With a heavy sense of resignation, Valerie nodded reluctantly. She knew arguing with Dallas was futile. Reluctantly, she stepped out of the room, shivering as he gave her the keys, shutting the door behind him.
Valerie sat alone in the car, nervously fidgeting with her nails as she waited for Dallas. Around 10 minutes had passed, and the silence was unnerving. She couldn't shake the feeling of unease creeping over her. Surely, he should have been done by now.
Instead of hesitating any longer, she decided to check on him, despite his wishes for her to stay in the car. The cold air hit her body as soon as she put one foot out of the car, causing her to shiver. Downing an unfinished whiskey, she made her way past the bar tables and trudged up the stairs.
As she approached their room, muffled shouts and banging reached her ears. There was no way of knowing who was winning the fight, and it almost shocked her that no one else in the building had intervened. These people minded their business, no matter the circumstances, so long as it didn't involve them and their own selfish, fucked-up lives.
Valerie closed her eyes, her fingers clutching the door handle tightly, knowing that her next move could likely make the situation worse. "Jess, I'm begging you. Just go sit in the car," she reminisced on Dallas's words spoken just 15 minutes prior to the situation. "I'm begging you." The pain latched onto his words rang as the sentence replayed through her head. Her hands started to shake as her hand continued to clutch onto the door handle. The guilt she felt as she thought about the worry on his face was insufferable. She shook it off and, without a second more of overthinking, pushed open the door to see Dallas.
Bob was now silent, small grunts and short, terror-filled breaths slipping through his lips as he lay on the floor below Dallas. It was a lot to take in. The blood, Dallas's bloodied face was bad, but Bob was more than a mess, to the point where she had to look away for a second to regain her thoughts.
The two boys turned to look at her, and her eyes quickly flicked from Bob, to Dallas, to the gun in his hands pointed directly at Bob's face. It was a clear, quick but messy shot. "I—Oh my god." Her eyes widened, and she could barely form a sentence. "Dallas, no."
"I told you to stay in the car," he spoke through gritted teeth, and the determined look on his face scared her. Again, she glanced down at Bob, whose face was washed with panic. It gave her the smallest amount of satisfaction watching him in pain, the victim instead of his usual stance as the perpetrator.
"Dal—" She stuttered
"Go! You can't see this. Go sit in the car," he raised his voice at her, and by now, she had overcome the shock, which was now replaced with her thoughts racing ahead. What would happen to him after this? Jail? And her? Foster care? Maybe even jail too after everything she'd done.
"No. You can't do this," she insisted, her voice desperate. His jaw clenched, and she knew he was trying to block out her words, trying to focus on what he wanted to do. "You're not a murderer. Don't do it, please." His hate-filled gaze towards Bob didn't falter, so she continued to try to gain his attention. "I'm begging you. Please, I need my brother, okay? If you do this, I will lose you forever. When will you learn that your actions have fucking consequences? This affects both of us! Not just you." His gaze softened, turning to look at her instead of Bob for the first time since she'd walked through the door. She shuffled closer to him, hearing Bob sigh in relief as he figured out that she would handle the situation.
"I have to. Val." He justified, pleading with her to understand. "I have to do this. Look what he did to you! I would be a shit brother if I let him get away with this."
"Look at him. Just look at him! You've done what you needed to do. Now take me home, please. Please just leave it now," Valerie pleaded. He mumbled something inaudible under his breath and shakily lowered the gun. She let out a breath that she didn't realise she was holding and grabbed the gun out of his hands, placing it safely on the dresser. Dallas was on the verge of crying, so was she, to be honest, but Bob was in a heap on the ground sobbing, which gave her great satisfaction to see. "Can we go now?" she spoke sharply as a way to hide the emotion in her voice, but it was inevitable that he would see past it.
Dallas nodded wordlessly, sighing. Without a word, he moved towards the door, his steps heavy. "Yeah. Yeah come on." He mumbled, guiding Valerie who followed closely behind him, her heart still racing.
"I'm sorry," Valerie whispered, and Dallas stopped in his tracks.
"What? Why would you be sorry?" He questioned, his tone filled with confusion.
"I got us into this mess with Bob. If I hadn't been out so much, it wouldn't have gotten this far with him. I just didn't know what to do," her voice started to crack, and she wiped at her face as a distraction from crying. He stayed silent, and she glanced up at him to understand what he was thinking. As soon as she saw the pitying, guilt-ridden look on his face, hers crumpled, and she started to let the tears fall.
"It's my fault, I wasn't there. I could've stopped this all from happening. I'm supposed to protect you, that's what mom told me to do." The topic was seriously frustrating him, and the fact that he blamed himself upset her more than anything.
"No." she sobbed, realising how absent she'd been in his life recently. She'd distanced herself from everyone close to her, and all she wanted was a hug. She stood in front of him, feeling the need for comfort. "It's my fault, all mine." She mumbled as she wrapped her arms around his waist, sobbing into his chest as he clung onto her. It had been so long since she'd had a hug from her brother, and she'd missed it.
Dallas pulled away abruptly, his expression was angry and Valerie's heart sank as she felt the rejection, the sting of his anger cutting through her like a knife.
"What's wrong?" she asked, her voice trembling with fear and confusion.
"You think this is your fault?" Dallas's voice was laced with frustration, his eyes burning with intensity. "Val, you're my sister. You shouldn't have to go through his abuse alone. Or at all!"
Her expression was unreadable, and she was obviously at a loss for words, so he pulled her into a tight hug, holding her.
......
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