Chapter 10:
It was sitting on the dirty floor to her left. She walked over and picked it up before walking back over to Loki and aiming the gun at his head.
"Gaia, don't," Chrissy whispered, walking toward her quickly. She saw that the gun still had the safety on and that it wasn't too late. Chrissy swallowed hard as Gaia shot her a murderous gaze.
"He hurt Ed. He hurt Heather. He hurt Sam. He hurt you. He killed Mary. He tried to kill me. He tried to kill my father. And he killed…my…mother," Gaia stated in a monotone voice. Chrissy looked down to Gaia's uncle, who was bloodied and only half conscious, before looking back to her. Gaia didn't lower the gun. And Chrissy opened her mouth to speak. What came out shocked even her. She had never told anyone her secret. And she'd never planned on it. But what Gaia had told her deserved something in return.
"Have you ever killed anyone?" Chrissy asked. Gaia pursed her lips.
"I've come close. Mary's drug dealer. I thought he was the one that had killed her." Chrissy didn't blink.
"I have." Gaia slowly started to lower the gun.
"What?"
"I killed someone once. That's why we moved to New York City. We needed to start fresh. It's a long, tedious story, but basically what had happened was, when I was thirteen, my younger sister was hit by a car and killed. My father blamed my mother. So my father hit my mother. Every day he hit my mother. And every day he hit me. And every day my mother told me it was her fault. Every day my father told me it was my mother's fault. I tried to hit him back, but he was good at martial arts too. I could never subdue him."
"But that was before I got older and realized it wasn't. I told the police. But they didn't do anything. They had no proof, apparently. That's because my father was a police officer. A model citizen, they said. He knew people. And he made sure they left him alone. And one day, he beat my mother so badly she was sent to the hospital. An accident, he said." By this time, Gaia had lowered the gun to her side.
"So a year ago, every day, for hours and hours, I sat in his bedroom at the safe he kept his gun in. I turned the dial back and forth, keeping track of what I did every time. It took me a very, very long time, but I finally got the combination. And once he came home from work on that day and put it in the safe, when he went to take a shower I took it out."
"And when he came into the room, I shot him."
Gaia was silent for a few moments before Chrissy continued. "You don't want to kill him. He's hurt you and people you love more than I can imagine, but you have no idea…what it's like…to kill someone. To take their life away. Now give me the gun." Chrissy leaned forward slowly when Gaia didn't move and took the gun gently from her hand, holding it by the barrel.
Chrissy looked to Gaia's uncle, who was passed out, before she took Gaia's hand and guided her over to get her backpack. She slung it over her shoulder, not knowing and not really caring where Gaia's was, before she started to put some distance between the two of them and Loki in the construction area.
That was when Gaia's eyes slowly closed, her legs gave out from under her, and she fell to the ground.
Chrissy had been holding Gaia's hand, so she didn't fall hard, and Chrissy lowered her to the ground. And she sat beside her, holding her hand. She knew that after she fought she passed out for a bit. Then Chrissy realized that she was still holding gun. She looked to the man before she looked back to Gaia. She knew that she could shoot him if he woke before Gaia did. But she doubted that he would try to hurt her. Not after what Gaia had done. She wasn't even sure if he would be able to do anything because she wasn't sure how hurt he was. So she laid it on the ground, keeping the safety on, and kneeled beside Gaia, waiting for her to wake up.