On one hand, I wanted to go out and jump for joy because someone was finally here to help me. On the other, it terrified me that there was someone out there that could be worse than JP. At least we were at a middle ground that didn’t leave my flesh hanging off my back.
When the shadow ran across the window again I got a knife from the drawer, and stood next to the front door of the house. My suspicions were confirmed that there were more than two people outside. It was so quiet I could hear the twigs crunching on the ground underneath the people’s feet.
All of a sudden there was a crash in the bedroom that had JP in it. Shit! This was not good. I wanted to get out of here so badly I could feel myself dropping my hand to the handle. I was this close to freedom, but something was stopping me. My feet had minds of their own when I found them moving toward the bedroom where the crashing came from. When I opened the door, I found JP going at the intruder. He was smashing his fist into his face when he was suddenly flipped onto his back.
The man that was on top of him was covered in what looked like army gear. I flipped on the light switch and was stunned by what I saw. They were so alike in so many ways but the lightness in Axel’s eyes stopped me instantly. My feet were frozen to the carpet. My mind didn’t believe what I was seeing. But then everything moved into slow motion when I saw JP grabbing his gun from under the bed where he kept it and aimed it right at Axel’s temple. The knife fell from my fingertips in shock.
“Get the fuck off me!” JP yelled at Axel. Axel, not having much of a choice with a gun being aimed at his head did as he was told. He sat on the floor on his knees with a defeated look on his face. He looked up at me and it almost looked like he was saying he was sorry with his eyes.
JP’s eyes were on fire, burning with a hate so bright it somehow illuminated his eyes. I needed to get his attention on me somehow, so I could talk him out of doing something crazy, like shooting his twin. The love of my life was not going to die if I could help it.
“JP? Can we talk for a minute? Before you do anything you might regret.” I spoke lightly, hoping he would look at me. That was all I needed because I knew the face I had painted on was one of sincerity for him. “JP, look at me. Just focus on me, please?” I begged.
Finally he turned to look at me, and when he did I almost flinched. The terror that was raining down behind his eyes was terrifying. I did my best to hide my reaction from him because I honestly believed he wasn’t going to back down for anything or anyone. There was one thing that I knew calmed him. Hesitantly I took a step towards him. I think I was the only one in this room that would be able to get him to calm down.
When I got to him, it felt like I was looking into the devil’s soul. His intentions were written all over his face; I just didn’t understand what made me different. Why didn’t he want to hurt me the way he wanted to hurt everyone else? I put my hand up to cradle his face to make sure he was looking at me and said, “You don’t have to do this, ya know? We can run away and be free together. Isn’t that what you promised me? That we could live a life of freedom?”
He seemed to mull that over. The whole time I was Axel’s shield. There would never be a time that I wouldn’t put his life before mine. In the meantime, I had to figure out a way to get the gun out of his hand. I traced my fingers down his hand and got my fingertips just touching the gun when he pulled away.
“Do you think I am fucking stupid, Riley? I know you don’t want me. I think I have known it all along but I just wanted to believe in something good for once. Believe that someone wanted me just for me. Now because of you, I have to go and kill you both. This is all your fault, Riley. You only have yourself to blame for this.”
Axel growled behind me as I got in front of him to make sure he didn’t get hurt. I knew JP was on the verge of doing something crazy. His breathing was getting heavy while his eyes were darting back and forth between Axel and I. He started pacing back and forth, muttering to himself under his breath.
The featherlight feeling of something touching my hand made me jump. It wasn’t enough for JP to notice, but the feeling of Axel being there with me in that moment had me breathing a little sigh of relief. Standing there like a statue wasn’t going to accomplish anything, so I tried talking to JP again.
“You realize if you get caught you are going to jail, right? There is no getting out of this. When the cops come,
