Mother's grip around my arm is getting painful every second. "What the hell are you doing here?"
"Why, Mother?" I ask, almost whispering while tears stream down my cheeks. "What have I done to you to deserve this?"
Without answering my question, she drags me to the center of the room, joining trembling Mary who is now sitting on the sofa like a scared kitten. My mother tosses me next to her before walking to the door and locking it. As she turns around, she glares at Mary. "You lied, you little snitch! You said you didn't know where she was."
"I-I can explain, Mrs. Adelson," Mary stammers.
"Explain why you betrayed us?" Mother challenges her, walking slowly in our direction. "Or explain how you are going to pay for this?"
"Mom," Lola calls in a worried tone.
"I can't do this, Mrs. Adelson. This is wrong, and we can get into trouble if we're reported to the police."
"Report us how? If you never open your big mouth, then no one would know about this."
"Please," Mary begs as she shakes her head. "This is just wrong. We can't do this to her."
"It's too late to tell me what you think, young lady. You agreed to do this for money, and now you're trying to talk about what's right or wrong? Such a hypocrite human being." She grabs Mary by the hair, earning a painful yelp from the poor girl. "I knew from the start that I couldn't trust you. Poor people like you are just disgusting and useless."
"Mom. There's no point in screaming in her face now. Her mom might be here soon. We need to figure out what to do next," Lola warns in a sharp voice but from the glint in her eyes, she's as terrified as the rest of us.
"What we're going to do is to get rid of this filthy snitch. She can't be trusted. She's bad for business."
"W-what do you mean by getting rid of Mary?" Lola asks.
Mother sneers at Mary. "Watch me."
"Please don't hurt her, Mother," I beg as I stand up and try to free Mary's hair from her clutch. "I will do anything you ask me to. You can have all my money if that's what you want, but please don't hurt an innocent soul!"
Mother barks into laughter. "Innocent soul, you said? First, she agreed to hurt you for money. Now, she sells information behind my back after her debt is paid. Don't you see what she's doing? She accepts blood money while showing the world she's a saint. Do you call that innocent? You're just as dumb as always, Gretta."
"Please, Mrs. Adelson," Mary begs. "We still can stop this plan. It's not too late. I will give the money back. I promise."
"And how are you going to pay me? With this worthless house that is so close to crumbling?"
"I will find a way. Just give us some time, and we will pay it back."
"The only thing we should do now is to shut your mouth forever." Mother growls at Mary's face.
"No, please." Mary quivers. "There's no point in killing me, Mrs. Adelson. Too many people know about this already."
Mother's eyes are narrowing at her. "What do you mean? Who else knows about this?" When Mary doesn't reply right away, she fastens her grip, making the girl whimper in pain. "Who?"
"M-my relatives and Damien."
Mary's reply is answered by a horror gasp from Lola. "You told Damien?" she asks, the color draining from her face.
"Very well. You chose your own dead-end once you decided to become a traitor." Mother drags Mary across the room and throws her against the wall, causing the whole shed to rattle. In one blink of an eye, my stepmother retracts a black metal gun from her purse, unlocks it, and aims it at Mary. The room falls into silence once everyone realizes what is going on.
"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.