The Consequence

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

   The tension in the air was so thick it felt ready to explode at any given moment. She sat there with her blue eyes wide and her head shaking left and right slowly like she was trying not to believe me. She had to have known; with the way Tony is there isn’t any other way.

   She had been with him for two years, the amount of clues that must have been dropped or the conversations that she must have overheard. I knew she knew.

   “I…” She started to speak but abruptly shut her mouth again still in thought.

      Apart from her head shaking, she was deathly still. It was a little unnerving watching her. “Lexi.” I called. She had to know I was there for her, that I would save her before she got too deep. I know it was a lot for her to take in but this isn’t the end.

   Her eyes finally snapped to mine. She looked like a lost child. “I don’t believe you.” She whispered.

      “You have to believe me Lex. You can even ask Zak.” I told her sympathetically. I really felt sorry for her.

      “No.” She replied. “I can’t. I have known him for two years and not once has he shown me his dark side. He has always been that charming Uncle that everyone wishes for. Tony isn’t a bad man.” Suddenly she looked horrified. “I am training to be on his legal team when I graduate.”

   I glanced at Luke momentarily, not sure what to do. I held so many more secrets that I thought she knew but if she didn’t, how was I going to explain this to her? I was going to crush her. She already looked like a lost puppy in the snow, what else could I tell her without breaking her?

   I bent down to the ground and picked up the photograph that smashed earlier. I must have been about eight years old when that was taken. We were at the beach in St. Anne’s and the sun was scorching hot that day. I will always remember it because my dad always went bright red from the slightest bit of sun and when we got home he jumped in the shower and wouldn’t stop screaming.

   It made me laugh for weeks after because it was so funny.

      In the picture I was stood with my red t-shirt and black shorts on and Zak was sat on a rock beside me. He must have been about four years old then, you could see the gap in his front teeth. It was his first tooth to come out. He was so happy that night when he came running up to me with blood all over his hands, a cheeky grin on his face.

   Stood in front of me was Lexi, she would have just turned two years old. She was in a yellow summer dress and her hair in the pigtails she was always in. She didn’t look happy at all but if I remember correctly, it was because Zak had pushed her over just before it was taken as they were racing to the rocks and Lexi would have won because she was further in front than Zak to start off with.

   I will always remember that day; there isn’t anything that I will forget. It was one of the happiest days of my life – as cliché as that was. Everyone was still alive and I was with my family. Nothing went wrong.

  I suppose I remember it the most out of any day trips we went on as a family because only a week later they died. A week to the day of that trip they were found together - dead on arrival.

   I showed Lexi the photograph, “Do you remember this?”

      She was careful with it as she took it from my hands. “I know the photograph but could never remember the day. I only know about it because of this.” She admitted. “What happened?” She noticed the glass and the broken frame lying on the ground.