Michelle felt sick looking at her daughter, but she couldn't say anything. If she did, they would kill her. Looking at the gun in her hand, she thought about how hard they had fought to keep her out of it. And now, she was standing pretty much in the middle of it.
Cheryl pointed the gun to the mans head, she was sure that if she fired it, she would hit him. She pulled the trigger, slowly. It wasn't the first time she had handled a gun, or fired one, but she had never fired a gun as strong as this, and never pointed It to a human being.
She didn't miss, she hit perfect, and Tony noticed the shot, but not who was shooting. The man fell, and one of the men that was holding Michelle, completely dropped her. Michelle raised her hand, so that the man lost his balance, and then she put him to the ground. She took his gun and shot him in the leg as he tried to reach her. When Michelle made her way to Cheryl, Tony also saw her, for the first time.
Backup came, and as they all three could breathe out, for some time at least. Tony and Michelle asked for an explanation from Cheryl.
"You always told me to fight for what I believed in" She said, "And, those men pretty much walked right past me outside the main door." That wasn't exactly true but… " But even you know better than running around with a gun playing hero" Tony started, only getting that look from Michelle, about the only look in her eyes he didn't exactly love.
"You DID do well, but you're 14 years old, what If you had been shot, what if you got killed" Michelle wasn't angry, more like, sad… Now Cheryl got angry, how could they not understand, after sacrificing so much for each other, so many times? "So what, it's not like it would have made a big different to the world, it would affect someone, but not many, people would live on without me."
Tony couldn't believe what he heard. "But why come get us, if you don't care how we feel anyway?" That put Cheryl back down to earth and she looked down. They all calmed down. "Look, I know what kind of example we're setting here, doing what we do, and not all of it is right, but we don't want you involved in it. We're already in, but you can still keep out. The world is no safe place, least of all America in days like this, but it's what it is, and we do what we have to do"
"But what if I do want to be in on it. I know it wont make me a better person fighting, and hurting people, but don't tell me you do everything by the book, that you don't do what you think is right, instead of what the law says."
Michelle took the word again. " But not all of that Is right either. You don't now what the consequences are, sometimes you have an idea, but you never know. Walking out the door in the morning could be a bad choice, opening the window could be wrong. You never know."
Before any of them had a chance to say anything more, a van stopped not far from them. Three men walked out. Armed, and then two more from behind them. Tony and Michelle surrounded Cheryl, but Cheryl moved away from them. She had loaded her gun, and was pointing it at… Tony and Michelle... They moved apart, surprised by their daughters reaction. Cheryl pointed her gun against Tony, and followed him as he moved. " Do it, the man said."
"She almost laughed out loud. "Yeah, why not", she answered. And Michelle looked her into the eyes, not knowing what to do or believe.