Gretta Adelson's life changes the day she wakes up in bed with her step-sister's boyfriend. She has no idea how she ended up in his bed since she can't remember anything from the past three days. A family dinner is the last thing she can recall; the...
"Mom, I think we can think of something else," Lola says. "Gretta agreed to give us everything if you let Mary go. I think–"
"I don't care about what you think right now!" Mother snaps. "You're just as useless as everyone! You're becoming weak!"
"I'm not weak! I'm just being rational here." Lola lifts her hands to urge Mother to calm down. "Put the gun down, please, and let's just talk."
"Please, Mrs. Adelson. Lola is right." Mary's voice breaks into sobs.
The scene feels like a movie to me. I'm standing in the room with them, but I feel detached from my surroundings. I can't feel the ground but I'm not floating either, my lips are trembling, my body is shaking all over, and the only word I can muster is "stop this" yet it sounds foreign in my ear.
"Mom," Lola says while tiptoeing toward her mother.
"Take one more step, I'll pull the trigger. I swear it." Mother's reply forces Lola to halt, followed by Mary wailing harder.
"I will do anything you want. I will fix everything. Just please don't kill me! Please!" Mary screams. "I can't die. My mom won't be able to do this alone."
"Now you're begging for your life, and as soon as you find your way out, you will stab me in the back again."
"Mom...please! Put the gun down!" Lola begs. "This is not going to end well. You're not a killer! My mother isn't a murderer!"
"I'm doing this for you, Lola. Everything I do is for you and your future! How dare you throw this at my face now!" Mother seethes at my sister but her eyes never leave Mary.
"I know! And I love you for that, but not like this." Lola starts to cry.
It's when we hear loud thumps on the door, making us jump on our spot. As all heads turn in the direction of the noise, Damien shouts from the other side, "Gretta! Mary! Are you there? Open the door! What's going on there?"
As if getting new strength from Damien's appearance, Mary bolts to the door and scrambles to unlock the door. But before she can pull the door latch, a loud bang cracks across the room. The sound echoes painfully in my eardrums but the dreadful silence that comes after is utterly deafening.
I find myself crouching with both my hands covering my ears, my eyes tightly shut. It takes me a few seconds to comprehend that Mother just pulled the trigger.
Once I open my eyes, Mary is lying on the floor, curling up, and hiding her head behind her arms, but there is no blood. Mary is still alive. The second Damien starts to call our names frantically, Mary wails and screams in fright, followed by Lola's sobs as she trudges back until she hits the wall.
It's when a shiny light on Mary's desk across the room catches my eyes. A sunray through the shed window hits a metal object, reflecting its light, illuminating the glow like a halo around it. A knife.
A voice in my head tells me to go for it, but my feet won't budge. My mind is getting hazy while the room is still full of Mary's sobs, Lola's beg, and frantic banging on the door. Yet my eyes are fixed on the knife.
"You didn't kill Mary. You didn't shoot Mary. She's still alive." Lola's ramble snaps me back to clarity. Mother is now standing and shivering on her spot. Her face is pale and her glazy eyes are staring blankly at the door. "Please put the gun down, Mom, I beg you."
Once Mother shows hesitation for her own action, Mary charges at her. In the next second, the two women land on the wooden floor, creating a loud thud. It prompts me to jump up and run to the other side of the room, escaping the danger from the loaded gun. Mary has an upper hand since she's sitting on Mother's chest. She grabs my mother's hand —the one holding the gun— and slams it against the floor with all she might. Mother grunts audibly as her grip on the gun is weakening before it sails in Lola's direction, but my sister is too shocked to move.
When Mary scrambles to get up and crawls to the gun, Mother manages to pull her legs and yanks her petite body to the side. Mary is hurled aside, hitting the desk leg, near where I'm standing right now. I'm about to bend over to check on whimpering Mary, but my mother's cackle stops me.
With hair tousled all over her face and a crumpled dress, Mother stands with her gun back in hand. Slowly, she walks closer to me but her eyes are fixed on the girl who is crawling and hiding under the desk, hiding behind my feet.
"Please, Mother..." I beg as Mother comes face to face with me.
"Move. Let me finish her."
"No." The haziness in my head is striking again, taking my ability to think and feel. I'm here but I'm not here at the same time.
"Do you want to die, too?"
"You can't kill Gretta, Mom! It will get all of us deeper into trouble!" Lola says, but the determination in Mother's eyes says otherwise.
"Please, Mother." That's all I can say.
"Move to the side. Now!" Mother's voice is dangerously low.
It's when another loud thud of heavy objects hits the shed door. Before my brain can register what is going on, the door is shoved open. The sudden bright light coming from the shed entrance distracts my sight. Then Damien comes into view, standing by the door with a big log in his hand. His eyes search across the room, but my eyes are glued to Mother's gun that is now pointed in his direction.
My head gets murkier every second as if there is a thick cloud filling my skull. It's strange but it's not unfamiliar. I shake my head when my vision starts to blur.
Everything turns dark.
When my eyes shoot open, I'm already on my back, lying flat on the floor. My mother is somehow nuzzling on top of me, gasping for air. I try to move but the shooting pain from my hip stops me. With a grunt, I push my mother to the side to check what's going on, but it's when I see my hand clutching a knife that is planted into her chest. Blood is oozing and dripping down the metal handle, down my hand, and on the floor.
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