Page 113 of Always Right

Red like the blood leaving his body.

Red like the blood that covered my hands as I tried to stop his bleeding.

Red like the love that burned in my heart for him.

And then I saw him...Eugene, standing there, staring at us, like he couldn’t fucking believe what he had done.

“Is this what you wanted?” Full of rage, I spoke to him, looking at him in the eyes as he stared at Derek. “Is this what you fucking wanted?”

Tears blurred my vision, but I could see him nod perfectly.

“You took everything from me,” he said. I’d never heard someone’s voice so full of hate. Full of loss. “You stole from me. Took my livelihood. I lost my family. My friends. You, Hannah, you are responsible for what I have become.”

The words shattered me and I whimpered, momentarily losing the strength I’d mustered.

“You fucking took without looking back. You took and took and took without concern for others. You destroyed families and now you think you have a right to move on and be happy while some of us won’t ever recover? Fuck you.”

“Hannah, don’t—"

I held Derek up despite still having a gun pointed at me. I didn’t care, couldn’t face the idea of him losing my life because of me. I wanted to tell him something, anything, that would keep him conscious, but when I opened my mouth to speak, Eugene’s grip on my arm forced me away from Derek.

The metal gun was pressed to my stomach and Eugene looked down on me, pupils dilated and completely lost in his anger.

There was no reasoning with him. There was no way out.

I felt Derek moving behind me, heard a pained sound from his lips, I could feel his eyes on me…calculating…trying to figure a way out. But it did little to comfort me, especially when Eugene glanced over, threatening to shoot again.

I focused his attention on me instead, placing my hand over his on the weapon, and lifting it toward my face. Eugene’s eyes widened, and I heard Derek utter my name behind me but I didn’t look away from Eugene’s face.

“Do you hate me enough to kill me?” My question lingered in the air, and I knew I was playing with fire..but I didn’t care.

I needed more time.

Surely someone had called the cops already.

Surely help was on its way.

“Do you hate me enough to take two lives? Hm?” For the first time since I’d seen him, a flash of fear appeared on Eugene’s face. “Do it. This is your chance.”

“Hannah—" I didn’t look at Derek, but the sound of his pain was so palpable I could feel it. And the paling of Eugene’s face told me the same. I could see it through his eyes, Derek was slipping away.

A strangled sob left my lips. “Do it, Eugene. End it. If you think this is what you need...pull the trigger.”

He gulped, the sound so audible it drowned out the sound of the front door opening slightly.

“I considered you a friend.” My eyes widened when he spoke, the words unexpectedly sending an intense guilt through every cell of my body. “My wife was your friend. We were friends. And you took it all. From her. From my children. From me.”

The reality of his pain hit me like a tidal wave and the words quietly left my lips before I could stop them.

“I’m sorry, Eugene. I’m so sorry.”

Something behind Eugene fell and he turned around, and the sound of another gunshot ricocheted through the house. I squeezed my eyes shut, waiting...waiting for the impact...waiting for the darkness to take me, but it never did. In a matter of seconds, the weight of Eugene’s touch was gone, and I was shoved aside, landing with a thump on the floor.

It wasn’t until then that I saw Blake slumped on the floor, wheezing as he tainted the floor red with his blood.

“Blake,” I gasped, watching as Derek wrestled Eugene to the floor like he wasn’t injured. He pulled him back, his arm surrounding Eugene’s neck. His eyes grew wide with horror, wide with the realization he no longer had the power. Even in his pain, Derek was stronger.

Eugene dropped the gun but Derek didn’t let him go.

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