Free Her Sister's Shoes by Ashley Farley

five more minutes until she turned into a pumpkin.

    Faith seldom went out at night, and hardly ever alone. Driving down her long dark driveway, she imagined shadows in the trees waiting to jump out at her. Curtis’s bike wasn’t in its usual place in front of the trailer, and for the second time that night, goose pimples broke out all over her body. Surely her husband wouldn’t leave their daughter alone.
    Faith unlocked the door and entered the dark trailer, tripping over the coffee table as she groped for the lamp.
    She heard what sounded like muffled cries coming from her daughter’s room. She found Bitsy trembling under the covers in her bed, her teeth chattering. Faith wrapped the child in her arms and held her tight. “Hush now, baby. Mama’s here.”
    Bitsy sobbed even louder.
    “Shh, now. Try to take a deep breath.”
    Whimpering, the tiny girl buried her face in her mother’s chest. “I got up to go to the potty and you weren’t here.”
    “I know, baby.” Faith stroked her daughter’s hair. “Remember, I had to take your grandmama to the hospital.”
    Bitsy pushed away so she could see her mother’s face. “Is Lovie going to be okay?”
    Faith wiped a damp strand of hair out of the child’s eyes. “She’s better already, much more herself.”
    “Why’d you leave me alone?” Bitsy asked, her lip quivering.
    Faith reached for the lamp on her bedside table. “Daddy’s here with you, isn’t he?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
    Bitsy shook her head. “He was asleep on the sofa when I went to bed, but now he’s gone.”
    Faith imagined Bitsy in the dark house, going from room to room and window to window looking for her mama and daddy. Anger boiled inside of her. What kind of man leaves his six-year-old daughter in the middle of the woods in a trailer alone?
    Faith held her daughter close and rocked her back and forth. “I’m so sorry, sweetheart. I promise it will never happen again.”
    When Bitsy finally dropped off to sleep, Faith tucked her daughter in tight and turned out the light. Removing the shotgun from the closet in their bedroom, she loaded two shells in the barrel and settled on the sofa to wait for Curtis.
    Her father had tried to teach his three daughters to hunt. Sam took to it right away, eventually becoming their daddy’s favorite hunting partner. Although Jackie and Faith had never demonstrated much interest in killing birds, they’d learned to shoot a gun—a skill Faith never thought would pay off.
    Nothing had turned out like Faith had hoped. She and Curtis once had dreams of buying a house on the creek. Faith wanted Bitsy to experience growing up on the water, to watch sunrises and sunsets, to learn to ski and sail and drive a boat. None of it was likely to happen with Curtis constantly out of work. She was stuck in a backwoods shack with a no-good husband. To make matters worse, she’d let Curtis force her into doing criminal acts that were morally wrong just so they could make ends meet. Even if no one ever found out, she’d never be able to forgive herself.
    Curtis had never hit her, because she’d always avoided his temper. He lost his cool over the smallest things—when she was late fixing his dinner or she hadn’t washed his favorite Harley T-shirt. She’d seen him provoke fights in bars with beastly men four times his size. But tonight she didn’t care. Tonight she was angry enough to put a bullet in him.
    Her husband came staggering in around three. Faith switched on the lamp beside the sofa, nearly blinding him with the bright light.
    “Damn, woman.” His hand clutched his chest and he stumbled backward. “You scared the hell out of me.”
    She aimed his shotgun at him. “If you ever leave my daughter at home alone again, I will shoot you dead.”
    His eyes were slow to focus on the gun. “You don’t even know how to load that gun, you dumb bitch.”
    When he took a tentative step forward, Faith pumped the gun, loading the shells into