In Her Hands

"My turn" (Chapter 23)

Chapter 23

Bang. The sound resonated throughout the whole building.

No sound could be heard after that besides our breathing. We waited and waited to see who had received the fatal blow to the afterlife but as we stood there no one fell. And then the sound of shattering glass filled the room.

"Arrgghhh" Jodi screamed as she fell to the ground grasping her arms.

"Shit, shit" she groaned even louder. With that, new footsteps were heard in the room.

"Well well, look at the mess we have here" the voice of the one person that I had not expected to be here rung loud and clear. "Someone needs to clean this up"

"Mi-Mike?" Jodi gasped in what I assume was astonishment.

"In flesh and blood" he stood with a smirk on his face as he stared at Jodi on the floor. "Guess you didn't expect me here, huh?" he said as he scouted the room.

"Either ways I'm here, so" he said before directing his glance at me "What do we have here? If it isn't the great Rauvin Pavlos. The big Chicago man. How's it been?" He said as he took steps towards Karmia, who was the only one not surprised to see this...this monster here. Then my mind began spinning. Were they in this together?

"Not going to answer?" when nothing was said, he chuckled while nodding his head in acceptance. "I can see this is not the right time for a reunion".

Reaching Karmia, he placed his hand around her shoulder and brought her close to him; pecking her on her forehead. I couldn't believe what was going on in front of me. Whispering a few words in her ear and getting a nod from her, he left her side to kneel by Jodi.

All this while, I watched in astonishment. Glaring at me once more, Karmia pulled the knife from my leg and left the room to head towards what I assume was the living room.

Grunting from the pain of having the knife forcefully pulled out of my leg, I heard the sound of the door slamming meaning that Karmia had just walked out.

"No, leave me alone" I turned my attention to Jodi as she screamed at Mike while he tried to grab her.

"What are you doing? Leave me alone you asshole" she continued. "What are you doing here? And with her?"

I had been wondering the same thing. I watched as Mike sighed and stood straight. Glancing at me, his smirk returned as if a new diabolical idea had occurred to him.

"I guess that you're curious too, huh?" nodding, I kept staring at him; waiting for an answer.

"Why not start from the beginning. Since you're going to die anyways, I will give you the full story as a going away gift" he laughed as though what he had just said was the funniest thing on earth. With that a shiver ran down my back.

"Jodi here" he glanced at her for a second before returning his attention to me "and I were having some difficulty paying off our loan and with our marriage of course. I was willing to work hard to make things better but she just kept complaining. I could never satisfy her. In life... or in bed. Isn't that right Jodi?"

Jodi was sitting up with difficulty as blood flowed out of her arm. Finally managing to sit up, she placed her hand on her wounded arm, adding pressure to the gunshot wound.

"The name calling and the insults was definitely getting to me and before I knew it, I began seeing other women. And this is where Karmia comes in. You se-"

"You mean that you were cheating on me, you asshole?" Jodi interrupted, baffled beyond words.

"You want to talk about cheating" Mike yelled back "What was I supposed to do when my wife was being fucked by a teenager? Just sit there and watch?"