A shot fires. And I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to see what happened.
Slowly, I open them and see the boy now lying on the ground, blood oozing from his leg. He doesn’t scream or cry like I would from being shot. He welcomes the pain, like the pain is helping him avoid the torment his mother is feeling as she dies on the ground next to him.
“Now, be a man and put your mother out of her misery. She’s in pain, much worse pain than you are. Show her mercy.”
The boy’s eyes are filled with tears as he looks at his mother.
She looks back and tells him she loves him. Then she looks at the man and tells him she loves him too.
How messed up is that? She still loves this man who is most likely responsible for her death and for her son’s pain. But I realize then that you don’t get to choose who or how you love. You can’t prevent it or stop it, no matter how much a person fails you, you still love them.
That’s when I vowed I would never fall in love—never.
Finally, the boy lifts the gun with too many tears in his eyes, and he fires.
I FINISH the story and look at Kai, who is crying buckets. I would be too if I hadn’t already cried too many tears for that broken boy. That boy who was hurt more than any person ever should.
“Enzo killed his mother?”
“No, his father did. Enzo simply pulled the trigger. But that was the day Enzo learned he could never love. He’d be punished for loving, alongside the person he loved. And that he wasn’t strong enough to save those he loved. But it didn’t stop him from trying.”
I’VE STAYED AWAY from the boy since that night. He scares me, but his father scares me more. I hide in the guest room, doing my school work there so I never have to leave. I’m not even sure they know I exist. I don't let them see me. The house has too many ghosts and demons, and I've learned to stay as far away as possible. I won’t even swim in the pool out back, even when I know the boy and his father have gone.
I've become my own ghost. I lock myself in my room and pretend I'm Rapunzel locked away in a tower until her prince comes. But unlike Rapunzel, I will never be rescued.
Mother went into town to buy us groceries. And the water calls to me. The longing to swim in the beautiful pool pulls me out of the safety of my bedroom.
I think they were gone. They often are. The father takes his son out on missions for weeks at a time. I don’t know where they go, just that they are gone. The sun seems to shine a little brighter over the house when they are gone.
Mom bought me a swimsuit only last week. A simple bikini for my newly starting to bloom body. I am a teenager now. And I deserve to get to leave my room. My mother has tried everything to get me out of the room, not realizing the danger lurking so close to our home. She doesn’t realize the evil man she works for, or if she does, she pretends he would never turn his evil gaze our way.
So I take a chance. I put on the bikini, and I creep out to the empty pool. The pool is rarely used. The boy occasionally sneaks out to swim, but he never throws any parties. And the father never swims.
The blue of the pool practically sparkles, inviting me in. And so I jump in, not bothering to hide my splash. Mom said we were allowed to use the amenities. And I have occasionally seen staff use the pool when the father was gone so I know it is allowed.
But it still feels wrong to enjoy something so grand.
But once I start swimming back and forth, I realize how right it feels. The water feels fantastic, and my muscles ache to get some exercise.
I swim hard, imagining I am a dolphin swimming free in the ocean. I would gladly turn into a dolphin and trade my sad life to become an animal. It has to be better than my pathetic life where I am destined to become a maid like my mother.
I hear another splash, and I stop, hoping it’s one of the staff members. When I surface though, panic shoots through me.
It’s the boy.
Although, I'm not sure I can call him that anymore. He looks like a man now, even though he's not older than fifteen. His muscles are large and defined. He has a six pack, or is it an eight pack? I can’t tell as half his abs are submerged under the water.
“I’m sorry,” I say, swimming toward the ladder to climb out.
“Don’t go, Liesel.”
He knows my name. He knows I exist.
I stop and stare at him. “How long have you known who I am?”
“Since the first day when you saw my mother die.”
“How?”