Truth Comes Second

Pushed Around

Author's Note: I cannot begin to tell you all about how sorry I am that this update took so long! School has been crazy busy and I've been going through some personal problems lately. I hope you all forgive me, and I promise I'll try my best to update soon! 

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Jimmy's POV:

Tommy approached the car. He had his cane, but he was still limping toward me. I kept my hand around the handle of the gun.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"Funny," he said. "I should be asking you the same question, but I think we had the same idea. I came to find Julie."

"Leave her alone."

The street lights casted shadows across Tommy's face. I could see him smirking, and I pulled the gun out of my pocket and held it toward him. His eyes grew and he held his hands up in defense. I could see the straps of a backpack over his dark coat.

"Jim, I'm your brother," he said.

"I don't care," I told him. "I can't believe I didn't kill you earlier."

"I'm your brother. I'm your family."

"You tried to kill Julie. She and Hunter are my only family now that Dad's dead."

Tommy chuckled and rolled his eyes. I could feel my heart pound in my chest as I kept the gun out in front of me. I wanted to pull the trigger. I wanted to pull the trigger so bad. But if I killed him, that would ruin Julie and I's plan. Once the cops started talking to Tommy, they would see that Julie and I's story was true. If I killed him I'd be the one locked away in a jail cell.

"Did you find her?" he asked me.

"No. I was heading back to Steve's."

"You're actually coming back?"

"I can't stay out here."

"I know."

I lowered the gun, but I kept my finger around the trigger. Tommy relaxed his shoulders and smiled.

"You lucked out," he said. "I thought somebody would have recognized you."

"I've been staying out of sight. How'd you get here?"

"I took the truck."

I couldn't believe that Tommy took the truck out from behind the garage. The rusted blue truck was all over the news. Dad didn't have the drugs to sedate Carrie, so that was the one thing that she remembered well. Everyone assumed that we were running away in the truck. It seemed like everyone was looking for the truck.

"Leave it here," I told him. "We'll take Steve's truck back."

I wanted to kill Tommy, but I was going to have to wait. He needed to take the blame so that Julie and I could be together. Once he was arrested, he was going to get the death penalty for sure.

I put the gun back into the pocket of my sweater and I turned on my heel. I started walking toward the car and I heard a something zip open. I began to turn my head to see what it was, but I felt a pain explode into my back. I let out a scream and fell onto the ground.

A sharp pain shot up my spine and I could feel something cold trickle down my ribs. Tommy walked in front of me and sat down on the asphalt in front of me. He was smirking again and twirling a knife around in his hand. It looked like one of the ones from the kitchen.

I reached in my pocket for the gun, but I couldn't feel it. It must have fallen out of my pocket when I fell. Tommy saw me fishing through my pocket, and he reached forward to grab the gun. He glanced at it before tossing it into his backpack.

"You know I never like guns," he said. "I always preferred a blade."

I tried to crawl toward him, but my back felt like it was on fire. I screamed out in pain when I felt the sharp pain spread up my back. I reached around to feel the cold handle poking out of my back. I wanted to rip it out, but I've seen what that's done to people back in our house. It would make me bleed to death.

"Where is she?" he asked me.

"I'll never tell you," I said through my teeth. I chewed on my lip to stop myself from screaming out in pain even more.

"That's not what I want to hear."

He reached forward and started to turn the blade. I screamed and my vision started to go black. I was panting for breath and I could feel the cold sweat building up on my skin.

"Where is she, Jim?" he asked again.

"I don't know! I never found her!"

He turned the blade even more. I hoped I was sweating to hide the tears that were streaming down my cheeks. I looked up to see a few lights on in some of the apartment buildings. Maybe if I screamed loud enough they would call the cops? They could catch Tommy trying to kill me and they would believe Julie's story even more.

"Liar," he said. "Now tell me where she is."

I was gasping for air. I couldn't tell him where Julie was, but I couldn't bare the pain of him turning the knife again. I let out another scream to buy me some time. Tommy chuckled.

"Listen, you're my brother so I'll be nice to you," he said. "If you tell me where Julie is then I'll put some serious thought into not killing Hunter. I'm going to find her eventually, this town isn't that big. And I told her she could keep Hunter, but I was lying. Why would I ever want your kid around?"

"Stay away from them," I growled.

Tommy got up off of the ground. He struggled and had to use his cane to support most of his weight. He looked out at the street in front of the supermarket.

"So which way is quicker?" he asked. "East or west?"

"Go to hell."

Tommy started to laugh. It wasn't his normal chuckle, but a laugh that made him bend over and gasp for breath. I must have caught him off guard.

"Wow, Jim swearing," he said. "I never thought I would hear it. What do you think Dad would say?"

"Don't bring Dad into this."

Tommy bent down next to me and dug through my pockets. I tried to push him away, but I was bleeding fast and losing most of my strength. I felt the handle again to feel the soaked fabric of my shirt and sweater. Tommy pulled out the car keys and unlocked the door to Steve's car.

"Dad would have been proud of me," he said. "'Don't let anyone push you around, boys' that's what he said all the time, didn't he? That bastard pushed us, and I won't be pushed around by you. I'm getting what I want."

I rested my temple against the cool asphalt. The dark rim around my vision was getting darker, and my eyes felt heavy. I watched Tommy's feet as they walked toward the car. He slammed the door shut and quickly drove out of the parking lot.

I sucked in a deep breath and tried to crawl forward. Maybe if I could get to the truck I could get to a safe distance to let myself heal? As soon as I moved my back I screamed out in pain.

I kept my head down on the cool and bumpy asphalt. When the sound of sirens echoes in the distance, I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.