Free Love Gone by Elizabeth Nelson

almost
had to remind himself these days.
    His mom was getting out of the
hospital today though, and his dad’s funeral was this afternoon.
She’d planned it all with Lisa’s help from her hospital bed he
knew. Of course he wasn’t a part of those gruesome planning
sessions. Lisa and Bill had discussed it after hours, just like
everything else he’d managed to learn about his own life
lately.
    He was supposed to be grabbing his one
suit to wear to the funeral, but he hadn’t been able to find it.
Hadn’t really looked, truth be told, but the thought of spending
more than a few minutes in that room were making him sweat and his
stomach clench up like he was going to start throwing
up.
    His dad wouldn’t care. If he was
looking down on him, Liam knew that his dad would just be wearing
his disappointed face. It wouldn’t matter what he was wearing, his
dad wouldn’t care at all. Why would he? His son was a screw up. In
life. Behind the wheel. And now at his own funeral. Typical, not
surprising, and certainly nothing to get worked up over. He’d wear
jeans and a flannel like he always did.
    As he walked out the front door and
started down the street, he thought he saw someone behind the house
out of the corner of his eye. Whirling he turned toward the person,
and shouted, “Who is that?”
    No answer came back to him.
    Scared now, but determined to see who
it was, he dropped his duffel onto the sidewalk and started back
toward the house.
    “Who’s back there?” He shouted again.
His words hung like icicles in the cold air.
    Suddenly a girl popped her head out
from the side of the garage. The same place their attackers had hid
their car the night of the murder.
    “Don’t hurt me. I don’t have anywhere
to go.”
    It was Emily.
    “What the fuck?” Liam shouted as he
took a giant step back, arms up in defense, head swiveling for her
psychotic father. Was he going to be murdered today, like his
father?
    “Please, don’t scream!” She pleaded
with him, advancing. “I ran away. He doesn’t know I’m here, please
don’t start screaming, I’m so sorry.”
    “Help!” Liam screamed
frantically.
    Emily started to run and then changed
her mind.
    “Please! I’m not going to hurt you I
swear. I’m alone. I don’t have anywhere to go.”
    “Help,” he kept screaming and down the
street he could hear Lisa scream his name in answer.
    “She’s here,” he shouted, keeping his
eye on Emily standing in front of him. “Lisa call the police, she’s
here.”
    He didn’t know if Lisa would be able
to figure out who he was referring to, but after everything that
had happened he knew she wouldn’t hesitate to dial 911
immediately.
    Emily just stood there. Apparently
she’d given up trying to convince him of anything. He kept her in
front of him and a clear line of sight in back of him. The last
thing he wanted was for her psychotic father to sneak up on
him.
    Before he knew it, he heard Lisa
running up the street behind him.
    “The police are coming, they’re on
their way,” she huffed and puffed. She was a solidly built woman,
but too many nights in front of the fire with rich comfort food had
left her plump and motherly.
    “Holy shit,” she swore
uncharacteristically. “Is this the bitch that attacked you guys? Is
this Emily?”
    “Fuck you bitch,” Emily cursed back at
her with a snarl. “I didn’t attack anyone, I tried to stop him.”
But like an animal who knows when it’s cornered she didn’t try to
run, just kept a space between them and her.
    Wisely Lisa chose not to respond, but
she ran back to her house and grabbed her husband’s rifle in case
Emily decided that she didn’t want to be caught today after
all.
    “I can’t believe this,” is all she
said as she kept the rifle trained on Lisa and Liam safely tucked
behind her impressive girth. “I just can’t fucking believe she came
back here. I should never have let you go into that house by
yourself. Your mom is going to kill me when