Page 18 of Ashes to Ashes
“I just got up, why would I know where he is?” I snap and she recoils a little bit. She’s not used to me talking back. I never did, I just accepted my fate and took care of myself. If they told me to do something, I just did it, no questions asked.
She shakes off what I said, “Yeah, okay. If you see your father tell him I went to work.” She walks out before I can say something about how I don’t care. She’s probably going to tell her other friends, the ones not dead, that I’m acting out. That I’m in those teenage years. I’m making up for lost time.
I shower, dress, and then wait for the guys to come get me. On my desk I see a typed letter. Picking it up, I laugh, because one of them typed out a letter from my dad to my mom about how he’s leaving her. Perfect.
A few minutes later, I hear a car outside, and I know it’s them. Time to go.
I don’t even bother locking the door because once I’m done with my last two plans, I won’t need anything. My stuff will be taken care of by the men that care about me. Everything else can be ransacked or robbed for all I give a crap.
Sliding into the passenger seat, I hold up the paper, “Who wrote this?”
They all shrug, “Kind of all of us.” Hunter clarifies for me.
“I like it,” I say as he pulls down the street and heads for the warehouse. He doesn’t speed or drive slow, just rolls down the windows, turns up the music, and drives. I’m not in a hurry. I don’t have a care in the world, and soon two more problems will be taken care of.
That’s the spirit.
What happens after this? That thought keeps running around in my head. What happens after?
You have somewhere to be. I know you can feel it.
Glancing out the window, my eyes land on the mansion sitting in the cul de sac. I was always told to never go there but now, for some reason, I feel like it means something to me.
Is that where I’m supposed to go?
You’ll know when the time is right, but first our daddy needs to be taken care of.
Hunter pulls up to the warehouse and right before I exit the car, I take a deep breath, psyching myself up.
Daze opens my door, “I have your blowtorch.”
“My blowtorch?” I stare at him blankly.
We like to set things on fire.
Okay, well that explains that then.. I follow the guys in and without asking, they go to get our dad. When they bring him out, he looks horrible. He’s been crying, smells like crap and urine.
“How’s it feel to sit in your own stench?” I ask him.
One time the girls kept me from going into the bathroom and I peed myself. He told me to wait until after school to change. I had to stay in school with urine soaked clothes because he nor my mother could be bothered. That made the bullying worse.
He lifts his gaze to mine, “Princess, I’m sorry for everything. If you let me go, we can work this out.”
I laugh, not a happy laugh, nor bitter, just a laugh, “That’s not happening. You’re disappearing today. I have a typed letter to Mom saying that you’re leaving her. Sign it.”
He blinks, “I don’t want to leave your mother. What is going on?”
I heave out a sigh, “What’s going on, is you are leaving. Sign it, disappear, and you can live.”
“Live? You wouldn’t kill your own father.”
I snort, “Try me, Daddy. Sign it.” Hunter takes the paper and Peck produces a pen. And like a jackass, he signs it.
“There." He signs it, dropping the pen down.
“Perfect.” Hunter hands it over to me with a nod.
“Let him have it,” I say as I step back.
