“I’m not lying about anything,” Dunstan protested. “Not to you, not to myself, not to anyone.”

“Have you deluded yourself into believing it never happened?” Hannah snapped. “Four people are dead because of you!”

“I didn’t! Angela left! She and Mona packed up and left and moved in with Eli!”

“Lies!” Hannah screamed. She gripped his shoulders tightly, her fingernails, digging painfully into his shoulders. Tears fell from her eyes as she screamed, “Look at me! Damn it, look at me!”

Slowly, hesitantly, Dunstan raised his eyes to her face, taking in her flushed cheeks, her narrowed eyes, her trembling lips, and the tears rolling down her face.

“Look at me, Dunstan. Take a good look at my face. Look at my eyes. Do I look familiar? Do I look like somebody… you murdered?” she screamed, her nails digging in even further. Dunstan shook his head fearfully. Hannah slapped him and snarled, “You killed my brother, you b*****d! You killed him!”

“Your brother?”

“Eli!”

With a gasp, Dunstan stared at Hannah, the memories finally returning.

“You remember, then?” she asked.

Yes, Dunstan did remember. He remembered the angry words he’d exchanged with Angela…


“What, so you’re going to leave me now that I’m of no use to you?” Dunstan shouted.

“That’s right, I am!” Angela responded, glaring at him. “I got into this thinking you could support me, but you… you’re worthless to me now. Or, nearly worthless.”

“What do you mean by ‘nearly?’”

“I can still make you pay child support. Mona is still a child in the eyes of the law, technically.”

“You’re a sick, cruel woman. You‘re trying to drain me dry of everything I own!”

“Half of what you own is legally mine. Money, furnishings, everything. You owe me, Dunstan. I could have had you locked away years ago,” Angela said calmly, her eyes blazing. She knew she was right.

And then Dunstan had stormed from the house in a fit of rage. He drove around aimlessly for hours, then returned home. It was late, nearly eleven at night. He took the gun out of the glove compartment, where he’d kept it hidden from Angela ever since that day she’d held him at gunpoint. He didn’t want a repeat of that experience. He slipped into the house, gun in hand, intending to merely scare her, just as she’d scared him all those years ago. Intimidate her into seeing things his way. But when he entered the bedroom, a horrible sight greeted him.

Eli and Angela were asleep in the bed, holding each other. Shocked and outraged, Dunstan raised the gun and quickly fired a shot into each skull. Neither of them had time to wake before they died.

“You get what you deserve,” Dunstan whispered, turning away from the gruesome sight. He smiled a little to himself. No more worrying about Angela taking his money. No more of Angela using Mona as leverage against him.

Mona…

Dunstan nodded and strode out of the room and down the hallway to his daughter’s room. He slowly opened the door and stepped into the bedroom. He looked down at the slumbering girl, who was unaware of the evil running through his mind.

You, he thought. You’re the reason I’ve had to put up with that monster of a woman all these years. If you hadn’t been born, I could have had a good life.

He pressed the gun to Mona’s temple and peered down at her face, checking to see if she was still asleep. She did not stir; she was capable of sleeping through a hurricane. Dunstan put his finger to the trigger, ready to fire, but something inside of him prevented him from taking action. With a sigh, he pulled the gun away from her temple.

“It’s not your fault. You didn’t ask to be born,” Dunstan whispered. “You tried to be a good daughter, and given what you had to work with, you were a wonderful daughter. But you had rotten parents.”

Dunstan turned and left the room, carefully shutting the door behind him…

“So, that’s only two people,” Dunstan said. “Who are the other two?”

Hannah rolled her eyes and replied, “Think about what happened after that.”