He was thoughtful for a moment. I reached out and tousled his sandy blond hair and trailed my fingers down the stubble on his cheek, grateful my muscles were finally working. He leaned into my hand as if it was a great source of comfort. “Your nurse happens to be a friend of mine, and she convinced the staff to look the other way. I’ve been staying here.”
“The whole time?”
“Pretty much. Momma said I should go home and clean up for you, but I couldn’t stand the thought of you waking up all alone.”
Just then, a pretty, blonde woman appeared next to me. I hadn’t seen her come in.
“Good, our patient is awake,” she said cheerfully.
“Sylvie, this is Molly,” Cal introduced.