200 Steve is Dead
(Winona)
I watch the streets blur by as the car winds its way through the city. I keep telling myself everything will be fine. But deep down, I know that’s a lie. Nothing’s been fine since Steve came back into my life.
Apart from finding Mom and Cass. Having Mom has been everything I’ve needed for so long and never knew it. I love her so much and I want to give her a good life. Her and Cass. If Cass ever lets me.
As we approach the townhouse, I’m eager to get out of this car. I need to check on Mom, make sure she’s still asleep and safe. But as the car pulls up outside, I see something that turns my world on its head.
Cass is standing on the front steps, her face ashen, her eyes wide with shock. The front door is wide open behind her. She’s trembling, her arms wrapped around herself like she’s trying to hold herself together.
“Cass!” I’m out of the car before it even comes to a complete stop, my heart pounding in my chest. I don’t know what I’m going to find, but the look on her face tells me it’s bad. Real bad.
I run up the steps, my breath catching in my throat. “Cass, what happened?”
She doesn’t answer, just stares at me with wide, glassy eyes. I push past her, my heart in my throat as step into the house. The sight that greets me stops me dead in my tracks.
Steve is lying on the floor in the living room, his body twisted in an unnatural position, a pool of blood spreading out beneath him. My mother is standing over him, a gun dangling from her hand, her face as pale as death.
“Mom?” My voice is barely a whisper, my mind struggling to process what I’m seeing. “What… what have you done?”
She looks up at me, her eyes hollow, empty. “I had to, Winona. I had to end it. He… he would never stop.”
I can’t move. Can’t breathe. Everything is happening too fast, and I’m not sure I’m really here, that this is really happening. But the smell of blood, the sight of Steve’s lifeless body… it’s all too real.
Before I can say anything, I hear sirens in the distance, growing louder by the second. I turn to Cass, who’s still standing in the doorway, her face contorted with fear and anger.
Mom collapses and the gun drops on the floor.
“Mom!” Cass screams and rushes down beside her, cradling her in her arms.
“She’ll be okay, Cass.” I say.
“This is all your fault,” she hisses back at me, her voice trembling with barely contained rage. “You came back. You ruined everything. Why couldn’t you just stay away?”
I want to tell her she’s wrong, that I never wanted any of this, but the look in her eyes stops me. She’s húrting, and in her pain, she’s lashing out. But that doesn’t make her words hurt any less. Even if they are
true.
“I’m sorry, Cass. I’m so sorry.” It’s all I can say, my voice choked with guilt and sorrow. But it’s not enough. It’ll never be enough. Not if anything happens to Mom.
1/2
200 Steve is Dead
+25 BONUS
The sirens are deafening now, and seconds later, the police and paramedics are inside. I watch in numb horror as they approach my mother.
“Ma’am, is anyone else hurt?”
I shake my head.
The paramedics move in, easing Mom onto a stretcher I start to follow, but Cass steps in front of me, her eyes blazing with anger.
“Stay away from her,” she snaps. “I’m taking care of her. We don’t need you anymore.”
Before I can respond, the paramedics are wheeling my mother out of the house, Cass by her side. I stand there, frozen, watching them go. Everything feels like it’s falling apart, and I don’t know how to stop it.
The police lead me out and begin to question me. I ask them if I just see my Mom into the ambulance. They say I can but not to leave the premises right now.
“Was your mother taking any medications?” A paramedic comes to the door to ask me.
“Yes, Sleeping medication she told me. I’ll go get them.”
Thurry to the guest wing and grab what I can see in the bathroom, and rush back out to hand them to the
paramedic who’s waiting at the door.
“Thank you,” he says, glancing at the labels. “This will help.” He does a double take at the labels. “Ma’am, these aren’t just sleeping meds. They are for strong pain.”
“Really? She never mentioned anything.”
“We’ll get her stable.”
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