The Boy Who Paints Me (30 page)

"Shut up! I've heard enough lies from you for one day," he said as he shoved me forward so that I tumbled into Leighton's arms.

"I've got you," he whispered before pushing me behind him. Aunt Sarah pulled me into her arms immediately as we both cried.

"Awww look
its happy families, how sickeningly sweet," Mitch chuckled.

"Put the gun down," a familiar voice said.

"Welcome to the party," Mitch chuckled without even turning around.

"Mom, what are you doing here?" I said in shock.

"Shut up, Rainie. I said, put the gun down," she repeated as she held a gun in her hand, pointing it towards Mitch.

"Oh, this is brave for you, angel," he said as he slowly placed the gun on the floor. "I'm impressed."

"Shut up and slide it to me," she growled as she kept her gun and eyes pointing at him.

He slid
the gun towards her feet before slowly standing up and turning to face her.

I was in complete shock, I had no idea what was happening anymore. I watched as my mom gently kicked Mitch's gun towards the barn doors as she took a step towards him.

"Get on the floor," she said calmly.

"No."

"I said get on the floor-"

"You know, I underestimated you babe, didn't think that you had it in you but this...I gotta give you credit for this, you out did yourself, today," he said before clapping his hands and taking a step towards her.

"Stand still," she said as she brought her second hand up to hold the gun as well.

"Why?" She stared at him for a moment as though she didn't know what to do or say. The whole room was silent except for them. "Hmm? You going to shoot me? Go on then? Take your pick, straight through the head or heart-"

"Shut up! Stop!"

"What's the matter
, Angel, am I confusing you? Hard to think is it?"

"Mom-"

"Shut up!"

"He's just trying to get to you, don't listen to him-"

"I don't need your help! Just shut up!"

"Wow, now this is exactly what I am talking about. Maybe if I had seen this side of you things might have been different. I mean...taking control, walking in here with that. We got a real woman here, Rain, who would have thought it, aye? Your mom holding a gun. So, what are you waiting for?"

"What?" She stumbled as I watched her slowly begin to shatter. I prayed that she could be strong for this moment...for once.

"Shoot me," he whispered slowly.

"I...I..."

"Come on, that's what you came here for, right? Shoot me, angel.
“He took a step forward so that his chest was pressed firmly against the tip of her gun. I watched as the tears started to form in her eyes and her hand became shaky. "Do it," he whispered. "Just pull the trigger and do it."

She started to whimper as she stared into his eyes.

"You can't, can you? After everything, you still love me, don't you?" He said as amusement laced his voice. "What an interesting turn of events," he said before swiftly dragging the gun out of her hand. "Tut, tut, tut, you should have killed me when you had the chance, now look who has the gun,” he chuckled as he walked up to her as she began shaking.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean-"

The side of the gun hit her face so fast and so hard that she never even got the chance to finish the sentence. I heard Aunt Sarah scream whilst Leighton and I just stared. He was in shock whereas I...I was used to this...this, was my life. I watched as Mitch dragged my mom by the hair and threw her by my feet. He lifted his foot to kick her but I quickly jumped in front of her.

"Mitch, please," I begged. I watched in silence as he slowly took a step back, keeping his eyes fixed on mine. It reminded me of old times. It reminded me of the all the times that despite being told that I was hated by my own mother, I still felt the need to protect her. I hated myself for it but I still loved her. I looked down at her as the tears rolled down my cheeks as I comprehended the fact that I loved her more than she loved me.
 

"How did this happen to you?" Leighton breathed as he stared at his dad.

Mitch just laughed in response. "I became a man, son. I learnt that the world isn't all flowers and roses. Things go wrong, people 
die
, life moves on and 
you
 move with it. By any means possible...no one gets anywhere by being 
nice,"
 he scoffed.

"And where do you think you're going to end up? All of this, for what? You'll probably just end up in jail, counting down the days until you die. What about everything else? What about me, you're supposed to be my dad?" I knew that it hurt him to say that but he masked it well.

"Dad? Have I ever given you any reason to believe that I would want to be yours or anybody else’s 
dad?" 
He said as though the word disgusted him.

"You don't mean that," Leighton said calmly.

"I left you when you were two years old, 
son. 
I couldn't have said it any clearer," he said with a twisted smile on his face. I watched as Leighton took a deep breath as though he were fighting with his emotions.

"What do you think your dad would think if he heard that? Do you think that he'd be proud of you right now, that he would think that you were the same boy that he had raised?" Leighton growled, not losing eye contact with Mitch.

"
Don't
 say his name. Don't you ever mention his name," Mitch replied angrily.

"Why? Because it's the truth? Because you know how ashamed of you he would be right now-"

"Shut up or I'll 
kill
 you," he growled.

Leighton let out a humorless laugh. "You'd kill your own son?" He asked. I could hear the hurt behind the words but he kept up his brave facade.

"Without even blinking. One person in this room matters, and it's not you."

My stomach dropped at those words, knowing how heartbroken Leighton must be right now.

"Then do it-"

"No, Leighton, don't," I said running in front of him as Mitch lifted up his gun. "Please, Mitch just let them go."

"No...move," he growled still keeping eye contact with his son.

"Rainie, get behind me," Leighton ordered.

"No," I stood my ground.

"Princess, a bullet is about to leave this gun and if you don't move then it'll be in you-"

"I'm not moving. You won't shot me."

"Rainie," my aunt pleaded as she began crying. "What is wrong with you?" She asked, turning towards Mitch. Both mine and Leighton's heads swung towards her whilst my mom sat bawled up on the floor crying.
 

"Aunt Sarah, be quiet."

"No, he's crazy. Enough is enough-"

"You're right," Mitch interrupted before the sound of a gun went off.

For a minute the entire universe stopped. I heard my mom scream somewhere in the distance and I saw Leighton run towards my aunt and catch her before she hit the floor in slow motion. A new smell had hit the atmosphere. I couldn't say exactly what the smell was but it filled my nose the minute that the gun went off. It was as though all of my senses were heightened but the world around me had slowed down. I couldn't breathe; I couldn't even remember my own name or what day it was. I couldn't even move. I just stared in horror as my mom and Leighton tried to put pressure on the wound on my aunt’s stomach. The wound that was caused by a bullet...a bullet from Mitch's gun.

"You shot her," I whispered in shock.
 

"Do you see now? Hmm? This is your fault! Things didn't have to go this way, if you'd have just done as you were told!" He shouted as he forced me to face my
aunt’s body that was crumpled up on the floor.

"You shot her," it was all that I could say.

"I warned you," he growled clearly unaware of how detached I had just become from the entire world.

The tears were pouring out of my eyes, and I could just about
breathe.

"Why? Why?" I screamed out as my heart ripped into a thousand pieces, "how could you? How could you shoot
her?"

"Because..!" He answered calmly.

"Why?" I whispered just about able to breathe.

"Why? You want to know why? I thought that was pretty damn clear by now! The same reason as everything else...you!"

"No," I choked as my head started to spin.

"Yes, everything leads back to you, you caused this. Why do you think I got involved with your mother, hmm?" I was confused. "She thinks that I first saw her at the coffee shop, but I didn't. I'd seen her with you, taking you shopping, buying you clothes. Oh, gosh, Rain, you have no idea what you did to me that day. Watching you, listening to you laugh, you blew me away. I wanted you but you were so young...damn...but I wasn't going to give up. I followed you the next day, your mom dropped you off at a
friend’s house and then she went to the coffee shop. I followed her, pretended to 
like 
her, that's when I found out that you were fourteen but it was ok, I could wait. It was only four years, and I could wait because there was something about you, princess, something so addictive, and I had to have it...had to 
feel
 it."

"It was all a lie?" My mom whispered as she stared up at us. I hadn't even realised that she was listening because I was in shock. I saw the look on Leighton's face...his eyes were different as though his innocence was being shredded bit by bit as he learnt more about my sick and twisted life.

"You think I wanted 
you
? You made me feel sick, you made my skin crawl. Every time that I touched you it was just one step closer to her," he said pointing at me. "But then she messed it up, that night when Billy and his boys came," he said, turning back to me. "I thought that she would offer herself for me but she let him have you. It wasn't supposed to go that way, I hated her for it, I really did. Then word got around and more men wanted you...I couldn't blame them. It was business...I would have never let them touch you but if I hadn't then they would have killed us all, and I couldn't let that happen, baby.  Every time that I thought about another man touching you, kissing you, it made me so mad. I blamed her," he said pointing at my mom, "but I made sure that she paid for it, every night that you did...she paid for that choice."

I couldn't believe what I was hearing, I felt sick.

"You're crazy," I whispered as I pulled out of his grasp.

"Rain-"

"Don't touch me," I said, jumping away from him. "You planned it all, everything...I was a 
child
," I breathed out as I tried to make sense of my words. "I don't want you...I will 
never 
want you. You make me feel sick, you make 
my
 skin crawl...I can't even stand to be in the same room as you-"

"You don't mean that, princess-"

"Yes I do!" I screamed angrily. "All of this, everything," I said, looking down at my aunt, "because of some mad and twisted obsession that you have with me. You're crazy and you'll 
never 
have me and I'll 
never 
want you. I spent the last three years trying to understand what was wrong with me, trying to figure out what I had done so wrong to deserve this but it wasn't me. It was you and her...you're the one with the problem, both of you, you're sick, you need help. I'm the normal one...I'm not the one to blame." I thought for a moment as a fresh batch of tears left my eyes. "I'm not the one to blame," I repeated finally believing that sentence for the first time in my life.

"Is that right?" He said as his voice became very
icy.

"Yes," I growled through gritted teeth as I went over and over what he had told me in my head. I could see the blood pouring out the side of Aunt Sarah's stomach...I was so mad. He was sick...so, so sick.

"Fine." He stared at me with a look in his eyes that I had never seen before.

"You think that you can stand there and talk to me like that...me? You think that I'm going to let you speak to me like
 
that,
 in front of them and just get away with it. Well, there are consequences to every action, princess...even yours," he said before grabbing a hold of my arm and pulling me towards him. He dragged me roughly until me and him were facing Leighton, my aunt and my mom. I looked down at my mom as she held her hand to my aunts wound and a soft whimper left my lips. "Shut up, you should have thought about them before your big speech," he growled. "Now, I'm going to tell you what's about to happen. Look at them...look at each one of them, long and hard because one by one I'm going to take them away from you because you need to be taught a lesson, you need to understand that I'll always be in control-"

"No-"

"Yes! Yes! Yes! You had a chance and you ruined it!" He screamed as he held me tighter and shook me.

Leighton and my mom looked on in shock, knowing that things were about to get worse...so much worse. "Now, it's my turn to talk, it's my turn to have back some control because I'm the man with the gun! Get that?" I nodded my head quickly as my breathing sped up. "It's time for you to beg me...for you to work for something!"