On The Run

Chapter Forty-Six - "I Declare"

Jake

 

For a second, I stared at her blankly, waiting for her to tell me what she needed my help with, because it wasn’t that I hadn’t heard her clearly, it was that I hadn’t heard her at all. So, I stared.

And she repeated it, “I need you to help me kill my husband.”

I wondered if the wind and the bird chirps and the lake and all the sounds from the zoo were combining to form the surely incorrect sentence.

But as I looked at the pleading in her face, and the hopelessness in her eyes, I heard the sentence again.

“I need you to help me kill my husband.”

“Are you doing drugs?” I asked peering into her eyes. It seemed to be the only explanation, because my sister was pure at heart and had no such thoughts going through her head. Not my Sammy.

She held back the tears that had now formed in her eyes and shook her head, “No.”

“Did you fall and hit your head?” I was really concerned, more for her mental health than her current state.

“Jake, I would never ever ask you to do such a thing. I . . . it’s not me. I’m not the kind of person who entertains thoughts of murder. I’m not the kind of person who sleeps with someone over ten years younger than me, no less is unfaithful. I’m not the kind of person who dreams about the different ways I’d die. But that is what my life has become, and there’s only one way out. It’s either me or him, so choose.”

Her crying had started again.

I stared in shock, wondering if this was some dreadful nightmare.

“You . . . I . . . Sammy, are you . . . I have to choose . . . What?” I found it hard to let out the words, not to talk about forming an actual sentence.

She let out a moan and dropped her head into her hands, “As long as I have to live with him, I’d rather not live at all. I got a gun, and I was this close to using it, but then I thought about all my pain and I couldn’t die knowing he’d still be alive.”

It almost sounded like another language. I couldn’t understand any of it, but I somehow managed to ask, “What happened?”

She shook her head vigorously, “I can’t tell you that.”

My eyes widened, “You want me to help you murder someone for no reason.” The word put a bad taste in my mouth. I cringed. I couldn’t believe we were actually having this conversation; it felt like an outer body experience of some sort.

“It’s not for no reason,” she said quietly, looking defeated.

My heart ached. This was my little sister, after all.

“Then what?” I asked in a comforting tone.

She was quiet for a couple of minutes, just staring down at the snow, with pieces of greenery peeping out here and there. I was fully aware of my soaked jeans, but the conversation had pulled my mind off all other discomforts.

“Sammy?” I called, but she continued to stare blankly.

“Did he hurt you?” I asked, even though I was fairly sure at this point – the flinching, the emotions, the fear; it all added up to one thing.

She stiffened, “I can’t live with him anymore, Jake. Just help me.”

I clenched my jaw and held back my fast-rising anger. Now, I had no qualms about tearing him to shreds. I balled up my fists and took a deep breath, “What did he do?”