Talon, Phantom, and Matchbox are all honed in on my ex and the air crackles with imminent danger. Trent, however, seems utterly oblivious as usual. I’ve always thought his pride would be his downfall, and with the way these men are looking at him, I’m about to be proven right.
“The girls, Trent. Where. Are. They?” I grit out as anger like I’ve never known ignites deep inside my chest cavity. I feel downright murderous.
“Would you calm down, alright? They’re with that neighbor of yours. Mrs. Hannibal. You weren’t home, so what was I supposed to do?”
“Hannigan, you imbecile! Her name is Mrs. Hannigan. And you could have, I don’t know, actually taken them out trick or treating like you said you would instead of ditching them for some hot piece of ass, again.” I’m done with niceties. Done being a doormat for this waste of space and too hurt by my supposed best friend to even look at her. I’ve had enough and need to know that my daughters are safe. My fingers grip my phone that displays a prominent new crack across the screen as I dial up my neighbor thanking the stars that I have a fucking signal. Each ring of the dial tone feels like an eternity. Finally, on the fifth ring, she answers, sounding like I’ve woken her.
“Hi, Mrs. Hannigan, I’m so sorry to wake you, but are the girls there? This is Olivia.” My words sound rushed to my ears as I wait for her reply.
A shuffling noise fills the earpiece and then, “Oh, yes. That sperm donor of theirs came by earlier tonight. Said he had some sort of emergency, and you were out. They’re asleep now, don’t worry.”
Relief rushes through me and I want to crumple into the floor. “Thank you. I’ll be there soon.”
“No rush. They’re sleeping so soundly. Besides, with how hard you work, you deserve a night off for once.” Tears sting at my eyes.
“Thank you.” We hang up and I feel a rush of gratitude that we are lucky enough to have a Mrs. Hannigan in our lives. The girls love her to pieces, and she’s become like an adopted grandma to the girls since my own parents have long since passed, and Trent’s parents are just as absent as their dead-beat son.
A strong hand finds its way to my lower back rubbing a small comforting circle as I calm myself down enough to face my ex, who has the nerve to be nuzzling against Callie’s throat.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.” I practically growl as the anger rises. I’m vibrating with it, feeling the pure white-hot rage from years of disappointments and countless hours of frustrations. Is this what my children have to look forward to? A lifetime of being saddled with a man who can’t even manage to spend a few hours with them?
No.
No more.
They deserve more than that, and so do I.
I don’t even realize the moment my fingers clutch around the axe sitting in Matchbox’s grip, but there they are yanking it away from him. And almost like I’m seeing myself from afar, I watch in horror, and a small amount of awe, as I see my body take a swing at my ex, lodging the weapon directly in his spine.
The noise he makes is inhumane.
He crumples as Callie runs off screaming, only to be grabbed and restrained by Phantom.
“Let me go! What the hell, Olivia?” Callie screams, but I ignore her, stepping around the body of my ex as he struggles for breath.
Blood bubbles out of Trent’s mouth and slides down his stubbled chin. The axe sits lodged in his skin so deep, I know it hit bone. It takes a great amount of strength to wrench it out of him and when I do, I see my hands bloodstained and shaking. But as I look down at him, glassy eyed and covered in his blood, I don’t feel a hint of remorse.
“Wait.” He croaks out, but I’m done listening. Done with his plethora of excuses that never can make up for what he’s put us through.
“Fuck you, Trent.”
The blade to the axe comes down on his neck, slicing cleanly through his jugular and ending him on the spot. Head removed from his body.
I fall to my knees next to his lifeless body and take his hand in mine.
“I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it has to be.” I whisper to him, as if he can still hear me. None of this feels real, but deep down I know that it is, and I’ve just taken my girls father from them. I hope that they can forgive me. I hope they can see that I did it for them. So they won’t have to grow up accepting that kind of treatment from someone who is supposed to love them unconditionally, not just whenever it’s convenient for them. Come to think of it, I don’t think Trent ever really loved the girls, or me. He just used us. We were nothing but building blocks to him on his way to the life he thought he deserved.
Only now that life will be buried six feet deep.
Standing, the axe feels heavy in my hands. I twirl it around like a cheerleader with a baton sending a splattering of Trent’s blood in the air.
“You know, Callie, I trusted you.” I start off, watching her squirm against Phantom’s hold. “You’ve seen how he’s treated me and the girls.” I shake my head with disbelief —tears stinging at my eyes.
Memories of our friendship flit like a video montage in my brain wondering how long she’s been fucking him.
“I expect this kind of shit from Trent, but not from you. Why, Callie?”
She doesn’t answer, but instead looks at me with no emotion emanating from her perfectly made-up face, jaw shut tight around her crimson painted lips. Her dyed black hair looks almost blue in the moonlight, and I feel in that moment my heart begins to crack at what I thought was a lifelong friendship turning to dust before me. This level of betrayal that I never thought possible has rendered me murderous and unrecognizable. Before I came to this place, I only thought that I could take a life under the most dire of circumstances, such as saving my kids. But after the night I’ve had being tormented and pleasured by real life monsters, a part of me has been awakened. Capable of an evil that should frighten me.
