Page 2 of Tore Up

I heard the screech of tires right before the familiar pop, and maybe if I were my brother, my reaction would have been faster, quick enough. But I wasn’t Bane. Saylor’s scream came beforemy brain registered the pain, but when it did, I was already going down.

Several thoughts crashed over me as my body hit the pavement. The understanding that I’d been shot was the first one, but it was followed by a rapid-fire series of more: Was this bad? Could I walk away from it? I couldn’t die. Not now.

It was bad. Breathing was getting harder by the second. More tires screeched somewhere in the distance. I heard more gunshots as the car sped away.

This had been on purpose. Who could it have been?

Than was here. He put his gun back in its holster before dropping to his knees beside Saylor who was bent over me as her tears rolled down her cheeks before dropping onto mine.

My eyes found Than. I could see the severity in his grim expression. This wasn’t something I could survive. He was pale. Anguish stared back at me through his gaze.

Saylor was pulled back; I could hear Gathe cursing, and I knew he had taken her. He’d be there for her. Deep down, I’d always known a part of him envied me because he wanted her, yet it was me she loved.

Than slid his hand under my head. “It’s gonna be okay,” he assured me, but we both knew that was a lie.

“No,” I managed to croak out.

I began to feel strangled, as if my lungs were filling with water. The sense of drowning began to escalate.

Halo. Oh fuck! Halo.

I couldn’t die. She needed me. I didn’t want to leave her. I tried to fight against it, to move, but nothing worked.

“Easy,” Than said. “Try to take small breaths.”

He didn’t understand. I couldn’t take any fucking breaths at all. The world was fading. Blackness was seeping in on the edges of my sight. This was death. I’d always wondered if it’d hurt, and I could affirm that going out this way was a fucking bitch.

“Halo,” my voice was barely a whisper, wishing I could tell him where she was. How to find her. That she needed me. Heaviness settled on me before I got the chance.

There was a loud wail in the distance, and then a, “Fuck NO!” came out in a guttural shout from Than’s chest.

It was over.

I

“From the deepest desires often comes the deadliest hate.”–Socrates

One

Halo

Two Months Later

The house was almost empty. I stood in the living room. It was the center of our three-bedroom house. The kitchen was directly behind me. To my right was the master bedroom, and to my left were the other two bedrooms and only bathroom. There was nothing left of our family who had lived here, except the things that belonged to me and to Nick, my father. It still smelled the same without them here.

Iris, my stepmother, had packed up all my sister’s and brothers’ things and left. Tears stung my eyes. Would I get to see them again? She hadn’t even told me they were leaving. I hadn’t gotten to say goodbye. I sucked in a deep breath, trying to stop the tears for the second time tonight. Crying was not going to fix anything, but I wasn’t sure how much more I could take before I cracked.

The fighting between Iris and Nick had gotten worse lately. I’dbeen worried about it and even mentioned it to my brother Ares when he called last week. He had said Nick was a bastard, which was his normal response to anything involving our father.

Two months ago, Ares had left for boot camp. He’d enlisted in the Army right after graduation. Nick hadn’t bothered to be here to tell him bye, wish him luck, tell him how proud he was, or any of the things a good father would do.

I had thought that was the last straw for Iris. If I hadn’t been so wrapped up in my own problems, then I might have realized she was planning on leaving.

She was the only mother I’d ever known. My mother had taken her life when I was three months old. Nick never would talk about it or give me the details.

All I knew was that he’d met Iris and knocked her up months after my mother’s death. Ares was only sixteen months younger than me.

Three days before I turned four years old, Carina was born. Two months after I turned nine, Alvin was brought home from the hospital. Dennis was the last of Nick and Iris Talley’s children. I had been thirteen years old when Dennis was born.

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