world
.
Combined with the massacre going on before her eyes, she wondered if the heart-wrenching pain would ever end. It was as if each shot he fired went through her as well. She expected that if she looked down, she would find herself bleeding
.
Mandy went down first in a hail of bullets from what Paige would later learn was a sawed-off AK-47 he’d bought from a local dealer. One by one, she watched her closest friends die, as Jeffrey hunted them down, under tables, behind chairs, all of that insufficient to shield them from the bullets or his rage. And he dragged her along for the ride, so she saw each killing, up close and personal
.
Camillie. Sandra. Evan. Lori. Joe. Perry
.
When all was said and done, seven people were dead. But at the time, she wasn’t counting—was screaming inside her mind, praying, clawing at Jeffrey’s arm
.
And then Jeffrey released her, made her kneel on the floor facing him
.
“Look at me, Paige.”
She didn’t want to, shook her head no, screwed her eyes shut tight, but he said, “Do you want more people to die because of you?”
Said it so quietly that no one else heard. But she opened her eyes and looked at him
.
It was then that he put the barrel of the gun to her forehead and she went completely numb. He kept it there as he stared at her and she tried to remain upright, the dizzying combination of fear and the smell of blood overwhelming her senses
.
Finally, he spoke—his voice a low chuckle—as he removed the gun from where it had been pressed to her forehead. “It’d be too easy to put you out of your misery. It’ll be way more fun for me to know you’ll remember this was all your fault for the rest of your life. And all because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut about me.”
“I did.” Her voice was barely a whisper and he simply smiled and she knew he was lying … and that no matter what she did, Jeffrey would still be as sick as he was now
.
“You’ll have to remember all of this for the rest of your life, unless you want to kill yourself. You and your stupid magic hands.”
He’d laughed then, and it echoed in her ears, cut off sharply by a shot. For a second, she thought she was
dead. But she saw Jeffrey falling backward, blood spurting from his shoulder, and she realized the police had taken him down
.
God, they should’ve killed him. Why hadn’t they killed him?
Because the town would want justice. From Jeffrey. From her parents. From her
.
Her closest friends, her inner circle … they were gone. She’d only kept one secret from them, how truly sadistic Jeffrey was, and in the end that secret had taken them all in a sweeping blaze of bullets, blood and hatred, leaving behind a sleepy town unable to comprehend any of it
.
She was sobbing, still on her knees, unaware that she was repeating, “I knew he would do this …,” loud enough for everyone around her to hear
.
It was that phrase that would damn them all, in the media … the words used in headlines and sound bites
.
“His Family Admits, ‘I
Knew He Would Do This.’ ”
Even the policeman who’d picked her up and carried her away from the chaotic scene had looked at her with unsympathetic eyes in civil court
.
“Don’t you mention that curse of yours,” her mother said, in a vodka-fueled rage. “You’ve caused enough damage.”
She had, in more ways than anyone would ever be able to comprehend
.
But at least, for now, the memory was over. And she was running out of the house, down the street and away from her mother’s harsh words. Running as if she would never stop, as if her life depended on it
.
In so many ways, it did
.
——
M ace had listened as Paige told Cael the story of her brother earlier as succintly as possible, and even though it was one he knew, the pain in her voice tore at him. And he did not want to be torn at or tugged, didn’t want to feel any more than he already did.
He prided himself on not feeling—on tamping down any and all
.
Combined with the massacre going on before her eyes, she wondered if the heart-wrenching pain would ever end. It was as if each shot he fired went through her as well. She expected that if she looked down, she would find herself bleeding
.
Mandy went down first in a hail of bullets from what Paige would later learn was a sawed-off AK-47 he’d bought from a local dealer. One by one, she watched her closest friends die, as Jeffrey hunted them down, under tables, behind chairs, all of that insufficient to shield them from the bullets or his rage. And he dragged her along for the ride, so she saw each killing, up close and personal
.
Camillie. Sandra. Evan. Lori. Joe. Perry
.
When all was said and done, seven people were dead. But at the time, she wasn’t counting—was screaming inside her mind, praying, clawing at Jeffrey’s arm
.
And then Jeffrey released her, made her kneel on the floor facing him
.
“Look at me, Paige.”
She didn’t want to, shook her head no, screwed her eyes shut tight, but he said, “Do you want more people to die because of you?”
Said it so quietly that no one else heard. But she opened her eyes and looked at him
.
It was then that he put the barrel of the gun to her forehead and she went completely numb. He kept it there as he stared at her and she tried to remain upright, the dizzying combination of fear and the smell of blood overwhelming her senses
.
Finally, he spoke—his voice a low chuckle—as he removed the gun from where it had been pressed to her forehead. “It’d be too easy to put you out of your misery. It’ll be way more fun for me to know you’ll remember this was all your fault for the rest of your life. And all because you couldn’t keep your mouth shut about me.”
“I did.” Her voice was barely a whisper and he simply smiled and she knew he was lying … and that no matter what she did, Jeffrey would still be as sick as he was now
.
“You’ll have to remember all of this for the rest of your life, unless you want to kill yourself. You and your stupid magic hands.”
He’d laughed then, and it echoed in her ears, cut off sharply by a shot. For a second, she thought she was
dead. But she saw Jeffrey falling backward, blood spurting from his shoulder, and she realized the police had taken him down
.
God, they should’ve killed him. Why hadn’t they killed him?
Because the town would want justice. From Jeffrey. From her parents. From her
.
Her closest friends, her inner circle … they were gone. She’d only kept one secret from them, how truly sadistic Jeffrey was, and in the end that secret had taken them all in a sweeping blaze of bullets, blood and hatred, leaving behind a sleepy town unable to comprehend any of it
.
She was sobbing, still on her knees, unaware that she was repeating, “I knew he would do this …,” loud enough for everyone around her to hear
.
It was that phrase that would damn them all, in the media … the words used in headlines and sound bites
.
“His Family Admits, ‘I
Knew He Would Do This.’ ”
Even the policeman who’d picked her up and carried her away from the chaotic scene had looked at her with unsympathetic eyes in civil court
.
“Don’t you mention that curse of yours,” her mother said, in a vodka-fueled rage. “You’ve caused enough damage.”
She had, in more ways than anyone would ever be able to comprehend
.
But at least, for now, the memory was over. And she was running out of the house, down the street and away from her mother’s harsh words. Running as if she would never stop, as if her life depended on it
.
In so many ways, it did
.
——
M ace had listened as Paige told Cael the story of her brother earlier as succintly as possible, and even though it was one he knew, the pain in her voice tore at him. And he did not want to be torn at or tugged, didn’t want to feel any more than he already did.
He prided himself on not feeling—on tamping down any and all
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