The Living End

The Living End by Craig Schaefer

Book: The Living End by Craig Schaefer Read Free Book Online
Authors: Craig Schaefer
didn’t think there was one. I still had to try.
    “Different people handle their pain different ways,” I said. “Your mom…she’s one of those people who has to be working, all the time. She’s got to keep her hands busy and her head full, because she’s probably afraid she’ll crash if she doesn’t.”
    “And what about what I need? I don’t even know how she can stand being at that place, after what she…” Melanie shook her head. She fell down onto the sofa and stared at the dead television.
    “What?” I said.
    When she looked back at me, her eyes were brimming with tears.
    “I need you to tell me something. And I need the truth. Swear you’ll tell me the truth.”
    I nodded. “Okay. You got it.”
    The words took a long time coming, but I already knew what she was going to ask.
    “I need to know,” she said, “did my mom kill my dad?”
    Only three people were in that room when it all went down. One was dead and two were liars.
    This conversation had been a long time coming. Didn’t make me dread it any less. I shook my head.
    “No,” I told her. “I did.”

Ten
    M elanie’s expression didn’t change. She sat there, frozen. Blue veins pulsed beneath the skin of her face, spreading out in a web that resembled a butterfly’s wings, as the stress drove her demonic blood to the surface.
    “We were going to let him go,” I said. “But he pulled a gun. He was going to shoot your mom. If I hadn’t jumped him and done…done what I did, he would have killed her. He didn’t give me any choice.”
    Her eyes were like a dam pushing back against a raging flood. Her jaw clenched, like she couldn’t force the words out. I sat down next to her.
    “Is that what you thought?” I said gently. “That Emma was avoiding you because of what she did?”
    “She just—” Melanie stammered, her voice breaking. “She just acted so guilty, and I thought—I thought—”
    Then the tears came. She fell against me and I put my arms around her, holding her close as she finally found the grief she’d been bottling up since the night her father died. She howled against my chest and I held her, an anchor in her storm.
    “I’m
sorry
,” I heard her moan again and again, and I shook my head and stroked her hair.
    “Shh,” I whispered. “No, it’s all right. You have done
nothing
to be sorry for. Nothing at all.”
    Not like me
, I thought.
Considering I watched Emma murder Ben in cold blood, and now I’m lying to his daughter about it
. I did my best to shove aside my self-loathing for a few minutes and focus on Melanie instead.
    Her sobs turned into little choking wheezes, and then they finally faded into silence.
    She slowly pulled away from me. Her makeup was caked down her cheeks like an oil slick. It stained my shirt in damp smears. She hiccuped and ran her hand under her nose.
    “I bet I look like shit, huh?” she said, trying to smile.
    “I’ve seen worse. Bet you feel a little better, though.”
    “Yeah,” she said, sniffing. “Little bit.”
    “Tell you what. You go get some sleep. I’ll crash here on the couch tonight. If you wake up in the night, you want to talk, you need anything, you come get me. Okay?”
    She nodded quickly. “Okay.”
    Melanie scurried off to clean her face up and blow her nose. I waited until she was out of earshot and dialed Caitlin’s number. When she answered, I heard the faint murmur of traffic under her voice.
    “How’d the meeting go?”
    “She’s sitting right next to me,” she said lightly, a veiled warning to watch what I talked about. “I’m taking our new guest out on the town for a bit, showing her the sights.”
    “When you’re done, I could use a hand. I found Melanie up in the bar, drinking her troubles away on a bogus driver’s license. I took her home.”
    “Wait,” Caitlin said, “she was drinking in
Winter
? Out of all the places she could go, why there?”
    “Probably because she wanted to get caught. It was a cry for help.

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