Mickey’s POV:

My mom had the evening shift again. However, I wasn’t going to be home alone either. No, Rian hadn’t been called to ‘babysit’ me again, he wasn’t asked to do that anymore. That extra little pocket money he had been earning was now replaced with being my friend. Also, Alex wasn’t over. He was a little wary about that ever since my dad walked in. My dad, however, had decided to come home early to spend more time with me.

We hadn’t properly done that in ages.

Obviously, we were pretty close, otherwise I wouldn’t have taken his last name, but the past few years I was more preoccupied with sneaking out. Recently, I had been more focused on fixing my relationship with my mom, which had been going great. I just wanted all that to be good before I had to leave and figure out my life on my own.

You see, surprisingly I had actually applied to colleges despite my horrible GPA. Being a stripper didn’t exactly seem like the best plan anymore. There definitely wasn’t much I could do. I knew I probably wouldn’t even get a second glance at most places. Also, I had never given it much thought before, so I had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew I was good at math now, but that seemed like something you’d need a good record for. What was the point in not trying, though? My expectations were already very low, I couldn’t be disappointed.

I really was trying to turn my life around and put everything else behind. Things were different now. I could be better for myself and the people around me. I had my parents, I had my friends, I had Alex. Things were looking to be so much better.

Or at least so I hoped, of course.

My dad and I were just watching a movie together on the TV. There wasn’t much else to do, really. We could have gone out to do something, but there wasn’t anything we particularly wanted to do. Going out to dinner was just a bit too tiring as well. All we wanted was to spend time together, it didn’t have to be anything fancy.

Once the end credits showed up on the screen, I turned my head to look at my dad. We were both on the same couch. He was sitting facing forward, his arm up on the backrest, while I had my legs up and back against the armrest with a blanket draped over me. The perfect father daughter bonding moment.

“Is it time to make some dinner yet?” my dad asked as he reached out for the remote.

“I dunno,” I shrugged, putting my hands up and stretching out my back.

“Let’s put it this way, are you hungry?” he reworded his question.

“Not really, but that will probably change if we make food.”

He nodded in approval and got up to go to the kitchen. I started following him, but stopped in my tracks when I heard a noise. It wasn’t all too loud, but it wasn’t something you’d usually hear in our street. Or, at least not anymore.

Somewhere in the distance, I heard a low rumbling. It got closer and closer. My dad didn’t even seem to notice it, but it had me on edge. I recognised it a little too well. A shiver was sent up my spine, a near carbon copy of the loud deep motor. I was praying that I was just overreacting, that is was just some vehicle passing through. The sound just kept getting louder and slower. My heart skipped a beat when I could hear the sound come up our driveway. Eventually, the engine cut off and a click sounded as a stand was put down.

“Did you invite any friends over?” my dad frowned, now also turned to the front door.

I shook my head. “No.” But I knew exactly who it was.

And it wasn’t good.

The doorbell rang once and my dad went to open it. I held out my arm to stop him, not daring to say a word. Our presence could not be known. Before he could ask me what I was doing, the person seeking attention outside already started getting impatient. Instead of ringing the doorbell again, which was unnecessary anyway so soon again, there was a loud pounding at the door. It didn’t even start as a knock.

“Mickey, you fucking bitch!” The loud male voice boomed from the other side of the door. All I needed to hear was his voice to know one-hundred-percent that it was Devon.

Now I knew for sure that we didn’t want him to know that we were home. My dad was looking at me with disbelief in his eyes. I was hoping that Devon would just take a hint and leave. But he started pounding at the door again, making me jump.

“We need to hide,” I told my dad in a hushed tone, “somewhere where he can’t see us through windows.”

“What’s going on?” He asked me, but kept his voice down since I was doing it as well.

I just grabbed his arm as I sneaked into the kitchen and made him crouch down with me. It wasn’t the perfect cover, but it was better than standing in the middle of the living room. Since there was still a window in the kitchen, I shuffled us up against the counters on that side of the wall. If we were lucky, he wouldn’t be able to see all the way to the floor from there.

“Mickey!” My dad almost seethed at me as Devon started yelling again. “Who the hell is that?”

“He’s my ex-boyfriend,” I answered, leaning forward to take a better look at the door because the pounding wouldn’t stop.

“Are you serious!”

“I didn’t know he’d be this insane! I broke up with him because he did some bad stuff, but I didn’t think he’d actually be out to get people.”

“We need to call nine-one-one.”

“No!” I stopped him before he could try to reach out for the landline hanging on the wall. “Don’t move.” I pulled out my mobile phone. “I’ve got a direct contact, he’s been wanted for a while, I was helping with the investigation.”

“No, we’ve got to call nine-one-one,” he urged as he watched me use the down button to scroll through my contacts.

“They don’t know who he is. Trust me, these people will be here in no time and will bring the right people to deal with this.”

Before he could stop me, I called the number of the detectives and officers that I had helped before by giving statements. They had told me to call whenever I found out something. I never heard a thing about Devon again. Well, that was until now. Of course, there was a chance that they wouldn’t answer my call or wouldn’t answer in time. The probability was very high actually, since I hadn’t contacted them before. Why would they answer my call?

The dial tone sounded four times, making me believe I had chosen the wrong people to call. Maybe 911 was the better choice. The thunder from our door was just getting louder and louder and Devon’s profanities were getting more and more explicit. Just as I was about to end the call, somebody picked up. I told them all I could as quickly and quietly as possible. It included my name, my location, and what the fuck Devon was doing.

They said they’d be there as quickly as possible and to hide away. How quickly they would come, I did not know.

As soon as I hung up the phone, the pounding at the door stopped. It almost seemed like he was going to leave, like he gave up. We had been sitting here for a few minutes and I wanted nothing more than for him to disappear, so I almost believed it. But I couldn’t hear his motorcycle start up.

“Did he leave?” My dad said after a few seconds of silence.

I shook my head. “No.”

But I still got up. I had been in situations worse than this before and I would be damned if I let Devon fuck up my parents’ house. I stayed crouched but ran over to the couch and hid behind it. It was much more exposed, but here I could peak through the window to the front door. I put my phone beside me and shuffled over to the window. My fingers curled around the fabric of the curtains and pushed it to the side. He wasn’t there anymore. But he had to be somewhere.

As if he had been waiting for me to check, the back door started shaking and the shouting started again. My heart started racing. The front door could deal with some beating up, but the back door definitely couldn’t. It wouldn’t just collapse, but Devon’s fists were rattling the glass and the hinges.

“He’s going to break down the door,” I warned my dad with a whisper I was afraid would be too loud.

He looked over at me, around the counters. “Mickey, you need to get somewhere safe. Run to Rian’s.”

I shook my head in refusal and flinched when the door made a loud cracking noise. I wouldn’t leave him alone here. This was my fault. “We should go upstairs and hide there.”

“Mickey–”

“You go first,” I instructed. I wanted him to have the chance to go up and be safe. Then, if Devon managed to get in before we got upstairs, I could distract him.

This time, my dad absolutely disagreed. “No, you go, I’ll be right behind you.”

“Go.”

My dad glared at me, but I wouldn't move. I needed him to go first. Devon was only getting more and more aggressive, calling me a bitch and yelling that he would kill me. There was no bluff behind his voice. Once my dad noticed that I wouldn't budge, he finally got up and started running. But he didn’t go up the stairs. No, he came to me.

“Mickey, go,” he urged he grabbed me by the shoulders and started forcing me in the direction of the stairs.

There was no time to bicker and argue. I stared back in his eyes, seeing nothing but concern in them. Not even a hint of fear was hidden. I wasn’t going to leave him behind. I wouldn’t forgive myself if something happened to him. This was my mess. He wasn’t supposed to be part of it, he wasn’t supposed to be affected. I had fucked up a lot in my life, but he didn’t deserve this. He showed me what a father was supposed to be like, he did nothing but take care of me and love me since the day he met me. And this was how I was repaying him. It was fucked up.

I grabbed his arm again and dragged him with me, keeping him close. Somehow, I managed to rush up the stairs with him in tow without tripping over. I actually was glad that I was the first to go now. I realised I never even told my dad where to hide. We had to go as far away in the house as possible. The problem was that all the rooms were attached to the hallway.

My room was closest to the stairs, so it was the first room that would be checked by Devon. The bathroom had no lock ever since my birthday, which I understood but was definitely a problem now. So, I continued into my parents’ bedroom and shut the door. As soon as our door was closed, I could hear the one downstairs breaking and slamming against a wall. Panic set in as I continued into the ensuite bathroom. I didn’t think twice to lock that door.

In no time, heavy footsteps came up the stairs.

“Get behind me,” my dad told me as he tried to push me against the wall and cover me with his body so Devon wouldn’t get to me.

But I wouldn’t have any of it. I was here to protect him.

“Mickey, you bitch!” Devon growled again, this time in my parents room. “I know you’re fucking in there. You backstabbing slut!”

I put my finger to my lips to show that we really had to be quiet now. We couldn’t even move. Still, my dad continued to try to push me behind him, especially when the doorknob jiggled. Devon was silent when he found the bathroom locked. He couldn’t be thinking anything other than that we were hiding in there. I wasn’t necessarily religious, but I found myself praying just in case there was something out there.

As if my prayers were answered, I heard sirens approaching. They were here to help us, and it was just in time.

Devon, however, wasn’t as glad to hear the sweet sound. “Are you kidding me! You fucking bitch! You will fucking pay for this!”

But I wasn’t too worried. Help was just seconds away. But Devon was mad, he was really mad. He started stomping at the doorknob to open the door. If he managed to get through the backdoor, then this was nothing. All that was keeping him away from us was a piece of cardboard.

I tried to keep my dad safe while he kept trying to cover me. It was a constant battle of life and death between the two of us. I was ready to take a bullet for him. He didn’t deserve to get hurt. I knew I was younger, that I technically still had a life ahead of me. But I had done so much shit. There wasn’t much of a future left.

Bullets started going through the door around the lock, clinking loudly onto the floor. All that was needed was one harsh kick and the door slammed open. Devon was standing in the doorway, a gun pointed at us. He screamed one last thing at me, but I didn’t hear it. My ears were ringing after he pulled the trigger again, sending the bullet flying through the air and into flesh. There was blood and so much pain.

I could hear shouting coming from officers downstairs, but it was too late.

Pressure had to be applied to the wound pooling blood.

Notes

Damn.... Somebody's been shot.
Don't die... pls...