AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I lift the pistol and point it at Willa’s head. “You’re not going anywhere. Trying to help? You took money to watch over me like I was a child and pretended to be my friend. You’re just another liar.”
“Please, Haley. Please, can we just talk calmly. Put the gun down,” she says, sniffling.
I grab a tissue from Mom’s nightstand and reach it over to my former best friend. “You know, I might have gotten away with arson, but if anyone asked me if I started the fire, I wouldn’t have lied. I’m not a liar like them, and anyone would know that ifthey had asked me if I started the fire. No one ever asked…until Kyle did.”
Kyle stepped back into my life after his brief introduction the night of the fire. He was a part of Billy’s entourage of laughing fools.
We ended up in some of the same liberal classes freshman year, and I did my best to act like he didn’t exist. I had no desire to talk to him, but he was persistent in trying to catch my attention. He spent months attempting to convince me how regretful he was for the way he acted that night when we were thirteen. He told me how unfair it was for the Hoyts to blame my family for the loss of Billy’s sister. He saw my side, my pain, and my embarrassment. It was easy to believe him since he and Billy stopped talking shortly after the fire.
What we had was nice, and easy. We were good together, until we weren’t. Like every couple, we began having sporadic arguments over whose dorm we would stay at and which party we would go to—immature college kid things. The last of the fights was more serious, though. I refused to introduce him to my parents and didn’t explain why. It wasn’t something I wanted to talk about yet. We both got heated and said our fair share of unnecessary mean things to each other. I was on the brink of tears when he stormed out of my dorm room that night.
Just before he walked out, he said: “Do me a favor and calm down before you start setting things on fire again.” It was either a deep dig at me or a hint at knowing the truth, despite pretending he thought I had nothing to do with the fire.
“Excuse me?” I called after him. “That’s a low blow, Kyle. Why would you say something like that?”
He stopped just before letting my door close and turned to face me. “I would have never thought so until I saw how angry you get over silly things. You aren’t who I thought you were, Haley. You started the fire, didn’t you?”
He walked out before I could answer.
The car accident that night was unfortunate. Of course, if anyone asked whether I had something to do with that accident, just like the fire, I would tell them yes, I did. I was the one with my high beams going the wrong way down a one-way road. I got out of Kyle’s way in the nick of time. I didn’t plant the tree that he crashed into, though.
Willa holds the tissue beneath her nose, her body convulsing as if she’s standing naked in a snowstorm. “You were the cause of Kyle’s death too?” she asks, her voice scratchy and whiny.
“It’s just two people, or was—but who’s counting?”
“Kyle,” Mom says, matter-of-factly. “I never asked if you had anything to do with that.”
“Because you didn’t want the truth,” I remind her. “You never believed in the truth.”
“Willa, you should leave,” Dad says, swallowing a lump in his throat while advising. “Don’t call the police. Do you understand? Haley, let her go. Just let her go. You can keep us here for as long as you want, but don’t hurt her.”
Willa is so blindsided and baffled by the scene, all she can do is look back and forth between Mom and Dad, pleading with her eyes for more answers. “Don’t bother, Dad,” I say, hopping up to my feet to aim the pistol back at her face. “Willa’s already proven she can’t be trusted. I doubt she would tell anyone but Jerry, and Jerry is a loose end. I can’t have that.”
“I won’t tell him anything. I promise. I swear to you, Hales. I-I-I won’t,” she utters.
I laugh because for once, I know she’s telling the truth. “Oh, I know. It would be impossible to tell Jerry anything right now.”
“What do you mean?” Willa cries out.
“Well, I didn’t know how today would end up and I couldn’t take any chances on a set of loose lips so, yeah—Jerry’s gone.” I pout and let out a heavy sigh. “I’m so sorry for your loss. I wonder how it happened. Did he seem okay when you saw him earlier? Anything out of the norm?”
Willa releases a loud, heavy sob.She really did love him. Liam would appreciate this Romeo and Juliet life lesson. You can’t get rid of one without the other because if one knows something—they both know. That’s what love dictates.
I release the safety on the pistol, glare straight into Willa’s doe-eyed-stare and pull the trigger. Her body slumps to the floor with a thud.
“I didn’t even flinch. Did you see that?” I ask Mom and Dad. “Actually, I don’t feel anything at all.” I take a deep breath and immediately feel a sense of relief. “Two less loose ends to worry about. Next time you bring one into our lives, give me a warning first, will you?”
I open my old dresser and grab a dingy T-shirt out of a drawer, wipe down the pistol and place it down on Dad’s lap with the T-shirt still wrapped around the weapon. “Here you go. I assume since you failed at trying to kill me in a back alley of all places, you’d want a second chance.”
“Stop,” Mom says. “Don’t take your anger out on your father.”
“I needed to stop you—this—what’s happening right now. You’re our daughter…we love you and we didn’t want your life to be like this. We tried to take care of you the best we could. We kept you safe for as long as possible, but your manifestations gottoo big for us to help with. We couldn’t decide on what to do with you—set you free or have you locked up in some facility. The thought of putting you somewhere, stealing your life, it pained us so much. Love can make people do stupid things, and we did stupid things for the sake of loving you,” Dad says. “We aren’t the ones who are sick. It’s always been you, lost in your thoughts and unable to determine what’s true from what isn’t. We didn’t want this for you, sweetheart.”
“Haley, we can’t let you leave this time. You’re a danger to society,” Mom says, interrupting Dad’s threat.
“What are you going to do with me?” I ask, curling my fringed hair that has fallen loose from my ponytail behind my ears. “You’re still tied up, and I’m not.”
“Haley, just stop. Where did you take that baby?” she asks.
