Page 379 of As the Rain Falls
The pain gets squashed by a feeling of acceptance when Nathaniel’s finger twitches on the trigger.
“Together we go.”
“No!”
The shot gets muffled, as though the sound travels through the depths of the ocean straight to my ears, and I close my eyes just a second before Beckett lunges forward, hearing him call out my name. I feel the bullet brush against my skin, feel the cold breeze making the hairs of my arm rise.
This is it.
This is how I die.
Hefinallykilled me.
I’m gone.
But I open my eyes again only to find out that I’m still alive.
The gun slipped from Nathaniel’s grip as he fell because Beckett pushed him, and the bullet flew out next to me, at my side. It touched the surface of my arm, but nothing else.
My heart is still beating.
It’s going tokeep beatingfor a very long time.
“I’m going to kill you, motherfucker!” Beckett grabs Nathaniel and slams him into the ground. “Get the fuck away from her! Don’t you ever touch her again you fucking piece of shit, you’re a monster!”
I stumble backwards and reach for the gun.
Fists fly.
Beckett isn’t holding back. Punch after punch, he pounds into Nathaniel’s face, not leaving my brother any room to breathe. I watch Nathaniel cough out real blood as Beckett takes him apart, takes apart the chest that once pressed me down, the body that housed so much cruelty against me.
Nathaniel’s scream rips through the alley, raw and piercing, too surprised to even defend himself.
I aim at his head but feel unable to move.
Just kill him.
The front door bursts open.
Kayla rushes out first, followed by Angelina. I watch, unmoving, as Antony takes a step towards the fight but hesitates and pauses when he glances at me again. After all, the gun is still between my hands.
“Okay, Cassie,” his laugh is nervous, too light. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. Just drop that for me, yeah? Before someone gets hurt.”
“Oh my God, Beckett!” Kayla screams. “You’ll kill him!”
“Beckett, stop!”
Blood.
There’s so much blood.
“He killed her!” I start to scream, as if saying it aloud will finally make someone else believe me. “He killed her… he killed her!”
Antony’s hand brushes against my wrist, and he gently eases the gun from my fingers. “No… no! Cassandra, what are you even saying? She died in a car accident!”
“Lucia,” I choke with the pain taking roots in my chest. “He killed Lucia. Nathaniel killed Lucia. He was driving behind her. He showed me. Told her he’d kill her. Sheknew. How did she know?”
Angelina is trying to pull Beckett off my brother now, using every ounce of her strength to do it. But Beckett is resisting, teeth clenched, gripping Nathaniel’s shirt and slamming him repeatedly into the ground.
