Page 56 of At The End Of The Day

The wind knocked from my lungs when his weight hit me and pinned me to the carpet. Grunting, I rammed my elbow to the side of his face to free myself. Scrambling to my feet, he was trying to stand as well, holding his nose, blood oozing between his fingers. Before he could get off his knees, I grabbed the back of his shirt and slammed my knee into his sides, cracking his ribs.

Vincent wheezed and collapsed, squirming about, his face contorted in pain. “Fuck, ah, shit.”

Frantic, I looked around, spotting my gun by Tyler’s motionless body. Stomping over to him, I swiped it and hurried back to my oldest and closest confidant. My teeth gritted, I cocked and aimed, my chest rising and falling erratically.

“You stabbed me in the back, Vinny,” I grumbled, shaking my head. “Out of all the people in the world, you was the last one I thought would betray me.”

He was wheezing, struggling for a proper breath. “You crossed the line with my sister.”

“We fell in love!” I argued, my voice roaring in the silence.

His weight in a forearm on the floor, his spine was arching toward the ceiling as he managed to lift to one knee. His head bowed low, it shook side to side, sweat dripping to the ruined carpet. “You twisted her head up. She was just a kid. You had no right.”

“I had every right! You were gone, Vinny. You asked me to watch her—”

“To protect her!” he shouted back, tipping his head to glare up at me, bruises already forming under his bloodshot eyes. “Not to use her or to ruin her life.”

“She had no one,” I seethed, tapping my chest. “I was the only one there for her. I earned her—”

“She ain’t a fucking prize, Jackyl,” he argued, managing to get to his knees. “She was my sister.” His chin bowed, his face in his palms. “She was my sister,” he wept, his shoulders quaking.

My brows arched, sorrow ripping through my core as my focus shifted to her just lying there, not moving, not breathing. Tears burning my eyes, my heart was breaking, all my hopes and dreams slipping through my fingers.

With my distraction, he lunged to his feet, screaming through gritted teeth, and swung his fist forward, slamming a knife deep into my chest. I hollered in pain and stumbled backward, my free hand instinctively grabbing the handle.

“You motherfucker!” I roared, trying to pry it out. Overwrought with agony, my fingers were too broken and swollen to properly grip the blade, so I struggled to pull it out. In doing so, I ended up cutting deeper and wider before finally removing it. Trembling, the awkward hold uncurled and the bloodied weapon fell to the floor. I looked at the hole, stunned at how much was dribbling down my chest. Did he hit an artery? Christ, I already felt so woozy and weak.

“You piece of shit,” I seethed, lifting the gun. No way in hell he wasn’t going out, too. We were all going to die today.

He just squared his shoulders and stared into my eyes. “Do it, Jack. Pull the fucking trigger! If she goes, I go. She won’t leave this world without me.”

The grief hit over the physical pain, my attention briefly flitting to my dead wife. “Tiny,” I croaked, a tear sliding down my cheek. “My baby…”

“Do it, Jackyl!” he bellowed, shaking his fists. “Hurry, don’t let her be alone over there.”

My arm stiffened and I sneered, the layers of betrayal outweighing everything else. “Rot in hell, Vin,” I whispered and slowly pulled the trigger.

“No!” a voice shouted from behind.

Startled, I bristled and leaned to the side. As soon as I peered around Vincent, a boom echoed and my head shot back. On instinct, I squeezed the trigger, releasing another resonating bang that had Vincent crying out. All the voices in my brain were suddenly silent, and everything went quiet except for my heart beating in my eardrums. Stunned, there was instant numbness of all the pain, my arms falling to my sides, the gun slipping from my fingers. One moment, I was staring at Dash leaning in the doorway, the next, I was staring at the smooth, white ceiling. Bit by bit, my pulse slowed and faded as darkness crept through, eventually fading out everything until there was nothing.

Chapter 23

Dario “Dash” Mangiacavallo

Monday, 09.02.2019

Distant beeps echoed from somewhere far away, each one louder, drawing me out of a dark, thick haze. The clearer they got, the more that fog thinned, bringing a bit of clarity to my brain. Unfortunately, that brought some of the worst, most agonizing pain I’d ever felt in my entire life. This was bullshit! Flat out disrespectful.

A tiny hand was clenching mine, a weak sob breaking through the deafening silence clogging my ears. My face scrunching from the pain, I sucked on my teeth and clenched my eyelids. Hearing Violetta crying was far worse than any physical anguish I could suffer.

“Hey,” I croaked, my throat dry, my voice gravelly. “Hey, wachoo crying for, girl?”

She sucked on a gasp and sat up, the feet of a chair scooching closer to the bed. My sight not fully functional, I could only see her as a blob of colors, leaning over to tap a button on the wall that flashed a bright light over us. Groaning, my arm lifted to shield my face, the intrusion like a scalding hot knife to my skull.

“Dude, what the fuck?”

“Oh, my god, you’re awake.”