The two were standing near a waterfall. She could tell from the old man's body language that he was about to push Beanie over the falls.
"Beanie!" she yelled. "Watch out!"
Handsome turned to her. His face was a purple mask of rage.
"You killed Emily, didn't you?" Hadley yelled.
"What if I did? Hah! The whore of Babylon!"
"And it was you who burned down the hotel, too!"
"Sodom and Gomorrah! God's judgment carried out through his vessel."
"Listen to you! How can you speak like a prophet? You are far from righteous!"
"Infidel!" he yelled.
She was barely three feet away from Beanie.
Handsome whispered softly. Hadley could not make out what the old man was saying. Beanie did.
Beanie raised the barrel of the gun. There was no way he could miss her.
"Don't pull that trigger, Beanie!"
"What are you waiting for? Be a man! Be a man! Be a man!"
The old man's words were like a drum beating an order in Beanie's brain.
Hadley was looking into a stranger's eyes.
"Beanie, I love you."
"Don't buy her lies. The infidel! The witch! The harlot who deceives! Be a man! Be a man! Be a man! Do it! Do it now!"
Hadley whimpered. She saw Beanie's index finger twitch on the trigger.
She had to make her peace with her dear friend. This was her last chance.
"I'm sorry, Beanie. You have every right to be angry and mad with me. I tried too hard. But you have to know it was only because I can't stand to see you hurt. It's the truth. You are a man. Your own man. A grown man, and I haven't been treating you like one."
The gun blast shattered the whole forest.
YOU ARE READING
Nobody Says It's Easy
Mystery / ThrillerA reluctant mountain housewife joins ghost hunters. Hadley Pell lives in a small town in the Southern Appalachians with her feline friend, Onus. She and her boyfriend, musician and instrument maker, Hobie Stricker, are on the outs. She's also on th...
