Gunshots
5 Months Later
Richy fingered the gun beside him two shots that was all he needed one for the man and one for his little wife. Then he could take the money they had and get away. Away from his father who wished he’d never been born, away from the step mother who hated his guts, away from his so called friends who had each betrayed him one way or another, away to a place where he could finally start over.
His hands were shaking slightly and sweat was beginning to bead up on his upper lip and forehead. His vision swam slightly and he realized that the medication was beginning to wear off. Richy reached into the glove compartment – never for an instant taking his eyes off the couple – and groped for the bottle, his hand finally closing around it he pulled it out popped the cap off with his thumb and dumped two pills into his mouth downing them without water.
Almost instantly his vision cleared and his hands stopped shaking he tossed the bottle back in the compartment and slammed it shut then grabbing the gun off the seat beside him he climbed out of the car. The woman’s back was to him as she served the couple that had just pulled up and he had to force himself not to jump ahead and shoot her right now where she stood then force her husband to hand over the money before killing him as well.
The idea quickly left his mind and he continued heading toward them the rain that had been falling most of the evening nearly blinding him. It was now or never.
George had always loved the sound of his wife’s laugh and that night as the two of them pulled into Shirley’s drive-in was no exception. “A drive-in?” Rhonda complained but there was the slightest sound of laughter in her voice as she asked him. “You made me get all dressed up for a drive-in?” A light rain had begun to fall as George turned off the car and smiled at his wife.
“Come on now Rhonda,” He teased, “Where’s your sense of adventure?” Rhonda laughed. There was no one else in the parking lot and it was obvious that it had been a pretty slow night as the woman hurried up to their car and handed them their menus. As soon as she was gone George grabbed his wife’s hand and kissed it causing her to blush he smiled marveling at how beautiful she looked.
Her black curls framed her face while the rest of her hair was pulled back into a soft bun. She had always enjoyed dressing up and that evening had worn a light summer dress, a pair of heels and some of her best jewelry. And George not to be so severely outdone by his wife dressed up in a dress shirt and pants with his best pair of shoes.
The woman soon came back and they placed their orders. As she walked away again George pulled his wife to him despite curious glances from the man and woman in the store and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. Rhonda pushed him away. “George they’re watching!”
“I don’t care!” He said kissing her again and taking her breath away.”
“Your so beautiful” He stated causing her to blush again
“Stop it your making me blush.”
He smiled “I know, which makes you all the more beautiful.” Then he pulled her into another kiss before she had a chance to blush or protest.
Rhonda pushed him away a couple moments later. “Alright you, save it for later the food is going to be here soon. It was then that they heard the first shot.
Fear filled Rhonda’s veins and she shot a questioning look at her husband. “Was that –“she couldn’t finish the question for fear of the answer she’d receive.
George nodded and popped open the glove compartment pulling out his revolver and reaching for the door-latch. Rhonda grabbed his arm “George please, don’t leave me.”
I’ll be right back, Rhonda. I’m just going to check it out.” He leaned over and gave her a quick reassuring kiss on the cheek then opened the door and hurried toward the building.
As soon as he was gone Rhonda climbed into the driver’s seat and flipped the locks on all the doors. She placed checked to make sure the key was in the lock and scrunched down as far as she could in the seat waiting for her husbands return. She saw a figure run out of the building and her breath caught in her throat as she saw that it held a gun. The figure turned toward her and ran in her direction. “Get out of the car!” he yelled when he was a couple feet away. “Get out of the car.” He yelled again when she hesitated. A bullet flew the windshield hitting the passenger seat next to her making her jump into action as she fumbled with the lock and tumbled out of the car.
The man grabbed her arm and pressed the gun to her back just as George came running out of the building. The gun went off and Rhonda gasped as she felt the bullet cut into her back. She felt the man release her and her head filled with pain as she felt herself falling to the ground.
The sight of his wife falling to the ground was more painful than if the shot had torn into his own back. He watched as the man climbed into his car he sent a couple shots toward the car but the car didn’t stop and he was soon gone. Backup was on its way there was no need for him to continue.
He ran to his wife’s side her heavy breathing filled his heart with hope and dread all at once. He pulled her too him trying to pull her closer than was humanly possible. She coughed and he looked down into her searching eyes. Recognition filled her when she saw him and he tried to smile through the tears that were beginning to fall. Rhonda reached up and touched his face and he placed his hand over hers. “Don’t cry my love!” She managed through the pain. “You must take care of the children now.” He nodded rapidly the tears mixing with the rain and falling onto her face. He tried to swallow but couldn’t make it past the lump in his throat. “It’s up to you now.”
“Please don’t say that Rhonda.” He choked
“I love you, George”
“No, Rhonda, don’t leave me.”
She closed her eyes trying to focus on her breathing he watched in fear as her chest began to rise slower and slower and then not at all. Sadness filled him as he pulled her to him he wouldn’t let her go he couldn’t they would have to pry her dead body from his arms.
1 year later
Hugo kicked the apartment door open holding his gun out as he did so. “Police get your hands in the air. The man jumped to his feet hands above his head. “Richard Hendricks your under arrest for murder and robbery, everything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law you have the right to remain silent.”
“What are you talking about man I ain’t killed no one.”
Hugo glanced at his partner who was fingering the gun he had picked up off the coffee table. “Hey George this man doesn’t think that he’s killed anyone.”
George turned around and watched as the blood drained out of Rich’s face. “You, you’re the guy who shot at me that one night.”
Anger filled George and he grabbed Rich’s shirt by the collar. “you killed my wife.”
Richy shook his head. “No man I swear she was alive. I only shot her in the arm.”
“You shot her in the back and she died 5 minutes later.” George shouted into the mans face.”
“Hey!” Hugo spoke up lowering his gun to speak to his over-zealous friend, “Let’s save it for the judge.”
George nodded reluctantly and turned in the direction of the door. At a grunt from Hugo he spun back around to see Richy wrestling the gun from the mans hands. The gun went off and hit the opposite wall close to where George stood. George grabbed his gun and shot the wall behind the kid but he didn’t stop. Hugo finally got the gun out of the kid’s hands and pushed him to the floor. George shook his head. “Stupid kid did you honestly think you’d be able to get a gun out of a trained professional’s hand?”
The kid smiled wickedly “No, but I did almost shoot you and I was able to distract you long enough to get this.”
George gasped as the knife left Rich’s hand and hurled towards him he tried to move out of the way but it was too late the knife sunk into his stomach causing him to catch his breath. He watched as Rich jumped to his feet and ran out the door as Hugo ran to his side. “No Hugo you got to catch him.”
“Not until you’re bandaged up.”
“But he’ll get away again.”
“We’ll find him now we got to take care of you.”
“It’s too late for me. Take care of the children.”
Hugo nodded as his friends body went limp in his arms.
Kira juggled four mugs of hot chocolate as she walked into the living room where her husband and son sat with his new wife of about a week. She handed two of the glasses to her son and his wife and then sat and handed the other to her husband. “So how long do you think you will be staying in town?” She asked as she made herself comfortable beside her husband and took a sip of the drink.
Matthew glanced at his wife before continuing. “Well Linda wants to have an Imaginese wedding with all her friends on Imaginess. None of them could come to the wedding for obvious reasons so I promised we would have another one in the palace.”
Kira set her mug down on the coffee table and leaned forward resting her head in her hands she looked at Linda as she voiced her question. “So how long will you be stealing my son away from me?”
Linda shifted nervously as she thought of the best way to answer. “Well I’m sure you’re aware of my position on Imaginess. It’s not easy to get away.”
“Oh I understand!” Kira sad sitting back again “But you must be sure to visit especially after the grandkids start coming.”
Linda looked at her husband slightly taken aback Matthew placed his hand over Linda’s hand. “Mom we’ve talked about this Linda and I are not sure we’ll have kids. Linda’s job is way too taxing to think about having to raise a family too.”
Chris placed his empty mug on the table beside his wife’s and put his arm around her. “Don’t bother them Ki they’re just barely married for Kohath’s sake.”
“I know but if I don’t push now I may never get the chance.”
Linda leaned forward and grabbed her mother-in-laws hand across the table. “It’s not that I don’t want children Kira it’s just that my job is so dangerous I don’t think I would want to risk it. With as many people who’ve tried to kill me or kidnap me in the last 5 years it’ll be hard enough on Matthew if something happens to me I couldn’t bear to do that to children on top of it.”
Kira turned to her husband and he nodded and she turned back to her son a sudden excitement in her eyes. “The only reason I’m so curious is because your father and I have decided to adopt a little girl and boy.”
“What?” Matthew was surprised at this bit of news.
“We’re going to be lonely here without you Matthew. We need a few children around the house and since you’ve made it very obvious that it’s not going to be grandkids then we decided we’d take the next best thing. I’m retired now and these children need someone.”
“Who are they?”
“Do you remember George and Rhonda Macintosh?”
“Of course I do you and Rhonda was like best friends until they moved to Georgia 10 years ago. What happened?”
Tears filled Kira’s eyes as she nodded and Chris grabbed his wife’s hand and squeezed it. “Rhonda was murdered last year when an 18 year old kid came and robbed the drive-in that they were eating at.” Linda gasped and her hand flew to her mouth as Kira continued. “The police have spent the last year trying to track down the murderer. They finally found him in an apartment in Florida. Where George was murdered by a colleague. now their children Brittney and Joseph are orphans. Your father and I visited them during the summer right after Joseph was born and we both feel we had quite a connection with Brittney who was 9 at the time. She was very upset to see us go and wanted us to come back.”
“Surely there’s someone else who can take them? If you’re that worried about being alone you could move back to Imaginess with us.”
Chris shook his head. “No son this is our home now. We’ve lived here for 21 years we have a life here. And these children need us. The man who was supposed to take them lost his wife a couple years ago and is a police officer like George was. He doesn’t want to take her if he can find a more stable for her. Your mother hasn’t worked in years ever since her surgery and has been itching for something to do for months. So when we found out about this there was no doubt what we needed to do.”
Kira jumped in again now. “We’re going down until the funeral and are going to try to get to know the children especially Brittney. If it works out we’ll take them home with us and finish the adoption process from here.”
“And if it doesn’t?”
“Then Officer Hugo said he would work it out and adopt them himself. But we’re really hoping that it will work out for us.”
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