Dysfunction (Discontinued)

Flashback 6 (Revamped)

" Do what I do. Look ", I breath in through my nose and out of my mouth deeply with my hand on her chest guiding her breathing. She shakily follows my lead and her eyes look at me wide in the dark with panic, desperately trying to acclimate to the situation. Her fists are balled up in my shirt as she mimics my breathing technique. After about 10 times she's still panting and crying but she's panicking less than before. I turn her around so that her back is to my chest as we lay in the back seat. I turn on the light in the car and pull out a newspaper clipping from my pocket. She's still squirming and hiccuping trying to leave my grasp.

" Bia Bia..look. Look ", I pull out a news paper clipping and hold it to her face.

" I can't read this can you help me ? ", I try to distract her with a task. She needed to find something she had control over to bring herself back down from this panic.

" Erik I can't —", she cries harder beginning to claw out of my grasp.

" No, no look. Look. It's about me look. Can you tell me what it says. See here ", I hold the paper clipping in front of her pushing it closer.

" Us Navy seal Erik Stevens age....", I start for her.

No response.

" No I really can't read it Bia. Us Navy seal Erik", I start again. She sniffles for a bit longer.

" Age 23 won a medal for his extraordinary hhhheroism after he and his unit saved 13 children from a kidnapping ring in Baghdad. The attackers completely surrounded the t-team and Stevens managed to out smart the attackers with bombs that set off a chained reaction, isolating the attackers. E-Erik's plan saved the lives of the children and his team leaving them unharmed with n-no fatalities or injuries ", her voice shook as she read.

" What else? here look ", I point to the next passage.

" When asked about how he knew that children were in this building he says it was a "sixth sense or maybe divine intervention ", said Stevens. Stevens photo can be seen on page 6 ", she sniffled. She's noticeably less panicked than before.

" See ? ", I lean over to look at her wiping the tears from her face. It was no use she kept silently crying.

" Am I a bad person Erik ? ", she sniffled. I sigh holding her to my chest even firmer.

" Nah...you ain't a bad person Bia. Although you'll quickly come to find that being a " good person" is over rated. But he got what was coming to him. Bryson hurt a lot of people who looked like you and me. You gave other peoples justice by taking him out. You know how many girls on campus that he's probably already hurt ? He was a disease and you ended the suffering of a lot people by pulling that trigger B ", I explain.

" Then why don't I feel better ? ", she hiccuped.
I have no answer for her. I continued to hold her as her cries went from whimpers to sighs and more sniffles.

" Am I going to prison ? ", She asks in an almost childlike voice. I chuckle.

" No you aren't going to jail. My finger prints were all over that gun. Even if we were caught I would take the blame. It's registered in my name and even THEN. Bryson and his house niggas are taken care of. Nobody will find them. You ever heard of something called sulfuric acid ? ", I ask her. She looks up at me curiously.

" They'll be liquid by brunch time  ", I said flatly.

" Okay but I still don't think that killing them was necessary. I'm just as bad as him if I—", I cut her off.

" He killed your boyfriend in front of you. And then he threatened to r*pe you Bia? ", I explain louder.

" He said only if I told anyone —", I cut her off again becoming upset.