(This is told from the perspective of Gabriel)
It all started that dark night…
"I'm tired of you constantly berating the poor boy!"
"Well how else is he supposed to learn!?"
"He's learned enough from you!"
"Well if you know so much, take him! It's your turn anyways!"
"Come with me Gabriel, let's go"
taking my father by the hand, I walk my way to his truck, fastening my seatbelt, and hitting the road
"Son, I'm sorry you had to see that, Mother just doesn't seem to understand"
"It's ok dad, we don't need to worry about her now"
we came to a stop at an intersection, waiting for the light to turn green
"I just don't think all that stress is good for you, I mean, you're only in 6th grade"
"don't worry about it dad, I'll be ok"
suddenly out of nowhere, a truck hit us head on then…
"Ah! O-Oh, it was all just a dream, another nightmare…"
still recovering from the shock, I pulled myself out of bed, got dressed and made myself breakfast
"Good morning Gabe, how's my little boy doing this morning?"
"I'm fine mom, don't you have something to attend to today?"
"Oh, the meeting got canceled, so now I have all day to spend with you"
"Great… exactly what I didn't want…" I mumble to myself while eating a bowl of cereal
"Oh yeah, also can you come here for a second? I have something I wanted to talk to you about?"
"Ugh, fine, what is it?"
I pull up a chair at the counter and sit down in front of my mother
"So, what do you want to talk about?"
"Well Gabriel, your report card came in, it said you got a 68% in math, this is unacceptable young man"
"I'm trying my best, I just can't keep up in some subjects"
"That's not an excuse for failing your classes!"
"Thats not a failing grade! D is passing!"
"When I was your age, anything less than a C a failure"
"Can you please cut me a break just this once?"
"No Gabriel! You're going to be a senior and that attitude will get you nowhere in life!"
"Mom, I'm overworked, I have three sports, a club and 5 different subjects to study and you think I can do all of this at once and pass with flying colors?"
"Thats no way to talk to your mother! What would your dad think of he was still around"
"Do not… Do not bring him into this!"
"He'd be disappointed in you, do you really want to let him down?"
"He wouldn't be disappointed! Father was a good man! A better person than you ever were!"
"Thats enough young man! To your room! Now!"
I run away to my room, slamming the door behind me
"I just can't keep this up! I can't keep living like this!"
I fall to my knees before a mirror
Biting my lip as tears run down my face, I watch as a warm drops of blood drip down my jaw, soon my sobs turned to chuckles, and my mind was completely clear
"I'll show her, I'll show them all…"
I grab a trophy off my shelf and raise it above my head, grinning as I approached my target
"Forgive me… Father…"
As i muttered those words, I struck her clean in the head, knocking her down with one clean strike, her blood staining the hardwood floors
"I… I killed her… I actually killed her…"
I stood there in horror at the crime I just committed, staring at the body of my mother that lied before me
"This is what it had to come to… there was no other way…"
I tried to comfort myself, holding my breath for what felt like hours before I finally snapped to reality, grabbing my bag and filling it with everything I needed to survive
"I got food, water, and clothes, what else?"
looking through the house I found a safe with the key still in the lock, opening and reaching inside, I pull out a double barreled pistol
"D-Dads roughneck derringer…"
Barely able to hold back tears, I pulled out the box of ammunition and took out two bullets
"One for you, one for me, just like old times, right dad?"
I stuffed the pistol into my bag and ran to the bus station, next stop, Sacramento…