Legacy

Prologue

"Dude," I sighed, seeing dad's car in the parking lot, "it wasn't my ass he was checking out."

"Well, duh. I have a nice one." He checked his watch. "Gotta go. Gramma's gonna want her knitting magazine." He headed for his car.

"Okay, see ya!" Just in time, too. Dad was already coming out with the shopping cart.

"Go ahead and start the damned car," dad said, tossing me the keys.

I nodded and hopped in the passengers seat. The engine revved as I turned the keys in the ignition. He slammed the trunk shut. A sudden weight fell on my shoulder. I froze.

"Don't move," a male's voice growled. I glanced at my reflection in the rearview mirror. The man who passed me the book was right there in the back seat. He had one hand on my shoulder and pointed a gun at my head with the other. "Not a word."

Dad opened the door and slid into the driver's seat. "I don't like you hanging out with those fags," he said, adjusting the radio knobs, but only getting static.

"Just drive to the west highway, and I won't shoot the girl."

Dad jumped and turned to us. "How did you-"

"Do I look like I'm joking?!" The man gripped my neck and shoved the barrel of the gun against my forehead. I shivered beneath his touch.

Dad drew a shaky breath and pulled the car out of the parking lot. I watched as we passed block after block until we reached the highway.

"In a few miles pull over down a dirt road."

"Okay," Dad whimpered.

In about a minute he pulled the car over to the side of the dirt road. The man's hand lifted from my throat and he removed a small bottle and a cloth from his jacket.

"Pour some of that liquid on the cloth and hold it to your mouth and nose," he ordered.

"You want me the chloroform myself?" Dad exclaimed, grabbing the bottle and cloth and raising an eyebrow.

"Do it or your daughter gets a bullet in her pretty little head," he said, running his fingers through my hair and still holding the gun to my temple.

Dad held the wet cloth to his nose and quickly pulled it away, coughing.

"He's having a asthma attack!" I cried.

"Shut up," the man growled, reaching over and pressing the cloth over my father's face. Dad's body shook in protest, but his eyes trained on me as he passed out.

"Your turn." He pulled the cloth away from dad and fixed it in his hand.

Fearing for my life, I sunk my teeth into his wrist and wrenched the gun from his hand. The man let out a loud cry as I jumped out of the car, aiming the gun at him.

"Alright! Out of the car!" I yelled. His hands went up in the air as he hopped out of the car, crunching the dry grass beneath his heavy boots. "Start walking, asshole!" I tried to sound as threatening as possible.

He coughed out a laugh. "Or what? You gon' shoot me?" He took a small step towards me, lowering his hands. "I bet you don't even know how to use that thing." Another step. "I bet you don't even have the guts to pull the trigger."

"Really?" I squeezed the trigger hard and the chamber clicked. I pulled it again. Nothing. I stared down at the thing and it wouldn't shoot no matter how many times I clicked the stupid trigger.

"It's not even loaded, sweetheart," he laughed. As I looked up, he lunged at me. I chucked the gun hard at his head and took off at a sprint.

The rhythm of my feet matched the speed of my thoughts: Fuck you, fuck you, fuck you. I didn't know where I was running, but I had to put some distance between myself and that psychopath.

The sound of a car horn blasted behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Dad's car barreling towards me. My lungs began to burn and my pace slowed to a weak jog. The car pulled up next to me and matched my pace.

My eyes widened as I saw that psycho behind the wheel. I stumbled and tripped over my own feet. The car screeched to a sudden stop and I heard his footsteps approaching me. My knees were scraped from impact and I could hear my heartbeat in my ears.

A grunt escaped my lips as I rolled underneath the car to get away.

The man got on all fours and stared at me. He heaved a sigh. "You're a wild one, aren't you," he chuckled. His fist closed around a clump of my hair and pulled me out to look him in the eye. A smirk stretched across his face as he held up his gun and brought it down on the side of my head.