The Third Parent

by Elias Witherow

  “We don’t know, I’m sorry,” I said quietly. I didn’t like the gun. It scared me.

  Still sitting, Tommy dug into his pocket and pulled out a handful of bullets. He dumped them next to the pistol.

  “I found these in the wheel. He loaded it and hid it in his closet. That’s very, very dangerous. Especially with children in the house. What if one of you had found it? What if you had accidentally fired it? How tragic would that have been?”

  We said nothing. I would never go hunting in my parents closet for anything. And even if I had, I certainly wouldn’t have touched it. I wanted Tommy to put it away, to put it back where he had found it and just leave us alone.

  “Has your father taught you about gun safety?” Tommy continued, leaning into the circle. “Has he explained how dangerous they are?”

  “We know they’re bad,” Katie said bravely, “and we would never play with them. That’s adult stuff.”

  “That’s good,” Tommy said, “that’s very good. But since your father has neglected his duty to educate you, I feel that it’s my responsibility to do so.”

  He reached down and picked up the gun, releasing the cylinder to reveal five empty chambers. He spun the wheel.

  Clickclickclickclickclick…

  Tommy reached down and picked up a single bullet and placed it into one of the chambers. Then he spun the wheel again.

  Clickclickclickclickclick…

  I felt my throat tighten and I pulled at the back of my shirt, freeing it from my skin. Jason wiped sweat from his eyes and looked like he wanted to go home.

  Tommy snapped the cylinder closed and cocked the hammer back. It was one of the scariest sounds I had ever heard.

  Tommy handed it to Katie. “Put this to your head and pull the trigger.”

  Our eyes went wide and I saw my sister recoil from the pistol. She shook her head, “No, Tommy, I don’t want to. You…you just put a bullet in there.”

  Tommy’s eyes went dark. “How else is your father going to learn?”

  “Please don’t make her do this,” I begged, my voice a hissing plea.

  Tommy shoved the gun into Katie’s hands. “Do it. There’s only one bullet in the chamber. Your chances are pretty good.”

  Trembling, Katie took the gun. She looked at Jason and me, terrified. We just stared at her, hostages of the same misfortune. Surely Tommy didn’t actually mean for her to go through with this. He would stop her before she pulled the trigger…he had to.

  “Put it to your head like this,” Tommy said, placing his fingers to his temple, “and pull the trigger.”

  “P-please,” Katie cried, tears filling her eyes.

  “It’s going to be ok,” Tommy smiled. “Now do it or I’m going to put four more in and have your brother test his luck.”

  The barrel of the gun shook as Katie placed it to her head. Sobbing now, she squeezed her eyes shut, fingers wrapping around the trigger. Tommy would stop her now…any second…he couldn’t let her do this…

  Click.

  We all gasped as Katie pulled the trigger and dry-fired into her own skull. Immediately, she pushed the pistol back into Tommy’s hands, crying opening. A bronco galloped across my chest as I exhaled, panting and squeezing my sister’s hand.

  “Good girl,” Tommy smiled. “That’s a good girl.” He opened the cylinder and slid another bullet in next to the one already loaded. My eyes went wide. No, no, no, no, please no….

  Clickclickclickclickclick…

  Tommy flicked his wrist and the cylinder closed. He passed the gun to me. “Your turn, Jack. Around the circle we go.”

  “No!” Katie cried, protectively gripping my hand, almost pulling me into her lap. “No that’s enough! Don’t make him do it!”

  Tommy urged me to take the pistol, his eyes dancing with mine. “Do you want your sister to go again, Jack? No? Then take the gun.”

  I swathed my face with the collar of my shirt and picked up the pistol. It was heavy in my hands, almost as heavy as my thundering heart. I turned it around in my hands, my sweaty fingers curling around the grip.

  “Go on,” Tommy said quietly, “just like your brave sister.”

  Slowly, I brought it to my head, prayer flowing through me like a river. This wasn’t happening, this couldn’t be happening.

  Someone stop this, don’t make me pull the trigger.

  I begged Dad to come home from work and walk out to see this scene of horror. He would put a stop to it, I knew he would.

  But no one came and I felt the cold lips of the barrel kiss my wet skin just above the ear. I closed my eyes and wondered if this would be the last time I did that. I could hear my sister whimpering next to me and Jason’s labored breathing. We prayed in Sunday School and now I summoned every word we had ever recited as my finger coiled around the trigger.

  Click.

  “Oh, thank God,” Katie cried, pulling the gun away from my head and pushing it into Tommy’s hands. She pulled me into her arms and cradled me in her chest. “I love you, Jack, I love you so much. I’m sorry I can be mean sometimes, I don’t mean to be, I’m going to be so, so nice to you all the time now I promise.”

  Tommy chuckled and pulled the cylinder back out. Another bullet went in.

  Clickclickclickclickclickclick…

  “My turn. Then it’s your turn, Jason,” Tommy said, watching the boy’s face go white. “Don’t worry, we’re halfway through…hehehehe…”

  He snapped the cylinder back and put the barrel to his head. We all watched him, breath catching in our throats. I could feel the tension building in my shoulders as Katie held me like a vice, her arms wrapped around me, my head against her shoulder.

  Tommy pulled the trigger and the pistol exploded in his hands. Tommy’s head whipped to the side as the bullet passed through his skull like a freight train. The three of us screamed in unison as Tommy slowly fell over, slumping lifelessly to the concrete. The air was tinged with gunsmoke and the echo rang in my ears like an alien scream. In the insanity of that moment, something came back to me like a rising monster from a swamp, a question that had been uttered to me over a year ago.

  Tell me, Jackie…do you dream?

  I snapped out of my shocked state as Katie jerked us both away from Tommy’s motionless body, Jason scrambling to his feet and moaning. A smoking, black hole tunneled into Tommy’s head but no blood gurgled from the wound.

  I struggled from my sister’s arms, blinking, eyes wide, unable to believe what I had just seen. He had just…had Tommy just killed himself? At first, I felt fear and confusion, but as the seconds ticked by, I realized that a massive weight was slowly leaving me. A weight I didn’t even know I carried with me until just that moment. It was as if something had been standing on my chest and was just now stepping off. Tears bubbled in my eyes and I let out a gasp of disbelief.

  “Hehehehe…”

  No…no PLEASE, NO.

  Slowly, like a corpse rising from the grave, Tommy sat up. He put a finger to the hole in his head and then smiled, staring up at us.

  “Looks like I drew the short straw, huh?” He stood and picked up the pistol. “What rotten luck. I was really hoping it was going to be Jason.”

  Katie stepped back, pulling me with her, her eyes never leaving Tommy. “What are you…?”

  Tommy just stared down at us, “Hehehehe…”

  Suddenly, the back door burst open and Mom came running out looking confused and afraid. Sweat lined her shirt from her yoga class and her face dripped with concern. She appraised the four of us and then her eyes went to the gun in Tommy’s hand.

  “What are you doing?!” she cried, “and why do you have Mike’s gun!? What are you doing to the children?!”

  Tommy’s face became a mask of nightmares and his voice dropped to a growl. “Mike’s gun?”

  Immediately, my mom realized her mistake and clamped her mouth shut. Tommy reached down and picked up a fourth bullet from the ground and slid it into the cylinder.

  “Mike�
�s gun?” he repeated. “So…you knew about this secret purchase. You’ve been keeping secrets from me…”

  Mom took a step back, frightened, “No, Tommy, I—”

  Tommy turned the pistol over in his hands. “And now you’re lying to me. Looks like we have one more player, kids.”

  Clickclickclickclickclickclick….

  “No, Tommy this is a huge misunderstand—” Mom cried, backing up further. “Please!”

  Tommy raised the gun and pointed it directly at her face. “I’m not liking your chances, Penny.”

  “MOM!” Katie screamed, frozen. Jason had wet himself and was crying, unable to tear his eyes from the horrible scene unfolding before us. I balled my hands into fists, shaking from head to toe, fear ripping through me like a hot spear. Sweat poured down my flushed face and I said the only thing I could think of at that moment. A phrase that had been confided to me from the emptiness of my headphones.

  “Six-six-three-five-eight-Rez!” I screamed, the nonsensical expression feeling like another language.

  Instantly, Tommy’s head whipped around and I saw his eyes grow wide with blinding shock. He stood there, mouth hanging slightly ajar, our eyes clashing. Then, something seeped into his face so dark I begged to look away. His eyes practically exploded with an anger so real I thought I would melt into the concrete.

  “Where the fuck did you hear that?” Tommy hissed, trembling with barely controlled rage, spittle flying from his lips,

  I retreated, whimpering.

  Tommy dropped the gun and advanced on me, hands forming fists at his sides. “Who the fuck told you to say that?” He was now standing over me and I curled away from his looming shadow.

  He suddenly grabbed me by the throat and lifted me off the ground. “WHERE THE FUCK DID YOU HEAR THAT JACK!?”

  Mom screamed with concern and charged Tommy, batting at him as his hand tightened around my throat. Tommy backhanded her hard across the face and she went sprawling to the ground, scraping her hands and knees against the concrete.

  Gasping, sputtering, I tried to release Tommy’s grip from my throat, my head expanding as my oxygen was slowly cut off. I could feel the blood pumping in my ears and my face felt very hot all of the sudden.

  Tommy leaned into me, his face inches from mine, his voice dropping to a vicious whisper. “Did he tell you to say that, Jack?”

  “You’re killing him!” Katie was screaming, running to my aid and drumming her small fists into Tommy’s back. He ignored her, his eyes boring into my own as the world dimmed.

  Inside, the phone began to ring.

  Tommy’s eyes flared and he immediately dropped me. I gasped and coughed, going to my knees and clutching my throat. Katie rushed to my side and cradled my head in her arms once again, crying and rubbing air back into my chest.

  Tommy stormed to the back door and threw it open, the phone chirping from the kitchen. He marched out of view, but seconds later we heard him smash the receiver off the wall, his voice cracking with hysteric madness as he bellowed in a rage.

  Mom crawled to her feet and scooped up the gun. She quickly shoved it into the waistband of her pants and covered it with her shirt. We crowded around her like frightened lambs, her arms wrapping around us protectively.

  Tommy came back outside, fury blazing like the surface of the sun.

  He pointed to Mom, voice burning like embers. “You go back downstairs and get everyone out of the house. Tell them whatever you have to, but you’re done today.” He glared at Jason. “Go home with your mom when she comes up. I’ll deal with you later.” Then his eyes fell on Katie and me. “As for you two…you’re to spend the rest of the day in your rooms. There will be no dinner tonight. I need to have a few words with your father and it’s not a conversation children need to hear. GO!”

  We all dispersed in a frantic jumble of nervous confusion. Katie clutched my hand and dragged me inside, leaving Tommy and my mother alone. Jason ran into the house behind us and waited anxiously by the front door. My sister pulled me up the stairs and practically shoved me into my room.

  “Just stay here and keep your door closed,” she whispered. “I don’t know what you said to Tommy, but I think it’s going to be bad tonight.” I looked at her pleadingly and she suddenly embraced me in a hug. “I love you, Jack. We’re going to get through this.” In that moment, my sister grew up before my eyes. I hugged her tightly and tried to suppress the bubble of emotion gurgling in my chest. Katie released me and went to her room across the hall, shutting my door as she went.

  I turned around in my room, unsure what to do. I was a mess of nerves and my hands fidgeted at my sides. I shouldn’t have said that phrase. What was I thinking? It had done nothing but enrage Tommy. Who knew what kind of punishment I’d receive later tonight? And what was he going to do to Dad?

  I fell in a helpless heap on my bed, the afternoon sun still high in the sky. I felt like I would go stir crazy, the long hours before bed a marathon of fear. Downstairs, I heard my mom’s yoga class dispersing. I had no idea what she had told them, but I was confident she had created some kind of story to cover up the commotion. She was good at that: creating a believable fiction to mask Tommy’s presence in our lives.

  Time was a cruel mistress and each tick of the clock was another lash across my fractured, tired mind. Eventually, I turned and spotted my headphones sitting on the nightstand. It had been months since I had heard anything out of them, despite their nightly use.

  I picked them up. I had a feeling today would be different. Gently, I pushed them over my head and the earpieces slid into place. And then I waited. It didn’t take long.

  The slow creep of static came first, followed by the strained, calm voice.

  “Jack?”

  I felt my heart flutter, but I didn’t respond.

  “You can talk to me, Jack.”

  Still, I didn’t respond, the eerie voice reverberating in my head like the source was standing in a vast empty space.

  “I want you to know that I’m on your side. I’m going to need you one day.”

  Finally. My voice was barely a whisper as I said, “Who…are you?”

  The static washed over me and the voice disappeared. I waited, begged it to come back as the sun sank in the sky like a deflated balloon.

  I stayed on the bed, staring at the wall, lost in my own confusion and fear. At some point, I heard my father come home from work. I expected to hear a confrontation, but the house remained quiet. Darkness fell and the moon and stars salted the heavens. I didn’t bother turning on a light as my room was laced in shadow, the clock marching indifferently on.

  I was convinced my father was dead. The silence held secrets I couldn’t decipher and so my imagination took over. Tommy had slit Dad’s throat as soon as he had come home from work. That had to be it. And what had my mother told those women? Surely they had all heard the gunshot…what lies had been spread to cover for that? Regardless of how believable a story they were fed, they would all go home with a separate interpretation. Except for Jason and his mom. They knew…and they would keep quiet.

  My clock glowed in the black, the green digits informing me it was almost midnight. And still, I had not heard a thing from my parents or Tommy. I was exhausted, but my mind was too troubled to fall asleep. I turned on my side and stared at the door.

  Just as my eyes drooped shut, I heard it open. Immediately I shot upright, a jolt of adrenaline knifing through me. I blinking in the darkness as a shape slipped inside my room and quietly shut the door again.

  “Are you awake. Jack?”

  I sighed with relief, “You scared me to death, Katie.”

  She padded over to my bed and looked down at me, her face like a phantom in the night. “I can’t sleep…I’m too scared. Scoot over?”

  I shuffled across the bed, opening the blankets for my sister. She gratefully crawled in next to me.

  “Where’s Mom and Dad?” I whispered in her ear, turning on my side to face her.

  Katie
pulled the blankets up to her chin. “I think they’re in the basement.”

  I shivered. “What’s he doing to them?”

  “I don’t know.”

  We lay there in silence for a long time, sleep eluding us. I tried to keep my imagination from running wild again, but it was hard when I had no outlet. I thought about the headphones and the voice again. I needed to tell someone.

  “Hey, Katie?”

  “Yeah?”

  I gathered my thoughts, taking a deep breath. “This is going to sound crazy…but something weird has been happening to me.”

  “Yeah, no kidding,” she said grimly. “There’s a doll man holding us hostage.”

  I shook my head. “No, not that. Something else.”

  Her voice changed. “Oh?”

  I scooted closer to her, lowering my voice. “You know how sometimes…sometimes the phone rings and Tommy gets mad? Like today?”

  “What about it?”

  “Well,” I continued, “the guy who keeps calling…he’s been talking to me through my headphones.”

  “What? What do you mean?”

  “Sometimes…when I put on my headphones to go to sleep, I’ll hear static. And then he talks to me. He was the one who told me to say that phrase today.”

  “Jack, what are you talking about?” Katie asked slowly.

  “You know the guy on the phone!?” I said, frustrated, “the one who talks to Tommy? Remember when Tommy first showed up? And the phone rang?”

  Katie nodded. “Yeah…yeah, I remember. But Jack…you and Tommy are the only two people who have spoken with him. I don’t know who this man is or what he says to you. It didn’t seem to matter, all things considered.”

  “Well, I’m telling you what he’s saying,” I pressed. “Sometimes it’s weird stuff, like that phrase, and other times like tonight—”

  “He talked to you tonight?” Katie interrupted.

  “Yeah.”

  “What did he say to you?”

  “Do you believe me?” I asked first.

  “What did he say to you, Jack?”

  I lowered my voice again. “He said that one day he might need me.”

  “Need you for what?”

  “I don’t know,” I said miserably. “He…left…before I could ask. But do you believe me?”