Flash Fiction Friday, Dec. 17
Current Facebook Status: Made it through Toys R US, Gordman’s, Sam’s and Walmart, but most of the Christmas shopping was done online and will be arriving via UPS! Thank goodness!
Currently Playing in the Background: Imagination Movers because the 3yo WILL NOT go to sleep :p
So… No Book Review Wed. Look for TWO Julie Lessman reviews next week! Just got two of my Erynn Mangum books back from my sister so I should be able to review them the week after. Or that’s the plan ;).
Everything is coming together for Christmas. Almost everything is bought. Nothing is wrapped. UPS will be busy here on Tuesday! Can’t wait!
And now… Here’s Flash Fiction Friday. Jan and Andrea posted theirs too :).
He leaned forward in his chair, raised a crooked finger to Debbie’s face and said, “Your husband killed my son. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t kill you and his son.”
Debbie just looked him in the eye. She couldn’t have spoken anyway – not with the gag in her mouth, but she didn’t know what answer she would give him anyway. She was ready to go, in a sense. She knew her relationship with God was solid. Nicky was young enough that he hadn’t reached that magical age of accountability. But Nick… What would it do to Nick if Tricky Tio killed the two of them? Would he turn away from the beliefs he was starting to embrace? Would he understand that, for whatever reason, it was their time to go? Or would he run away, forever, never giving God another chance? Blaming him for the loss of his wife? Of his two children?
That’s what Debbie was afraid of. More than she was afraid of dying, she was afraid of what it would do to Nick, to his soul. She closed her eyes and prayed. She prayed for strength. She prayed Nicky would sleep through the whole thing like he had last time. She prayed that Nick would find them. She prayed for Nick’s soul. She prayed that, somehow, through all of this, he would find his faith.
“I won’t kill him, you know. Not for a while. Not until he’s had a chance to mourn you both. To know what it’s like to live without you, like I’ve had to live without my son.”
Debbie wished she could point out that it was his own fault. Sure, Nick had pulled the trigger, but Tio was the one who had ordered she and Nicky be kidnapped. If he hadn’t, Nick would have had no reason to shoot his son. He only did what he had to do to protect her and Nicky from Tio’s men. That kind of thing wouldn’t mean anything to a mobster, though. It was Nick’s fault. That’s all there was to it.
“So, the question then is… Do I kill you fast? Or do I kill you slow? Do I kill you first? Or your son? Do I make you watch your son die a slow death? Then kill you? Or let you both bleed out at the same time?” He was pure evil. “I don’t think fast is the answer. I think I’ll go with slow. Let the kid die a bit, then start on you.”
He moved towards Nicky, knife in hand.