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“Finn, don’t let her go like this,” I urge, knowing we’ll be out of time soon. “She needs you.”
That’s what does the trick.
Emotions trickle back into Finn’s eyes in a matter of seconds, the walls he built around himself coming undone brick by brick. It’s like ten years of repressing his feelings just came to an end when he looks up at me and the truth crashes into him.
His baby girl is going to die.
The dog his mom gave him when he was eight.
She’s going to die.
Fear sinks its claws into him as soon as he’s shoved back into the real world.
Then he loses it.
He lets out a heart-wrenching scream of agony, tears streaming down his cheeks as he nuzzles his face into Lexie’s neck.
“Please don’t take her away. Please…” He sobs into her fur, holding her to him with all he has. “I’m so sorry, Lex. God, forgive me.”
He says it like all of this is his fault.
Like he failed her somehow.
Panic overwhelms him when her eyes start to close, her breathing slowing down as she lets out a final whimper.
“No!” Finn cradles her head to his chest. “No, no, no. Don’t leave me, Lex. Please.”
Then she’s gone.
She just… died in his arms.
And as police sirens echo in the distance, slowly increasing in volume, I know for a fact…
A part of Finn just died, too.
* * *
“They’re done.” My voice is but a whisper when I hang up the phone with the crime scene cleaners Mr. Richards hired—tragically, there was enough blood to qualify for their services.
Finn doesn’t move an inch, his eyes drilled to the time on his car dashboard as he mutters something beneath his breath.
I think he’s counting?
Keeping track of how many hours it’s been since she left us?
The answer is fifteen.
Fifteen hours since a pet disposal service loaded Lexie’s body up in the back of a car and took her away. They’ll be cremating her first thing tomorrow.
Finn hasn’t shed a tear since the police ripped him off her corpse. It’s like he switched to autopilot, permanently shutting off whatever valve was blown open when he fell apart in the backyard.
The whole town knew about the hit-and-run by lunchtime. It started with a few nosey neighbors, then snowballed into a hot piece of gossip for widows and grannies to dissect over tea.
My dads have been blowing up my phone, asking me why Finn was rumored to have witnessed the atrocity when he was supposed to be gone for the summer.
I ended up telling them he’d come back into town the day before, which they found somewhat acceptable considering tomorrow’s my last day, anyway. I know I’ll have to come clean, eventually, but I can’t deal with them right now.
The Richards estate was surrounded by police less than a minute after Lexie took her last breath. You’d think the Silver Springs Police Department deployed every damn car they had at once. And the worst part?
