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I can hear him hurry to my door and I see him through the open bathroom doors.
“Is she okay?” he calls, looking us over for any signs of harm.
I nod. “She’s fine.”
Thea lifts her head from my shoulder and looks at her brother. “I’m okay, promise. Just shaken. It all happened so fast, but it felt like forever,” she mumbles.
“Where’s mom?” Cade asks. “Did you check downstairs? Is he still in here?” He suddenly crouches down like he thinks his dad is going to come flying out from somewhere at him.
“Your mom’s downstairs. She’s pretty frightened. She … she shot him. I don’t know anything other than that.”
Cade’s lips part with shock. “She shot him? My scared, meek little mother shot him?”
“Hey, just telling you what I saw.”
Cade shakes his head, baffled. “How’d she even get a gun?”
“Dude, I don’t know. And we need to call the cops.”
“Right.” He nods. “I’ll do that and I’ll check things out with Mom. Was … was he dead?”
I shake my head. “Not while I was there. There was a lot of blood, so that might’ve changed.”
Cade swallows thickly and nods. “I can’t believe this happened,” he whispers.
“Believe it,” I say. “Men like your dad are capable of anything. Breaking into a house and terrorizing people is nothing to someone like him.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” He shakes his head again and unlocks her door. His boots pound against the stairs as he runs down.
Thea’s hands are ice cold where they touch my skin and she begins to shake uncontrollably. I’m pretty sure she’s going into shock.
“Thea?” I rub my hands up and down her arms, trying to create some friction. “Are you okay?” She nods woodenly. “You’re scaring me,” I tell her.
“My head,” she mumbles. “My head hurts.”
I pull her back and look into her eyes, finding them dilated more than they were a few moments ago.
Sirens sound in the distance.
“The police are coming and paramedics should be with them. They need to check you out and make sure you’re okay.”
“I’m just happy you’re here,” she whispers, trying to burrow into my arms again. I can see her eyes fighting to fall closed.
I take her and push her slightly. “Thea, I need you to stay alert. Okay?”
“I’m trying, but I’m so tired after everything.”
“I know you are,” I tell her. “But there will be time for sleep later.”
I stand up with her in my arms and carry her out of the room as the amount of voices in the house grows. The cops are definitely here and all I can hope is that Malcolm’s still alive because he deserves to go to jail and be punished in some way for everything he has done to his family. He shouldn’t get to take the easy way out.
A cop stops me when I reach the bottom step. “Is she injured?” he asks.
“She was fine a few minutes ago, but now she’s acting funny and says her head hurts.”
“There’s an ambulance out on the street with a medic. He’ll see her.”
“Thank you.”
