Love Gone (5 page)

Waiting to see if someone else would
run around the house, alerted to the sounds of someone escaping out
the window. When no one appeared, he kept on pushing at the screen.
Making it give the leeway he needed to climb out.

Finally he felt like he could get
through. It would be tight, but he had always been a small guy,
taking after his petite mom rather than his bear of a dad. For the
first time he was actually grateful that he couldn’t seem to put on
weight or inches. Grateful that he was small and looked a lot
younger than his 15 years.

“Please come with me mom,” he begged
her one more time. It didn’t feel right to slip out of this
nightmare and leave his mom behind in it.

She shook her head no and waved him
on.

“Call the police Liam,” she told him
one more time. As if he needed reminding.

With one last look at her frightened,
tear stained face he dragged his chair over to the window to give
him more leverage to stand on and he crouched on the sill, standing
on the bent crushed screen, poised to jump.

“Jump,” his mom shouted suddenly.
“Jump Liam!”

He only had time to see his bedroom
door creaking open as she tried to hold it closed. He could see a
ringed hand pushing its way through the crack and gripping the
door. A hand that wasn’t his dads.

He jumped.

CHAPTER 6

As she saw her son leap out his window
and heard the muffled thud as he hit the snow covered ground, Faith
felt only relief. All her fear and shock at the horror of the
situation was flooded with a deep thankful sigh of relief. Her son
was out. No matter what would happen to her and Mac, at least Liam
was safe.

She was jolted back to her own reality
by the shuddering insistent push of the door against her shoulder.
She felt this strangers hand scramble to her shoulder and grip
tightly. If she’d heard someone describing the situation she
wouldn’t have believed it, but she could smell him. She could
actually the smell the stink coming off him. The stink of
adrenaline and the bitter copper of blood was forcing its way into
her nostrils and it made her stomach turn with dread.

Faith pushed with all her might,
hoping she could break his wrist in the door. She heard him yelp
and saw his hand recoil.

“Mac!” She screamed. “Mac?”

At the sound of her voice the hand
snapped back and the door slammed with a thud. She fell against it,
trying to lock it again but it was too far broken. The door jamb
itself was splintering where it had been battered.

She held her breath trying to stay as
silent as possible. Was Mac out there? Had he gone for help? She
couldn’t imagine that he would have left her and Liam in this room,
defenseless and alone. It was possible that he hadn’t known she was
there. It’s not like they’d had a moment to discuss battle strategy
before this crazy onslaught of terror had begun. She’d operated on
pure animal instinct. Throwing herself into Liam’s room, trying to
stop in from unknowingly putting himself into harms way.

He wouldn’t have left her. She knew
that. Mac had been her soul mate, her reason for living, for the
last 20 years. They’d met after high school in Boston. They were
both from the rough and tumble south side. Her a little less rough,
a little less tumble than he was. He’d loved her from the moment he
saw her. That’s what he’d always told her and she believed him. She
knew it was true because she knew him, knew his heart, as well as
she knew her own heart. He wouldn’t leave her. No more than she had
left him to run to the neighbors with Liam. He had to be out
there.

The only way he would let this monster
get this close to her would be if he was hurt. How could that be?
The thought confused her, even though she knew he was just a man,
he could be hurt. She knew the logic of it even as her mind refused
to believe it. Mac just wasn’t the type of guy who got hurt. He
finished fights, he didn’t lose them. It had always been that way.
When it came to defending his family, nothing would be able to stop
Mac. But, if that was true then why was the door shuddering at the
edges again? Why was this crazy man trying to force his way into
this room?

“Faaaiiithhhh…” He whispered, just on
the other side of the door.

She jerked her head away from the
door. Away from that voice.

“Faith Bryneeeee” He gave a pigs
squeal to the last syllable of her surname.

“Stop it!” she screamed. She couldn’t
help it. She couldn’t stand hearing his voice say her
name.

He answered her with laughter. Then a
polite knock on the door.

“Mrs. Byrne there’s a Mr. Asher here
to meet a Mr. Liam Byrne. Is he in?”

Her face went pale. This animal knew
her son’s name. He knew this was his bedroom. Why did he know that?
Did he know that Liam had escaped? Was he playing with them with
this crazy butler impression? She stayed silent. All her weight
pressed against the door. Praying it stayed closed until Liam got
the police here.

The door banged again. He was pounding
on it now, using both his fists. Where was Mac?

“Open up bitch. You and I need to have
a little conversation. Parent to parent. You met my angel earlier
this evening. Your son almost killed her, the way I hear it told
around the campfire. Open up.” He kicked the door to emphasize his
words.

Faith was in shock. This was because
of the accident? This was Emily’s father? No wonder the girl had
seemed scared and evil. The apple didn’t fall far from the
tree.

No sooner had she thought the girl’s
name when Faith saw her face appear outside the broken bedroom
window. She was as sad and solemn standing outside in the dark with
only the light from the bedroom casting an eerie glow to her
face.

“I told you,” she said. “I told you
and him to be careful.”

Faith just stared at her. Her mind
wouldn’t accept it. It felt like a nightmare. Something she could
wake up from. Nobody was terrorized over a fender bender. It just
couldn’t be happening. But, even as she repeated it to herself her
body was jolted with a sharp push from the door. He was kicking it
down.

She couldn’t just sit there. This
wasn’t a nightmare, it was real and she needed to do something.
Earlier that evening Mac had teasingly warned her not to be a hero.
She’d been quick enough to assure him that she wasn’t a hero, but
now only a couple of hours later she prayed she could
be.

She’d saved one son tonight, now it
was up to her to save her other child. The baby growing inside her.
They didn’t even know if it was a boy or a girl. She and Mac had
wanted to be surprised so they’d asked not to be told. Now she
wished she knew if she was fighting to save her daughter or her
younger son.

Frantically she looked around the room
for something to do battle with. Something sharp or heavy, she
thought. She’d never cursed her son’s distaste for sports until
this moment. Why hadn’t they forced Liam to take up baseball or at
least bought him a bat to encourage him? Now she was left with
nothing to defend herself. In frustration she threw a heavy book at
Emily, still standing silently at the window, just staring in at
her as if she was watching a macabre play or television
show.

“Get the fuck out of here you bitch,”
Faith screamed at her. “Why are you doing this to us?”

Even as she screamed it she knew it
didn’t matter. Maybe this crazy father and daughter duo waited for
a reason to attack, no matter how small, or maybe it was random,
they’d target anyone who made eye contact with them on a bad day.
Maybe their minor accident had set them off in some deep disturbed
way.

She had no way of knowing what had
really started this psychotic time bomb ticking, but that didn’t
mean she wanted this crazy teenager staring at her while she fought
for her life. She might not be able to keep the father out, but she
sure as hell wasn’t going to roll over and play dead for the
daughter, a girl barely older than her own son.

With a grunt she pushed the dresser in
front of the door. God bless this old house she thought. The door
was cracking, but it was withstanding a lot of abuse. It was
holding on. It would take that monster a little effort to really
knock it down. And the dresser should help. It should buy us some
time.

The door blocked for now she lunged,
screaming, at the window. She flew at Emily who stood there staring
at her a moment in shock. It was clear the girl hadn’t expected her
to fight back so viciously. Had she really expected Faith to just
sit back and let her and her psychotic father to ruin her life by
hurting the only people she loved?

Her hands and arms were outstretched
almost without her realizing it. They were like two arrows bound
for Emily’s neck, her heart, her eyes. Anything they could hurt or
strike at they would. Her hands were weapons, fueled by adrenaline
and rage.

She reached through the broken window,
just as Emily turned and started to run. With a primal scream Faith
leaped out the window the way that Liam had done bare minutes
before and with a cry fell into the snow and ice below. She twisted
her ankle standing up, but she barely felt the sharp stab of pain
as she lurched to her feet and started to run around the house
after Emily.

She couldn’t think what had happened
to Mac inside. Couldn’t pause to wonder what would happen when
Emily’s father managed to come through the bedroom door. At this
moment all of her fear and hatred and disbelief at the horrific
turn of events was concentrated on one person. Emily. She raced
across the yard screaming her name, “Emily!”

Out of the corner of her eye she could
see the front door opening across the street and next door. Her
neighbors were coming out onto their porches, eyes wide with shock
at the site of her running screaming in her yard. Finally they had
responded to the commotion. What had they thought was going on
behind closed doors of her home when they had been doing battle
with the crazy man? Domestic violence? Were they just trying to
stay out of it? Well, welcome to the party she thought.

“Help!” She cried loudly, “We’re being
attacked. Call 911! Call 911!”

She shouted and screamed, standing
still finally now, appealing to her shocked innocent neighbors
where they stood in their doorways and windows. Was the whole
street at alert now?

Farther down the block she heard Liam
cry, “Mom! I called the police. Are you okay? Where’s
dad?”

Relieved she turned in his direction
and drank in the sight of him standing in the brightly lit doorway
of their favorite neighbor, Mr. Jackson. Bill Jackson was a big
man; a logger, and as such he was even rougher and tougher than her
own husband. She could see him now coming out from behind Liam
clutching his rifle and coming down the street at a run. Finally
some help!

It seemed like finding it had taken
hours, but she supposed it had only been minutes since Liam had
knocked on Bill’s door and told him what was happening. She
wouldn’t be bitter that she and Mac had had to wait for this help.
She only knew that she needed to find Mac now. His absence was
confusing and frightening. She couldn’t face the thought of what it
might mean that he wasn’t out here with her.

And where was Emily? That little bitch
had bolted like a scared cat and now she was nowhere to be found.
At the thought she heard a car starting up from behind her, on the
other side of the garage. No wonder they hadn’t been able to see it
from Liam’s window when this nightmare first started.

She turned at the noise and screamed
for Bill, “It’s them!” she pointed at the car. “Bill, they’re
getting away. Bill, help!”

She pointed breathlessly, feeling
completely powerless. They couldn’t just drive away could they? In
answer she heard the distant wail of sirens coming closer. Finally,
the cavalry. But would they be too late?

Bill was streaking toward her. Running
as fast as he safely could down the icy streets with a weapon. As
she ran she could hear him calling to the other neighbors who were
still just standing in shock on their porches, mouths open at the
scene playing out before them.

“Alan, Pete, Lloyd!”He called in fury,
“Don’t just stand there. Grab your weapons! The Byrne’s are in
trouble. Help us for god’s sake!”

Jolted into action by his words and
the sound of the approaching sirens, she could see her neighbors
erupting into a flurry of action. Beyond caring, she screamed and
ran at the silver Toyota that was spinning out in the roundabout at
the end of their street. He was trying to turn around and get away.
She couldn’t let him get away, not without understanding why and
who had swept in and tried to destroy her family!

She slipped and slid on the icy
streets as she tried to keep advancing toward the beat up car.
Behind the wheel she could see a man grinning and next to him sat
Emily, her face a mask of terror as she stared through the
windshield at Faith. The man hit the gas and pointed the car at
Faith where she stood in the middle of the road.

Frozen she could see him coming
straight at her, laughing, and then suddenly she was knocked to the
ground, her neighbor Bill on top of her where he’d fallen after
pushing her out of the way of the speeding car. She stared up at
him wild eyed and he leapt up, pulling her unceremoniously to her
feet.