Chapter 3
1502 Words
THE DAY I DIED
LUCY
The weeks soon dragged into months. But the world moved on quickly.
I was in my final year in highschool when we were attacked, but I dropped out because I couldn't deal with the agony of watching the world move on. The headlines that once centered around the m******e of my family shifted to new scandals and tragedies. Even the detectives who once came often, eventually stopped calling. And the case went cold. The men they’d arrested in connection to the killings all turned up dead, one after the other, leaving nothing to question them about. With all the suspects gone, the police claimed there was nothing else they could do. They never once checked Hunter Maddox, even when I told them my story, time and time again. It became official. The case was closed and buried. Simply because all the culprits were dead.
Adrian, who I now lived with, refused to believe the story the cops came up with. He was certain that Hunter Maddox had a hand in what happened to my family. Everyday he would bring up developments with the case and remind me of how unfair it was.
"I lost your sister because of that man. There's no why I'll let him get away with what he did. He's sitting on a lot of power because of his money, but we will get justice."
His words brought nothing to ease my hurt. I knew there was nothing I could do to bring them back. Not even the so called Justice. I was completely exhausted from my pain.
Nights were the worst. Sleep never came easy. When it did, the nightmares always pulled me back to that horrible night. My body was healing, but my mind was stuck there, unhealed with no hope of ever healing.
One evening, alone in my room, I opened the cabinet in the bathroom and stared at the row of pill bottles lined neatly inside. Some where prescriptions for pain, anxiety, and others, insomnia.
I grabbed them all, about 10 of them. One by one, I twisted the caps open and emptied every bottle into my palm.
Then I lifted my hand to my lips and poured every single thing inside my mouth.
I turned on the tap and drank water to ease the pills down my throat. Once I'd swallowed everything, with tears streaming down my face, I sat down on the cold tiles.
Soon everything became blurry. I heard the door open and a panicked voice screaming my name.
The person got closer and I recognized her voice. It was Rosa, Adrian's housekeeper.
"Miss? Miss?"
"What did you you do child? No! wake up." She shouted.
She forcefully opened my mouth and shoved her hands inside. It pressed down my tongue and forced me to gag. She kept at it until I vomited everything I just ingested, all over the floor. Soon, I passed out.
***
It was night when I woke up. My throat was raw, as if someone shoved something deep inside my throat. I tried to sit up slowly.
A figure shifted in the corner. It was Adrian. He had been sitting in a chair, watching me. The moment I moved, he was on his feet and at my side.
“You’re awake,” he said in a tight voice, his face was a mix of anger and relief. “God, Lucy… do you have any idea what you just did?”
I didn’t answer. My lips stayed pressed together as he spoke.
“Why?” he pressed. “Why would you do that?”
Those words burst open the dam I'd been holding.
"I'm in so much pain. My heart...It hurts so much. I want my family back. I want Clarie back. I want to see them. I want to be with them." I cried.
Adrian leaned closer, his arms wrapping around me before I could push him away.
"I want to die. I just want to die and be with my family."
"Why would life be so cruel to live me all alone? Why take everyone I love from me?" I whimpered.
“If you die, you’ll never see justice for your parents. You’re the only one left who can make sure that bastard pays. Do you really want him to walk away clean, after everything he’s done to you?” Adrian asked softly.
I shook my head weakly, sobbing “I don’t have the strength for this. I can’t fight him. Just let me die.”
He hugged me tight and I kept crying until I fell asleep.
Over the next few days, Adrian barely let me out of his sight. He even hired people to keep watch, making sure I never had another chance to make an attempt on my life again.
My room became a prison. Anything sharp or dangerous was gone. I wasn’t trusted to bathe alone or even pour myself a glass of water. Most of the time, I was either high on sedation or completely sober but, burning with bitterness.
That bitterness found a focus, Hunter Maddox.
Every headline, news clip and glossy picture of him and his picture perfect family made me sick. While I was trapped inside four walls, broken and drugged, he was out there signing new deals, smiling for cameras and expanding his empire. The very deal my family died for was now in his pocket.
The more I obsessed over him, the deeper and stronger my hate got.
Two weeks of that, and I was no longer the same person.
Five months to the day after the m******e, I walked into Adrian’s office. He looked up, startled.
“You said it was Hunter Maddox who did this to my family,” I began.
His brow furrowed. “That’s right. Why?” He asked.
“The cops never questioned him.”
“That’s because he’s protected by the politicians in his pocket. Lucy, what’s this about?”
“I want to take him down.”
Adrian leaned back me. “What?” he asked bemused.
“I want to destroy him,” I repeatedly calmly. “Completely. I want him stripped of everything he’s built. I want him to watch his world fall apart piece by piece. I want him to watch the people he loves suffer like I’ve suffered. And then..." my voice dropped,“I’ll kill him.”
For the first time since I’d known him, Adrian looked… afraid of me.
“Lucy…” He pleaded.
“Are you going to help me or not?”
He shook his head, trying to recover. “I get that you want justice. God knows, I do too. I lost the love of my life because of Maddox. But you...” He gestured at me helplessly. “You’re not ready for this. You need to heal. Let me handle it.”
I leaned forward. “If you think you can lock me out of this, you’re wrong. If you don’t help me, I’ll walk out that door and find a way to do it myself.”
He fell silent. His eyes searched mine, and whatever he saw must have convinced him I wasn’t bluffing. Finally, he let out a heavy sigh.
“Sit down.”
I did.
“I wasn’t going to tell you this yet, but you’re leaving me no choice.” His tone shifted. “I’ve been working on something. The cops aren’t ever going to touch him, he’s untouchable in their eyes. That means we take him down on our own terms. Outside the law.”
I didn’t flinch. “Whatever it takes. I’m in.”
Adrian studied me for a long moment, then nodded. “Alright. But you need to understand… there’s no coming back from this.”
“I don’t want to come back,” I said quietly. “There’s nothing left to come back to.”
***
The plan unfolded gradually.
The first step was my burial. Adrian, taking advantage of my suicide attempt, spread the narrative that I'd taken my life. He handled the details, including the body that was placed in my coffin. As far as the world was concerned, Lucy Williams was dead.
Before we left grave site, Adrian gave me time to kneel at my family’s grave. I pressed my hands to the cold stone and whispered through tears, “Mom, Dad, Claire, I might be gone for a while. But, I'll be back and I swear it. I’ll make sure that bastard pays. I'll get justice for all of you."
After that, we left the city behind and we moved to California under new papers Adrian arranged for me.
The next step was surgery.
Weeks after the surgery, still wrapped in bandages and a now black hair, I looked at myself in the mirror.
“You are Emily Carter.” I stated as I stared at the stranger in front of me. And with that, stage one, erase Lucy Williams was complete.
- Writer
