The Fighter

Chapter sixteen

Carlos's POV
I start doing CPR as Miley wraps up the bullet hole to stop the bleeding. That son of a bitch shot Ashtyn in the shoulder. She couldn't feel it because she was on adrenaline rush. But I could feel it.
I keep doing CPR and then I try mouth to mouth. I roll her on her side and pat her back. I turn her back over and keep doing it. Suddenly Mikey pulls me away from her, Dave and Aaron pick up her body and put it in the backseat of the truck. Ricky, Melissa, Conrad and Joe are working on getting Isabella out of the car. I fight against Mikey to let me go but he tightens his grip. She's the only one that kept me sane. The only fucking one who was always there for me, who was never to busy for me. She was- is my fucking sister.

"No stop! Let me go! Ashtyn!" I yell as I fight off Mikey. I finally get out of his grip and run towards them. But I'm too late, they had already driven away. I chase the truck as far as I could go but I'm out of breath. I stand in the middle of the road and watch as my truck disappears in the distance. Dean did this. Now he's dead. I'm going to make sure that nobody ever finds his body. I turn around and walk straight towards Dean's dead body laying on the ground. My brother. My dear old brother. Useless piece of shit brother. I spit on his face and I kick his body. I expected him to fight back then I remembered he's dead.

I pick up his body and drag it towards the warehouse. I push open the door and dragged him towards the table. I look around for a knife and sure enough, there's a rusty one layin on the floor in a pool of water. I pick it up and walk towards Dean. I cut off his hands, his feet, and his head. Blood covered me from head to toe when I was finished. I set them on the side and I see Mikey walk in, along with Melissa and Joe.

"What are you doing Carlos? This wasn't the plan." Mikey says as he looks down at my mess I created. I laugh and shake my head.

"Ashtyn dying wasn't part of the plan either." I spit. Mikey puts his hand out to surrender and I finish off with cutting Dean's body.  Melissa and Joe help me put the pieces in garbage bags. All of them except; the hands, feet, and head. Those are mine. I pick up the bag and carry it to the far back of the woods. I make a fire and I toss the bag into it. We all stand around the fire, all of us except for Ashtyn and the boys whom took her. They will be back, except for Ashtyn. I grab a shovel as the fire dies down. We all take turns digging a hole right next to the fire pit. I push all of the waste into the three foot hole and make sure non was left behind. We take turns filling the hole with dirt and making it look like as if no one was ever there. I grab my human remains and walk towards my car, Mikey jumps in with me. Isabella, Melissa, Aaron, Ricky and everyone else gets into there's. I put the remains in my back seat and it's a quiet drive home.

What am I going to do? Xzauni isn't old enough to even remember a thing about Ashtyn. He won't know what happened. I'll have to be the one to tell him and I don't think that I'll be able too.

Three days later...

No shower, no clean clothes, no new underwear, no toothbrush, no nothing since the day I watched her die. Xzauni seems fine. Like nothing happened. He smiles at giggles at nothing and a part of me wants to think it's Ashtyn doing that to him. I wish I could her one more time. I didn't even get to say goodbye. It all happened so fast that I wasn't quick enough to stop it. None of us saw it coming.

"I love you brother." The last words she said to me before she died. Before she fought for the gun and killed Dean. My nephew and niece, my sister in law aren't to happy about what happened. Teneesha's not doing well. She's worse then me and she's mourning on both of them. Jenny doesn't know who to mourn on or if she should hate me. I know she liked Ashtyn but she loved her father. Easton is distraught about everything. He's been playing with Xzauni and treating him as if it were his own. I know he's only doing it so he could see Ashtyn. Xzauni and her look a lot alike now that he changed his looks. I heard Easton crying last night but I didn't say or do anything. I know how he feels, to lose someone that you love. I'm just thankful that he wasn't there to see it like I was.

I buried his remains in my backyard. He is my brother, he is a murderer. He's the father of my nice and nephew. There was good in him at one point, but then he found out he was adopted and me dad always treated him different. That's where the British comes from. Dean's biological parents were from England but they were to poor to look after him. He was only four months and really skinny when my mother ran into his biological family. My father though wasn't to pleased. Five years later I was born.

"It's time Carlos." Isabella says as she stands in my doorway. I get up and straighten my tie. I look myself over in the mirror before walking out. Today is going to be one of the hardest days in my life. I can get through it. I know I can. I have too.

As I walk outside I see our family gathered around her grave. She always wanted to be buried underneath the giant oak tree that's just outside of my property. A little frog pond is ten feet away from it. It was her favourite spot to go when she found it there.

I see Easton holding Xzauni closed to him. I walk up to him and take the boy out of his arms and I hug the baby tight. This kid is now my child. He's my main priority, my main concern. Ain't nobody taking him away from me.

"As we say goodbye to the beloved sister of Carlos Keller and Xzauni Cook, I would like to say a prayer to God on her behalf." The priest starts. I bow my head and lightly bounce Xzauni. He's to young to be here and I know that Ashtyn would yell at me for this but I also know that she would want him to be here. She's that confusing person at times.

The priest prayer gets quieter as I start to hear my own heart beat and myself sobbing. I close my eyes and I see myself dead in a blood pool of my blood. Both my wrist slit. I shot my eyes back open as Xzauni starts crying in my arms. I immediately hand him back to Easton before running in the house. I run into the main floor bathroom and lift the toilet seat before puking into the toilet. Once I'm done I wipe my mouth off and flush the toilet. I lean against the wall and breathe heavily. I can do this. I need to do this. It's what Ashtyn would've wanted.

I stand up and splash water on my face. I wash my hands and brush my teeth before walking out of the bathroom. I make my way to the grave, just in time as the priest finishes off his speech. I take a handful of dirt and toss it into the hole where her casket lies. Soon it's covered up and her body lies in the dirt, where it'll start to rot. Worms and maggots will be living for the next six months and spiders creating webs on her skeleton. I feel a hand on my shoulder as I snap back to reality. I look over and see that it's Easton.

"I loved her too, Carlos. I know how you feel. It'll get better. You won't forget about her but you'll learn to live without her." He tells me and I find myself turning towards him and pulling him into a hug. I notice Jenny watching from a distance as she holds Xzauni. I motion her over and she runs towards us. We all hug each other tight as if we were leaving and never going to see each other again.

It'll get easier. I'll learn how to live without her. But I'll tell you now, not a day will go by that she will never be on my mind. She'll always be in my heart no matter what happens. Until we meet again Ashtyn, may we meet again.