Next door neighbors

Chapter 46

Tw: Someone getting shot

*Cassidy's P.O.V*

I don't know who invented ice cream scoops but they were now my number one enemy. I didn't need a small scoop to decide how much ice cream to eat. Despite Mommy giving me four scoops of ice cream, that still wasn't enough. The only correct way to eat ice cream was to fill a bowl to the top and then smooth it out to make sure every inch of the bowl had ice cream in it.

Mommy didn't agree with that, saying that it was too much sugar for me. She was wrong, she didn't know how much sugar I needed. I needed a lot of it, that's what I told myself and I knew better than her. Pouting hadn't gotten me my way nor had huffing and puffing about her being mean. All that had earned me was a warning that if I didn't want to eat my ice cream the way that it was, she could always take it back.

I had taken my ice cream into my playroom, hiding away with it. Mommy would not be taking my ice cream back and if she tried I would run away. I let her know that but she didn't say anything. She had just looked into the playroom and rolled her eyes. She couldn't be mad at me, I was just telling the truth.

I ended up deciding to sleep in the playroom. It felt nice and safe plus I had the giant teddy bear to lay on. Daddy had agreed to move my blankets there since I had promised I would actually sleep there and not leave in the middle of the night to my room. Something about thinking I would have nightmares. Well the joke was on him, if I had nightmares then I was going to lay in his and Mommy's bed. I didn't tell him that though, that would be my little secret.

I settled down for the night, feeling a little bit hyper from the sugar. A brilliant idea hit me and I decided what the wall needed was a drawing on it. I crawled across the ground to the bookshelves, finding the basket with the markers in it. I crawled back over to my teddy bear, sitting criss-crossed as I started to draw on the wall. It was hard to see in the dark so I was just guessing at making the lines meet up.

I squeaked when the light turned on, turning my head. I figured it was Mommy, she see+med the most likely to check on me in the middle of the night. My guess was wrong and I felt my stomach drop. Dylan was here, he was in the room with me and he had a gun.

"Don't scream," he whispered. His eyes were dark and wild, I could tell he had been drinking. He was always drinking.

"How did you get in?" I asked quietly, my voice breaking slightly. I had to play for time, I figured that might be my only chance to survive this.

"Disabled the security system earlier today when I was talking to Mrs. Wolf. She's a nice lady, didn't even realize I had tossed the device inside when you were trying to get her attention," Dylan said.

"You were always good with electronics," I whispered, slowly standing up.

"You were always good at being annoying," Dylan replied. "You had the whole being able to argue things going for you as well," he muttered. It was the closest I would get from a compliment from him in my life and he had a gun trained on me. My family really was screwed up.

"Do mom and dad know you're around again?" I asked quietly. I didn't like talking about my parents but if it kept Dylan from pulling the trigger I would do it.

"Not yet. I just have to get rid of you so they'll give me the company," Dylan said. I licked my dry lips, trying to think of anything to say. Words poured from my mouth without a second thought.

"I can give you the company, they can't," I said. "They gave it to me a long time ago, I'm the only one who can give it to you," I stated. If he believed me, he would probably let me live for a little bit longer. If he didn't, I knew these might be my last words.

"Bullshit," Dylan said and there was a loud crack. I felt the bullet impact my stomach. It left a sickening burning feeling and I looked down, watching the blood spread across my pajama top. I heard the window break right as the door slammed open. It had only been seconds I knew but it felt like so much longer.

My knees buckled as I felt arms wrap around me. I looked up, seeing Markus next to me. He lifted me up and my head rested against his chest. I couldn't focus on anything except the burning feeling in my stomach, my chest heaving as I tried to breathe.

"It's okay baby," Markus said as he rushed me out of the room. Lillian was already on the phone at the front door and I couldn't make out what she said. My stomach ached, it felt like I was on the verge of passing out. I didn't even notice how hard it was to open my eyes until Markus was telling me to keep them open.

Markus placed me in the back seat of the car, ripping off his shirt as he pressed it to my stomach. It hurt even worse when he did that and I cried out, trying to push him away. Lillian was in the front seat, still on the phone as she backed the car out of the driveway before her door was even shut.

"You'll be okay baby," Markus said as he kept his hands on my stomach. Didn't he understand that it hurt when he did that? I whimpered softly as I tried to push his hands away. The only thing I succeeded in doing was soaking my hands in blood. I felt sick all of a sudden and vomit raced up my throat. I turned my head right as it came out, feeling bad about getting vomit in their car. That was the last thing I remembered, my eyes closing before I could apologize.