“Back up! I swear to God, I will shoot him. Back up.” My eyes trailed over the room, trying to think of anything I could do to distract her. The only window I could see now was the one through the kitchen doors.
Sirens started to blare outside the house, and her activity got a little more reckless. She slipped to the window, pulled the curtain back with the gun, and peeked out. “Damn it. Why are they here, Julian? Who did you tell?”
“I swear, I didn’t tell anyone. No one knows I’m here. It's just you and me right now, focus on me.”
“Fuck!” She banged the gun against her head.
“Just let my son go. Then you can have me. I won’t go back to her, I’ll do whatever you want to right now. You want me to kiss you, to tell you I love you?”
I took a deep breath trying to calm the bile trying to desperately claw its way out of my throat. “Look, I didn’t know how special you were. You’re beautiful. You’re a real woman. You’re supportive, and I can tell that you’re kind. You don’t want to hurt a child, do you? An innocent little boy? Casi, look at me. This is between us. This doesn’t have anything to do with him.”
“No, no. You’re just saying that to me. You don’t mean it.”
I shook my head adamantly. “I can see that in you now, now that I’m looking at you like a man. I wish we weren’t here right now. I wish you’d met me somewhere else. I don’t want this to sound wrong, but I think you’re something else. I want you. You deserve to be loved, to be caressed, to be adored. Let me kiss you, prove to you how much I love you. All you have to do is let the boy go. I want time alone with you. Can you give that to me?”
A flash of movement caught my eye out the back window. At the time, a sliver of hope showed in an overly dark beacon. I could see them moving around, but I couldn’t tell what they were doing. Then I saw a camera. They were trying to get a visual. I’d seen enough tv shows to know that I needed to get her where they could see her.
My phone buzzed from behind me, and Ben handed it up while she was turned away, banging the gun against the side of her head like she was experiencing some sort of mental breakdown.
“What’s your plan here, Casi? What do you want to get out of all this?”
She screamed. “You… all I’ve ever wanted was you, why can’t you see that?”
I put up my hand to placate her. “Okay, okay. I get it.”
“Wait, what do you have?” She yelled at me and pointed the gun at my heart, looking at my hand. .
“It’s my phone. They’re trying to get in touch with me. It’s the police. I just need to talk to them, to tell them we’re okay. Let me answer it.”
She dipped her chin. “Answer it, on speakerphone, tell them to stand down.”
I hit answer on the phone. “Hello.”
“Julian. This is Deputy Peters. How is everyone doing in there?” His voice sounded cool and collected like he’d done this once or twice before. Hell, even if he was bullshitting, he seemed like he knew what he was doing.
“We’re good. All good.”
“Can you tell me how many people are in there with you?”
“It’s just myself, Ben, and Casi. She’s taking very good care of us.”
“Casi, are you okay?” He then spoke over speakerphone to the crazed lady standing before me.
She huffed, rolling her eyes. “Yeah, I’m fine.”
“You don’t want to do this, Casi. You know what could happen.” He paused for a minute, giving her time to think about it and sweat it out. “Let the boy go, Casi. We’ll do what you ask. We’ll back off, just let the boy go.”
“Fine, he can go. But you’re not going anywhere.” Her tone was resolute as she turned her attention back to me, the gun aimed at me once again.
“Casi, listen to me. You can walk out of this alive. You don’t have to do this. Think about what you’re doing. Think about what this is going to do to your life. What can we get you? Give me something, anything.” He begged her.
This situation was mounting with each moment we stood there.
After what seemed like hours, she finally agreed to let him go. I turned to Ben and dropped down on my knees. “Okay, bud. You’re going to have to listen to me now. I need you to go find Mama. Okay? Tell her it’s going to be fine. I love you, buddy. ”
She moved closer and shoved her gun at me again. “Okay, enough of the cute small talk, get him out or he’s not leaving.”
I needed her to move just a little more. If the police could see me, they’d be able to see her. She needed to be in a certain position.