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Dani looks nervously from her husband to her sleeping son. “Shh. You’ll wake him up.”
“Don’t tell me to shh!” Nick grabs Dani by the hair, pulling her from the bed and dragging her back into their bedroom as she struggles to stand up straight. “What are you trying to do? Turn our son into a sissy, a goddamn mama’s boy?”
“No, Nick. I was just tryin’ to comfort him….”
“He doesn’t need comforting. He needs a good kick in the ass. Like his mother,” Nick says, the toes of one bare foot piercing the thin cotton of her nightgown, his fists pummeling her head. The blows crash against the side of her temple, her cheeks, her jaw. He continues his assault as her body sinks toward the floor, blood dripping from her split lip, the room spinning around her.
“Stop!” she hears a small voice shout as she struggles to stay conscious. “Get away from her!”
Through her tears, Dani sees Tyler in the doorway, his face ashen, his arms stretched out in front of him, the gun in his shaking hands aimed squarely at his father’s chest.
“Well, would you get a look at Goldilocks! Give me that thing.” Nick steps toward Tyler.
Which is when Tyler closes his eyes and pulls the trigger.
—
Maggie and Craig are still sitting silently side by side when they hear what sounds like a car backfiring down the street.
“Oh God,” Maggie cries instantly, jumping to her feet. “He did it! The bastard shot her!”
Craig hesitates only a fraction of a second. “I’ll call the police,” he says.
—
Dani screams as the gun goes off, the bullet missing Nick by a good foot and tearing a hole in the white shade of the bedside lamp.
“You stupid kid,” Nick says, advancing menacingly toward his son. “If you’re going to shoot at someone, you damn sure better not miss.”
The gun in Tyler’s hand falls to the floor as his father grabs him by the neck of his pajamas, Nick’s free hand raised and poised to strike.
Dani throws herself at the gun, scooping it up off the floor and aiming it at her husband’s head.
“You dumb bitch,” Nick starts, the last words out of his mouth before Dani pulls the trigger.
She doesn’t miss.
