In The Eyes of Gracie - Unedited Version - Being Rewritten

Chapter 15

I gaze out the window. I swear to god if he touched her. I swear to god I'll kill him myself. The sound of the gun firing echoes in my head. I feel like my heart is already broken. I know in the back of my head that I'm too late.

Everything feels like it's in slow motion. Even with all the speeding and jerking around were doing, i feel like I'm the only one alive. I feel empty. The tears roll down my cheeks silently. I'm scared to get there now. I don't know what I'll see.

I close my eyes and all i see is Ansley. Her body lying lifelessly on the ground. Her bright red blood spilling out all over the floor. Out of her gun shot wound to her stomach and from her mouth and even her ears. I drop to my knees and cry over her. Then everything fades away.

I open my eyes back up and let the tears flood over. I can't imagine losing my best friend. I should have stayed with her. I knew she was scared. I knew she'd be helpless alone. I feel the lump in my throat grow tighter as we pull into the hotel parking lot.

There's an empty black pick up truck parked beside the dumpster but everything else is quite. I jump out and Sammy follows me to the door. It's locked. I look around for another way in but Sammy grabs a rock and breaks the glass door. If that doesn't make an entrance, I don't know what will.

We run down the hall way but I don't see Ansley any where. I tell Sammy to look up stairs as I look at the other hallways down here. I stare down the endless, twisting hallways. Thank God I use to stay here a lot when my grandpa worked here. The cold floors make me cringe at the touch of my bare feet. I realize I ran out without shoes in the rush to get here. I look down the hallways speeding down one after another. It almost seems hopeless.

Then I see her. I run over to her bloody body lying face down on the floor to check her pulse but I realize some of the blood isn't hers and I can feel her body shaking. I roll her over and hug her. She's sobbing uncontrollably. I rock her back in forth in my arms trying to sooth her.

"What happened Ansley?" I ask, "Wheres your dad?"

She lifts her head up off of my shoulder and points a shaky finger  to his sprawled out bloody body. I run over to him and try to feel for a pulse but there's not one. I look back over at Ansley and see the gun laying on the floor beside her.

"Oh, Ans," I run over and grab her in my arms again, " Sam! Sammy get down here!"

I rock her back and forth as her entire body shakes from a mixture of shock and crying. She buries her head into my shoulder and I hug her even tighter.

"Its okay Ans." I whisper, "Every things going to be okay. You had to do it, Ans. It was only self defence."

 I shake my head, finding myself completely incapable of finding a solution to this incident. I want to call it an accident but I know that would be false. I know that she did it, and I know that some where deep down she meant too. I also know, she will never forgive her self.

Sammy comes around the corner and gasps. She runs over to Ansley and helps me pick her up to her feet.

"We have to get out of here," Sammy says, "this isn't a good place to be right now. I'll go to a phone booth and dial the police and leave the phone hanging. They'll come and check things out."

 I shake my head as I realize what will happen now. She's under age. The moment the police find his body they'll come looking for her. Almost everyone in town knows she's living with us now. They'll take her away. I want to cry at the thought of losing my best friend. I look at Sammy and then look down at Ansley. Then I look at her fathers lifeless body. Time has stopped. I'm sure of it and for the moment, I'm happy that it's frozen. It's all too much to take in.