The Last One Home

Part 23

Max bit his lip, waiting for the pain. But it never came. Lana lowered the gun with a shocked expression on her face. They both nearly hit the deck when the second shot rang out. It was followed by a gruff shout from outside.

I'm not shot, Max thought.

Not shot.

Not shot.

The shooting was coming from next door. Their mother's house.

Max raced to his sister and took the gun from her hand. She was too shocked to protest. He didn't dare open the front door. Parting the curtains at the front window revealed several figures standing in his mothers front yard outlined by the pulsing red and blue lights. They had their weapons trained on a figure lying in the grass. One officer approached with handcuffs. Looking down at the body he must've decided they no longer had a need for the cuffs. Instead, he crouched down and stood back up holding something.

It was a mask. A mask with a wide leering grin. Now complete with a bullet-hole through the forehead.

Max didn't remember coming out of the house. He knew that he and his sister had waited several minutes, unsure of what to do. They wanted to give the officers time to cool down before exiting the house.

Outside, they encountered a chaotic scene. There were at least a dozen uniformed officers gathered in the yard. Several others were in plainclothes with vests identifying them as law enforcement. A few suit and tie officials were approaching the scene flashing their badges.

Several police vehicles crowded the streets parked at odd angles. A fire engine and ambulance sat at the end of the block, their red lights contrasting with the blue lights of the police vehicles. A second ambulance slowly rolled up behind the first and parked with the hiss of air-brakes.

Shouts and murmurs mixed with the constant crackle of the radios. The thrum of all of the idling vehicles added to the cacophony. Suddenly there was a flurry of shouts as they were noticed standing on the porch. Complying with the commands of the officers they put their hands on their heads and knelt down. They were both handcuffed and interviewed, but soon enough the cuffs were removed. After answering what seemed like a thousand questions, Max was reunited with his twin sister.

He found her leaning against an SUV at the curb. She seemed deflated, like all of the anger that had ballooned up was now gone. Now she just looked small and scared. He reached out and took her hand. She didn't pull it away. He knew that she was still furious with him and had every right to be. He would spend a lot of time in the future making it up to her. But for now, holding her hand was a good start.