Don't tell me bye bye (mystery/ thriller)

Chapter 27

Dan wheels round and I blink up, the sight of Namjoon standing in the doorway the most welcome and un- wished for thing I've seen in my whole life. Dan's mask has flashed back up over his face, his dark eyes replaced by those kind ones I saw when I first met him.
"Namjoon. How long have you been standing there, son?" he asks, his voice velvety soft.

"Since around about the time you buried a dead body," says Namjoon, his voice a fraction of what it normally is.

"Son, I..."

Namjoon holds up a hand, fury flashing in his eyes. "Don't call me that. Don't you ever call me that!" He shakes his head, and walks into the room like he's in a funeral procession. "I don't even know.... How couldyou? How could you do that to Tae? How could you do that to mum?"

Dan glances at Namjoon's hand, clocking the mobile phone that's illuminated in his palm. "It was your mother's time, Namjoon. I prayed for her recovery but the Lord had chosen her to join him in glory."

"No! No, that's not what happened! God had nothing to do with her death, it was you! You and your pillow!" Namjoon jabs his finger at his dad, tears forming in the corners of his eyes. "You're a murderer."

"No, no, I was just doing what was asked of me," Dan says, his voice calm and filled with reasoning. Namjoon and I both look at Dan, our eyes wide in disbelief.
"You're crazy," Namjoon whispers.
He lifts his phone and taps his fingers on the screen.

"Namjoon, what are you doing?" Namjoon ignores Dan, and puts the phone to his ear. "Namjoon, don't do anything stupid."

Namjoon fixes his eyes on Dan and speaks calmly into his phone. "Police, please."

"No!" Dan launches himself at Namjoon, grabbing at his phone with both hands. Namjoon ducks out of Dan's reach, still managing to keep the phone to his ear as he struggles against Dan's hands around his wrist, trying to prise the phone away from him.

"Don't you do this to me!" Dan shouts, his teeth clenched together and his eyes wide.

He gets his hand around the phone and yanks it from Namjoon's hand just as Namjoon takes a wide swing, his fist connecting with the side of Dan's head. Dan drops the phone and stumbles backwards onto his desk, scattering paperwork and books all over the floor. He watches Namjoon duck down to retrieve the phone, and shakes his head as he dabs his fingers on his temple, checking for blood.

"How dare you," he hisses. "How dare you hit your own father?"

Namjoon steadies himself, ready for a fight. "That's a joke, right? After what you did to us? To your own family?"

"You hang that phone up, Namjoon. I mean it."
Namjoon doesn't move a muscle, instead he glances at me, the fear in both of our eyes merging together in the centre of the room.
"I said, hang up that phone, Namjoon!"

Namjoon lifts the phone to his ear again, and Dan lurches at him, squeezing his hands around Namjoon's neck as he pushes him backwards. Namjoon's eyes widen in panic as Dan's weight drives him against the fireplace, his back hitting the mantel at an awkward angle. He grabs him by the shoulders, pulling Namjoon forward and slamming him back again. Namjoon's stunned face drains of colour as his Dad keeps slamming him into the mantel over and over.

"Drop that phone, Namjoon! I said, DROP IT!"

I look around the room in panic, and grab the nearest thing to hand; a bible. I run at Dan, and Namjoon blinks at me just as I swing the book with both hands at the back of Dan's head. Dan glances back at me and shifts his head, the book skimming his ear. He lets go of Namjoon and grabs a handful of my hair, yanking me back and forth, then throws me back against the bookshelves. I slump to the ground and look up, making eye contact with Namjoon.

"Lou-Lou..." Namjoon whispers as he reaches out to me, then hits out at his dad limply, trying to push him away.

"I'm your father, Namjoon! You're making me do this! Everything I've done is to protect this family!"

Dan shoves Namjoon with such force that Namjoon's feet leave the ground for a moment, and he smashes the back of his head onto the mirror hanging above the fireplace. The glass crashes in deadly shards around Namjoon's limp head, falling down in jagged flashes of light, joining Namjoon's phone as it clatters to the ground.

"Namjoon? Namjoon? Son?" says Dan as he puts his hand around Namjoon's chin, trying to lift his head as it lolls around on his neck.

I pull myself up and stumble to the door, silently thanking my legs for deciding to co-operate with me. Dan sees me just as I reach the doorway and he lets go of Namjoon, treading over him as he slumps to the ground, and throws himself at me, grabbing my waist and pulling me back into the room.

"No!" I struggle against him, kicking my legs out and twisting my body but he has me tight in his twisted embrace. "Let me go!"

"Stupid girl." He presses his lips against my hair, breathing into my ear. "You didn't think I would tell you all of that to just let you go, did you?"

"Please!"

"Begging? That's interesting." He spins me around, wrapping his arms around me, pulling me so close that I can feel his hot breath on my face. He smooths my hair from my face, and I twist away from him as he tucks it behind my ears. "What to do with this final piece of our big dirty secret? I've been thinking that this day might come, but now I've got you here, in my arms, you look so much like your mother. I'm not sure I want to deal with you just yet."

Just as I allow myself to look directly into his eyes, fooling him, if not myself, that I'm not scared of him, his head jerks to the left and his eyeballs roll backwards exposing the whites of his blood shot eyes. His grasp on me goes limp, and he slithers down against me. I jump backwards, as he drops on his knees, then falls face first to the floor.

"Gross."

Jennie is standing right behind him, Big Betsy in her shaking hand, a bloody smear on the bottom of it. She drops it and the sound of it hitting the floor makes me jump, and I burst into tears.

"That? That makes you cry?" she says.
I try to answer but I don't know where my voice has gone, instead I put my head in my hands and sob,

tears and sweat and snot mingling together in my palms. I take a deep breath and look back at Jennie.

"Thank you. I...I...is he still..?"

"He's breathing, which is much more than he deserves. Lucky for you I know where the sweet spot is to knock someone out. You'd know too if you had a phone that was manufactured this century." We both look down at Big Betsy who is still in one piece. "Although I guess your one has its uses."

I frown at her. "You Googled how to knock someone out?"

She shrugs and flicks her hair over her shoulder. "Just in case. Are you okay? I've called the police." She waves her phone at me. "And I recorded everything that sick bastard just said."

I wipe my eyes but I might as well be trying to stop Niagara Falls. "I'm okay. What about Namjoon?"

"I asked for an ambulance as well. Y/n, you're shaking like a leaf; you're okay now." She looks into my twisted up cry-face. "Come here." She puts hers arms around me and pulls me into her, rubbing my back gently. "I don't normally do hugs, but anyone who looks as ugly as you do when they're crying really needs one, so I'll make an exception."

My shoulders start to shudder again and I let myself go in her arms, sobbing into her shoulders as the sound of sirens floats through the windows.

"I really appreciate that," I mumble into her shoulder.