Trigger

two • gunshots

I waste no time scrambling out of bed when the sounds persist. I know what the sharp sound that booms through the air is- there's no denying the fact that those are gunshots. I've always been a light sleeper, so I'm not surprised that even though they're distant, the managed to wake me up.

A shiver breaks through me as I realize that I'm shaking in fear, which doesn't help my problem. I've never been in a situation like this- I live in the suburbs, a neighbourhood so safe and secure that leaving your front door unlocked doesn't seem absurd. I know my dad owns a gun, but he always keeps it locked and out of sight. I don't know if he even brought it with him to the cottage.

When another gunshot slices through the air, I waste no time throwing my door open and running down the hall to the room that my parents occupy. I throw the door open, not at all surprised that the distant sounds didn't even manage to make them stir, before I flick on the lights and shake them awake.

"Kinsley?" my mom slurs tiredly. "What is it?"

"Gunshots," I mutter, beginning to feel more panicked. My mom's tiredly narrow at me before they shoot open as another one booms in the distance. Turning over, she shakes my dad awake. He also sits up as soon as another one goes off.

"Stay here," my dad demands of us. I don't like it, but when my mom's hand shoots out to grab my wrist and sit me down on the bed, I sigh in defeat, still shaking with fear, my heart racing. My mom wraps me in a hug.

"When did they wake you up?"

"A couple of minutes ago. What do you think it could be?"

"I don't know, Kinsley. Maybe someone's at the shooting range?"

I have to admit- the possibility of that manages to relax me a bit. There's a shooting range just on the edge of the forest behind our cottage. Because no one's been staying at the cottage beside us and we don't shoot leisurely, no one has used it. I only know it's there because I stumbled upon it when I was eight. I don't know who would be shooting at two in the morning, though, but at least it explains the amount of gunshots being fired.

My mom and I stay quiet until I hear voices at the front of our cottage- Katherine and Jeffery. Escaping my mom's grip and ignoring her protests, I make my way through the cottage and to the wooden porch, where my dad is talking to the couple. "What's going on?" I ask, uncaring that I interrupt them mid-conversation.

My dad sighs, obviously slightly annoyed that I ignored his request to stay put, but answers me anyway, "Nothing, don't worry Kinsley."

"Where are the gunshots coming from?"

Katherine smiles grimly, "We're sorry that they woke you, sweetheart. It's Levi. Sometimes he has tough nights and in order to cope with them, he likes to go to the shooting range."

Another gunshot. I blink, shocked, "He can shoot?"

"Oh, ever since he was a kid. Anyway, he shouldn't be long. I rest assure you that this doesn't happen every night. I think it's just with this move into the cottage for two months, the change of atmosphere that he know is going to last a while might be causing him some stress. Levi doesn't do well with stress."

My dad puts a hand on my shoulder, "Go back to sleep, Kinsley. Everything is alright."

I don't go to sleep, though. Instead, I wander over to the kitchen, where the window is facing the forest, and watch. It's too dark to see far, so I'm not able to see even the silhouette of Levi in the distance. That doesn't mean I don't continue to hear the gunshots, though.

Eventually, they begin to slow down, until it's been five minutes since I've heard the last one. The only noise in the night is my dad, Katherine and Jeffery talking in hushed voices at the front along with the soft swoosh of water from the lake. My eyes stay glued to the window, my heart beat beginning to pick up when I see Levi's figure step out from the shadows.