"I'm so sorry, Rich. I had no idea what to do. I saw your son on top of my daughter, and my instincts kicked in. If you walked into a situation where somebody was holding a gun to your son's head, you would have done the same thing. I know you would have, because you're a father."
The words come spilling out of my mouth as I try to mend the broken pieces together that is now called my new life. Rich hates me. I can tell, he genuinely hates me. I can see the anger and sorrow in his eyes.
Why wouldn't he be pissed? I murdered his son. In his eyes, I'm the most worthless person on the planet. I don't deserve forgiveness, love, or even slight redemption. I feel so judged right now but I'm even judging myself. I made the worst call that I could ever make. Now it's going to change somebody's life radically.
"I understand, John… I do." Rich sighs and rubs his forehead. He takes a look around the elegant living room. Honestly, this room is so impressive. Rich has almost everything. Except his son that I took from him.
"I just don't understand… why he would act this way. He did this all the time, and everybody told me that eventually it would get him into trouble. I guess now I know the truth… but it's too late." Rich stares blankly behind me. The weakness in his eyes and his voice speak to me a story, one that I don't like hearing.
He breaks down into tears at this point. I have no idea what to do. I've never been one to comfort people. Is he even okay with me comforting him anyway? After all, this is my fault. Everything that seems to happen in my life is the effect of me being a colossal fuckup.
I scooch down the couch to get closer to Rich. Not knowing what to do, I awkwardly put my hand on his shoulder. He continues sobbing, and I sit in silence. This had to have been going on for minutes, but it was only a couple of seconds.
The gunshot came out of nowhere. It was loud and cracked throughout the whole community. Rich lifted his head and his sobbing stopped immediately. I could see the worry in his face. He jumped off the couch and flew to open the front door.
I followed him outside and down the road. Whatever that gunshot was from, it was loud. Everybody is standing on the front porch of their homes and watching as Rich is running towards the gate. "Stay back! Stay in your homes!" he yells at the community members.
I reach the gate a few seconds behind Rich. He's talking to the guard at the gate, and he motions to outside of the gate. My eyes move to the gate. There's five people standing on the opposite side. The worst comes to my mind, and I turn out to be right.
Rich walks over to the gate, stands up as tall as he can, and regains himself. "We've talked about this. You can't come here and threaten or scare my people. We give you everything that you ask for, which is more than enough in trade for peace."
The man at the front of the group laughs and steps forward. "Yeah, well that was until we found Jacob's body in the woods outside of your place. Shot in the head. We know you did it, nobody even really knows about this place but us." He has a black bag in his hand, and I'm nervous to see the contents.
The people in the group seem uneasy, but they all hold their guns to their side. They're ready for anything to happen, something to happen. I can feel the tenseness and the defensiveness surrounding everyone. Where's Lizzy and Christy? I turn around and look at the clustered citizens, but I fail to find them.
Rich begins to raise his voice now, and I'm afraid of the consequences for his actions. "We've done nothing here. You know that we'd never compromise our side of the bargain. We sure as hell wouldn't have murdered any of your men either. Leave, Chris."
He laughs again. This man named Chris is very intimidating, and obviously will not take no for an answer. "No, no. Here's how this is going to work. We're going to break into your community and steal everything from you, and you're either going to comply or die. I don't give a fuck how you feel, or what you want me to believe. Jacob was practically my brother."
The black bag is tossed towards the gate. "Open it." Chris gestures towards it, and Rich makes his way towards the bag. As he begins to unzip the bag, a look of horror overtakes his face. Once the bag is fully open, I try to contain my vomit. The head of the man I'm assuming to be Jacob is in the bag.
Rich can't control himself as well as I can. He plops to his knees and vomits on the road. The whole community covers their mouths in shock. I don't think they've ever seen their leader this weak before.
Rich wipes his mouth with as much dignity as possible, then stands up again. "I won't tolerate this. You won't harass us any longer, Chris. Your entire group can go to hell. I sure as hell didn't kill your brother, but I will kill you if you even attempt to get in h-".
Before he can finish his sentence, a moving truck comes crashing through the wall. The back door opens and ten men get out with weapons aimed and ready to fire. Fuck, this is bad. Really bad.
Rich turns around and faces everyone in the community. "Run! Lock your homes and defend your families!". I don't hesitate to listen to his warning as my feet are already hitting the pavement heading back to the house.
I can hear screams and cries behind me, never turning back. Before I can even formulate an escape plan, I'm back at the house. I throw the front door open. "Christy! Lizzy! Get down here now! We need to leave right now." Silence fills the home.
What? Where are they? I run down the hallway and began flinging all the doors open to the bedrooms. Empty. Where could they have gone? I run out into the street and try to pull my eyes away from the horrors unfolding in front of me.
Men from the other group hold bodies down onto the ground. They are bashing heads into the concrete, and kicking people in the stomach multiple times. I feel some form of obligation to help them. However, I need to find my family instead. There's no chance they could go against these guys themselves.
I run back to Rich's house, hoping and praying that Christy would have done exactly what I expected her to. Running through these backyards makes me feel like a ghost, and I think it's because I'm staying so far away from everything happening. Nobody notices me, which is good.
I reach the front porch of Rich's home, and the door is wide open. Who knows what I'm going to walk into at this point, and I can't remember if he closed the door when he left. Slowly creeping into the entryway, I brace myself for the worst.
I almost punch her in the face when she comes around the corner with a kitchen knife. Her relieved eyes wash over my soul and make me feel more confident. "I was worried sick. I came back here when I heard the commotion. I thought you were dead, John…" Christy's arms wrap around me as she sobs into my shoulder.
I can't believe the thought of my death really hurt her on the inside. She pulls away from me and rubs her eyes. "Where's Lizzy?", I ask her. "She wasn't at the house?" Her eyes look panicked and motherly. "I knew she left a long time ago, but I didn't realize she was still gone", Christy says while running into the kitchen and grabbing a few more pointed, but lethal, weapons.
As she hands me what seems unnecessary to have in a knife set, we head out the front door into this new world to save our daughter.