Betty's Return

|7|

:Boom:

Betty

It was Saturday. I woke up to the sunlight refreshing me. As my hearing became clearer, I heard Lahni playing with dolls somewhere around me.

Jackson was probably somewhere with his dad.

"Girl she said she wants her hair back.",I heard her say.

I rolled over in bed to see my beautiful baby girl in her onesie I'd dressed her in last night. It was pink with hearts all over it. I loved her just as much or more than I loved myself.

I watched her play with her dolls before she finally turned and looked at me.

"Mommy!"

Her expression of surprise and happiness made me happy. Someone was happy to see me alive. To see me awake.

She quickly crawled across the bed to me and hugged my neck before kissing my cheeks repeatedly.

"Hey no fair!",Jackson said as he barged in the room. He ran quickly towards the bed and grabbed my neck in a much rougher manner than his sister.

I could only laugh as I tried to keep up with both of their kisses.

"Lahni move! Mommy loves me more!",Jackson yelled as he pushed his sister off of me.
She fell back on the bed and crossed her arms in defeat.

"Hey tell your sister you're sorry for pushing her.",I said defensively.

Jackson huffed.
"Sorry Lahni."

I smiled.

"So you're not gonna kiss me?",Quan said as he walked into the room with an apron on.

I laughed at his goofiness.
"Ew!",the kids said in unison.

Quan walked over and pecked me on the lips. Earning an annoyed grunt from Jackson.

"How come I can't do that to girls?"

Omniscient

Paulina, Betty, and Quan all sat around the dinner table as they enjoyed drinks and finished off their plates. Life seemed to be going great. Lahni and Jackson played in the living room later than usual.

It was going on ten o'clock, and an unmarked, black, SUV, sat outside the house. Waiting. Watching.

"Well guys, I'm gonna head home. You need any help with the dishes?",Paulina asked as she stood and collected her things.

Betty gave her a knowing look.
"No ma'am. Please, go home.",Betty replied.

Quan nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, Paulina you've been nothing but help to us. We appreciate you having this discussion with us. You know how serious this is for both me and Betty.",Quan said.

Paulina nodded gloomily.
She packed everything except for her phone that was left on the countertop.

"Gosh guys, wish I was young again.",Paulina said admiringly as she greeted them both a goodbye.

After hugging the kids and walking out the door, she drove off. Unknowingly walking right past killers that were parked on the opposite side of the street in the black SUV.

Betty got up and started collecting the dirty plates. Quan sat admiring her shape.

"Betty you got something you wanna tell me?",he asked.

Betty only laughed.
"Kids go get cleaned up for bed! Brush those teeth!"

After a while she could not only hear Lahni and Jackson trampling up the steps, she heard Quan walk into the kitchen with her.

"I know your body Betty. You're probably a month."

Betty only turned around and looked at him knowingly. She hated to admit it but it was true. The kids were upstairs brushing their teeth. Unaware of the danger only seconds away.

And then it happened.

In the middle of everyone's actions, an unexpected BOOM! occurred downstairs. Rocking everything upstairs.

Lahni fell backwards onto the floor as the smoke alarm went off. The house had been bombed downstairs.

As Jacksons hearing came back he went into action. Everything his mother had taught him came rushing into his young mind. A moment that would change him forever.

He turned to his sister and helped her off of the floor. Her arm was bruised and all he could think of is the window. The door. Glass glass glass. And then it hit him. Where's mommy and daddy?

Two streets down at a red light, Paulina realized that she'd left her phone at the house. As the light turned green, she made a U-Turn back to Betty's house.

Jackson carried Lahni down the burning steps. As he slowly walked, he heard gun shots before glass breaking again. He ran behind the steps as two masked people went up. Both holding guns.

"J-Jackson."
Jackson shushed his sister.

"Stay here and don't move.",he told her as she cried silently.

They were well prepared for things like this.

I ran into the burning living room frantically. Only to find it empty.
He ran into a badly burned kitchen. He covered his face and noticed his mother and father laying on the ground. Their faces burned and their bodies motionless. They were holding hands. They were unrecognizable.

That moment changed Jackson for life. He lost all caremfor anyone in the world besides the people he had been raised by.

He tearfully bent down to his mother and father and kissed the charred foreheads before begrudgingly digging in his dad's pockets and fishing out his phone.

And then there was another, smaller boom.

Jackson ran out of the kitchen. Giving his dead parents one last look before running to find Lahni at the glass sliding door.

He passed the collapsed and burning steps and ran out of the house with his sister trailing behind him. They were gasping for air as they left. Jackson held Lahni's hand and the cellphone tightly.

They ran to the street only to be hit with car lights.

It was Paulina.

They were safe.

But whoever did this, wasn't safe.
Jackson swore to himself that night, that he would find who did this.

He stood in the lights as his little sister ran to Paulina. He was frozen, just like his heart.

Mercy for whoever was responsible for this.
He didn't know it yet, but he was 10x as bad as his mother.

And eventually, that side was coming out to play.