Burning Fury

XXXIV

Summer was drawing to a close and I was itching to start job searching. Gem would be going back home to Florida and life would go back to whatever was normal. I was woken one morning by the doorbell ringing. I took that as my cue to get up for the day and dressed then went to Gem's room to find her already awake, talking to her mom on the phone. When she saw me in the doorway, she quickly ended the conversation and gave me a huge smile. I shrugged my shoulders and looked at her expectantly.

"I have some good news to share with you."

I urged her on.

"I was just on the phone with my mom, and she gave me the green light. Beginning of next month, I'm going to be moving into an apartment with Niko!"

I gasped and ran to hug her.

"Niko asked me last night. I'll have to go home sometime this month to pack up some stuff, which I'm hoping you wouldn't mind helping me with, and then I'll be here forever."

I signed I'm so happy for you, and hugged her again.

"Clover? Could you come down here?" my dad yelled up the stairs.

Gem followed me downstairs and we found my dad in the living room. Kai sat on one end of the couch and there was someone who looked very out of place on the other end.

"You've a visitor," my dad said, crossing his arms.

"Clover."

The woman stood and I immediately recognized her as Alice's mom. There were bags under her eyes and it looked as though her hair hadn't been washed or combed in ages. I instinctively took a step back and Mrs. Taylor's face fell.

"I understand your wariness. I've only come to apologize for my husband and daughter's actions."

"Why now?" my dad asked.

"It's been a tough couple of months. I hope you understand."

"Well, thank you. You didn't have to do that," Gem spoke for me as I signed.

"I am a pariah in the eyes of the townspeople, and I cannot help but feel guilt."

We said nothing and she cleared her throat.

"I am severely disappointed in them. Their minds weren't in the right place and I just wish that both of them would've come to me first instead of doing everything so wrong."

My neck prickled with goosebumps and I suddenly got the feeling that something was off. I looked in her eyes and saw nothing but grief for the things she'd lost.

"They were focused on all of the incorrect things," she continued. "Like your love for your friends. Or even you. They wanted to hurt you beyond repair. In my opinion, they were looking in all the wrong places."

I felt Gem stiffen beside me and saw Kai sit up out of the corner of my eye.

"Okay, I think it's time for you to go," my dad said, moving away from her and towards the door.

"I don't think you understand."

She stood and walked past Gem and I, moving towards the door. She passed my dad and stared him in the eye.

"The world needed to know how your friend group is. They finally learned with those posts I put on Alice's Instagram."

"That was you?" I said, my voice gravelly and painful to use.

"Of course it was me. I love my family very much, but they can't do anything right."

She dug in her purse and pulled out a gun, one that looked similar to the one Alice had used. My dad slowly backed up to stand in front of Gem and I, pulling my brother up from the couch to stand next to us girls. I stepped out from behind my dad to stand by his side, putting my hands up to show Mrs. Taylor that I wasn't going to do anything.

"Please don't do this, Mrs. Taylor. You still have young children at home. Think of them."

"Our family was ripped apart the second you put Alice in jail."

"I know," I said, trying to swallow away the pain from talking. "I know. It was a horrible thing, what I did. I can't take that back and I am so, so sorry."

"Alice was barking up the wrong tree. She did right, targeting the things you love after you took her boyfriend away from her."

I didn't dare contradict that statement, nor bring attention to the fact that Gem was now dating Niko.

"She should've been targeting the two people that matter most in this world to you."

She raised the gun and my ears rang and time seemed to slow, making it feel like I was wading through water. I shoved my dad to the floor and Gem tackled Kai, but it was too late. Red blood began staining the white carpet. A drop of blood dripped into my eye as I looked up to see a chilling smile crossing Mrs. Taylor's face. I reached towards the coffee table and pulled the plate holding the decorative fruit to the floor, dropping everything but not caring. My knees were shaking as I stood and threw the plate like a frisbee, hitting the vile woman right in the nose.

"Call 911!" I screamed at Gem as Mrs. Taylor ran from the house. I wasn't sure how many times she fired the gun, but one of the living room windows no longer had a pane of glass in it, and my dad was unresponsive on the floor.

"Dad! Wake up! Please, wake up!"

Gem kept her hands on my brother who also had blood quickly streaming from his body, and was yelling something at the phone that was on the floor. I pushed my dad's blood towards his body, only succeeding in staining the carpet more instead of saving him in any way. Gem was yelling at me to staunch the blood flow, but I couldn't find the wound through all the blood.

"Dad," my voice broke. "NO! Just wake up, God damn it!"

The wind blew in through the broken window, and the sound of sirens rolled into the house with it.

"He's not breathing!" I yelled at Gem. "He isn't fucking breathing!"

I placed my hands on his chest and started pumping with all the strength I had in my body. It wasn't enough. I threw all of my weight at his chest, eventually ending up beating on it with my hands. A vein was throbbing in my neck and my tears were falling on my dad's emotionless face. I beat his chest. I screamed. I cried. Sirens rang out all around us. I felt more than saw Gem move away from my brother, a paramedic taking over for her.

Beat.

Beat.

Beat.

Lub-dub.

Blood.

My nose was bleeding.

Lub-dub.

Hands, trying to pull me away.

Lub-dub.

A flutter of eyelashes.

Lub-dub.

"Hey, you did good, kid. We'll take it from here."

Lub-dub.

I was left kneeling in a mix of my dad's blood and glass from the shattered window, watching two ambulances pull away from the house, gaining speed down the road. Police gathered around me, placing comforting hands on my shoulders, but all I saw was the blood staining the carpet and my hands.