The Last One Home

Part 18

His mother stared at him with an open mouth. His words hung heavy in the air.

"What---what do you mean, you're the reason he's here?"

"I'm sorry."

"No you don't get to say you're sorry. A masked man breaks into my house and threatens my family. He kills God only knows how many people. Then he mentions your name. Why does he know your name Maxwell!" Her voice shuddered and broke with the last statement.

Max lowered his gaze to the floor. He couldn't remember the last time his mother had spoken to him like that. He could feel her eyes boring into the top of his head.

"I--uh-- got into something at school. A guy paid me to drive some things for him. I don't even know what it was that I was delivering. Last week, my car got broken into and the bag was stolen. Ever since then, he has been harassing me."

His mother moved closer to him. He saw nothing but sadness and disappointment in her eyes.

"I didn't take it seriously." He continued. I'm sorry, I know I should have. He kept telling me to repay him. Then he began threatening me, but nothing ever happened. Then he gave me a deadline to pay him back or he would go after my family. He seemed desperate so I figured if I ignored him he might just go away. When I got those messages from Lana, I knew I had to get here as fast as I could."

"Who were you working for?" She asked. "Was he a student?"

"No, he was a little older. I don't know his name. I only knew him as J."

"J." she repeated.

She appeared to be in deep thought, as if she were going through a mental catalogue of all of the people she had ever heard of that may use "J" as an identifier.

Fresh tears began to track down Max's cheeks.

"Mom I don't know how to say to you how sorry I am for all of this."

His mother just stared at him with wide eyes. He could see her cheeks trembling, and her right eye had developed a tic. Max was afraid she may just slap him right there. Hitting her children had never been a part of their childhood, but he thought she may make an exception tonight.

"I'm upset that you would do something so stupid. I'm disappointed that you could be so irresponsible. Don't for a second think that this is over." She said, her voice quivering.

"I'm so sorry, mom."

His mother raised her hand to silence him. Max flinched and shut his mouth.

"What are we going to do now?" His sister spoke from the doorway. Her voice had a very flat affect. Max wondered if she may be in shock.

"The two of you are going to stay behind me." Their mother said. "And we are going to get the hell out of here." She marched towards the door taking Lana's place. Max took his sisters hand and pulled her behind him. 

He was happy to hear his mother speaking in that sure voice again. Whatever cracks that had begun to show just a minute earlier were gone. She sounded determined. She sounded ready to fight.

A creaking floorboard stopped all of them in their tracks. They looked down at their feet as if unsure of whether the sound came from one of them, or outside the room. The door to the room stood open about a quarter of the way. Not wanting to risk a sound, Mrs. Landon peeked through the gap without touching the door. Several seconds went by, nothing but silence.

Another floorboard creeked. This time Max was sure it was coming from outside the room. His hand instinctively went to the gun at his waist. Lana stood paralyzed to his left, her eyes at the floor. His mother continued to watch vigilantly through the gap in the door. Several more seconds ticked by, but no more sound came.

Mrs. Landon waited what seemed like an eternity before risking to open the door any further. When she did, it opened silently and revealed no one on the landing. Everyone seemed to deflate with relief. Slowly she stepped out of the room, waving to her kids to follow her. They filed out in a single line, hugging the wall. Max followed his mother. Lana brought up the rear. Remarkably, they made almost no noise.

Reaching the top of the staircase, the old floor finally began to protest under their weight and issued a series of loud pops. Max saw his mother's back stiffen as she came to a halt. But the noise didn't matter. Not one bit. Over her shoulder he could see what had caused her to stop. The man in the mask leered up at them from the bottom of the stairs.