Chapter 2
1682 Words
LIFE AFTER THE STORM
LUCY
Beep. Beep. Beep.
I woke up with a jerk. My eyes shot up to a white ceiling above me. The air smelled strongly of antiseptic and rubbing alcohol, and beside me, a machine pulsed out a steady rhythm. I was in a hospital.
I tried to sit, but a sharp pain in my ribs, forced me to collapse back into the pillow. My throat felt dry, and for one blissful second I thought maybe I’d just dreamed everything.
Then the memories came rushing back, one by one, with every beep of that machine. I remembered the masked men, the assault, my parents in their pool of blood and Claire.
Claire was still alive. Immediately, ignoring that initial pain, I shot up from bed.
“Lucy, wait.”
The voice snapped my head to the side. Adrian, Claire's fiance, was slouched in a chair. He was the first familiar face I’d seen since opening my eyes. His suit was wrinkled and his brown hair in complete disarray. He looked like he hadn’t slept. His hands reached forward as if he wanted to catch me if I fell.
“Where’s Mom? Where’s Dad?” Every word that came out if my throat felt like sandpaper.
He didn’t answer.
My heart thudded painfully. “Where’s Claire? She was shot and she's alive, where is she? I need to see her!”
“You need to rest,” Adrian said weakly.
“No. I want to see my sister." I shoved the blanket off my body and swung my legs over the edge of the bed. My knees buckled before I could even stand, but I tried again.
“Lucy…”
“Tell me where she is!” My voice broke into a scream. “Is she in this hospital? Which room?!” Hot tears blurred my vision.
The monitor beside me began to beep faster.
Two nurses rushed into the room. One pushed me back against the bed with firm hands while the other already had a syringe uncapped.
“Stop! Let me go!” I thrashed. With the little strength I had, I fought against their grip. “Claire! CLAIRE!”
Adrian caught my face between his palms, forcing me to meet his red, swollen eyes. “Please, Lucy. You’re going to hurt yourself.” He trembled.
I thrashed anyway. “Tell me where my family is! Where’s my sister?!”
The needle stabbed into my arm. Soon a warm heaviness rushed through me and it pulled my limbs down like liquid. My vision doubled.
The last thing I saw before darkness swallowed me was Adrian covering his face with his hands and his shoulders shaking.
***
When I woke again, I was more calmer because of the sedatives and my muscles felt too loose to hold me steady. The machine beside me beeped more calmly.
Adrian was still there.
“What happened?” I rasped.
“You’ve been out almost a day,” he said. His eyes looked worse. They were bloodshot and ringed dark. “Doctors say you’ll recover. The cops want to speak to you, though. They just got here.”
My stomach dropped. “Do they know where Claire is?”
He hesitated.
“Adrian.”
“Yes,” he finally said, leaning closer. “Just…calm down, okay? Please, Lucy.”
The door opened before I could press further. A woman and a man entered, both in plain clothes and badges clipped to their belts.
“Miss Williams,” the woman said as she pulled a chair closer. “I’m Detective Harlow. This is Detective Morris. We need to ask you some questions about the attack.”
Adrian started to stand, but I grabbed his sleeve desperately. “Please stay,” I whispered.
He looked at the officers. Morris gave him a curt nod, and Adrian sank back down into the chair.
Morris spoke first. “We didn’t get a 911 call. Dispatch was alerted when your father’s panic button went off. We found what was left of it in the wreckage.”
Harlow opened a notebook, and said. “Tell us what happened that night.”
I swallowed, my hands trembling in my lap. “We were preparing for a gala. Dad got a major contract and we were celebrating. Claire came into my room to help fix my hair and barely five minutes later, we heard noise. Before we could react, Mom burst in. She looked…terrified. Then Dad came in with men in masks. They had guns with them.”
“How many men?” Morris asked.
“Five. One seemed like the leader. He ordered the others to make sure we were all together.”
“Then what?”
“They tied us up.” I quivered. “They beat Dad. Then…then…” My throat locked. “They tried to r**e me but Claire stopped them. She…she took my place. Mom too. They…” I broke down into sobs. “After that, they shot my parents. Then Claire. I think they heard sirens and panicked so they ran.”
Tears soaked my face and I could barely breathe.
“Did you recognize any names? Or voices?” Harlow asked gently.
“No. They were strangers.”
“Did your father have enemies?” Morris pressed.
“I don’t know,” I whispered. “He never spoke of anything like that.”
The two detectives exchanged a look before Harlow closed her notebook. “Your parents’ bodies were recovered. Cause of death are gun shot wounds to the head, meaning they didn't die in the fire. This is being treated as a high profile double homicide.”
Bodies. Gun shot wounds to the head. It all sounded like something playing on a screen. But, no. This wasn't some movie or documentary on someone's life. This was my reality.
I sobbed harder, collapsing into Adrian’s arms as he wrapped himself around me.
“Double,” I stammered. “So Claire…”
“She’s alive,” Harlow said carefully.
I snapped my head up. “Where is she? I want to see her.”
Adrian’s hand tightened around mine. He squatted until his eyes were level with mine.
“She’s in the ICU, Lucy. She’s in a coma.”
“A coma? No…” I wailed. “She was alive when I held her. I told her not to leave me.”
Harlow’s eyes softened. “I promise you, Lucy. We’re canvassing the area, we've pulled traffic cams. We’ll find them, I assure you.”
When they left, and the room was silent again except for the beep of the machine, Adrian sat on the bed, with his arms around me. I clung to him, sobbing until I was gasping for air.
“My mom and dad are dead,” I mourned. “I saw them. They shot them like they were nothing.”
His eyes glistened. “I’m so sorry.”
I looked at him desperately. “Tell me everything. Please.”
“You and Claire were brought in last night,” he explained quietly. “Fire crews pulled you out of the lawn. The house was burning.” He hesitated. “Lucy, the things they did it wasn’t random.”
“What do you mean?”
“ This was an ordered hit. Your father…he had dealings with a lot of dangerous people.”
Instantly, I recalled a name. "Like Mr Maddox?" I inquired.
Adrian looked at me shocked. "How did you know that name?"
"One of those men said that he doesn't want loose ends. I just remembered it now. Who is that man? Do you know him?"
Adrian faltered. "No...Not personally. But there's only one Maddox your father knew. That's Hunter."
“Who is he?" I questioned.
"You remember the contract your dad won?"
I nodded.
"It was supposed to go to his company."
"What are you insinuating? That this Maddox person ordered people to kill us because of some contract?"
"Lucy, it's not just some contract."
“But I don’t know,” Adrian admitted.
Adrien called the detectives back later, after telling them id remembered a name.
I told them, and they both looked unsure. Both of them kept asking me if I'd heard right.
Adrian explained the ties Dad had to Maddox and Morris took note. They promised to look into him as a suspect.
The days that followed blurred together. Nurses changed my IVs. Adrian barely left my side. Cops circled in and out, repeating the same questions with different wording.
Then, three days after the attack, Claire never woke up from her coma. She passed on, a long side my parents.
And now, I was all alone.
I'd been with her the day she died. Right on my wheel chair, I'd begged my sister to wake up. But right then, the machine began to beep rapidly and soon after, while the doctors attempted to save her, it stopped. I couldn’t even scream. It was as if the air had been taken away from me. I would open my mouth numerous times, but not a word would come out because I had no air.
After that, everything dimmed. The investigation slowed and leads dried up. Weeks passed, and the name “Maddox” was never officially confirmed. The case only grew colder and colder.
***
The day they were buried was a very numbing.
I wore black and stood stiffly at the graveside as the caskets were lowered into the ground, first Mom and Dad, then Claire. The priest spoke words I barely heard. People pressed my hands and whispered condolences, but I felt nothing.
When the crowd left, I stayed behind with Adrian, staring at the fresh earth that covered everything I had lost.
“Thank you," I said in a voice that sounded like someone else’s. "For covering all the funeral expenses."
He looked down at me and pulled me into a hug.
"I don't know how I'm going to live without them." I said after a while.
"We'll learn together." he snifled.
"Come live with me."
- Writer
