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JACE
“No,” I whispered to myself and shook my head, staring at the figure behind Dad.
She couldn’t be real.
I was hallucinating.
Mom was dead.
“Put the gun down now, Harlan,” Mom said to Dad, unflinching.
Dad froze and stared at me with wide eyes, loosening his grip on the gun but refusing to drop it. Allie doubled over her mother, in perfect fucking range for Dad to shoot her dead, too, and pressed on her mother’s stomach, where Dad had shot her. Blood seeped between her fingers, and Allie started to hyperventilate.
“You’re alive?” Dad asked without turning around.
“Put the fucking gun down now,” Mom said through gritted teeth.
When Dad refused to drop the gun, Mom shot him in the hand. The gun and some of his fingers fell from his hand and onto the ground. In a rush, I picked up the gun and pointed it at him, not sure what the fuck I was doing or how this would all play out.
“Mom!” Allie screamed, hovering over her mom and staring down into her dulling eyes. With both hands pressed against her stomach to hold the wound closed, Allie shook her head. “Don’t go, please. Stay with me, Mom. Please, stay with me.”
I knew that I had to leave and get Allie’s mother to the hospital now, but I felt like I was fucking hallucinating. I had seen Mom dead. She couldn’t be here now. She couldn’t. If I turned away and ran out of the room, would Harlan still be here when I got back? Was this all in my head? Was Mom real?
“Jace!” Allie cried. “Please, help me. Please, I’m begging. Save my mom.”
“Mom,” I whispered, eyes widening. “Mom, you’re … you’re …”
Mom pressed the muzzle of the gun against Dad’s head. “Take Allie’s mother to the hospital. Take care of your girlfriend. And protect those you care about. I’m going to be the one to finish this and end your father’s life.” Before I could say another word, Mom cut her gaze to me. “Now, Jace.”
After cursing to myself, I threw the gun onto the glass living room table and picked Allie’s mother up in my arms. “Grab my keys, Allie. Quickly.”
When Allie grabbed my keys from the counter, I rushed out of the room and to the front door.
And as we stepped out of the house, I heard the gun go off three times. Then, there was silence and a sort of peace that I couldn’t even begin to explain. But it only lasted for a couple moments because I found myself hurrying with Allie to the car.
I had so many questions to ask Mom, but I didn’t have time for that either.
Maybe one day, I’d see her again.
Squealing into the hospital front door, I parked the car and grabbed Allie’s mom from the backseat. We hurried through the automatic sliding doors and into the lobby, Allie screaming and crying next to me that there was way too much blood everywhere.
“Mrs. Abara!” I shouted, spotting Imani’s mother down the hall.
She looked over her shoulder at us, widened her eyes, and sprinted over. “We need to bring her to the ER now. What happened, Jace?” she asked, ordering someone to take Allie’s mother from me and bring her to the other room.
Allie grabbed on to her mom’s hand and shook her head. “No, I don’t want her to go. I lo-love you. Don’t leave me, Mom, please.”
As a nurse tried to pull Allie off her mother, I grabbed Allie by the waist and tugged her toward me, hugging her to my chest.
“My father beat her and shot her,” I said for the first time aloud. I hadn’t told many people about what Dad was capable of, but now that he was gone … I didn’t have to keep it a secret anymore.
Mrs. Abara cursed under her breath and hurried down the hallway toward the ER. “Call Imani!” she shouted over her shoulder. “Make sure that she gets here to calm down Allie. I’ll do my best to help the main surgeon out.”
“Wait!” I said, pulling Allie closer. “Did you … did you save my mom?”
Mrs. Abara was the best neurosurgeon in the area. Mom had been shot straight through the head. She had to have known and helped her recover somehow. She had to have. Nobody else would’ve, especially in this town. People couldn’t keep secrets as big as this one.
Instead of answering me aloud, she gave me half a smile, then disappeared into a back room. My chest tightened, and I scooped Allie into my arms. I would figure it out sooner or later. After settling down on a chair in the ER waiting room, I pulled Allie to my chest, stroked her hair, and called Imani.
“It’s going to be okay, baby,” I whispered to Allie, rubbing her hips. Mom had told me to protect the ones I loved the most, and that was exactly what I was going to do for forever. “We’re going to get through this. I’ll make sure that we do.”
