Shattered By Broken Dreams

“Daddy” Jonnie cried as the blood from the cut on her arm began to drip to the floor.
It wasn’t a deep gash, but deep enough to require stitches. Brian held his gun aimed at Laura while Johnny, Jimmy and Zacky untied the kids. Matt walked across the room right over to Laura and aimed his gun at her face.

“NO!” Seven yelled. “She has Melody hidden somewhere, you can’t kill her”

Brian grabbed Laura’s hair and held his gun to her head. “Where is my daughter?”

“Ha! Do you think I would make it that easy?” Laura laughed.

Matt lost his patience and punched her in the face. “Where the fuck is she?” he yelled.

“Daddy, she was screaming from upstairs,” Seven yelled.

Matt grabbed Laura and dragged her across the room while Brian followed with his gun aimed at Laura’s back.

Jimmy and Johnny tended to Legend who was now lying on the floor weak from all the blood he lost.

“He needs to get to a hospital” Jimmy said on the verge of tears.

Johnny nodded. “Zacky you drive, Jonnie’s car is out front and take Jonnie; she is going to have to be looked at. Seven go with her and make sure she is ok, please”

“Ok” Seven nodded. Jimmy and Johnny carried Legend to the car, while Zacky got in the driver’s seat. Lyric stayed in the house and headed for the upstairs where his father and Uncle had gone with Laura.

Upstairs….

“WHERE IS SHE?” Brian yelled.

“You’re getting warmer” Laura teased.

Lyric ran to the top of the stairs and stopped in the hall just behind his father. Brian was standing in front of Laura with his gun pointed at her face while Matt held his grip on her arm with his gun aimed at her head.

“Open the doors” Brian said to Lyric and one by one he went to open the doors.

The first on was just an empty bedroom so he moved on to the next. Another bedroom, the television was on, but there was no one inside. He moved across the hall to the other door, it was a bathroom and again it was empty. That left only one door.

The last door at the end of the hall was the only one that Lyric hadn’t opened. He walked down the hall as a sick feeling began to wash over him.

“It’s locked” he said looking back at them.

Brian walked down to the end of the hall while Matt followed dragging Laura with him. When they got to the door, Brian shot the knob and Lyric pushed the door open.

“Oh my God” Lyric whispered as his stomach turned. “YOU SICK BITCH!” he yelled and kicked Laura in the gut as hard as he could.

Brian walked into the room and found Melody lying unconscious in the center. Her body was partially exposed and covered in cuts and bruises. The two thugs were there. One held a can of gasoline that had been poured in a circle around Melody’s body and the other held a match just waiting for Laura to give the word.

Their guns were useless now, any kind of a spark inside that room would ignite the gasoline and they knew it.

“Get away from her” Brian said to the two of the men, but neither moved.

“They only respond to me” Laura laughed.

“Bitch, you better call off your dogs right now” Matt warned.

“Or what?” she asked

“Or I wont think twice about taking you into another room and blowing your fucking brains out”

“You kill me, they kill her” she had them.

Brian looked over at his helpless daughter wanting so badly to go to her. He stepped closer and the thug with the gasoline stepped in front of him.

“What do you want? Damn it!” Brian yelled at Laura.

“What I have always wanted, dear. Sydney”

“No. You can forget it, you aren’t going to hurt anyone else” He shook his head looking back at Matt who was seething with rage.

Johnny came up the stairs and stopped outside the room at the end of the hall listening to what was happening inside. After realizing that Laura had intended to set Melody on fire, his instincts kicked in and he ran back down stairs.

10 Minutes later he returned to find Matt and Brian still arguing with Laura for Melody’s life.

“Excuse me, coming through,” he said pushing passed them. They all looked on as Johnny pushed passed Matt and Laura and walked into the room.

He stood in the center of the room with a shit eating grin on his face. Matt and Brian looked at him like he was nuts. In one hand he held a baseball bat and in the other a fire extinguisher.

“Here, hold this” he handed Lyric the bat and pointed to the thug holding the can of gasoline. “Go stand over there.” Lyric did as he said all the while looking at him like he had lost his mind.

“Now, as for you” he said to the thug with the match. “You’re a big man. Me, not so much. You have a match and you’re probably just waiting for the chance to swipe it across the back of that match book, but I am all for fire prevention, so you’ll just have to wait.” He smiled and held up the fire extinguisher aiming the nozzle at the thug’s face. When he pulled the handle, the thug’s face was covered in white foam. Lyric took that as his cue to use the baseball bat on the other thug’s face.

“Go little shit” Matt laughed. Brian ran to his daughter and picked her up in his arms. He didn’t wait to see if she was ok, he wanted her out of that room and away from any source of fire. Matt dragged Laura down the stairs after Brian while Lyric and Johnny continued to beat the living daylights out of the two thugs.

Brian laid Melody down on the ground and took off his jacket to cover her with it.
When he stood, he turned to face Laura who was still being held in Matt’s grip.
His eyes were cold and his face was blank as he approached her. With his gun firmly in his hand, he fired one shot and she fell to the ground. “Finish her off” he said to Matt and went back to his daughter lifting her up and taking her out to the car.

“This is for Sydney” Matt pulled the trigger and watched as the living room floor was carpeted with Laura’s brains.

Lyric and Johnny came down the stairs and found Matt standing over Laura’s body.
“Come on, dad” Lyric put his hand on Matt’s arm, but he just stood there with the gun aimed at her unable to move.

“She’s dead, Matt. For real this time” Johnny said.

Matt shook his head no and fired off every bullet in his gun into her body.

“NOW SHE’S FUCKIN DEAD!”