“Call her up here now,” the man ordered.
“Where’s David? Where’s my son?” Ben cried.
“I said call her to come up now!” the man screamed.
Ben stood there frozen. His leg would not move, his arms would not reach, and his mouth would not open. He had never been in this situation before so his brain could not compute what his next move should be.
“Fine I’ll do it myself,” the man said and shot three bullets through the ceiling.
Mary rushed upstairs after hearing the gunshots. After seeing what Ben had seen, she immediately pointed her gun towards the man in the ski mask.
“Let her go,” she commanded.
“Oh lookie here, little Marie has a gun now. You clearly didn’t know what you married into huh, Ben?” the man mocked.
“Let my family go, it’s me that you want. Let them go!” She yelled.
“The song has been sung. Someone has to die. So who is it gonna be, Marie?” taunted the man.
“Me,” Ben said. “Please don’t hurt any of my family,” Ben pleaded.
“I heard that little story, she told you downstairs, Ben.” the man said. “But that isn’t the full story. Did she tell you what happened to the farmer’s son? Oh boy, he got mad when he found out that his parents were dead and she got away with it. So he did what anyone with a cool villain origin story does. He found out who that girl was and managed to get in touch with her beloved father. He decided that he wanted to work for that girl’s father. You know, because he wanted to destroy things from the inside. Didn’t you notice why your father stopped looking for you, Marie? Because I managed to gain his trust. Can you imagine working for a guy that killed your parents? Thank god he didn’t find out until the last minute of his life. I told him everything about how I met you and how he sent his men to kill my family before putting three bullets on his chest and two on his brain. I decorated that office wall of his magnificently with his pink, pale, and stupid brain. But I didn’t wanna stop there. I had to find the girl who started this all. You. When I finally found you a few weeks back, I had this whole monologue prepared. And at the end of that monologue, I’m gonna find and shoot the one you love most. But then I learned that you had kids. That means I get to enjoy seeing you suffer more!” he screamed.
While he was monologuing, Ben noticed that the man’s gun holding hand was pointed to nowhere. His brain finally computed his next steps. And when his hand wasn’t pointing the gun at Sarah, he ran as fast as he could and body slammed the man to the wall. When the man hit the wall, he accidentally fired a bullet. The bullet flies directly towards Mary, penetrating her right lung.
“Nooo!” Ben screamed. He threw an uppercut punch to the man’s face, kicked his knee, and snatched his gun. Without even giving it a second thought, he shot the man’s kneecap and foot, Ben would’ve shot the man’s face off, but he is not a killer and couldn’t sleep at night if he did so.
The man fell to the ground screaming and groaning and twitching in pain.
“Sarah, go find David and I need you to run to Uncle Jerry’s house. Tell them there’s an intruder and call the police. Now!” Ben commanded.
Sarah opened the closet’s door and took David, she managed to push David inside the closet when he saw a stranger in her room. Both his arms are clutching his knees, trembling back and forth. She grabbed his hand, pulled him up, and ran downstairs to exit the house and do what her father told her to do.
Ben rushed towards Mary. She was sitting on the floor, her body was leaning on the wall, blood on her shirt, slack, and on the carpet. She was gasping for air, her lung had already collapsed. Ben did not know where on earth could he hold her fearing that a slight touch would hurt her more than she was experiencing right then.
“You stay put, I’m gonna call an ambulance!” Ben said.
“Yeah… no, in my condition, I think I’ll go for a run, haven’t done that in years," Mary replied sarcastically. "Stay here, I don't have much time,"
“But you’re bleeding a lot! More than when you’re on your monthly thing,” Ben replied with a hint of vibration in his voice, tears welling up in his eyes, and gave her a gentle smile. “Everything is going to be A-Okay. Let me call an ambulance for you.”
“No, stay here with me, I can feel the blood filling my throa-” she coughed blood before finishing that sentence.
“Alright, I’m gonna sit next to you,” Ben said, kneeling, and grabbed her hand, holding it tight.
“I’m sorry I lied to you all these years, I was so scared that my father would find me, I didn’t know he had already died.” Mary said, gasping.
“You know my life would’ve been easier if you had told me the truth right?” he replied jokingly. “I could’ve hung out with friends, played some fantasy football, you stole my mid life youth from me.”
“What friends?” she asked.
They both laughed. Ben didn’t know what to say, so he just looked at her and she did the same. They both knew this was going to be the last moment they’re gonna be together. Mary looked out the window. The moon was really full tonight, decorated with a curtain of stars with a few blurred clouds tainting that image.
“I really am sorry, Ben,” she pleaded
“After hearing your origin story, I wouldn’t blame you even if you were a villain.” Ben cried.
But things got quiet. Her eyes are still open and gazing out the window. But there was no heartbeat, no breathing patterns, her chest stayed the same. She was gone and Ben knew it. He sat there next to his dead wife crying, wiping his tears with his arms and sleeves. He wanted to scream but he had no energy left, he was physically and mentally exhausted. He just sat there crying. There’s nothing more he could do.
“Ben!” shouted someone from downstairs.
He heard footsteps stomping up the stairs. Jerry then came out of the corner of his eyes. He was carrying his son’s baseball bat. He saw Ben sitting on the ground, nose red, eyes wet, he took a glance next to him to see Mary, but she wasn’t moving, he saw all the blood. He put things together when he saw the man in the ski mask at the other corner of the room. The man wasn’t unconscious, he just sat there quietly, no one knew what he was thinking at that moment. Did he finally find the clarity after killing Mary, or did he feel remorse, no one knows. Jerry rushed to the man and took one swing to his head and rendered the man unconscious. Jerry felt the man’s heartbeat to make sure he wasn’t dead and he gave three good kicks to the stomach afterwards out of anger.
“Ben… “ Jerry said, he couldn’t ask if he was okay, and he couldn’t ask what had happened here because he already assumed that this man was a robber trying to rob them.
“I don’t know what to do now Jerry, I really don’t,” Ben said, “Mary’s gone,” he quivered.
Jerry didn’t say anything after that, he inspected the window the man probably had come from. He saw a ladder straight to the ground from Sarah’s window. “Your kids are safe. They’re with Julia next door. My team will be arriving here soon,” he said. Jerry is a police officer, and Julia is his wife. Ben and Jerry weren’t close but Julia and Mary were since they’re both housewives and spent most of the afternoon together gossiping about other neighbours.
“Thank you…” Ben said. It’s the only thing he could say.
The police came a few minutes after that. They took Ben outside and tried to ask him a few questions while the other teams were securing that place. But Ben didn’t answer, he just kept gazing through the ground. People came out of their houses to get a glimpse of what was happening. They put Mary’s body in a body bag and took her away to the coroners.
He heard tiny footsteps crunching near him, It was Julia.
“I’m sorry for your loss, Ben” She said.
Ben did not answer, but he nodded. “How’s my kids doing?” he asked.
“They’re napping on the couch inside the house,” she replied.
“Did you know she wasn’t blind? Mary, She wasn’t blind at all,” Ben said.
Julia stood there quietly because she already knew that. She knew all of Mary’s story.
A Few hours had passed, and the police, forensics, and all were gone. They had done their job there. Ben went inside his house and he saw the bloodstain in Sarah’s room, so grabbed a bucket full of water, squished some soap in there and grasped the sponge, and started scrubbing the blood stain with soap water. While he was cleaning it, he kept thinking how he grew up an orphan, he had nobody except the people at the orphanage. They helped him get through school, he managed to get a job, and pay for college, and met Mary a few years after graduation. He found out that she also had no parents. He felt like they were made for each other. Together they could fill the void they have been feeling since they were a kid, and promised that that will never happen to their kids.
“Hey,” Jerry said, while walking up the stairs. “I’m just checking on you, if you need anything…”
“After what has happened to me tonight, they could at least help clean off this blood stain,” he chuckled. Tears welled up in his eyes again.
The END
-by Daggerknight
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