Page 166 of Like A Moth To A Flame

I knew I would break no matter who had been hit.

The cool breeze gently whispered across the nape of my neck, and as I looked out over the front lawn, I saw the swaths of trees on either side lighting up, creating a sea of cherry red and ocean blue that sped and bobbed down the driveway towards me. My breaths came in ragged, painful gasps as I tried to find my bearings and my voice. The world was going dark around me, grey at the edges, and I knew I was fighting a losing battle. My fingers were numb as I crawled across the pitted, rotting boards, hurrying toward the steps. The lights flashed, pulsing through me as I placed my palm against the first step. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t go any farther.

I couldn’t breathe. My heartbeat pounded in my ears.

I could hear footsteps crunching through the snow, and a voice calling my name, but it was far away and pulsing. I turned to see a shadow flying toward me, and a pair of wide, brown eyes floating through the darkness.

“Vanessa, hold on!” the voice shouted, rushing to my side. “We need to get you to a hospital.”

A hand on my back held me there, warning me not to move as the owner of the voice twisted, speaking over his shoulder to someone who wasn’t me—someone I couldn’t see.

“Call it in! I need medics here now!Now! Get me a medic now!”

The pain was relentless, but I wasn’t alone. Not anymore.

“Hang in there, Vanessa,” the voice said softly. The warm hand across my shoulders brought me comfort that I clung to. “Just stay with me.”

I tried.

I really tried, but everything was so heavy, and I was suddenly tired. The next thing I knew, the snow-covered porch was quickly approaching my face, and I was helpless to stop it.

42

If I surrender to the monsters in me, will it set me free?

Sheriff Banner

Iwould have stayed with her if I hadn’t heard the screams. Even then, it wasn’t a straightforward decision to make. When I’d first stepped out of my squad car, I had heard the gunshots, and even if I knew it was against protocol, I hurried out of the car, gun drawn and heart racing.

If Don could see me now, he would have been screaming and reprimanding me.

I could only hope he would have understood if he had known it was Vanessa I was here to save.

Now, the screams drilled into my ears, and I couldn’t ignore them.

“Hold on, Vanessa,” I told her, getting to my feet. I didn’t want to leave her, but what choice did I have? I stepped past her, my boots sounding across the porch as I stepped up to the front door, yawning into the darkness of the house. Just as I stepped over thethreshold, my eyes adjusting to the darkness, I heard the scream of sirens behind me.

She wouldn’t be alone for long.

Inside, I found exactly what I feared I would. Barrett on the floor, Tommy looming over him with bloodied knuckles, his brown eyes blown wide and holding a hunger I’d only seen in animals before.

“Tom?” I said, my finger finding the trigger of my pistol.

Just in case,I told myself.Just in case.

Just in case… what? What was I afraid of? That he’d come at me, like some sort of monster?

As I held my pistol steady, the cold finger of fear began to drag up my spine, and I had to fight the urge to check over my shoulder.

Tommy was a good person. He was, I knew he was. A good person with a bad, bad shadow, and that shadow was what I was staring in the face right now.

Barrett, bloodied and battered, lay defenseless on the floor, while Tommy, consumed by a feral rage, kneeled over him. He was inhumanly still, looking down at his victim as if searching, but for what? A sign that he was going to get back up?

The screams, and Barrett, had fallen silent.

Realization dawned on me, and I let out my breath in a low, steady stream.

He was daring him to move again.

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