Down By The River

24

𝕊𝕞𝕠𝕜𝕖 𝕣𝕚𝕤𝕚𝕟𝕘 𝕦𝕡 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕘𝕒𝕥𝕖 𝕨𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕖 𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕪 𝕘𝕠𝕥 𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕋𝕠 𝕥𝕒𝕜𝕖 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕒𝕨𝕒𝕪 𝕗𝕣𝕠𝕞 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕗𝕒𝕔𝕖 𝕠𝕗 𝕙𝕖𝕣 𝕗𝕒𝕥𝕙𝕖𝕣

Zach didn't like the fact that Charlotte was coming with him. This was not going to be pretty and Zach would really have preferred if she didn't have to see all this, but it could also become dangerous very quickly. And he didn't want anything to happen to her. But it would be a cold day in hell before anything or anyone would be able to change Charlotte's mind. So he just had to tell her to be careful. And hope for the best. In his head he was going through about a million horror scenarios of ways in which this could go terribly, terribly wrong.

Still, if Charlotte decided that she wanted to join him, then that was on her. He had just argued that she was a free woman now, so she could make her own decisions. She'd have to live with the consequences of them, yes, but she could still do what she wanted. Zach almost wished that he had argued for her to stay with Abigail and Joel and hide there, but he had been selfish. He had wanted her to come with him. He wanted her to be close, he wanted her to be his, he wanted her. He also wanted her to have a good and comfortable life, but that ship had sailed already, through no fault of her own. So this had seemed like the best option at the time.

Still, he was wondering if he had made a mistake, now that he was out here, a shotgun in his hands and Charlotte trailing behind him, holding a crowbar. She seemed to be excited about this, but Zach wasn't sure if this was a good idea. None of this was going to be pretty and he would have liked to protect her from all this mess. She just had to be stubborn about it and now the best he could hope for was that she wouldn't do anything stupid or dangerous and that nothing would happen to her. She had been through enough, she didn't need more bad things to happen to her.

On the other hand, he was impressed by her resolve and by how quickly she had gotten ready for all this, even though she was probably still not too well. She seemed to have recovered within seconds (or she was a very good actor) and she almost wanted this revenge more than Zach wanted it. Maybe almost getting killed was a really good motivator for her. She seemed thrilled at the prospect of seeing Ephraim's face, as they finished him. Seeing his face when he would find out that he hadn't managed to kill her. It was almost scary how bloodthirsty she looked when she had talked about it earlier. But now that they were at his house, she had gotten quiet again. She was looking pale and Zach was wondering whether she maybe wanted to back out of this whole thing. But there was no time.

It was almost the morning and they had to get this over with and leave town right after, if they wanted to get away without anyone ratting them out or following them. It would take a while until someone found Ephraim and by then they'd be long gone. No one would ever be able to find them again, except by coincidence. They'd go west - as far west as they could - and see if they'd be able to settle down somewhere. Maybe in a quiet town, maybe by a nice lake near the woods. Wherever they'd find somewhere to settle down. And then maybe they could forget about all this and start a new life. Together.

"Right, are we going in or not?" Charlotte wanted to know. She was whispering to him. Her and Zach had been quietly stalking out the house for a good while now, trying to figure out which room Ephraim would be in. They had finally figured out that he was in the barn. Zach had no idea what he was doing there at this time of the night, but he was sure he'd find out soon. Probably trying to get rid of evidence that might link him to Charlotte's presumed death.

"Fine. Go and do your thing. I've got your back." Zach said to her. Charlotte grinned and quietly walked into the barn where Ephraim was working away on something. Charlotte leaned against a hay bale and waited for a little while, just watching Ephraim, before making her presence known.

"Morning, Ephraim. Strange time to be awake and work in the barn, isn't it?" she asked him. Zach saw how he was slowly lifting his head and then turning around, his eyes widening and his skin paling when he saw Charlotte standing there, alive and well. He looked like he was seeing a ghost, which probably wasn't too far off. For a while he was just staring at her open-mouthed.

"What is it? You're not happy to see me? How odd. Well, it's not like I'm here out of the goodness of my heart." Charlotte said to him, lifting up the crowbar so he could see it. Zach could hear that she was enjoying this.

"You... you should be dead... there is no way... no. No, it can't be. You're supposed to be dead!" he stammered, walking backwards until he backed up against the workbench. Charlotte chuckled.

"I know, I know. I'm supposed to be dead. But luckily for me there was someone that managed to save me from the claws of death. And now we're here to deliver the good news to you." she answered. This was his cue. Zach got up from behind the hay bale he was hiding behind and stepped into the light.

"Ephraim." he just said. His eyes narrowed at him.

"You...!" he spat, apparently unable to say anything else.

"Yes, it's me. I'm sure you know why I'm here, don't you? You took someone away from me that meant a lot to me. And just tonight you tried the same thing again. And you were trying to pin the blame on me, both times. But that's over now. It's time you get the justice you deserve." Zach told him. He didn't think that Ephraim could get any paler than this, but somehow he did get even paler.

"No... No, no, no. This is all wrong. You were supposed to hang! You were supposed to get executed for killing Grace."

"Well, here is the thing... Zach didn't kill Grace. That was you. You killed your own daughter. And you were planning to kill me. And for what, Ephraim? For what?" Charlotte wanted to know.

"This... this rat... was going to take my Grace away from me. She was my little girl. She wasn't meant to be with anyone else. But she was going to run away with him and leave me all alone. So I had to stop her. And I had to make sure that he paid for it. But since he got away... well, I needed another way to hurt him. Too bad that you started believing him, little missy." Ephraim replied and scoffed at them. Charlotte frowned at him and swung the crowbar at his knees, causing him to cry out and fall down, holding one of his knees with his face distorted by pain.

"You disgust me, Ephraim Fletcher. Do you have anything left to say, before we end your miserable life?" she spat. Zach was surprised to hear so much contempt in her voice. He was surprised to see her leaning that much into her role. He would never have thought that she'd be the kind of person that would take pleasure in something like this. But maybe almost being drowned did change some things. Zach could definitely understand that she was furious.

"Please... you can't do this... I have a family! What are they going to do?" he pleaded. Zach sighed and aimed at his head with the shotgun.

"They'll be better off without you. I know how much of a tyrant you are to them. They'll have a better life, trust me." he said. He took a deep breath, preparing himself to pull the trigger and end it all. Ephraim was breaking into a mantra of saying "oh God, oh God, oh God, oh God" over and over again, which made it hard for Zach to focus. He closed his eyes and finally pulled the trigger.

The sound was deafening and almost drowned out the pain in his shoulder from the recoil of the gun. He could hear a bunch of birds screeching as they were flying off the roof of the barn, stirred up by the loud noise. And then he felt Charlotte's hand on his shoulder. Only then did he open his eyes again to see what he had done. To see Ephraim's lifeless body, his head blown away, blood splattered everywhere.

"It's done. It's over." Charlotte mumbled.