Children of Redemption (Children of Vice 3)

The needle was cold and quick, like a small bug bite, and before I knew it my legs couldn’t hold me anymore. But I didn’t fall; instead, his arms were around me. He squeezed my shoulders before setting be back down on the wheelchair. Coming around me, he lifted my legs onto the steps, and my heart pounded against my chest. I wanted to see him. I hated the blonde wig on his head. I wanted to see my son.

“Liam,” I called out softly.

And he paused for a moment and looked up to me. Instead of his green eyes, I saw brown. But I knew it was him.

“Sweetheart—”

“We were late, Mom. I’m sorry.” The pain in his eyes was real. It only added to my own, but he held it back. He kissed my hands and then my forehead before moving over to the bed. My eyelids felt heavy, and everything started to blur.

I could see them. He tried to pull her away from the bed, but she broke out of his hold and just sobbed over Wyatt. I don’t think I could remember the last time I saw them cry. Liam hung his head, trying to breathe, running has hands through is hair, before finally grabbing her arm and yelling something into her face. She froze, still not letting go. But whatever he did must have worked. She wiped her face, lifted the surgical mask over her mouth, and turned. She didn’t want to move. And just when I thought she was going to leave again, she turned back around to put a kiss on his forehead before walking away.

I caught her eyes as she left.

I remembered those eyes.

Green or brown…I remembered those eyes because they were so familiar to my own.

I wished I had the strength to ask where she was then.

When she was gone, I stared over at them, my boys. Liam said nothing. He didn’t weep. He didn’t lose himself in rage. It was like he and Melody had switched personalities. Instead, he put his hand on his son’s head and whispered something into his ear before turning and leaving too.

The last words I heard from him this time were, “This isn’t over, Mom. They will pay for this. The world will pay.”

That was the problem.

Everyone had to pay with their children.

TWENTY-ONE

“Love is breathing in each other with all madness.”

~ Seema Gupta

HELEN

It hurt.

Everything hurt.

Like the world was trying to crush me to pieces.

“Helen?”

Mom?

“Helen, sweetheart can you hear me?”

Dad?

“Come on, sis.”

Darcy?

Why was everyone here? No, not everyone…Wyatt. Where was Wyatt’s voice?... Why…do…they…always…gotta…gotta ruin my day. I heard them, but not the one voice I wanted to hear. No. Please no. It was nightmare. Panic flooded me as I remembered the blood…the bullets.

He went down!

He went down!