Intimate Stranger (Editing)

Chapter 12: Katie

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Part Twelve

Saturday, February 13, 2010

Eyes closed, I flinched from the sound. All I heard was the deafening, penetrating sound of the gunshot, and Trace's desperate cry for his sisters life. Because my eyes were closed, what I didn't know, was that moments before Steve fired the gun, Trace jumped in the path of the bullet, ultimately saving his sisters life.

Terrified of what I would see, I opened my eyes and saw the look on Lilah's face. It was a mixture of shock and horror. She expected to be shot dead, but instead she was staring at her brother who lay on the floor with a gunshot wound. Trace had taken a bullet for his sister.

I didn't see where he was shot, so I didn't know if he was still alive. I couldn't see him because of the fact that I was still lying on the bed tied up, and Trace was now on the floor a few feet from the end of the bed. I could only gape at Lilah who, moments before, had seen her life flash before her eyes.

Then I could feel the bile rise up, and I knew I was going to throw up.

I leaned over as far as I could so I didn't hurl all over myself. When I was finished, all that was left was the disgusting taste in my mouth and the horrid scene before me.

Steve stood exactly where he was when he fired the gun. He seemed shocked, like he wasn't expecting to actually shoot someone. He never would have expected Trace to risk his life. Now his plan to make Trace watch while he raped me was foiled.

"Oh God," Lilah moaned. Ignoring Steve, she dropped onto her knees and knelt by her brothers side. Steve didn't stop her. For a moment she just sat there, staring at his body in disbelief. And then she leaned over to check the pulse on his neck. We waited for the result. Lilah took her hand away, and looked up at Steve. She muttered the dreaded words, "You killed my brother."

I gasped. Trace.

That was the moment my world came crashing down. It didn't matter that I was probably going to be raped that night. The boy I loved was dead. I was dead.

Lilah stood up slowly, and started approaching Steve. "You. Killed. Him," she growled, through clenched teeth.

Lilah screamed, and lunched for Steve's gun that he still held in his hands. She went to scratch him in the face, but Steve was quicker, and instead of shooting another person, he took the gun and hit Lilah over the head with it, knocking her unconscious. She collapsed onto the hardwood floor beside her brother.

He stared down at their bodies, and kicked Trace's lifeless foot.

"Don't touch him!" I cried, tears instantly bursting from my eyes.

Steve looked him at me, "Or what, Katie?"

I had no response. I was still in shock. I could barely even mutter those previous words. But then again, what could I possibly do to Steve?

Sighing, Steve turned his attention away from me. I was the least of his problems now. He looked at the two bodies in front of him. "This is just great. Now what?" He asked himself.

I remained silent.

He walked over to Lilah's body, and picked her up by the arms, and dragged her down the hall and put her body in the laundry room. When he came back into the room, he picked up Trace the same way and put his body with Lilah's. He locked the laundry room and came back into my parents bedroom for the second time. Maybe Steve wasn't as stupid as I thought. He didn't have time to tie Lilah up, so he locked her in a room with no windows so she couldn't escape.