27. Like A Bad Movie

Chapter 27

Like A Bad Movie

Hunter

“ I may leave some details out because I’ve banked this time of my life away, somewhere in the recesses of my memory,” Megan says, her hands twisting together in her lap.

“That's fine. Just tell me what you remember.”

“Rachel convinced Peter to change the plan and come to our house for my birthday.”

“Your house?”

“Of course, I didn’t know anything about it because she convinced him that it was going to be a pleasant surprise and one that our parents would be fine with.”

“I thought this Peter person already knew that you wouldn’t be comfortable with him getting to know your family?”

“Honestly, I don’t know what Rachel said to him to convince him not to tell me she was coming by the store and that coming to my house would be a good idea. I guess he believed that getting in good with my family would somehow make him closer to me.”

Sounds like a familiar strategy.

“He was wrong. All it did was set off a series of events that turned my life into even more of a shit show than it already was. When he showed up at the house to surprise me, Rachel made some sort of advance toward him, which, of course, he rejected.”

“A romantic advance?”

“I don’t know if she had a crush on him or if she simply wanted him because he wanted me, but when I came home, Peter was in the living room pale as a ghost, and she was in the other room crying to her mother.”

“Dare I ask what happened next?”

“After the initial shock of seeing Peter sitting in my living room, literally ten steps from where I slept on the floor the night before, I tried to convince him to leave. I could tell he was hurt and confused, but I didn’t have time to explain. I just wanted him out.”

“Makes sense.”

“But then, like some kind of bad movie, Rachel tore out of the bedroom and had one of Samuel’s hunting knives in her hand. God, it happened so fast. She ran toward him, without uttering a single sound, and stabbed him twice.”

“Damn.”

“I know.”

“Where was that bitch Veronica?”

“Standing in the doorway of the bedroom, staring at us. She didn’t move. She didn’t talk. She wouldn’t help. She just watched.”

Megan starts rocking back and forth, her hands still wringing in front of her. This is bringing up a type of pain that I’ve never seen her exhibit before, but I allow her to continue.

I allow her to feel it all.

She needs this.

“I tried to protect him. I swear I did, but he was bleeding out so quickly, and I didn’t know what to do.”

“Was he dead?”

“No, it might have been better if he were. His eyes were open, full of fright, and staring pleadingly at mine. He was just a kid, just like me, and he was scared."

"What about Samuel? Where was he?"

"He'd been in the garage, working on one of his cars, and walked in on us. It was the first time in a long time I looked to the monster of my life for help, but I remember feeling so desperate.”

“Help me,” I begged him. “He’s bleeding so much.”

“What the fuck happened?” I remember he asked all three of us. “Who’s this bleeding out on my floor?”

“Megan’s boyfriend,” Veronica said cooly. “He tried to hurt Rachel.”

“That’s a lie!” I remember screaming. “She stabbed him for no reason. Tell him, Rachel!”

“I will never forget what happened next. Without even flinching, Samuel grabbed the knife out of Rachel’s hand, wiped the handle on his jeans, placed it in my hand, and told me to finish the job, or he’ll kill me.”

Tears are rolling down her cheeks, and she’s talking fast, forcing the words out as if she’s desperate to get it over with.

“Megan–”

“I begged them to let me send him to the hospital, but Samuel smacked me hard with an open palm and told me he’d stab me with the same knife if I didn’t do it. He said he wasn't going to let his favorite daughter go to jail, that he’d like nothing more than to be done with a whore like me, and that all I ever did was to cause him problems.”

This is not the direction I thought this story would go. While I remember the asshole referring to some supposed murder Megan committed, I never gave the reality of that any real consideration. Now I see, I underestimated just how evil that man really is.

“I believed him, Hunter. I believed that he was looking for an excuse to be rid of me once and for all, and I wasn’t ready to die, so I pushed the knife into Peter’s stomach as he lay dying, hoping that I was finally ending his pain.”

I push my face into the top of her head and close my eyes. I can’t believe my Megan had to endure such a horrific event. I hate that I can’t turn back time and fix this for her. Fuck, I hate how powerless I feel right now.

“Is there any more?” I ask softly.

“And then I saw the flash as Veronica took pictures of me stabbing him with her phone. And–“

Her voice is faint, and I say firmly, “Finish it. Get it out.”

“Someone in the house behind us heard the screams, knocked on our door, and told us they called the police. This is where things get blurry. I’m not sure if I’m remembering things the way or in the order they happened.”

“You were in shock at that point. That’s perfectly normal. What do you think happened?”

“Rachel and my father trashed the place, and I think Veronica was the one who forced me to wash my hands. I don’t know why they didn’t turn me in. Probably because they changed their mind and thought that I might tell the whole truth to the police. I’m not sure.”

“So Samuel said it was a robbery?”

“Peter was still alive when the ambulance came, and the police believed Samuel’s ridiculous story about us inadvertently being in the middle of a drug deal gone bad.”

“Drug deal?”

“Peter was a teenage boy from the wrong side of our nowhere town. It was easy for Samuel to weave a lie about his daughter getting mixed up with the wrong kind of kid.”

“Understood.”

“For appearances, Veronica took me to the hospital. We waited for four hours in the waiting room, but Peter died of blood loss and fatal injuries. She kept whispering in my ear that whole time that I was responsible. That I killed him. And then something in me broke. I walked out of that hospital waiting area that night with a plan to never come back.”

“So, how did we get from that night to where we are today?”

“Samuel found me six months later. He showed up at my job, making a scene and getting me fired. At first, he threatened to drag me back home, but then he decided it was even better if I stayed away but paid him for the privilege.“

“And why would you ever agree to that?”

“Because of the pictures,” she whispers.

“ Fuckkkk ,” I mutter. “The pictures.”

Megan’s head falls back against my chest, and she feels almost weak.

“But I deserve to be blackmailed by those monsters. I killed my boyfriend, an innocent boy. His family doesn't even know the truth about what happened to him. I deserve worse,” she laments.

"Yet somehow you got me."