Her father had responded,
Luke wondered why Ellie was taking so long and he was just about to get up when Patrick stepped into the room and stood in front of the TV.
“Hey, Patrick,” Luke said. “I didn’t hear you, man. You’re silent as a ghost.”
Patrick didn’t smile and Luke wondered if he had been doing any better. Patrick, though older, had seemed to take the death of his mother the hardest. He had barely spoken to him since that night and Ellie had said the therapy they were both receiving hadn’t seemed to help him.
“Doing alright, buddy?” Luke asked.
“I’m not your buddy.”
Luke frowned and wasn’t quite sure how to respond to him. He gave it his best shot. “Well, I consider you a friend,” Luke said.
“You’re the enemy,” Patrick said and brought his arm up. It held a pistol and Luke froze as the eye of the barrel came level with his own eyes. It was like staring into a bottomless cavern.
“Whoa! Dude, what’s the deal?”
“You killed my father.”
“Patrick, your father was a whack job, you know…”
“Shut up! He was a great man!”
Luke actually flinched at Patrick’s booming voice. It reminded him of Worthington’s. “Easy, dude. Alright, he was a great man.”
“Now, you’re mocking him,” Patrick said and thrust the gun closer emphasizing his words. “He lived like no one else. He was a god.”
“Ok, I believe you. Whatever you say.”
“He taught me to grow like him. To be a man. To live beyond this life and take life as my own.”
“You’re scaring me dude.”
“You should be,” Patrick said, smiling now. “You’ll be
Luke felt the world slip from his grasp. He knew in his heart that he was going to die. The room seemed too bright, and the TV too loud, and he couldn’t seem to make himself move. The eye of the gun hypnotized him and he waited for the blast, knowing it would be quick. When it came, he was surprised how little he felt.
Then he watched a bright red spot bloom on Patrick’s chest and his eyes roll back into his head as he sagged to the floor. Turning, he saw Ellie standing at the bottom of the stairs, the gun wavering in her hand, tears streaming down her face as she slumped to the step, dropping the gun to the floor where it lay smoking in front of her.
He went to her and took her in his arms, rocking her there as she clung to him, sobbing.
