Star Bright (37 page)

“
Of course you
do, I’m your father.”

“
Ricky do you
even know the meaning of that word?”

“
The fact that
you exist shows I know the meaning of that word.” he gulped down
his beer, “But please, feel free to educate me. I’m sure the rich
fancy school you go to must have another meaning to the
word.”

“
I’d just be
wasting my time.” he turned to look at Izzy, she was asleep, curled
up in a ball against the wall and using her bunny as a pillow, “If
it doesn’t come from a beer bottle you wouldn’t understand
it.”

Ricky shot off the chair
and threw the bottle against the wall. It broke with a loud sound
as all the tiny pieces and the liquid inside spread everywhere.
Michael stared at him, his eyes full of fear. He moved behind, but
Izzy’s low moan made him move to his original position.

“
Don’t ever
talk to me like that again.” Ricky bellowed loudly, “have some
respect for your father!”

“
You are not
my father!” Michael yelled back.

The yelling woke up Izzy
and she sat up rubbing her eyes, “Mickey?”

Michael stood up, pulling
her up with him and placing her firmly behind him, “its okay Izzy
daddy is coming to save us.”

“
Dave?” Ricky
said his name with disgust, “He’s the daddy your whore of a mother
got you?” jealousy riding him hard. When Michael didn’t answer him
he went on, “Unless he’s superman, he’ll never find
you.”

“
He’ll find
us, I know he will.” Michael said confidently.

“
Well Michael,
if he does come here, I’ll shoot him.” he pulled out a gun and
waved it around in front of him, “And then your new daddy will be
dead.”

“
Daddy!” Izzy
bubbled out laughing.

“
Yes sweet
cheeks, daddy, and he will be dead soon.” Ricky said, after he
crouched down to look at her peeping face behind
Michael.

“
Actually she
was talking to me.” Dave said, stepping into the light.

Ricky jumped up and
pointed the gun towards the voice. Ricky reached back and pulled
Michael in front of him then placed the barrel of the gun directly
above his head. Izzy moved to stand next to Michael, placing her
hand in his.

Dave froze as he stared
at Michael’s scared face. Seeing his daughter standing next to him,
oblivious of what was going on, scared him even more.

“
Wow, you
really do live up to the hype. They said you were good, but I
didn’t think this good.”

Dave tore his eyes from
the gun pointing at his son’s head and looked into Michael’s eyes,
his lips pulled up in a tight smile, “Don’t worry Michael,
everything will be okay.”

Ricky pulled at Michael’s
hair, “You called me dumb, but he’s dumber. No, everything is not
going to be alright.”

“
Izzy, run to
daddy.” Michael spoke with a shaky voice and pushed her
forward.

“
Don’t you go
anywhere you little brat!” Ricky yelled, making Izzy shift fast,
back to Michael’s side and held on tight to him.

“
Don’t you
dare speak to my daughter like that!” Dave yelled, taking a step
closer.

“
Izzy, run
now!” Michael ordered, pushing Izzy some more. She looked at him,
then up at Ricky and back. After a second of deliberating, she
turned around and ran for Dave.

Ricky raised his hand and
pointed the gun at her. Dave moved fast, running for his daughter
as the bullet shot out of the mouth of the gun with a loud
bang.

Maria froze by the car,
the loud gunshot ringing in her ears like an alarm bell. She felt
her chest crush as her breath got shorter and strained, tears
burning her eyes. She could no longer feel the pain in her body as
it was over powered by the stabbing pain in her chest.

“
Honey that
could mean anything.” Edna said with a quivering voice as she
fought the panic squeezing her chest.

When another gun shot
went off Maria sprinted towards the warehouse like a runner. She
fought to keep her head clear, she didn’t want to think of the
worst. Her children were her life now, and if they died, she would
die too.

She stopped when she saw
a cold rigid Miguel holding a gun high. She felt her body shake in
fear when she realized none of the two shots hit Ricky or who else
would her father be holding a gun to?

She took two steps in to
see the person the gun was directed to. Ricky was standing across
the room, the mouth of his gun resting on the tearful
Michael.

“
Mama!” he
cried, struggling to get out of Ricky’s hold.

She choked on her sobs as
she stared at her crying, scared son. The sound of his cry drove a
knife through her heart as she stared at him, powerlessly, unable
to help him.

“
Mama!” he
cried again, but this time he pointed to the ground.

Maria’s eyes shifted down
slowly, Dave was lying on the ground covering Izzy’s entire body
except her tiny little feet. She felt her heart hit hard against
her rib cage as her legs gave way under her and she fell to the
ground gasping for the little air her constricted throat let
in.

She didn’t want to
believe it, but it was there, light as day. Ricky had killed them
both, he had threatened to do it and he did, the only one left for
him to take away from her was her son, and that was going to happen
in a few more seconds.

Her daughter and the love
of her life lay before her lifeless and it was all her fault. The
moment she loved them, she’d condemned them to death, she knew this
would happen, but she was so selfish she hung on to them. She loved
her new life and her new family she didn’t think of the danger she
was putting them in.... yes she did, she just didn’t want to let go
of it.

Her legs, more jelly than
flesh and bone, wouldn’t let her stand up, so she dragged her dead
legs closer to the two still bodies, a weep escaping her lips as
she got closer, “No, please no, please don’t be dead.”

“
Maria, don’t
move any closer.” Miguel whispered, inching forward with
her.

“
You promised
to bring them back to me alive.” she cried louder, “You promised
papa!”

“
Hija.
” he whispered tenderly, as he
leaned down to touch her shoulder, “It’s not what it looks
like.”

She shrugged his hand
away and moved closer stretching to touch Izzy’s foot, “They are
dead aren’t they? How could it not be what it looks like?” she
yelled before she began crying again, “She’s just a baby.” she
sobbed, stroking her foot with the tips of her fingers, “my little
baby.”

“
See Michael,
she replaced you just like she did me.” Ricky snorted out, “She
loves those two more than she loves us.”

“
She may not
love you, but she loves me!” Michael yelled roughly, rubbing his
cheeks dry, “And I hate you too!”

“
You little
brat!” he said, pulling Michael’s hair and making him scream out in
pain, “I should kill you right now!”

Maria’s head shot up when
she heard Michael’s cry. She struggled to her feet and wiped her
tears away. She needed to find a way to save the only person she
had left.

“
Ricky, please
let him go.” she begged. She wanted to move closer to them, but she
couldn’t bring herself to leave Izzy, “It’s me you want to hurt,
not him.”

“
I’ll hurt you
more if I killed your little bundle of joy here.”

“
Mama he’s
supposed to be dead.” Michael asked, puzzled.

“
Don’t worry,
he’s going to be very soon.” Miguel answered.

“
Honey just
calm down.” she stuttered, “Ricky he’s your son too, you can’t hurt
him.” she said with so much anguish.

“
The hell I
can’t! Zorro here just shot me and I can’t think of a better way of
getting revenge!” He said, signaling with his head to his bleeding
arm.

Maria looked down at Dave
and Izzy as Ricky’s words sank in. She only heard two gun shots, if
one bullet was in Ricky’s arm why were both Dave and Izzy on the
ground? She saw blood on Ricky’s shoulder, but she couldn’t see
blood on Izzy or Dave. She felt some hope creep inside her when she
stepped around the two, looking them over, searching for the
slightest sign of blood.

“
As much and
as long as you look at them Maria, they aren’t waking up.” he
laughed, “I just killed two birds with one stone,
literally!”

Maria stopped when she
saw the puddle of blood at Dave’s back. His brown jacket was also
soaked in blood. She felt her heart stop and the little hope she
had seeping out of her as she stared down at the blood. That was
too much blood for one person, too much to lose to stay conscious
for a grown man, for a little girl it meant she was...

She drunkenly turned
around to look at her son and his heartless father, “You’ve taken
enough away from me.” she pointed down, “This is enough to torture
me for a life time.” she sobbed, tears running down her cheeks,
“Please give me back my baby, he’s all I have left.”

“
He was all I
had left too until you took him away from me!” Ricky roared, “The
second I let him go you’ll run with him, again!”

“
No I won’t,
we’ll work it out.” she spoke, moving closer, “Weekends, holidays,
we can spend them together. We’ll work it out, without the guns.”
she choked, “Or anyone else dying, okay?”

“
I’m not
spending any time with this ugly animal!” Michael yelled. Maria
felt her nerves spark at Michael’s boldness to insult a man holding
a gun to his head.

Ricky looked down at him,
his eyes red like a raging bull, “It’s your mother’s fault I’m like
this!”

“
Ricky!” she
called out frantically, “He’s a child, he doesn’t know what he’s
saying.”

Ricky quietly stared at
her for a while before he spoke, “You know the time we spent here
alone, I got to chat with my son and watch how protective he was
over....” he smiled, “your dead blond baby over there.” his grin
widened when he saw the pain in Maria’s eyes, “and I got to
thinking, we have nothing in common.”

“
Thank God!”
Michael exclaimed.

“
He even has a
smart mouth. Are you sure he’s my son?” his amusement quickly faded
away, “Did you cheat on me?”

“
I
wish!”

“
Michael.”
Maria warned. He was picking the worst time to be a smart ass, “he
is your son, you know that.”

Ricky raised his gun and
pointed it at Maria, “You whore, you did cheat on me!”

Maria felt relieved that
the gun wasn’t pointed at Michael’s head, but she felt uneasy
having it pointed at her, “Ricky...” she was cut short when two
loud shots filled the warehouse, it echoed for a few seconds before
there was complete silence again.

Maria watched Ricky’s
eyes go blank before he fell over dragging Michael down with him.
It only took a second for Maria to react once he hit the ground.
She ran to them, knelt down and pulled Michael away from the blood
seeping out the front of Ricky’s shirt. She held Michael against
her and hid his face in her shoulder. She didn’t want him to see
Ricky like that, not because his father had been shot right in
front of him, but because she didn’t want him to have
nightmares.

She lifted Michael up and
carried him, moaning as pain shot through her ribs and shoulders.
She wanted to cry out when Michael held her tighter, but she wasn’t
going to let the pain tear her son out of her arms.

“
I’m so sorry
Michael, this is my entire fault.” she cried, turning to face
Dave’s and Izzy’s body, “I’m so sorry.”

Miguel yelled
in Spanish before he forcefully pulled Michael out of Maria’s
embrace, “You are in pain
hija
and carrying Michael will only make it
worse.”

Maria nodded, stroking
Michael’s hair, “That was very risky.”

“
I’m a good
shot.”

Maria turned and slowly
approached the other half of her family. She choked on a few sobs
as the pain ripped apart her heart, “Not good enough papa.” she
knelt down, put her face in her hands and cried over them
hysterically. This isn’t the happily ever after she dreamed about,
a life without Ricky is what she wanted and now she was going to
have a life without Ricky and Izzy and Dave.

“
Mommy, daddy
heavy.” Izzy’s muffled chirpy voice sang out.

Maria’s head shot up at
her voice. She thought she was dreaming, or she had finally lost
her mind, but when she saw Dave’s arm move, she knew she wasn’t
hallucinating. She slowly pulled Dave’s cold body over to expose
Izzy whose hair was wet and red. Maria pulled her up and hugged her
tightly against her.

“
My baby, my
little baby.” she kissed her cheeks, her nose and her little hands
all the while checking for a bullet hole.

Edna knelt down next to
her with a cloth in her hand, “She’s fine Maria.” she cried out
relieved and began wiping the blood out of her hair.

“
So is he.”
Miguel spoke, kneeling down next to Dave. Miguel put his hand over
Dave’s wound and pressed down hard. Dave woke up screaming before
he was out again, “See.” Miguel said with a smile.