Fate and Destiny by Claire Collins Page B

I
coughed and couldn’t breathe. I tried running back to the house,
but someone grabbed me. I tried biting and screaming, but I didn’t
have any strength to fight back. Someone in a uniform put me in an
ambulance and drove me to a hospital. Smoke inhalation or
something, I didn’t pay attention to what they said. At the
hospital, I kept asking the nurses when my Mom and Dad were going
to get there. Later that night, I overheard two of them talking.
They must have thought I was asleep. The firemen found the bodies
of my parents in my room. They must have been searching for me
thinking I was still in there. They were both on the floor in my
bedroom. The smoke got to them before the fire did.”
    Turning to face Andrew, she
relaxed a little more.
    “ I think they were trying
to get to my room through the fire while I was climbing out the
window. If I would have waited for them, we could have all gotten
out together.”
    Pain crossed her face in
the dim light.
    “ I didn’t even cry. I was
just numb. The social workers sent me away to my Dad’s sister and
her husband. My parents never spoke about them and I never met
them, but they were the only relatives I had. When I was 14, my
aunt died of liver disease. I was almost happy to see her go. Most
of the time, she just yelled at me and made me do everything around
the house. I was her maid and her meal ticket.”
    Destiny spoke angrily, her
voice dropping as she recounted her harsh treatment.
    “ About three months after
she died, my uncle decided it was his job to make a real woman out
of me. He pinned my arms with one of his and undid his belt and
zipper. When he bent over me, I turned my head and bit him on the
cheek as hard as I could. I could taste that bastard’s blood in my
mouth. I’m surprised it didn’t taste like Jack Daniels.
    “ He punched me in the face
then dragged me to the bedroom and threw me on the bed. He sat on
me, punching me. I just wanted to get away. He ripped the pajama
shorts I was wearing and tore my T-shirt off. I don’t remember
grabbing the gun from the nightstand drawer.”
    Shaking her head in
confusion, her eyes closed, emotions rolled across her graceful
features. Her state of mind was fragile.
    “ I do remember someone
grabbing my hands and taking the gun away though. I was ready to
fight and I was confused, but I looked down on the floor. There he
was, lying in a pool of blood. There wasn’t much left to his face,
but you could see his cheek where I bit him. A policeman knelt next
to him and another one held the gun I took from the
drawer.
    “ The police said I shot
him point blank in the face with the first shot. But I didn’t stop
shooting. I emptied the gun into him. Even after the police busted
in, I was still sitting up in the bed, pulling the trigger even
though the gun was empty. The judge ruled it self-defense. I
bounced around between foster parents, but I never stayed anywhere
very long. Self-defense or not, I was still a murderer. No one
wanted me around, and I had a lot of emotional problems. None of
them could get close to me. I wouldn’t let them.
    “ When I was 18, I moved to
Vegas, got the job at the Diamonds Casino, and met Marcus. He
reminded me of my dad. He talked like my Dad and he laughed like
him. He actually cared about me. Worried about me. No one had done
that since my parents died. I just wanted to protect him, and he
died anyway.”
    Helplessly, he could do
nothing but hold her closer.
    “ Honey, none of that was
your fault. You couldn’t have known your parents would go looking
for you, and your uncle deserved what he got. If he were still
alive, I would hunt him down and shoot him myself. And as far as
Marcus goes, his son killed him, not you.”
    Destiny began shaking her
head before Andrew finished talking.
    “ Andrew, you don’t
understand. I should have shown him the financial figures at the
casino, where we have security that could have protected him. I
should have stayed in my bed or