Vincent:
My body froze entirely as I listened to the persistent knocking on the front door. The clock on the wall showed that it was past two in the morning, so I had to wonder who in the hell would come here at this time of night. I pressed my body against the door and peered through the peephole, but all I could see was a dark silhouette.
Violet shouted into her tape as loud as she possibly could and made a run for the door, while Dad sat there as quiet as a statue. He was never the kind of ask for help, even if he knew his life was in danger.
I kicked the back of Violet's leg and she fell back to the floor, but the commotion was enough to catch the uninvited person's attention. The knocks on the door became louder and I raised the pistol in front of me when the door was eventually kicked in.
Standing on the other side was a large man. There was a cigar hanging out of his mouth and a shotgun in his hands. His green eyes landed on me first, then he turned his attention to Violet and Dad.
I waited for him to point his shotgun at me so he could set them free, but instead he laughed and ran his hand through his white hair. "Jesus Christ." He said, his voice gruff and full of amusement. "I've seen plenty of domestic disputes in my day, but this one really takes the whole fuckin' cake."
I pointed the pistol at him. "Who are you?"
He placed the shotgun against the wall and raised his hands up. "Easy, kiddo. I'm not trying to stop whatever the hell this is. I'm looking for Victor."
Dad tensed in his seat and he mumbled something inaudible, which caused the stranger to smirk. "Oh damn, is that you under all that tape, Victor?" He shook his head and chuckled. "I never thought I'd see the day that you were a dumbass in distress."
The stranger looked back at me and said, "You mind if I take the tape off his mouth for a minute? There are some things I need to talk to this asshole about."
My fear was replaced with confusion. "Who the heck are you and how do you know my dad?"
"Your dad and I go way back, kid." The smirk left his face and his eyes were filled with guilt. "Seven years ago he paid me to run over his own mother."
"W-what?" My knees buckled underneath me and I had to grab hold of the dining room table to keep from falling. "You're the one who killed her?"
"I'm not proud of it." He said, rubbing the back of his neck. "Your dad offered me a lot of money."
"I don't believe this." I threw my hands on my head and began pacing back and forth. This whole time I thought grandmother's death was a tragic accident due to drunk driving, and now I'm finding out that my own father had her killed.
I stepped in front Dad and ripped the tape off of his mouth. "What do you have to say for yourself!?"
Dad ignored my question and decided to address the stranger instead. "How are you still alive? I thought I had you killed in prison, Francis."
"Your goons stabbed the shit out of me, but one of the guards stopped them before they could take me out. I had to spend two months in the infirmary to recover from the wounds, two miserable months of nothing to look at but Nurse Beth's fat ass."
"You've come to kill me then?"
"I was going to." Francis admitted, "But it looks like your kid beat me to the punch."
"Wait a minute!" My voice echoed through the room like a roar from a lion. This situation had gone from being tense to rather ridiculous. "You're saying that you want him dead as much as I do?"
Francis nodded. "Yep. That's about the size of it."
Relief washed over me and my tense body relaxed. I stuck the pistol in my back pocket and extended my hand out to Francis. "I want to make a deal."
"I'm listening, kid."
"Help me make him suffer before he dies and I'll pay you three million dollars in cash."
His eyes widened in disbelief for a moment, then he took the cigar out of his mouth and smiled. "That's very tempting, but how do I know I can trust you?"
"Because I don't give a shit about the money. I just want to get rid of this monster once and for all."
"You're still a coward, boy." Dad taunted, "Making someone else do the dirty work so your hands can stay clean."
I backhanded his face. "Shut the fuck up!"
Francis placed his hand on my shoulder. "You know what? I'll help you kill your old man, but I don't want any money from you."
"Why not?"
"I can tell this asshole has been fucking with your mind for a long time." His eyes softened and his grip on my shoulder tightened. "Besides, I'm the jerk who killed your grandma, and I want to make it up to you. Would you let me do that?"
My mouth opened, but I couldn't answer. For years I have fantasized about killing the man who stole my grandmother from me, and now that I've actually met him I realize that he's not that bad of a guy.
There was sincerity behind his rough face. He truly was sorry for what he had done.
I smiled and shook his hand. "Okay, but if later you decide you want the money-"
"I'll let you know."
"Good."
He smiled again and took a puff from his cigar, then he looked over at Violet. "What's the deal with this one? Do you want her dead too?"
Violet stared up at me pleadingly and I found myself struggling to come up with an answer. Sure, she did kill my best friend and she deserved to die, but she had also been brainwashed by Victor.
Could I really hold her accountable?
Francis kneeled beside her and looked into her tear filled eyes. "She's too young to die, kid. Don't you think you should let her go?"
"She killed my best friend."
"Oh, I see." He took Violet by the arm and pulled her off of the floor. "I'll kill her too if you want, but at least let me hear her side of the story."
"Alright, fine." I conceded, although I was doing it more for myself than him. I carefully peeled the tape from her mouth and took her face into my hands. "I am giving you a chance to come out of this alive, Violet. Tell me why you deserve it and I'll let you go."
She puffed her lip out like a small child and leaned her head in my chest. "Daddy made me do it!"
"You lying little bitch!" Dad growled, "You enjoyed stabbing her as much as you enjoyed watching me screw her brains out."
Francis grimaced. "What the fuck!? You really are one sick bastard, aren't you, Graves?"
"I don't have to answer to you."
"No, I guess you don't." Francis picked his shotgun up and shoved the barrel into Dad's mouth. "In fact, I don't want to hear another word from your sorry mouth until we get this shit straightened out."
"Thanks." I nodded at him gratefully before making Violet look back up at me. "Are you sorry that you killed her?"
"Yes!" She cried, throwing her arms around me. "I never wanted to hurt her! You have to believe me, baby brother."
"She sounds sincere." Francis said, "Why don't you let her go before you do something you regret."
Violet began sobbing uncontrollably and I actually felt sorry for her. What if Francis was right? What if I regretted killing her later on? I knew Dad deserved what he was getting, but Violet was so vulnerable.
"Okay, I'll let you live. But if you breathe one word of this to anyone-"
She picked up her head. "I won't! I promise!"
"You'd better not." I shoved her away from me and pointed towards her bedroom. "Now get the hell out of here before I change my mind."
"Are you really going to kill Daddy?"
"Yes."
"Well, can I at least kiss him goodbye?"
"Fine, whatever."
She smiled at me and planted a kiss on Dad's cheek before walking down the hall and into her room. I looked back at Francis and he said, "You ready to make the old man suffer?"
"Yes."
So we did. We used the small knife to cut Dad all over his body, and Francis used his cigar to burn his face. His screams filled the house and I couldn't help but enjoy each and every one of them. He was finally suffering like he had made so many suffer.
Every time I used the knife to cut him I thought about mom. I thought about how he beat the shit out of her almost every day for no reason.
I went into the living room and grabbed one of his belts, wrapping it around his neck. "Remember that night you nearly choked mom to death because she accidentally burned the roast?" I squeezed tighter and watched as his face turned red. "You wrapped this belt around her neck and forced me to watch!"
I held him like that for several seconds, relishing his choked cries of agony, until I felt a sharp pain in my shoulder blade. I turned around and gasped when I saw Violet standing there with a bloody knife in her hand, her face adorned with a wicked smile.
"You stupid fucker!" She screamed, "Did you really think I was going to let you kill him!?"
The belt fell from my hand and I collapsed.
She stood over me and raised the knife in the air. "I may as well tell you, baby brother. I enjoyed listening to Katherine beg for her life. She was so pathetic!"
"No..." I put my hands over my ears. I didn't want to hear it.
"She screamed your name right before I brought the knife across her throat. She wanted you to save her."
She laughed manically and lunged at me with the knife. "Goodbye, baby brother!"
"I don't think so, bitch!" Francis picked up his shotgun and fired it into her chest, sending her flying across the room.
Her blood splattered the walls and I could see her legs twitch before she stopped moving.
She was dead.
Francis kneeled beside me and took me into his arms. "I'm sorry, kid. I didn't see her coming."
"It's okay. I don't think she stabbed me too deep. I should be fine."
"This actually works out anyway." He said as he helped me sit up. "When the police get here they'll think that I stabbed you, then it won't seem so suspicious that you're the only one who survived."
"What are you talking about?"
He wrapped his arm around me until he was certain that I was able to sit up on my own. "I'm not gonna let you go down for these murders, kid. It has to look like I attacked you or else this won't work."
"No." I said, "You can't go to prison for this. You can still get out of here before anyone finds out."
"Why? So you can rot in prison for the rest of your life?"
I shook my head. "I'm not going to prison. When this is finished....I'm going to shoot myself."
"Fuck that!" He slammed his fist on the floor and stared at me with tears in his eyes. "Don't you dare kill yourself because of these shit heads. You're a good kid who deserves better than that."
"No, he's not." Dad laughed, shaking his head.
Francis stood up and punched him in the jaw. "You must be out of your damn mind. Shut the fuck up."
"Why don't you make me, big man? I'm tired of listening to you pity my shitty son anyway."
Francis looked at me and I nodded my head. He picked up his shotgun and pressed it against Dad's sweat covered forehead, laughing as he pulled the trigger. My eyes widened as I watched fragments of Dad's skull blast across the room. His head had been completely blown off of his shoulders.
I threw my hand over my mouth and tried to hold back my vomit, but it gushed out between my fingers and on to the floor.
Francis pat me on the shoulder and helped me stand to my feet. "It's over, kid."
****
Francis tied me up with the duct tape before making an anonymous call to the police with his disposable cell phone. When the police arrived, they tackled him to the ground and immediately arrested him.
I hated that he would have to go back to prison, but he told me that he functioned better in there than he did in the real world. I told the police that he had broken into the house and shot Violet and Dad, and that I was only alive because I begged him not to kill me. The police officers believed my story and took me to the hospital, where I stayed for two days.
I couldn't believe that my entire family was dead. I had nothing in the world but the money that was left to me by grandma. I knew she would've wanted me to use it on a college education, so that was exactly what I intended to do. Eventually, I would be able to move on from all of this and make a new life for myself. I would become a psychologist, just as I have always dreamed, and I would be able to help people.
And I would meet a beautiful girl that would stay with me forever.....