I swallow the lump of fear in my throat. Bitch. How dare she?
What do I do? I have no choice but to stay here and fight. My eyes close and I picture my beautiful Joshua in prison on our wedding day. Please be ok, baby, please be ok. It will be dark soon. I have to step out of the shed or she is going to have me cornered. My heart is racing out of control and I grip my chest. I don’t have to worry about her killing me because I’m going to have a damn heart attack before she gets the chance.
I hear the crunch of tyres again on the pebble driveway and my face screws up. Shit, there’s more of them. I will be outnumbered. “Joshua, baby, I love you,” I whisper as my eyes fill with tears and I grip the gun with white-knuckled force. This is it—it will all be over soon.
I keep looking, through the gap in the tin, towards the car that has just pulled up around the front of the house. I frown as my eyes flick to Amelie who is now hiding behind a tree. They are not with her. She doesn’t know who it is either. I grip my gun with renewed purpose and then I hear a familiar voice.
“Hey, look, the glass has been broken,” Cameron calls out.
Oh no, it’s Cameron. Cameron, she has a gun. Get out of here. Where’s Ben and Max?
I watch in horror as Adrian walks around the car. I put my hand over my mouth. It’s Cameron and Adrian. A phone rings and I hear Cameron’s
voice. “Hey,” he answers. “Shit. They lost her,” he calls out to Adrian. “Yeah, ok. We will be there in a minute,” he replies.
What the hell are they doing here? My eyes flick back to Amelie who is now sneaking toward the other side of the house to take them by surprise. She’s going to kill them but it’s me you want. No.
I step out into the rain with my gun. “I’m over here,” I call.
She stops, turns and smiles a sadistic smile when her eyes find me. I’m sopping wet in men’s clothing and I’m holding a rifle. This is just like a fucking horror movie.
She lets out a sickening laugh and my blood runs cold as I raise the rifle and point it towards her. Her face drops and she raises her gun.
“Drop it,” she yells.
Fury drips from my every pore and I keep the gun aimed at her head. The rain is running into my eyes and I try to blink it away.
“I said drop it,” she yells again over the sound of the rain on the tin.
I keep the gun still and try to focus. Pull the trigger, pull the trigger. What are you waiting for? Pull the trigger, Natasha.
The back screen slams shut and her eyes flick to the verandah but I keep my eyes firmly on her.
“Amelie, what are you doing?” Cameron yells.
“Go Cameron,” she yells in reply.
My eyes go to Cameron and his terrified face as his eyes flick to me with the gun.
“Amelie, you don’t want to do this,” he calls. “We can get you some help… it’s ok,” he calls as he walks out into the rain and toward the stairs.
Cameron stop. Stop where you are, I whisper to myself. My eyes flick to the side of the house where I see Adrian sneaking down toward me and I grip the gun tighter.
Amelie points the gun at Cameron. “I will kill you too. Get in the house,” she yells at him.
“Amelie, calm down,” he replies as he keeps slowly walking down the steps towards her. She seemingly loses control and fires the gun and he runs up the stairs. She sprays bullets at him as he runs back into the house and Adrian lies on the ground. The sound is deafening.
“Stop it!” I scream and her attention comes back to me and she points the gun toward me and fires. It clicks—she’s out of bullets.
My heart stops completely.
“Oh, you idiot,” she sneers with the gun pointed at me as she walks closer.
I keep the gun pointed at her head as I grip the trigger. Does she have another gun under her jacket? Why is she still coming toward me?
“What are you going to do?” she screams. “What are you going to do? You haven’t got the guts!”
I stay still as the rain comes down.