A Piece of Me | Previous Challenge Entry

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TITLE: A Piece of Me | Previous Challenge Entry
By Corinne Smelker
04/07/21
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A piece of me died that day.

On either side of me, tightly clutching my hands stood my nieces, three-year old Sarah and five-year old Sasha. I looked down at their blonde heads and silently cursed the man that put us in this position.

“Amy?” I heard fear in her voice as soon as I answered the call and heard my name.
“Yes,” I responded. “Ava, what’s going on?”
In the background I heard banging and yelling. “Is Dan going off again?” I asked my sister.
“Amy. It’s bad this time. I have the kids in my master closet with me, but he’s scaring us all.”
“Call 9-1-1, right now!” I told her, but before she could hang up with me I heard a splintering noise and the phone went dead.

I called 9-1-1 and within minutes I was at Amy’s house in one of the most affluent areas of town. Mini-mansions sat back from the street, each self-contained in its walls and gates, pristine landscaping on display, but what was hidden behind those mahogany doors? Buried secrets? In Amy’s case it turned out to be a monster dressed in Armani suits and driving high-end luxury cars, living off a trust fund. This was not the first time 9-1-1 had been called; but each time money bought Dan reprieve and kept Amy and the girls in luxurious captivity. Amy had tried to leave Dan, but high-powered attorneys buried her in paperwork and she capitulated and returned, against my advice.

That night though, things were different – the officer at the scene refused me entrance. “Ma’am, you can’t go in.”
“What about my sister? What about her kids?” He stayed silent but out of the corner of my eye I saw two little blondes sitting on an ambulance step and I ran over. Sarah took one look at me and began sobbing, heart-wrenching gasps that tore at my soul. Sasha looked up at me with her big brown eyes, her mother’s eyes and simply said, “Daddy shot mommy.”

I gathered them both up in my arms and turned to the EMS people for answers. The woman who had been looking after the girls just pointed to a woman standing off to the side. “That’s Detective Soames. Talk to her.”

In pieces the story came out – murder-suicide gone halfway right. Dan probably meant to take his whole family out, but Ava hid the girls in the ‘secret room’ which was really just a door to the laundry from their master closet, however she locked the door and stood in front of it. Dan shot her, she collapsed in front of the door and it seemed he could not move her so he just shot himself. Selfish to the end.

So here I stood, a couple of weeks later, Sarah and Sasha by my side; watching their mother being lowered into the ground. Two little girls, who although financially set for life due to their father’s wealth, had lost everything that ever met anything to them – their mother’s love. As I looked down at the hole in the ground as the coffin was slowly lowered, I prayed that the Lord would help me fill that gaping chasm.

But a piece of me died that day…

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