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I don’t know why, but in that brief moment, it didn’t feel like I was falling. Turning to him, I hadn’t even realized that I was crying until he wiped my tears away.
“Don’t give up on this. This is just a setback, albeit a big one, but we can—”
“Thank you Levi.” My voice cracked, but I went on anyways. “Thank you for everything you’ve done for me. But can I get a moment alone? I’ll be right out, but I just need a moment.”
He looked torn, but he grabbed his things and left. The whole place was empty and I wept. With my hands over my mouth, I wept.
It was only when my throat went dry, and my eyes were swollen, that I stopped. Just like I was when I was younger, I wiped my face with the back of my hands and I reached into my bag for my little bottle of eye drops. Then, I stood up, brushed off my clothes, and walked out of the courtroom, only to see the back of Levi’s head as he spoke to the press. I didn’t want to see either of them now, not like this.
However, as turned to walk down the stairs, I noticed someone coming up them, towards me. His eyes were dark, almost black, and he glared directly at Levi, enraged. He reached into his jacket and once again my stomach dropped, my ears burned and my heartbeat fastened. It felt as though time itself had slowed down. Everything fell out of my arms as I ran towards him. He looked at me like I was insane and mouthed something, but I couldn’t hear anything over deafening explosion of the shot…
BANG
It rang in my ears, then the pain came, and I wasn’t running any more.
“Thea! Thea!” Levi screamed down at me.
His eyes were so wide, they looked like they were going to fall out of his head.
Why was it, that no matter how dark everything was becoming, he could give me such clarity? He was like this never ending candle in perpetually dark room.
“Thea! Thea! Say something! Thea!!”
The lights dimmed, then went out.
TRISTAN
“Today, on the front steps of the Connecticut state house, twenty-three year old Thea Cunning, daughter of the recently deceased, legal maverick, Margaret Cunning, and the infamous criminal, Ben Walton, was shot.
“Police were able to capture and detain the shooter. This news comes on the heels of the shocking ruling by Judge Thomas, who denied Mr. Black and his client, Mr. Walton, the right to a new trial, leading many to speculate that this was attempt to silence the young Ms. Cunning and her attempts to free her father. Doctors say her condition is critical—”
Turning down the radio, I tried to get that scene out of my mind. It had all happened so quickly that my hand was still shaking.
One moment Levi and I were sitting in the courtroom, shocked by the judge’s ruling, and the next, we were outside speaking to the mob of reporters, trying our best to make sense of what had just happened when out of nowhere, Thea screamed out for Levi, running—no, jumping in front of the bullet like she was getting a fucking hug instead.
She flew. I swear to God almighty, she flew when the bullet hit her. She flew back into Levi’s arms, and all he could do was stare down at her with a
frown, as though he didn’t understand what he was seeing, while everyone else ran for cover. He, like a statue, kneeled, staring as her blood poured out of her and onto him. Then, the reality of the situation must have caught up to him because he started to shake and scream her name.
His pressed his hands to her stomach, trying to stop her from bleeding out. He called out to her, but she didn’t speak. Apparently I had called the police, but I don’t remember doing it. Just the sight of Levi, in tears, on his hands and knees with the woman he loved bleeding out in front the court building. The image would be with me forever.
“How is he? How is she? What is going on? Where do we need to go?” Bethan ran out of the house when I got home.
Her parents held on to Bellamy, and I walked to them, taking my daughter out of their hands and pulling her into a hug.
“Tristan,” Bethan sobbed, and I pulled her into my arms as well.
They were safe. They were okay… as they should have been, but I just needed to see it… to feel it.
“What happened? We’ve been trying to contact Levi, but his phone is off. There was a gunshot, and then all cameras turned off,” his mother said, as she came up to me.
For some reason the sight of her made me angry… maybe I was angry at the world, but right now, Mrs. Black was the focus of my rage.
“You left him,” I said as I handed Bellamy back to Bethan. “He was going up against the world. He told you the truth, he went out to seek justice for your friend who was murdered, and to free a man who’s been in jail for almost twenty years for a crime he did not commit. And you left him, you both left him out in the cold!
“That family, the Van Allen’s that you care so dearly for, I think they just tried to kill your son, and the twenty-three year old who found out ten minutes before that her father was likely going to spend the rest of his life in jail for a crime he never committed, leapt in front of him and took the fucking bullet. Keep turning your face from the shit but that doesn't stop you from smelling bad at the end of the day now does it?”
They looked stunned, but then again, who would dare raise their voice against the Blacks?
