Family Ties (Rewritten)

Opening Up

Vincent:

The scent of wildflowers, salt water, and dirt danced inside of my nose as I finished digging a large hole.  The moon and stars were concealed by a group of ominous clouds, which only made the dread inside of me grow much deeper.  Stella pointed a flashlight at the shallow grave of the doctor and his sister, not saying a word the entire time.  We found a spot about five miles away from her cabin to bury them, a place no one would find.

I wrapped their bodies with a large black tarp and an entire roll of duct tape, while she scrubbed their blood away with a bleach soaked sponge.  I didn't ask why her parents had a tarp and duct tape at a fishing cabin.  I was too busy being glad they did.

After shoving their bodies in the hole and covering it with the massive pile of dirt, I used my arm to wipe away the sweat that poured down my face. Stella turned off the flashlight and walked back to her car in silence. Her head was hung low. I could see the regret in her blue eyes. She wasn't a monster. She was a traumatized girl who lived out the dark fantasy of every rape victim, killing her rapist in cold blood, making him suffer.

What could I say to comfort her? Did she even want to be comforted after doing something so horrific?

More importantly, what the hell was I going to do with her now? I considered taking her with me to help me get to Emily, but after seeing that side of her, I didn't want her anywhere near my family.

I could tie her up and make an anonymous call to the police. No, that wouldn't work. They would ask her about Elliot and Beverly, and I doubted she would be able to pull off lying about their deaths.

She was too fragile right now.

I had to keep an eye on her.

She drove us back to the cabin and shut off the engine, her fingers gripping the steering wheel so hard that her bony fingers trembled.  I hesitantly reached my hand out and touched her shoulder.

"Stella, stop beating yourself up.  What we did tonight had to be done, for the sake of humanity."

She didn't respond.

"They would have kept hurting you," I pressed, giving her shoulder a gentle squeeze, like a coach trying encourage one of his players. "I'm sure every nurse they hurt would thank you."

Her eyes finally captured mine. They were holding back a line of tears. "I killed an innocent baby."

"Think of what kind of life that baby would have had with those monsters.  He probably would've grown up to be as depraved as his mother.  As far as I'm concerned, you did that child a favor."

She laid her head on the steering wheel. "My life is over. I'll never be able to go back to the hospital. I threw away my career for a moment of revenge."

"No, you didn't. I'll take the blame."

"Why would you do that?"

"I'm the one who forced you to take them."

"You didn't force me to do anything. I wanted to hurt them. I wanted to make them suffer."

We were both silent for a moment. I sucked in a deep breath to calm my nerves. "We can talk about it more inside. Do you have anything to drink?"

"My parents keep a shit ton of booze in the attic."

"I think we both could use some right now."

Her lips curled into a small smile. "Yes, I suppose so." We climbed out of the car and went into the cabin. She fetched an unopened bottle of twenty five year old scotch and poured us each a glass.