Chapter 27: Justin’s Perspective

My mind went back to over six years ago. It was like being transported back into the past. Perhaps this was why I had avoided thinking of that night. Perhaps this was why I wanted nothing to do with Katerina.

I remembered the pool of blood they both lay in, looking more lifeless than I’d have expected for two people who’d just been shot. The thing about the scene, how I knew they were dead, was by the way they lay there, unmoving, unable to. It’s when I realized just how frozen death was. There wasn’t a single sound in the air, but I looked for Katerina. I knew their young one had to be here somewhere.

She wasn’t anywhere to be seen. But I knew she’d be dead too if they’d found her. I looked under the table, under the couch, under the bed. I’d hoped she’d been spared, and she hadn’t seen any of this.