“Be sitting ducks, you mean?”
“You wanna try and outrun Sven?” he suddenly pulls his chair back and gets up. “Be my guest. You wouldn’t be the first one who tried. But, you’d sure as Hell be the first one who succeeded.”
Those words leave me speechless, and I just watch as he walks out of the kitchen, and goes to the living room. I run after him.
“You can’t expect me to just - “
The sound of the phone interrupts me, and we both look in the direction where the ringing is coming from. Fynn glances over at me. His eyes are wide, uncertain. He hesitates before he reaches for the phone. In that short amount of time, I managed to take a peek at the screen. It was a hidden number.
“Hello?” Fynn answers after it had been ringing for a while.
I see his face turn pale, as he lowers the phone from his ear and presses a button with a trembling finger. The sound coming from the phone fills up the room.
“Maddie baby?” I hear the voice that makes my blood turn cold. “Do you want to say a few last words to daddy dearest?”
I know that voice. It will always belong to my nightmares, and even in my waking hours, I’ll never be able to escape it.
“Maddie?” my dad speaks, his voice trembling. He coughs a little.
“You need to excuse daddy dearest, he doesn’t feel very well. And, I’m afraid he won’t be feeling much better than this ever again,” Sven chuckles violently.
Fynn isn’t saying anything. I look at him for help, but all he is doing is holding that damn phone.
“Dad?” I manage to muster, on the verge of tears.
“Sweetheart, it’s fine… don’t worry…” my dad sounds tired, his words are garbled, like he’s got something in his mouth.
“Dad… I…” The realization of what he did is on the tip of my tongue, but I can’t say it. “I love you…”
“I love you, t - “
“Oh, isn’t that sweet,” Sven drags his snake-like voice. “But, I didn’t call for that. Fynn, you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here, you piece of shit,” Fynn growls, as his jaw tightens under the strain.
“Good to hear your voice,” Sven hisses. “It’ll be even better to kick your ass, but I’ll leave that for up close and personal.”
“How did you get this number?” Fynn speaks through clenched teeth, rage oozing out of his words.
“A magician never reveals his secrets,” Sven chuckles. “Haven’t you learned that already?”
“I swear, when I lay my hands on you - “
“You’ll probably be left without them,” Sven interrupts him. “Now, Maddie baby, say goodbye to daddy. He has to go away for a very long time.”
“No!” I scream at the phone, bending my whole body over it, my hands pleading at the voice that materializes out of that little gadget. “Dad! If you touch - “
At that moment, a single gunshot explodes somewhere inside the phone, and the connection breaks.
“Dad!” I scream again, dropping down to my knees.
I’m barely aware of the hands that are around me, but I recognize the smell. Fynn lets me sob on his shoulder, his big palms resting on my back and the nape of my neck. I’m shaking. I feel like someone had pulled the carpet right from underneath me, like I’m standing at the edge of a cliff, and someone just pushed me. Now, I’m falling, just falling, and I have no idea where it will end, or how hurtful it will be when I finally hit the ground.
My body is trembling still. I’ve stopped sobbing. I’ve stopped repeating the word dad over and over again. My tears keep streaming down my face, an endless waterfall of sadness with no end in sight.
Fynn doesn’t say anything. He just lets me be me, my sad self, as we both try to accommodate to the shock we just survived. I just can’t forget the sound of that gunshot. Was it aimed at my dad? And, if it was, did it hit him? If it did hit him, is he alright? Has he survived? Will I ever see him again?
So many questions are swarming inside my mind, each of them stinging me like an angry bee. It takes all my effort to finally ca