A Simple Life: Chapter 223

Except for Johnny crooning over the speakers the room goes dead quiet. Those shooting pool stop and turn and the jeering and laughter from the tables cuts off in an instant. Jack, with a look of shock, freezes his approach mid-step. I had seized their attention…but now what!?

“Jacko?”

“I got this, TJ.” Jack says. “Everyone just chill.”

My heart beat like a frightened little bunny, which was exactly how I felt. My instincts were screaming at me to run and run and run and never look back. But I just couldn’t. My mind, unmoored by panic and anger, careened out of control. All I could think about was Jack hurting Winona. I wouldn’t let that happen!

“Y-Y-Y-YOU AREN’T G-G-GONNA HURT ANYBODY ELSE!” I scream. “I WON’T L-LET YOU!” My tears roll down my cheeks and my bottom lips quivers. I was so scared! I didn’t know how to do this!

“Avie.” Jack puts out his hand in a gesture of calm. “I didn’t hurt anybody. I never hurt nobody who didn’t deserve it. You know that, Avie.”

“Lauren d-d-didn’t deserve it! And n-n-neither did I!” I cry. “I’m your l-l-little brother! You were…you w-were…supposed to p-protect me!”

“I did protect you. When have I ever not been there for you? Huh? You need to put that down now, Avie. And we can go talk about this.”

“DON’T C-CALL ME AVIE!” My terrified scream cracks into a screech. With a sniffle I gasp. “You d-didn’t have to b-b-be like him. Y-You didn’t have to be like D-D-Dad. You had a choice!”

There is movement from my right as the doorman attempts to sneak around behind me. At the same time the bartender reaches below the bar to produce a doubled barrel shotgun. Escalation demands escalation…so I pull the hammer of the pistol back into a cocked position. With the click of the gun the doorman’s courage evaporates and he retreats back into the entryway.

“Woah!” Jack yelps. “Avery! I’m your brother for Christ’s sake!”

“N-Nobody do anything!” I shout through my blubbering. “D-D-Don’t touch anything! Any of you!”

“Avery!” Jack snaps, his voice wavering with fear and anger. “Enough! You’re going to give me that gun right now, little brother.”

“Mmmm.” I shake my head. “I’m n-not! You’re g-gonna stop hurting people!”

“Okay! Fuck! Okay!” He says as he slides a foot closer. “I won’t hurt anybody, Avery. Is that what you want to hear?”

God! I knew he was lying. Of course he was lying. Right now he would say anything to get the gun away from me. But…what was I expecting him to do? How could I possibly make him say something and actually mean it? I’d gotten over my head! I didn’t know what to do! All I knew is that if I put this gun down everything was going to fall apart.

Seeing me rattled Jack risks another step forward. I cede ground by stepping back as well. My already trembling hands begin to shake more. My vision was blurry for the tears. I was starting to have trouble breathing. There are more noises left and right but I can’t make sense of them. The rest of the bar melts away as I hone what focus I had onto the giant monstrosity before me. He was too much. He always wins. I can’t beat him!

“D-Don’t…” I whimper.

Jack grins as he watches me fall apart in front of him. His voice warms into the ‘nice’ voice he used when ‘making things right’. “Avery.” He takes another step! “It’s gonna be okay now.” He takes another step…this time had I had no more space to back up! “Big brother’s gonna take care of everything.”

I had a split second before he was close enough to take the gun from me. The moment of action was upon me. And in that moment…a dozen different scenes flash through my mind. Instances of violence and humiliation he and I endured under Dad…similar trauma I’d suffered at his hands…Lauren’s battered face…them sitting at my table telling me about their pregnancy…and Grandpa’s expression of frustration and disappointment after the times he tried to talk sense into Jack. Seamlessly, as if they were one and the same, memories shift to imagined scenes from the future. Lauren as a cowed and battered woman…a little girl, their future daughter, hurt and crying and afraid and alone in her bedroom…that same girl with pain her eyes looking at me and wondering why nobody could help her…that girl again, now a woman, raising a hand to her precious child…and finally the woman I loved bruised and bloody after trying in vain to slay this giant. It had to stop. I had to stop it. No matter the price.

Jack’s eyes widen as he sees the change wash over. As my finger begins to pull the trigger for the first time since Dad left I see true fear in my older brother. “Oh God, no!”

And then…as if from heaven…a hand descends to very gently rest over the top of the pistol. I turn my head to see Winona beside me.

“W-W-Winona?”

She smiles as she whispers. “I’m here, baby.”

“He’s n-n-not g-gonna hurt anybody anymore!”

“No, Sprout. He isn’t.” She lowers the gun to point it toward the floor. “He’s not worth it. He’s not worth this. This piece of shit isn’t worth our future.”

“I c-c-can’t let him hurt you.”

“Avery, I can look after myself.” She says. “I can look after both of us.” She shakes her head. “This isn’t you, baby.”

Just then Amos is there on my other side. “Give me the gun, son.”

The next thing I knew the pistol was uncocked and taken from my weak grip.

“I d-d-didn’t know what to do.” I whisper. “I had to p-protect you.”

“It’s okay, baby.” Winona pulls me into a hug. “It’s okay.”

In her embrace I gradually become aware that there were others around me. Besides Amos and Winona there was also Cain, Kayla, and Brayden who was wearing his suit from work. In front of me Jack had staggered back to sit on the edge of the closest pool table, shook by his near death experience, and behind him the other people let out gasps of relief.

Winona, holding me by the shoulders, backs up to look me in the face. “It’s gonna be okay, Avery. You wanted to protect Lauren. I understand.”

I look up into her loving hazel eyes. “I…I didn’t know what else t-to do.”

“You should have come to me.” She says with admirable calm. Shaking her head she says again. “This wasn’t you, baby. This wasn’t you.” Letting me go and stepping back Winona stands tall as her hands ball into fists. “But it is me!”

With that she spins and drives her fist through my brother’s big ugly unsuspecting face!

Chapter 224