Page 11 of Falling for the Enemy

He wasn’t happy, claiming she couldn't leave him. When I could see the look in her eyes, she was already gone. She saw me before her boyfriend did. He was too focused on yelling at her. My sister started to stand up and stop cowering. She knew that I was here now. She was preparing herself. Lidia was a lot of things and right now, she was ready for bear, and I couldn’t be prouder. Whatever happened next, I knew that we were of one mind and that helped immensely.

Instead of shooting Mark, I figured it was better to whack him in the back of the head with the gun. I was going to do it just like I had seen on a million movies. It seemed like the thing to do, but it did not get the same reaction as it did in the movies. I hit him, hard, and it made a sickening sound that I really didn't like.

He didn’t fall though. He actually lunged at my sister, and I had to move him back. He hit her. I saw her face crumple and that was when I used the gun for another deterrent. Hitting him with it wasn’t going to do it, so now I was going to try something else.

“Get the hell away from her!” I didn’t even know his name off the top of my head to say it. My mind went blank from what I’d seen. I couldn’t believe that he had hit her, and I couldn’t believe that he then came after me. I was holding a gun for Christ’s sake, but that didn’t seem to matter. He was on a mission, and I pulled the trigger right before he got to me. His hands felt like clubs, but the chest shot stopped him after his first momentum was gone. I watched in horror as he fell to the ground. I didn’t last long staring though, not when I had to check on Lidia. She looked shaken and her face was bleeding.

“What the hell just happened?” I felt guilt well up. What the hell? Why hadn’t I checked on her? I knew that she wasn’t acting the way she usually did. I blamed it on her being flaky, when I had no right. I felt so bad, telling her that I was sorry, but she waved me off. She wanted to see if he was still alive. He was out but breathing, and I told her that I was going to call the ambulance. I thought for a moment she wanted to stop me, but she didn’t.

I told her to put her things in the car. I didn’t want her to be there for this. There would be questions and there would be a lot of answers that I wouldn’t have. I didn’t want my sister to have to go through the interrogation process. I didn’t know if her boyfriend was going to make it or not, but she wasn’t going to be put through anymore trauma. I wasn’t going to let it happen.

11

Amber

Frank was late picking up his niece and I called him after about fifteen minutes later than he promised. It wasn’t because I cared Alice was here, she was sleeping, not a burden, but I was worried. That was the gist of it. I was worried about him, and I figured that something must have come up or he would be here. Alice would be up soon, and it was her ‘amazing’ uncle that she wanted to see, not me.

The phone went to voicemail, and I left one after the third time getting directed there. I didn’t know where he was but figured that he would be back soon. He had to, his niece was here with me after all. I didn’t have anything to do, but it was strange that he was late. Frank was a jerk, and I didn’t like a lot about him, but he was a punctual guy, if what I thought about him was true.

I drank my coffee with the screen door open, waiting for Alice to wake up. She didn’t have school, so she was still asleep when a car pulled into Frank’s driveway. A woman got out, covered in blood, and I didn’t know what to think.

As soon as she got out, she looked straight at me and started to come over. I didn’t know why she was coming to my place, but then I realized that it was probably Alice’s mom. What had happened though? My heart clinched in my chest and fear struck me.

“Are you Amber?”

I agreed that I was, and she asked if I had her daughter. “Yeah, Alice is inside sleeping. The shower is right off of the kitchen, if you want to wash before you see her.”

The woman had long brown hair that was presently covered in what appeared to be her own blood. She touched her face, felt the dried blood and grinned for a moment. It was kind of grotesque, considering what she looked like.

“Thank you. I hadn’t even thought of that.” The woman sized me up and asked me what size clothing I wore. I told her, after getting over the first shock of it all. She was happy to hear it, proclaiming that I was about the same size. She started walking into the house, toward the bathroom, already pulling her shirt off as she went. It appeared that neither of them wanted to keep their clothes on. I waited a few minutes before I went in and rustled up some clothes for her. I left them on the sink and saw to Alice as she woke up. She was excited to hear that her mother was there, and she at once started to get up. Alice asked about Frank, and it was then that I realized I didn’t know what happened to him either.

After the mother daughter reunion, I made breakfast and finally got Lidia alone for a moment in the kitchen. I wanted to know what had happened and where Frank was.

“He had to shoot my boyfriend.”

She said it so simply, like that was all that needed to be said, but I was sure that there was a lot missing. Like, where was he then? Was he okay? I couldn’t believe how scared I was for him, the rude neighbor next door who I couldn’t stand. It didn’t feel like that was the truth, not when I was so worried about him and didn’t know if he was okay.

“I mean, is he alright?”

Lidia waved me off. “Oh, yeah, you don’t know my brother. He’s always okay. He is talking to the cops now.”

She said it like there was no need for concern, that it was all just normal to have a shootout and be covered in blood. It wasn’t the first time that I wondered to myself, who are these people? Now, I was wondering that question even more. I didn’t think I was going to get the answer that I was looking for from Lidia.

She needed rest and I offered her the bed that her kid had just gotten out of. Alice wasn’t tired anymore, up and ready to run. I said that I didn’t mind watching her and that’s how we were out in the garden, picking weeds and flowers, when Frank finally came back. Seeing his car go up the driveway was enough to set my heart at ease. It was like I was finally able to let out the breath that I hadn’t known I was holding.

Alice ran to him, and I felt a hint of jealousy that I couldn’t do the same thing. I wanted to feel his arms around me, his hard body against mine like before. It had made me feel like everything was okay. He did exude a confidence that made it nearly impossible to feel fear when he was around. He took it all from everyone and so help me, I needed that now.

I was going to have to just feel it from proxy only though. Frank was asking about her and if everything was okay. He wanted to know about his sister, though he wasn’t going to ask out loud. I motioned to the bedroom where she was lying down.

Frank went in there and came back out looking like he was relieved.

“Alice, why don’t you go get us some sweet tea? Could you do that please?” Frank asked in a sugar-sweet voice that Amber hadn’t heard before. The guy knew how to get the little girl to do what he wanted. She was eating out of the palm of his hand and raced off to do just what he asked for.

“I am so sorry about today,” Frank began. He started talking as soon as the little girl was out of the room. He asked about his sister and how she was holding up.

“She looked like she needs a doctor or something. I am not even going to ask what happened.” I wanted to, but it felt like one of those things that would be better to simply not know. I knew that there was something that had to come out, but not right now. Later, when this was behind us, maybe we would talk about it. Not today though.

It wasn’t long before Alice came back, and I hadn’t gotten much as far as new information. I just learned that Frank had shot someone, and his sister’s ex had attacked her. It was all very alarming and while I didn’t want to get involved with any of it, I heard myself telling him that I was here to help if he needed anything.

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