I slow my breathing as I hear her footsteps shuffle closer. When I feel movement on the mattress, my eyes dart open and find Bea standing over me with a gun pointed at my face. Quickly throwing my body to the side, the gunshot rings out in the basement, echoing off the walls.
“You ruin everything!” she screams at me.
I only have so much space to move around, so I grab the small mattress and screwdriver, while I pull it up in front of my body for protection as another round gets fired.Fuck!My leg feels like it’s on fire, and I cry out, falling as I drag the mattress down with me. Isee the blood pooling down my leg, and I grit my teeth. Scooching across the floor, I move back toward the pole where my chain is attached.
My leg is throbbing, and the pain in my hand is begging me to drop my makeshift shield, but if I do, I’m as good as dead. The mattress doesn’t offer much protection, but it’s better than nothing.
“I ruined nothing!” I shout back, listening for any indication of where she is. When I hear her laugh, I know she’s moving closer.
“I’m tired of waiting. I want to see the light leave your eyes!”
“If you kill me, I won’t be able to sign those papers,” I try to reason with her.
“Doesn’t matter now. If you’re dead, I’ll just go through the courts for him.”
Shit.Lowering the mattress, I see her take aim and throw it at her. Before the shot goes off, the mattress hits Bea, knocking the gun out of her hand, and it scuttles across the floor. She turns to grab it, and I lunge.
Sinking the screwdriver I sharpened earlier into her shoulder, she howls in pain as I pull her back toward me. Turning in my arms, she smacks me in the face and shoves me backward. I trip over the chain at my ankle, and my head hits the pole. The impact ricochets through my skull, but I ignore the pain. Pulling the screwdriver out of her shoulder, she glares at me as blood runs down her arm.
“You little bitch,” she spits. “You’ll pay for that.”
I brace for impact as Bea swings at me with her cane, connecting with my ribs. White-hot pain spreads through my chest, and I fall to the side. Refusing to go down without a fight, I lift my foot and shove it into her knee. She howls in pain as she drops to the floor beside me.
Jumping on top of her, I pry the screwdriver from her hand. I cannot die in this shitty basement. I didn’t deal with years of my parents’ abuse to not live a long and happy life. The need to see Noah and Atlas gives me the strength to ignore the pain in my body, which is screaming at me to quit. If I quit, I’m dead.
Grabbing hold of the screwdriver, I lean back over her and hold it to Bea’s neck. “Enough!” I scream, pressing it tighter, breaking theskin—small droplets of blood rise to the surface. “I swear to God, Bea, I’ll kill you.”
She tries to buck me off, but I hold on to her tighter. My leg throbs, but I refuse to give up. My knees are on either side of her torso, trying to keep her pinned in place.
“You’re going to give me the key to unlock myself, and you’re going to leave Noah and me alone forever. Do you understand me, you old bitch? I’ve had enough of you.” I tilt my face closer to hers. “Or I can kill you right here. You don’t deserve to live. Your evil deserves to die, but I want to see you punished for what you’ve done.”
Bea freezes underneath me, and I think I’m finally getting to her, but she catches me off guard with an evil smile. “And how will you do that when you’re dead?” she asks with a glint in her eye.
“I’m going to walk out of here, and you’re going to jail, old woman,” I promise her. “Now give me the key.”
“It’s in my pocket,” she spits.
Keeping the screwdriver pressed into her neck, I watch her as my hand moves back. I can’t afford to take my eyes off her, but when I hear a sound outside, it grabs my attention.
“Cora!” the voice screams. That sounds like Atlas, but there’s no way it can be him. No one knows where I am.
Bea’s eyes flare, and she starts moving underneath me, taking advantage of my distraction. She rotates to the side, trapping me under her. I try to shove her off, but I can only move so much, and worst of all, I lose my weapon in the shuffle.
“They’re too late,” she yells, grabbing my head and smashing it against the basement floor.
The pain is indescribable, and sharp. I try to shove her away, but Bea winds her hands around my throat and starts to choke me. There’s crashing sounds upstairs, but I must be hallucinating.
My hands scrabble on the floor as I try to feel for the screwdriver. Pushing Bea off is proving more difficult by the minute. I try to call out, but myairflow is restricted, and she smacks my head off the floor again.
My vision is starting to blur, and spots are fluttering in front of my eyes. I can’t breathe. If I’m going to die, her face won’t be the last thing I see. I can’t hear the words she is saying, even though her lips are moving.
My eyes dart to the sides, and I spot the screwdriver lying just beyond my fingers. Bea is yelling in my face, spittle flying everywhere, but I can’t get her off me. No matter how much I buck my hips or claw at her hands, she just smiles and squeezes tighter. Moving my hand to the side, I feel around for it. Shoving my panic deep down, I try to focus one last time.
My fingers fumble around on the cement floor, and then I feel it—the cool metal rod. With what little strength I have left, I grab the screwdriver with my hand and thrust it into the side of Bea’s neck. Almost instantaneously, her hands leave my throat, and I barely register the look of shock on her face when she pulls it out, covering us both in blood. Good. If I’m going to die, at least she is too.
She slumps over on top of me, blood gushing out of her wound, and as much as I want to push her away, I can’t. I’m so tired and my world is fading to black. This is it. Before I die, I beg God to grant me this one wish. It’s two parts, but given the situation, I hope he can oblige me.
I wish for Noah to be safe and for Atlas to forgive me and find peace.
