Jerry stepped into the light. A bottle in one hand. A gun in the other.
“Why did you run away from me?” he said.
Kate backed away from him. Jerry finished the last swallow of whiskey and carefully put the bottle on the counter.
“I don’t want you to be afraid,” Jerry said. “I’ve cleaned up. I’m sorry. Hey, where’s Christopher? I want to throw the ball around with him.”
Her mind raced. She had to get away. Get back to Christopher in the hospital. Jerry pulled out four stacks of bills, each neatly wound in a white paper band.
“I know you don’t believe me, but I promise…I’m not a loser anymore. I can take care of you both. I won over forty-one thousand bucks. I still have most of it. All I bought was this gun.”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Ding dong.
“Kate, are you in there?!” a voice screamed outside. It was Special Ed’s mother.
“Betty! I’m here!” she yelled out.
Jerry took a step closer.
“Don’t open the door, Kate,” Jerry slurred. “Don’t run away again. I’m sorry. I was crazy. I’ve been sitting here for hours. I came here with all these thoughts in my head. But the balloons led me to the school. The principal’s office was trashed, but I found your address.”
Knock. Knock. Knock.
Ding dong.
“Open the door! Something’s wrong in the town!” Betty cried out.
Jerry reached out with the money in his hands.
“Please, Kate. I want to be a better man for you. Your son is so great. I can be his father. I can teach him things. And when he misbehaves, I can be a lot nicer to him than my dad was.”
Jerry had a hundred pounds on her. But she had one advantage. The woman Jerry knew back in Michigan was long gone.
Be a victim or be a fighter.
Her hands reached inside her pocket. Where was her pepper spray? It was in her purse. Where was her purse? The car. She had Ambrose’s car keys.
The panic button.
He took another step. She hit the panic button in her pocket. The alarm roared to life. Jerry turned to look outside. She ran past him and threw open the front door.
The chain caught.
She couldn’t get out! She saw Special Ed’s mother through the three-inch gap. There were more people behind her. Special Ed’s father. Mike and Matt’s mothers.
“Where are our kids, Kate?” Betty asked.
“Yes. We woke up, and Eddie was gone.”
“Mike and Matt, too.”
“I don’t know. Help me!” she yelled out.
“Help you? Your son took our children. Where the fuck is he, Kate?”
“Yes. Hand Christopher over before he gets our boys killed,” Betty cried.
The parents moved to the door. Banging and screaming. Pushing against the chain. Kate pushed back to keep them out.
Jerry stood, staring at her.
The gun in his hand.
“I told you not to run away again, and you didn’t listen,” he said coldly, rubbing his bloodshot eyes. “Are you with someone new? Is that it? Is he better than me? Do you two laugh at me? Is that what you do when he fucks you? Are you laughing at me right now? Stop laughing at me.”
Kate Reese heard the glass of the sliding door in the backyard. She turned. The backyard was filled with people coming from the woods. The old woman from the attic stood there with a large butcher knife.
Tink. Tink. Tink. Her knife on the glass.
Jerry raised the gun.
“Get out of my head, Kate. Stop laughing at me. Who the hell do you think you are? I drove all the way from Michigan just to be with you, and you think you’re too good for me?! You want something to laugh at, bitch?!”
Jerry cocked the hammer back.
“You’re right, Jerry!” she yelled. “I was a bitch. I was testing you. I made it impossible to find me. But you did. Let’s go to Michigan right now.”
“What?”
“I didn’t think you cared, but you passed the test. You’re a real man, Jerry. I want you to take me back to Michigan, but we have to go right now. Where’s your truck?” she said.
Knock knock knock.
Tink tink tink.
“Truck’s outside,” he said, dumbfounded.
“Then let’s pick up Christopher and go back to Michigan.”
“You’re lying to me,” Jerry said.
“I’m not lying. I was just mad. You hit me. I had to make you pay.”
The chain began to splinter.
The sliding glass door began to crack.
“This is your last chance, Jerry. If you don’t take me away right now, you will never have me again.”