Chapter 1
“You’re kidding, right?” he chuckles. His laugh was braying. He crosses his arms and partially turns to face the wall as he laughs at her and I feel my blood boil. “You can’t be fucking serious. Are you trying to ruin my life?” he yells, now waving his hands in her face. “I have a family!”
“You don’t think I know that? What about my family? What about my son?” she cries, “You promised me!” Her chest rises and falls as she stares at him, hurt in her eyes.
He only laughs at her naivety in response. Of course that bastard finds this funny. I feel the sting in my palms as my fists clench tighter. I could kill him. She doesn’t deserve this. I ease the other half of my body out of the doorway of the bedroom I’m in so I’m standing fully in the hallway. They still haven’t noticed me. Not yet.
“You couldn’t have possibly thought I was serious. We both knew it would never actually work,” he sighs apathetically.
Tears stream down her face while she tries to hide the shake in her voice. “You ruined my life.” She fails. “I was ready to give you my heart. I should have seen this coming,” she shakes her head. “I can’t let you take this from me.”
He scoffs. “Don’t play victim. You ruined your own life,” he growls. I ease myself down the hallway, deaf as the blood pumps through my ears. Their mouths are moving but I hear no sound. His mouth moves up and down like a ventriloquist doll and his arms flail like an inflatable balloon. She backs herself into a corner, her head shaking side to side like a mad woman and her face as red as tomato. Still, no one turns around as I near them.
I always knew he was lying. He was always thinking about himself. Saying whatever he needed to say to get what he wanted and she fell for it. I lost my dad because of him. My life fell apart because of him. I hate him. He’s nothing but an evil. Selfish. Manipulative-
Pain shoots into my chest so hard and swift, I’m almost knocked off my feet. I can’t breathe. My vision begins to blur as my hand grips around something, the metal cooling my skin as my pace quickens. I taste salt. Everything seems like it’s happening in slow motion and I no longer have control over my body. My mom drops her hand from her face as she sees me approach and screams out my name but it’s too late to stop me. He starts to turn around but is stopped short as the stoker connects to the back of his head. He stumbles a bit, reaching for the table and knocking the picture frames off before collapsing onto the wooden floor, giving his head a second blow. His eyes are open. My mom screams.
“Shit,” I mumble. I drop the stoker, staring at his still body as it clatters. My mom drops to the floor, putting a finger under his nose and to his neck.
“No, no- W-what did you do?” she screams at me, cradling his head while wailing. “Why?” Her breath hitches as broken sobs escape her mouth.
She repeats the word over and over again and I can’t move. I can’t hear anything aside from my pounding heart. I try to swallow the lump in my throat but my mouth is dry. The frames are broken, the glass protecting the family picture shattered. No. It wasn’t a family picture. He wasn’t our family. When I come to, my mom is snapping her fingers in front of me, repeating my name.
“Did you hear me? Baby, grab his legs. It’s going to be okay. Okay? Just do as I say.” She sounds breathless as she walks back to his body. He’s now wearing nothing besides his underwear, the clothes he was wearing sitting in a pile beside him.
My feet start moving again and I do as she says. She opens the door and carries his upper half out of the cabin door. The cold seeps through my clothes, digging into my skin. The only light illuminating the night aside from the open door is the bright moon. She’s panting as she stumbles backwards, struggling to hold him. I already know where we’re going.
Once we’re closer, I put him down for a couple of seconds as I stop to roll up my pant legs. I tell her I can do this part on my own, worried she might hurt herself. I try my best not to lose my footing over the wet rocks, pulling him as I climb further. Once I’m far enough, I push his body into the pond. I have no idea how deep it is but I know it’s deep enough. I know for sure people are gonna look for him here, but it’ll likely be a while before they do. That’s enough time. For all they know, he hit his head on a rock and drowned. Karma’s a bitch after all. I numbly climb back and return with my mom to the cabin.
