Four Found Dead

by Natalie D. Richards

But it’s not any other night or any other tantrum. This time, Clayton has a gun.

There are bits and pieces of the place I remember, but it’s like looking at the carcass of a once beautiful bird, its bones and innards splayed across oil-stained pavement.

I shake my head because I am not nine years old, and this is not my father, and there are things I have to do.

Did she die up there, alone under the stars?

Clayton suddenly roars, “You know they’re all dead because of you!”

“You do realize you’re not responsible for the whole world and everyone in it, right?”

“Well, I don’t tend to lead with it when I introduce myself to pretty girls.”

She’s heard it too, but I see her freezing over, her whole body stiff as she stares at the door. Waiting for the devil to come through.

And every day that Cara and I are breathing, a little piece of Dad is alive too.

Summer lifts the gun to Clayton’s temple. And then Hudson’s hands cover my eyes.

I have so much remorse about that day, but there’s one thing I’ll never regret. I’m glad I pulled the trigger.

His voice is so soft, but it is all lies. Silk sheets over shark teeth.

I’m glad I’m the one who killed him.