All We Had to Keep Us Safe

(Bob’s P.O.V.)

I waited tensely. I was uneasily conscious of Jade and Chloe hiding in the pantry. I felt myself being pulled towards them as if an imaginary chain connected me to them. I hoped Mark wouldn’t notice.

I heard the crashing sound of breaking glass from the kitchen window. I cocked the little black pistol I held that was already loaded, and my heart started to race. I needed to draw him out of the kitchen, away from Jade. Unless he knew where they were hiding, it would be possible. I he knew where they were, I’d have to shoot him fast.

I moved to the kitchen doorway and aimed my gun at him. He hadn’t noticed me yet. “Don’t move,” I ordered, and he looked up. Shards of glass were scattered across the wood floor where his dirty boots stood. “If you don’t do everything I say, I’ll shoot you.” I had to concentrate on not glancing at the pantry. I didn’t want to give them away.

Mark looked surprised. He obviously hadn’t expected us to be ready for him, but he was still overconfident. Although he held no gun, he sneered at me. “You won’t shoot me.”

I narrowed my eyes. “No until you make the wrong move,” I admitted, “but don’t test me.” I should’ve shot him when I had the chance.

Slowly, he raised his hands in surrender.

“Come and sit on the couch,” I said, taking a step back. I didn’t know what I planned to do after I had him sitting down. I guess I never expected him to listen to me.

But he took several steps towards the doorway before pausing. “You won’t win,” he growled. “You stole my wife.”

I couldn’t help but laugh bitterly. “Hardly,” I retorted. “Believe me, she’s totally faithful to you.” I spat the last word disgustedly. “You drove her away with your violence, which has obviously only gown since she left you.”

“Liar!” he bellowed. Why didn’t I shoot him then? “She must be sleeping with you, if you got her pregnant. I saw the pregnancy tests in your apartment in Chicago.”

I felt like he’s stabbed me in the chest. “No,” I said regretfully. “You’ve got it all wrong. She really only thinks of me as a friend. Did you ever consider the possibility that you got her pregnant? She’s positive it’s your baby. She’s made that quite clear to me.” I almost felt bad for talking like this when she could most likely hear me. Almost.

But Mark didn’t believe me. He took another step forward. Before I could pull the trigger, he’d lunged at me, knocked my hand to the side and pulled a knife out of his jeans pocket. I shot, but I missed him by inches. He missed, too. Well, he missed his target, which had been my chest and buried the knife into my shoulder.

I wanted to scream, but I clenched my teeth. I was unable to use my left arm now, so I couldn’t cock the gun for another shot. I hurled it through the broken window and into the woods, pushing him off me in the process. It was useless to me now, and I didn’t want him to pick it up.

He looked like he was going to tackle me, but he had no weapon this time. I did, but it was buried in my skin. Letting out a sharp breath, I removed it, preparing to stab him. When he hit me, I fell back. Unable to catch myself with my free arm, I hit the floor hard, but at least my head landed on the carpet in the family room.

Even with only one arm, I was stronger than he was. I thrust him off me with my good elbow and got on top of him. Without thinking twice, I stabbed him in she chest, pulling the knife out in case I needed to use it again.

But, unlike him, I hadn’t missed. He went limp. For a few seconds he looked back at me in horror, and then his brown eyes turned glassy and clouded. I was not sorry. I did not feel bad. I knew that killing was wrong, but I hated Mark more than anything else in the world, and I was glad to be rid of him.

I sat back and dropped the knife. I was breathing heavily. Now that the adrenalin was leaving, I felt exhausted. For a few minutes I wondered what I would do next. At the moment, my limp and burning arm seemed unimportant. There was blood everywhere, and Chloe couldn’t see this.

“Jade,” I called through labored breathing. “It’s over. Cover her eyes. Close your eyes. You can come out. Find your way to the stairs, and then you can open your eyes. Take Chloe to her room. Then you can some back down.” I would’ve let her to the stairs myself, but I didn’t have the strength to get up.

She obeyed me without question. I pressed my good hand against my bleeding shoulder to hold back some blood, ignoring the stabbing pain. I leaned back against the kitchen cabinet and waited for her to come back down.

I heard her walking down the stairs. I heard her gasp and whimper when she saw all the blood. She came running into the kitchen and fell to her knees, but she wasn’t kneeling in front of me. She knelt in front of the body.

I felt my chest clench and turn over. Of course. Of course she was worried about him, and she didn’t give a damn about me. No, she didn’t care about the person who had given up everything to help her, the person who had protected her.

No. She was concerned about the man that had been trying to kill us all.

She was crying. She held his cheeks in her hands, wiped blood off his face, and sobbed at the sight of his breathless body. I had to watch on while she kissed his dead lips.

But she didn’t see me. I a chance of living if I could get my shoulder to stop bleeding, but she obviously didn’t care about me at all. I felt my heart breaking. “Fuck you, Jade,” I spat, letting pain lather my voice. “Go to hell.”

She looked up at me in surprise then. Her eyes were wide and innocent, and I knew, despite her behavior, that I still loved her.

I started to see black dots in my vision. She opened her mouth to say something, but I never heard it.

My vision was immersed in blackness, and, at that moment, I welcomed it gladly.