Family Comes First

Chapter 42: Unbelievable

"Open the door!" a woman screamed. "Please! Please! You have to! They're going to kill me! Help!"

She continued to furiously pound on the door with her fists. My stomach tightened, but a wave of relief washed over me. Jimmy and Tommy found someone. We were going to have meat.

"Please!" she screamed. "They've already got my friends! You need to call the police!"

Jimmy and Tommy already have other people, but I could not let her get away too. Jimmy would be so happy for me getting them another body. The punishments would be less severe and his temper would calm down. He would be so proud of me.

I walked over to the door and I was surprised when the knob turned. Jimmy must have forgotten to lock the door or they have not been locking the door for a while. I never mentioned running away or having done anything to make them suspicious.

When I opened the door, the girl fell into me. She grabbed my shoulders and began sobbing into my neck. I stumbled back and tried not to fall over. If the girl fell on my stomach, that could damage the baby and Jimmy would be furious. I think she was shocked by the awkward bump between us because she gasped and pulled away.

Her hair was dyed black and was sticking to her face with sweat and tears. She had silver rings through her eyebrows, nose, and lip. Her jeans and T-shirt were ripped and covered with dirt. Mud was splattered all up her arms.

"Sorry," she said. "Where is your phone? You need to call the cops. I left mine in the car."

"We don't have a phone," I said.

She furrowed her brows.

"What do you mean?" I could hear the panic in her voice. "Everyone has a phone."

"We can't afford one," I said.

"Please," she begged.

She grabbed my arms. She looked down to see all of the cuts and scabs that surrounded my tattoo. Jimmy was so angry last month that he threatened to cut the tattoo off.

"My husband will be home soon," I said. "He will be able to take you into town and get you help."

"No!" She shook her head. "There's no time. They're killing my friends. They're probably already dead now."

The last few words were too much for her, and her body broke out into sobs. The tears were streaming down my cheeks. I snaked my arm around her waist. She leaned against me as I helped her into one of the chairs at the dining room table. She put her elbows on the table and buried her head in her hands.

I stood beside her and watched her cry. Jimmy would be proud of me for keeping her in the house, but he would be so impressed with me if I killed her. I had to stop her from leaving the house.

"Why?" she cried. "Why is this happening to me? This kind of thing only happens in bad horror movies."

I put my hand on her back. If I could comfort her, she would trust me more. It would be easier to kill her. I had not seen a murder since we were at Noah's. I had to do a better job this time.

"What's your name?" I asked her.

"Lydia," she said.

She took her head out of her hands and wiped her cheeks. Her eyes were red and swollen.

"I'm Julie," I said. "Would you like some water?"

"Yes," she said.

I walked over to the cupboard and pulled out a glass. I filled it full of water from the sink. I saw the butcher knife lying beside the sink. I had taken it out a few minutes ago to chop the vegetables for dinner. I set the glass down on the counter and picked up the knife. I couldn't make a mess. I did not want to spend all of tomorrow cleaning up the kitchen. I already learned how hard it is to clean up blood.

"When do you think your husband will be coming home?" Lydia asked.

Her back was to me, so she did not see me as I turned around with the knife in my hand. I tightened my grip and took in slow breaths as I walked toward her.

"He should be home any minute now," I said.

"Really?" she said, turning around in her seat.

Her eyes grew large when she saw the knife in my hands. I swung my arm down and buried the blade deep into the base of her neck. She screamed and grabbed her neck as she fell off of the chair and onto the floor. I pulled the knife out and her flesh and blood sprayed up at me. Lydia continued to scream out in pain and she was grabbing the wound in an attempt to stop the bleeding.

I used my weight to my advantage and got on top of her. I pinned her down onto the ground and grabbed the knife with both hands. I took a quick look down at myself to see that I was covered in blood. With another quick swing, I brought the knife down onto her chest. It was a lot tougher than I expected and I struggled to get the blade past her ribcage.

Lydia had stopped squirming underneath me, but I brought the knife down one more time to make sure that she was dead. Her pale skin was covered in a mixture of blood and dirt. I was kneeling in the pool of blood forming underneath her. Blood was splattered across the kitchen.

The door opened, and Tommy walked in carrying a man over his shoulder. His jaw dropped when he saw me. It quickly turned into one of his smirks.

"Jules, I knew you were the girl for me," he said. "Did you do that?"

I looked down at the girl's brutally murdered body. The knife slipped out of my hand and clanged against the floor. Tommy put the man's body next to the basement door and ran out to the porch.

"Hey, Jimmy!" he yelled. "Get in here. You'll never believe it."

Tommy ran in, and I looked to see that Jimmy was close behind him. Jimmy's jaw dropped too, but unlike Tommy's it did not turn into a smirk. He walked over to me. His eyes were locked on the girl's lifeless body.

"She got the girl that ran away," Tommy said.

"I'm sorry," I said.

He got onto his knees and tucked the bloody strands of hair in my face behind my ears. His eyes looked so soft and warm. Those were the eyes that I first fell in love with when Charles brought me into the family.

"I made a mess," I said.

He laughed and his lips curled into a smile. He leaned in and pressed his lips against my forehead.

"It's okay, sweetheart," he said. "Is the baby okay?"

"Yeah, he's good," I said as I reached down to cradle my belly.

"Good. Now, let's get you cleaned up."

He reached out for me and curled me in his arms. I was surprised that he was still able to lift me with all this extra weight. I nestled my face into his chest and grabbed a fistful of his shirt. I closed my eyes and did not open them until he set me down.

He had placed me in the tub. The white porcelain was surrounding me and the tap was in front of me. Jimmy pulled off my bloody clothes. I had soaked his shirt with some of Lydia's blood.

He turned on the tap and I let out a gasp as the cold water hit my skin. It turned lukewarm at a slow pace. Jimmy took the elastic out of my hair so that my long strands fell down my back and into the water.

"I love you so much," he told me.

His lips lifted into a smile and the heat rushed up to my cheeks. It had been so long since I heard Jimmy say those words. Not only did we have meat again, but Jimmy was happy with me.

"I love you too," I said.

He leaned in and kissed me. I was so happy that we were back to our content lives. The next step was to have our son and move out.