One of Two // JJ Maybank

the bell tower: one

my bottom lip was trembling and my whole body was shaking as rafe pointed to the gun towards us. the tears stung my eyes as they fell down my cheeks. i watched as john b let go of me and sarah, running to help peterkin. my chest heaved up and down, and i felt another attack coming. dad was yelling at rafe while i kept my eyes on john b.

his eyes were red from sobbing. the boy tried to stop the bleeding. "i'm sorry." he cried, looking at her. i heard peterkin wheezing to john b something i couldn't make out.

i heard rafe start yelling at john b. "don't try it, asshole!" he pointed the gun at him. my heart dropped as dad tried to move rafe out of the way.

dad went up to john b as me and sarah watched in horror. "john b, give me the radio." he said calmly and john b refused. dad finally got it out of his hands and held it up to rafe. "rafe, i got it. calm down."

i looked to rafe, who was looking at me with a scary look. "rafe, please." i said, stepping forwards a little. "put it down and no one gets hurt."

i motioned to john b to start running and he did. rafe started shooting the gun up into the air, sending loud shots through everyone's ears. "where are you going, john b?" rafe yelled.

dad tried to tackle rafe with the gun as me and sarah ran to peterkin, who was lying on the floor, looking lifeless. "we're sorry." sarah sobbed. "we're so sorry."

peterkin wheezed as she tried to talk. "it's not your fault, girls." she managed to get out before dad came up behind us.

"spencer, sarah!" dad shouted as us. we both turned to him with a glare. "i need you two to get up."

i scoffed as tears were still falling down my face. "no! she's dying, dad!" i argued back, not getting up from my kneeling position. dad tried grabbing us both as we screaming, hitting his arms.

sarah managed to get out of his grasp as dad held onto me tightly. "what is wrong with you?" sarah sobbed loudly. i kicked my legs constantly, trying to get dad to let go of me.

rafe came up to dad as he tried to calm me down. "rafe, take your sisters home." he said. "get them home."

he scoffed and shook his head. "i'm not going till the medics come." he replied, stepping closer.

dad passed me over to rafe as he held onto me like dad did and grabbed sarah's arm, dragging us towards the car. i tried putting up a fight but he managed to shove us in the truck he drove to the airstrip as me and sarah cried.

the ride was silent the first five minutes. my face was puffy and my hair was messy, the same went for sarah. i brought my legs up to my chest, my breath's being choppy. "she had the hammer back. you guys know that." rafe broke the silence. i shook my head and scoffed. "she was gonna blow his head off."

"no, she was arresting him, rafe." sarah answered, raising her voice a little bit.

rafe chuckled, looking at sarah, then towards the road. "okay, i couldn't sit there and let it happen, okay? she was gonna kill him." he mumbled. "yeah, yeah, yeah, she was gonna kill him."

sarah looked to me in the side mirror and i immediately knew the plan. i quietly unlocked my door and so did sarah. before we opened the door, i looked at the pavement and the grass, trying to see how far it was from each other. i took a deep breath as i opened my door. rafe turned around and started shouting. "hey, hey, hey, spencer!" he shouted as his one free arm grabbed my leg before i managed to get out. "get back in the car!"

i screamed as i threw myself out, flipping and landing on the grass. i lifted my neck up and turned to see where rafe's truck was and it was long gone. i tried getting up but flopped back on the ground. my hands had cuts, my elbows and knees had cuts on them as well, bleeding tremendously. "shit." i mumbled.

a few cars drove by as i got up and limped quickly, trying to think of where the pogues would be. think spencer, think.

a small smile appears on my face as i chuckled and limped to my destination.