[Georgia 03] Fallen

it was coming from her mother was like a hand reaching straight into her chest and wrenching out her heart.
    “Stop!” Faith begged, standing up, holding out her hands. “Please, stop! Please, just—please!”
    Caleb released the pressure, but he kept his hand hovering over the broken leg. “Kick the gun over here. Slow, or I might kill the bitch anyway.”
    “It’s okay.” She knelt down. A tremor rushed through her entire body like a seizure. “I’m doing what you said. I’m doing exactly what you said.” She lifted her pant leg, then pinched the gun between her thumb and forefinger. “Don’t hurt her anymore. Look.”
    “Easy,” he warned.
    She slid the gun across the floor at an angle, praying that Caleb would go back to where he’d been standing. He let the gun sail by, staying at Evelyn’s side instead.
    He said, “Try something like that again, bitch.”
    “I won’t,” Faith told him. “I promise.”
    He rested the Tec-9 on the back of the chair, angling the muzzle down toward Evelyn’s head. The tape was dangling from her mouth. He ripped it away.
    She gulped in air. The breath wheezed in and out of her broken nose.
    He warned her, “Don’t get too used to breathing that clean air.”
    “Let her go.” Evelyn’s voice was raw. “You don’t want her. She had no idea. She was just a child.”
    “I was a child, too.”
    Evelyn coughed out a spray of blood. “Just let her go, Caleb. It’s me you want to punish.”
    “Did you even think about me?” He kept the gun to her head as he knelt down beside her. “All them times with her bastard little baby, did you even think about me?”
    “I never stopped thinking about you. Not a day went by without—”
    “Bullshit.” He stood back up.
    “Sandra and Paul loved you like their own flesh and blood. They worshipped you.”
    He looked away from her. “They lied to me.”
    “All they ever wanted was for you to be happy.”
    “Do I look happy now?” He indicated the dead man on the floor. “All my friends are gone now. Ricky, Hiro, Dave. All of them. I’m the last one standing.” He seemed to be forgetting his part in the carnage. “My fake father is dead. My fake mother is dead.”
    Evelyn said, “I know you cried at her funeral. I know you loved Paul and—”
    He smacked the back of her head with his open palm. Faith moved without thinking. He waved the gun in her direction and she froze.
    She looked back at her mother. Evelyn’s head had dropped down. Blood dripped from her mouth. “I never forgot about you, Caleb. You know that somewhere in your heart.”
    He slapped her harder this time.
    “Stop,” Faith begged. She didn’t know if she was talking to her mother or to Caleb. “Please just stop.”
    Evelyn whispered, “I always loved you, Caleb.”
    He raised the rifle and slammed the butt against the side of her head. The impact knocked over the chair. Evelyn fell hard to the floor. She screamed in pain as her leg twisted around. The broom handle splint broke in two. Bone stuck out of her thigh.
    “Mama!” Faith started for her.
    There was a pinging sound. Wood kicked up from the floor.
    Faith froze. She couldn’t tell if she’d been shot. All she could see was her mother on the floor, Caleb standing above her with his fist clenched. He kicked Evelyn. Hard.
    “Please stop,” Faith pleaded. “I promise—”
    “Shut up.” He looked up at the ceiling. At first, Faith didn’t recognize the sound. It was a helicopter. The blades chopped through the air, shaking her eardrums.
    Caleb had the Tec-9 pointed at Faith now. He had to raise his voice to be heard. “That was a warning shot,” he told her. “Next one goes right between your eyes.”
    She looked down at the floor. There was a hole in the wood. She took a step back, swallowed the cry that wanted to come out of her throat. The chopping sound receded as the helicopter pulled up. Faith could barely speak. “Please don’t hurt her. You can do anything to me, but please …”
    “Oh, I’m gonna hurt you soon enough, sister girl. I’m gonna hurt you real bad.” He held up his arms as if he was on stage. “That’s what this is all about, yo. I’m gonna show your precious baby boy what it’s like to grow up without his mama.” He kept the gun on Faith. “You were good yesterday running after him in the street. A little closer and I’d’a had him dead on the ground.”
    Vomit came into her mouth.
    He pushed Evelyn with his sneaker. “Ask her