Teenage Baby

Final Chapter

Final Chapter (40):

Aaron had always found himself wondering how he'd die.

  He'd always found the topic there floating distinctly along the surface of his mind, and it'd always seemed so gripping to him he'd find himself pondering it countless times—he'd wonder if his death would be an accident, if he'd trip on a staircase and tumble down until his neck would crack. But then he'd wonder if his death wouldn't be an accident. He'd wonder if his father would ever be so deeply caught in the dizzying webs of alcohol that he'd strangle him or pick a knife and stab him to death.

  What Aaron had never thought of was that his possible death moment would be in a foreign house, between three psychopaths who'd decided to choose him as a baby for their delusion—one of whom wasn't far too deeply caught in the sanity, and had at the end of the road altered closer to Aaron.

  Aaron screwed his eyes shut as he waited for the pressuring blade of the knife against his neck to sink further back, to cut through the skin and slice his throat until he'd drop, lifeless, a body with no soul. The tense air pressed in against him, lungs crippling with each passing second he spent anticipating his death. Except...

Lou dropped the knife.

But at the same exact moment, something else happened:

The police officer shot, and the bullet went straight through Lou.

  They'd both done it with an unearthly synchronized move. At the very same moment Lou had decided to drop the knife, the officer had run out of patience and decided to shoot as well. 

As the knife clattered to the floor, clanging against it, the small steel bullet raced through the air after bursting from the barrel that recoiled, carrying such speed within that everyone could hear the sickening sound of flesh tearing apart.

  Droplets of Lou's blood splashed onto the side of Aaron's neck and face, and for a disbelieving second, the room lapsed into silence.

A sharp cry of pain bursted out from Lou's throat, his face twisting and contorting with the hot shards of pain that flared where the bullet had torn his flesh and ripped his muscles, just about missing the bone. He stumbled back a step until his back hit the wall, and he let himself rest against it as his hand found the wound in his shoulder. With hooded, squinty eyes, he looked at the blood that was bursting out, trickling down and smearing his fingers.

"Get the paramedics, I had to shoot one captor!" the officer demanded as she cuffed Lou's wrist, the other end of the cuffs around the leg of the table he'd slumped beside. "Quick!"

  Aaron thought in such a moment his first instinct would be to run into the safety of the police's side, but instead he found himself turning towards Lou and watching with wide eyes as he slouched down onto the floor. His breath was getting heavier, neck slick with sweat.

Someone let out a sharp scream of Lou's name, and when Aaron looked back he found Daddy thrashing against the officers' grips, his eyes feral and filled with anger.

"I'm sorry, Dom," Lou mumbled breathily. "I can't do that to him. I've made enough mistakes."

  Daddy was forcefully dragged out, but his cries kept echoing in Aaron's ears. As soon as Aaron took a shaky step towards Lou, a hand landed on his back and another grabbed his arm, forcing him the other way.

The warm brown eyes of the police officer who'd caught him carefully assessed his neck, searching for any damage. "The boy is safe," she whispered into her walkie-talkie before looking back at Aaron. "Come on, let's go."

"Wait." Aaron's voice was flat, and he defied everyone's expectations there as he yanked his arm out of her grip and turned to Lou. He didn't know what he was doing, wasn't aware of what he had in mind, until he found himself moving forwards, his feet absently dragging across the floor until he was crouched down by Lou's side.