Lucifer: More Than My Own Existence
Chapter 2
Turn for the Worse
California Coast 16 years later
Sara stood on the Palos Verdes cliffs, her right arm still in a sling and her mother's urn tucked tight into it. She often told Sara this had been her father's favorite place when she had been born, and Sara figured it was a good a place as any to release her mom's ashes, a place for her mother to be close to the man she loved. Taking a deep breath to steady her shaking finger, she unscrewed the top and let it fall to the grass. She waited for a moment, then felt a strong breeze blowing out towards the sea, perfect. She gripped the urn, held it away from her and tilted, letting the wind carry what was left of her mother away from her and out to sea.
Three weeks ago, her whole life came crashing down around her. It had started out a normal Saturday morning, no hint that her quiet, boring life would take a drastic turn for the worse. Her mom had gotten up early and let her sleep in, granted sleeping in too Elizabeth Fenn meant not waking up till 7 am on the weekends unlike the 5:30 wake up calls the other five days of the week.
"Come on Hummingbird," Liz called up to her from the foot of the staircase. "Rise and shine."
Sara groaned, she hated getting up this early. "Come on Mom! It's the weekend," she whined, but still tossed back the covers and rolled out of the bed. "I'm a teenager now!" She pulled her night shirt over her head, grabbed the dark blue sundress she had set out the night before and slipped into it. Moving from her bedroom, grabbing her denim shorts along the way, towards the bathroom she shouted down the stairs, "I'm supposed to be broody, moody, and grumpy!" She didn't hear her mom's response through the closed bathroom door.
Once ready for the day, Sara bounced down the stairs. While she hated getting up early, once she was up, dressed and ready for the day her mood greatly improved. "Sorry I missed that last comment," she said to her mom's back as she entered the kitchen. She grabbed the toast as it popped up.
"I said, 'you're also Sleepy, Bashful, and Doc'." She handed her the butter knife with a smile.
Sara rolled her eyes. "Ha, ha, ha. You're so funny."
"You know what your Father used to say."
Another sigh from her as her mom waited for her to feed her the last line, "Looks aren't everything." There were many things her mom had told her about her dad, what he looked like, his personality and how much he loved his daughter, but the little sayings that popped out her mom's mouth about him were always Sara's favorite. The only thing she hadn't told Sara about her dad, was why he left them. It seemed too painful for her and the few times she had asked her mom she had always told her the cliché line of 'when you're older'.
"So," Sara asked setting the toast on the plate and lathering it with butter, "how long do you think you'll need me at the shop?"
Liz finished off her coffee tossing the empty cup in the garbage, "I believe I can have you out of there by noon. I called Cora and she said she would cover Matt's spot."
Sara nodded. There was very little her mother wouldn't do to help her employees. A year ago, she had hired Matt to work part time. Two months in she'd learned Matt had a drug habit. Her mother had used some of her retirement savings to send the guy to rehab with the promise of Matt getting clean. After completing the program Matt had come back clean and sober, so her mom had given him his job back. A month later he relapsed, but he had been honest about it with them. Rather than fire Matt for a mistake, her mom had simply told him to cut all ties with his drug dealer and he could keep his job, but he would have to be demoted from cashier to environmental service, a position Liz had made up on the spot. Matt had agreed and even Sara could see how much working at the coffee shop meant to him.
"She said she can come in and cover the register at noon, leaving you free to have the rest of the day to yourself. What're your plans?"
Grinning Sara turned towards her mom, "Well, I was invited to Laguna Beach with some friends from school and I was hoping to stop by the surf shop on the way there and pick up my board, which means…"
"Which means," her mom interrupted her left hand fingering the dark purple stone Sara's father had given her mom as a gift, "you need the Jeep to pick it up?" Sara nodded sheepishly. Another sigh, "Sara you just got your license two weeks ago. Laguna Beach is nearly an hour away. I don't like the idea of you driving that far by yourself."
"But Mom, I won't be by myself…"
She held up a hand, "Having Shark-Bait strapped to the top of the jeep doesn't count." Shark-bait was the name Sara had decided for her surfboard, due to her love of Finding Nemo.
"Oh, come on Mom. None of the other kids live close enough to pick me up. And besides, how can I become an independent, confident driver unless I, you know, drive?"
She was shaking her head and Sara knew she wouldn't budge
"Tell you what Hummingbird, after Cora gets settled, I'll call Erik. If he is willing to come-in, you and I can drive out to Laguna Beach, emphasis on the you drive part. There are somethings I need to pick up for the shop. So, you can hang with your friends, and when you're done, we'll head out to Palos Verdes." She held out her hand, "Deal?"
There was only ever one reason her mom would take her out to Palos Verdes, flying practice. Sara beamed, grabbed the extended hand and shook it before she could change his mind. "Deal!"
Erik loved to pick up shifts, he claimed to be saving up for a Stratocaster, so there would be no way he would say no to coming in. She was going to get to drive all the way to Laguna Beach to pick up her new board and surf and later go practice flying. Overall, this was shaping up to be a very good day.
Living just around the block from the Coffee shop, brilliantly name The Coffee Shop, made the commute to work easy. The last nice surprise of the day was seeing Cora already in the shop, with a fresh brew of coffee already going.
"Cora!" Sara said slipping behind the counter and giving said woman a huge hug, "I thought you couldn't be in till noon."
Cora hugged her back, "I was able to shift things around. Figured I would get an early start." She jerked her head towards the back, "Besides, Matt was here way before me, looks like wants to get on your mom's good side."
Sara glanced back and could see Matt with his head tucked, ear buds in, finishing mopping the back. If he followed his new routine, he would start the dining area next, followed by the outside. If one thing could be said about Matt, he was dedicated. Sara just nodded, grabbed her apron and started stacking the coffee cups, preparing for the late morning rush.
As the great Wade Wilson once said, "Life is an endless series of train wrecks with only brief commercial like breaks of happiness." Time to return to our regularly schedule shit storm."
Sara had just finished setting out the last of the coffee sleeves at the right side of the register, Cora was at the register, while her mom was in the back taking care of a shipping order, when He walked in. Well more like burst in. There were no other customers in the shop yet, thank whatever God you chose to believe in. It wasn't the door being slammed open; it was the gun shot that got Sara's attention. Covering her ringing ears, she turned around to see Matt lying spread eagle on the still wet floor, a red pool quickly forming beneath him.
Her ears were still ringing when she realized she was looking at the barrel of a Beretta, specifically a Beretta .45mm, with an ambidextrous safety that Sara could see clearly was not engaged. How the hell do I know what kind of gun this is. He was yelling something at her, but her brain was not processing that he was telling her to get down, quickly enough. There was another loud bang and pain erupted just below her right clavicle, burning its way down her arm and into her fingertips. It felt like she was moving under water, as she turned her head right and saw blood pouring out of the gunshot there. She tried to move her right arm, but it hung lifeless.
Then she heard her mom calling her name, or maybe she was yelling it, hard for her to tell through the pain in her chest and back. The next thought to cross her mind was, 'where was Cora?' She had been at the register last time Sara saw her, but now the register was unmanned. It felt like hours had passed from the time He had shot her, too the moment her legs gave out and she fell to the ground, hitting the right side of her head on the table beside her.
There was more yelling as she lay there, but again Sara couldn't make out what the voices were yelling. Another gunshot pulled Sara's attention towards the counter. Her mom was falling against the back wall, knocking the cups and lids off the counter and holding her gut. "No," she whispered.
He walked around the register and in slow motion Sara saw Him raise the gun and fire three more times into her mom. Liz slumped behind the counter out of Sara's line of sight, as the gunman reached into the register, pulled out what little cash there was and started to walk out from behind the counter. He paid no attention to Sara, walking past Matt, whom Sara was surprised to see was still alive and managed to grab a hold of the gunman's pant leg. He squatted over Matt and waved the gun in his face but still Matt refused to let go of his pant leg. A quick shrug of His shoulders and He shot Matt point blank in the chest. Matt didn't move after that.
Without casting a second glance behind him, He strolled out of the Coffee Shop. A total of two minutes had passed. Two minutes and Sara's life had changed forever.
It took her more five minutes to realize He was gone. Using her left arm, she tried to push herself up. Trying to ignore the shooting pain in her chest, the fire spreading through to her back, and the fact she couldn't move her right arm, made pushing herself up impossible. She slipped a couple times in her own blood. How much blood could a person lose and survive? She shook that thought out of her mind, not wanting to think about how much blood her mom was losing while she lay there. Ok, so getting up and walking is out of the question. A line from her favorite movie came to her. 'If you can't walk, crawl.' She could crawl, after all her legs weren't broken. She hoped.
The blood pool actually came in handy, it made sliding her body across the ground easier. Well that's a morbid thought. Using only her legs to push and her left arm to brace herself up she slowly army crawled her way behind the counter. Getting there was easier than seeing her mom lying flat on her back, unmoving behind it. "Mom," she called out softly. One final push of her legs and Sara was able to grab her shoulder and shake it. "Mom."
Her eyes fluttered opened, "Hummingbird," her voice was barely above a whisper and Sara really had to struggle to hear her, "are… you…" her voice trailed off.
"I'll be fine," she whispered to her, putting her head closer to her mom's. She didn't feel fine; in fact, she was having a hard time just keeping her eyes opened. Not to mention that every time she took in a breath, it felt like gulping hot air. "I need to get you help."
Sara heard the front door open and for a moment she thought the shooter was back to finish the job but looking up she saw a group of four stop short. It took all of three seconds for the scene in front of them to register, Matt's body and the blood trail Sara left behind her. There were three girls and one guy. Two of the girls screamed, turned and bolted out the door. The third girl just stood there, while the guy seemed to have some kind training, because he slapped his phone in girl three's hand.
"Kim, call 911." His voice seemed un-naturally loud after hearing her mom's whispers, but it also left no argument and seemed to snap Kim out of her stupor.
She watched him kneel beside Matt, feel for a pulse and quickly left his side, confirming what Sara already knew. He moved towards Sara and her mom, talking to Sara.
"My name's Josh, I'm going to help you."
Sara shook her head and nodded towards her mom, "She's hurt worse than me. Her first."
Josh made the same motion of checking for a pulse on the side of her mom's neck but returned his attention to Sara, helping her sit up. "Kim, bring me as many napkins as you can, I need to stop the bleeding."
It took Sara a moment to realize he was talking about her bleeding and she tried to push him towards her mom, "No she's been shot, help her."
Kim was handing the Josh the napkins, she seemed incredible pale, "Here Josh, these are all the clean ones they have, and the ambulance is on the way"
Josh took the offered napkins and pressed them to Sara's wound, "This may hurt but I need to keep pressure. What's your name?"
Again, Sara tried to redirect Josh to her mom, "Sara. Please help my mom."
She looked towards her mom and with his left-hand Josh gently redirected her face back towards him, "Sara I need you to focus on me, okay." There was a sharp pain as he pressed harder and a hissed escaped her lips. This made her look at him, "Kim and I are going to help you stand up and move you out from behind the counter. It'll make it easier to treat you. Ready?"
For the third time Sara tried to express how she was fine, and her mom was the one who need the attention. Kim had moved to her left side and was looping Sara's left arm over her shoulder while Josh had his arm around her waist, pinning her right between the two of them, and they were pulling her to her feet, whether she was ready or not.
Three steps in and the pain from her chest and back caught up with her. It wasn't like in the movies, a slow graceful swoon to the floor. The darkness started around the edge of her field of vision, blocking out Matt's body, and like someone slowly turning a dimmer switch down, it began to creep towards the center of her vision, till all she saw was darkness.
