Page 9 of Torn

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Jolie

“Stay calm!”my father commanded, stepping out from behind the pulpit. “They’re here for us, but I’ll try to stop them. They just need to hear about our God and everything he has to offer if they agree to follow him.”

“Jacob!” Mom shouted, clutching at his shirt as he hurried past us. “Who the hell are those men?”

He didn’t reply. He kept walking toward the strangers with his palms raised in the air. It looked like he was surrendering, but to what or whom, I had no clue.

“Welcome, friends,” he said in a loud, clear voice. “I know why you’re here. I know you—”

One of the masked men was holding a gun, and he reached out and smashed the butt of it into my father’s head as he spoke. He collapsed to the ground with a grunt. I screamed.

My shriek of horror was echoed by the other children in the marquee, and pandemonium broke out as people began to scatter in every direction in an attempt to escape the dangerous men.

The rest of them were pulling out guns now. One of them held his up and fired it directly at Mrs. Landry, Adam’s mother. She didn’t make a sound. She simply crumpled to the ground, blood seeping from her chest.

My ears were ringing, and my heart felt like someone was clenching it in a fist, constricting my blood. For a moment, I thought I might faint.

My mother scooped me into her arms and took off running, squeezing me tightly against her chest. A cacophony of gunshots cracked through the air, and people started falling all around us. I screamed and screamed and screamed, but it was barely audible in the mayhem. The whole place was a seething mass of terror and confusion.

My mother suddenly dropped me on the ground and fell to her knees behind one of the buffet tables, which had been upended in all the chaos. She choked out my name. “Jolie…”

“Mommy!” I shouted, pawing at her as she clutched at her stomach. “Please, get up!”

But she couldn’t. I saw it now. She was covered in blood. One of the men had somehow managed to get her in the back, and the bullet must have gone all the way through to her front.

“Just get up for a few more minutes, Mommy,” I begged in a small voice, crouching over her. “We’ll run inside and hide, and I’ll find a doctor to help you. Please!”

She shook her head. Her face was contorted in an expression of agony. “You… you need to run,” she whispered.

I knew she wasn’t going to come with me, no matter how much I begged. She was already too weak.

“I love you,” I said, my voice breaking. “I don’t want to leave you.”

“I love you too, darling,” she said, taking my hand in hers. Her features grew even more twisted as the terrible pain wracked her body. “Jolie, you have to get away from all these men. Go to the town. Don’t look back.”

“I’ll find Daddy,” I said. “They didn’t shoot him. I’ll run away with him.”

She shook her head. “No. I meant… I know what’s happening. I see it now. You need to listen. This isn’t… he isn’t…” She stopped midsentence and let out a groan. Then she crumpled. Her grip on my hand loosened, and her eyes closed.

Hot tears streamed down my face. I wanted to do what she told me. I wanted to be strong for her. But I couldn’t move. I was paralyzed. The tears were endless and my chest ached so much I could barely breathe. “Mommy, please wake up. Please!” I begged, pulling on her arm.

“Jolie.” My father’s voice echoed in my ear, and I felt myself being torn away from my mother despite my screams and protests.

“No! Let me stay!” I cried.

He shook his head. “We need to go. Now.”

He scooped me into his arms. I looked up at his face as he carried me away from the blood-spattered tent and hurried around to the back of the mansion. “They hurt Mommy,” I said between sobs.

My father looked at me with a stricken expression. Blood was trickling down his forehead from where the bad man hit him earlier. “I know,” he said softly. “I saw. It’s too late now. I can’t help her. But I can still help you, my little lamb. You’re safe now. I promise.”

He was heading for the abandoned chapel, legs crashing through the long dry grass as he carried me in his strong arms. “Where are we going?” I asked, clutching at his shoulder.

“To a safe place,” he said soothingly. “A new paradise in the old church.”

“Mom said it’s dangerous,” I said before breaking into a fresh set of tears. She would never be able to warn me about dangerous things ever again. From now on, it would just be me and my father.

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