Chapter 63rd

"Susie!" I spoke her name – a mere fright, but also a betrayal! I saw her shoes turn my way, the way my voice had come from. Chris pulled his lips from me, his entire body shook with a wicked chuckle – true amusement.

He grabbed my shoulders, ignoring my terror, pulling my attention to his:

"What is this? One final, desperate attempt?"

But then my eyes looked that away again – a second betrayal – and, following my horror, he looked and saw it too, an intrusion… another dreaded interruption. His amused, thrilled face turned sour at once, the muscles tensing, the expression changing into grave, angry determination. I tensed up completely… and when he moved to stand, I screamed.

"Susie, run!!!"

I saw my sister's tiny shoes skip back with a fright. Chris had stood up, and he stretched himself to reach for the gun. I kicked his legs, pulling him away. I tried to get up myself, he pushed me down. We struggled for a brief second, and when he finally grabbed the gun – the gun in one hand, my tied pair of arms in the other – I slammed myself against his stomach. The gun fell down and I kicked it far from us, far from his reach, then tried to run.

He pulled me by my hair, enraged. And though I experienced a brief glimpse of success, I didn't mean for things to happen as they did… For Susie to disobey me, for the gun to skid towards her, and stop at her feet… for her to crouch her frail, delicate body down and seize it in between those tiny fingers.

"NO!" I gasped, that nightmare deepening! "No… no, Susie, no!!!"

Susie didn't run… she didn't obey me! She could see I was in trouble, and she would be smart… she would protect me. Not like that one time in the mountains, when we were scolded for failing to see the danger, for not having each other's back. But it wasn't supposed to be the other way around. 'Susie, how could I protect you now?' the crumbling thought destroyed me as she stood up again, that big gun in her small hand.

How could I protect her from Chris?

Chris violently pulled me from there, onto another aisle, where he slid down and held me, detained, between his knees, hand firmly pressed to my mouth.

"Please…" I mumbled, I cried… begged "Please don't hurt her!!"

"Shhh!!" He pressed harder, looking from the edge of the cupboard as she inevitably approached us. He mused.

"Tell her to go. Now!" he pressed my cheeks between his fingertips.

"Ouch- Susie, go! Run!!"

"NO!" was her unwavering answer, her brave small voice filling the room.

Chris dropped his head… I could tell how impatient he grew. I could feel it in the firmness with which he held me to him.

"You should listen to your sister, kiddo!" He yelled from our distance, rage poorly contained in his coarse voice. I sweated nervously.

"Let her go!" she answered from afar. Chris sighed… laughed.

"If you want your sister to be okay, then put that gun down!"

I squirmed, agitated at the idea. Chris tightened his grip around me, covered my mouth again so that I could say nothing:

"I promise I'll let her go, if you put that gun down…" silence. "It's dangerous, you know? You could end up hurting us both…"

I winced, I cried, and Chris threatened me with pain, tightening his grip.

"What are you doing to her?!" Susie probed, still there… still listening to him! Oh, how dangerous! Oh, how risky it was, to so much as interact with him! – I could see it so clearly now!

Chris sighed impatiently, and turned to me to whisper:

"I'll end up killing you both…"

I groaned and cried, and he yanked me back in his grip… turned towards her again, peeking and seeing her, when I couldn't.

"Er… Something between adults. You wouldn't understand. You let us work things out between ourselves, yes? Do as your sister tells you!"

He turned to me, pulled my head up, whispered threateningly into my ear:

"Tell her to put the gun down." He commanded, and carefully loosened his grip on my mouth:

"Susie, RUN!" I screamed instead.

Chris tightened his hand around my mouth, pulled me with him to yet another aisle, crouching down, because Susie had just sped her small steps towards us.

"Fucking little--!" he cursed into my ear "I want nothing with that brat of yours, but if she tries anything noble… I'll happily make your parents twice as miserable tonight!"

"NO!"

I invested into another series of squirming and thrashing, just as Chris had stretched his neck to spot her. When he turned back to hold me, I sunk my teeth into his hand, causing him to drop me. Quickly, then, I used my legs to push me forward, before even managing to balance myself and stand.

But Chris couldn't dispense with me, not just yet… Right now, he depended on me as his human shield, so he determinedly chased me, grabbed me by the ankle and pulled me back into hiding, where I tried to kick and push him – silently myself, afraid she might find us just as he was! He sat over my hips, immobilizing me, and proceeded to hold my struggling torso… Then his eyes shot ahead, frozen, the blue irises swimming as he stared at something more threatening than himself. I looked up myself, saw Susie upside down: she stood at the far end of the aisle, arms held up, gun held high pointed at him… childish carelessness driving the determination in her eyes. As soon as I saw it, I knew she'd pull the trigger… I knew she wouldn't even think.

And so she did!

"NO!" I screamed, too late: the deafening explosion filled the room, echoing, reverberating, wounding our ears.

Susie closed her eyes as she did it… then, like the child she was, she forgot what she was holding, dropping it as her hands were needed elsewhere: on her ears. Simultaneously, she screamed, scared by the noise. I screamed, sitting up at that moment, but failing in my own way…

…I guess some sick part of me meant to protect Chris, to push him out of the way… but I was too late. There was not enough time – not for the two of us to dodge it!