The Dawn of Realization.

Chapter Twelve.

      " Uncle Rich, pull the car over." I said boldly, clutching the door handle tightly. 

      " Dawn, we need to-"

     " Pull the car over!" I exclaimed, my voice high and shrill. Uncle Rich found a spot wide enough to pull over and I struggled to get out fast enough. I couldn't catch my breath as I began to walk away from the car. I heard Uncle Rich get out of the car and heard his foot steps behind me. 

      " Dawn, come back!" He shouted after me. I began to sprint faster. " Dawn, let me explain!"

     " You killed him!" I screamed, wildly. " You killed my dad!" 

     I heard a gun shot and felt the bullet whiz inexplicably close by. I froze, shoulders tensed, and nails digging in to the palms of my hands. I glanced back slowly to see my beloved Uncle Roch holding a pistol in his hands, his eyes wide and scared, like mine. It was aimed at me this time, the barrel aligned with my chest. My heart raced behind my ribs as my breathing quickened. 

     " Dawn, get back in the car." He said, wiping the sweat from his forehead. When I didn't move he point the gun again. " Now!"

    I jerked at the crazy hitch in his voice and slowly, step by step, walked back to the car. I could feel the heat off of him seep on to my back as he closed the car door behind me. He slid in behind the wheel and I had to fight back the urge to scream and cry out the truth. I had my doubts before, but they had all been confirmed. It was such a rude awakening. Uncle Rich had killed my dad.

     The same Uncle Rich who would slip me an extra slice of cheese cake at Christmas and always side with me in trivial family arguments. The same Uncle Rich who I loved dearly. He had killed dad and made it look like a suicide. He had done this to us all. I just couldn't believe and the weight of it was overwhelming. 

     " Where we going?" I finally found the courage to ask after about twenty minutes of driving. He still had the pistol trained on me as he drove with the other hand. 

     " You'll see." He merely said. I swallowed hard. 

    It was dad's office building. That's where he took me. He forced me inside with the gun pressed between my shoulders blades and locked the doors behind us. The waiting area was dark and cold and barren. 

    He led me in to Dad's office and made me sit in the chair behind his desk, as he lassoed my hands to the arms of the chair with some tape he found in one of the drawers. Uncle Rich paced back and forth for awhile and it was all I could do not to start sobbing, despite the tears that escaped my eyes. I was scared, for both of us. For what he could do. 

     " It wasn't supposed to happen like this, Dawn." He said, apologetic in his tone. His eyes were wide and mad, but sad simultaneously. 

     " Why did you do it?" I cried. " Why did you have to kill dad?"

     Uncle Rich looked at me, sizing me up, debating on whether he should even answer me or not. After all, he did have the gun and I was tied to a chair. He raked his hand through his dark hair and perched himself on the edge of the desk before me. He finally composed himself, a sense of calm smoothed over his anxious features. 

     " For the money, Dawn. For the money." 

     " You killed my dad for money? You disgust me!" I spat. 

     " What would you have me do, Dawn?! Your aunt had just left me and I was broke, absolutely broke! I have debts to pay, your father knew that. He was just so selfish with it all." Uncle Rich argued, waving the pistol around as if it supporting his reasoning. 

     " I owe a lot of people money, Dawn. " He said, coldly. " Your father had a life insurance of hundreds of thousands of dollars. It was him or me, Dawn. HIM OR ME!"

     " You're crazy!" I shouted. " Someone help me! Anybody!"

    He hit me with the butt of the pistol and my head snapped to the side, my cheek on fire with pain. He got off the desk and began pacing the room again. 

     " It all would have been fine if he had me as his beneficiary as we had always promised each other. But no, it all changed. Out of the blue he switched it to you. So you get all of his money when you turn eighteen. " Uncle Rich leveled his eyes with mine, in a cold, horrifying stare. 

    " You're the only thing standing in my way paying off my debts and getting my wife back. Getting my life back." 

      " How could you be so heartless?" I asked, genuinely concerned on how someone could just do a 180 and kill their own flesh and blood. 

     " It's simple survival, Dawn." 

     " If that were true, and I'm all that's in your way, why haven't you just killed me yet?" I said through angry, clenched teeth. 

     " Oh, I can't kill you just yet. That would be too obvious. Your mother would know it was me immediately. I need to wait, tell her you weren't at the scrap yard waiting for me. For her to believe you have been taken by your father's real killer. " 

     He couldn't really believe anyone would fall for that, could he? Was he that mad? It was times like this that I wished Thierry had believed me. I wished I had believed me. I would have never gotten in that car then I wouldn't be in this mess. How was I supposed to get out of this? 

    My Uncle Rich was going to kill me.