Page 21 of Unhinged Kallie

He stopped walking, and I knew he didn’t want to tell me. He always chewed on his bottom lip when he was upset.

“What did I do?”

He knelt down and gripped my shoulders, getting all serious like Daddy did. “Kallie, you didn’t do anything wrong. None of us did.”

“Then why?” Tears filled my eyes, and my bottom lip shook as I tried to hold back from crying like the little kid he thought I was.

“Because a bad man hurt her. Your Mommy is with the angels now, with my parents,” he said, looking away as his eyes filled with tears too.

“But, I’m their angel.” The sadness hurt my chest, and I stepped into Carter, wrapping my arms around his neck as I cried. “Why would someone hurt her?” I blubbered, no longer caring that I looked childish.

“I don’t know. Some people are just bad people and do bad things.” Carter hugged me until I stopped crying.

“What are we going to do,” I asked, trying to picture what it would be like not having my mommy here anymore.

“I don’t know, but we can make dinner tonight. I think your daddy is really sad and needs us to help,” he said. I wiped away the wetness on my cheeks and nodded.

A soft knock had us looking at the door, and my heart raced in my chest as I pulled away from Carter’s grasp.

“Mommy?”

I whipped open the door, but my Auntie Aspen, Talon, and Troy stood outside.

“Hi there, sweetie. I brought over something for you all to eat, and I thought you could come over after dinner for the night. We can make it a sleepover.”

“But, what if you are all wrong and Mommy comes home? No one will be here,” I said.

Auntie Aspen cleared her throat and looked away, but I knew she was trying to hide her tears.

“Kallie, I told you she’s not coming home,” Carter said softly. I looked up at him and the other sad faces and didn’t want to hear it. So I turned and took off upstairs.

I slammed my door shut, but Carter followed me into the room as I flopped on my bed and cried.

“Leave me alone.” He didn’t leave, and I felt the bed move as he sat down beside me. “I said go away.”

“No, I won’t go.”

Anger ripped through me, and I sat up. I hit Carter, but he grabbed my arms and let me yell and say bad words until I wore myself out. Defeated, I cried harder and stared down at the bed, but Carter pulled me into a hard hug and let me sob.

“I won’t leave you. I’ll never leave you, Kallie.”

“You promise?” I mumbled into his shirt.

“Yeah.”

“You shouldn’t make promises you cannot keep,” Daddy said, and I jumped away from Carter and ran to him. He picked me up just like he always did, and his eyes were calm, yet I felt his sadness. “We will say goodbye to your mother in two days.”

“I don’t want to say goodbye. I don’t understand why a bad man would want to hurt her.”

“Me either, Angel, but I promise you that I’m going to find him, and I’m going to make him pay.”

* * *

CAIN

I’d never been into material objects or needed much money. But using a large portion of what I had put away served me now.

My eyes focused on Kirby’s lifeless body as I stared down at my worktable. Her pale skin stood out against the shiny metal. I remembered every detail of the last time she had laid on this table. The sound of her laugh and the sparkle in her eye as she teased me and then screamed my name.