200 Steve is Dead (Winona)


    I watch the streets blur by as the car winds its way through the city. I keep telling myself everything will be fine. But deep down, I know that''s a lie. Nothing''s been fine since Steve came back into my life. Apart from finding Mom and Cass. Having Mom has been everything I''ve needed for so long and never knew it. I love her so much and I want to give her a good life. Her and Cass. If Cass ever lets me. As we approach the townhouse, I''m eager to get out of this car. I need to check on Mom, make sure she''s still asleep and safe. But as the car pulls up outside, I see something that turns my world on its head. Cass is standing on the front steps, her face ashen, her eyes wide with shock. The front door is wide open behind her. She''s trembling, her arms wrapped around herself like she''s trying to hold herself together. "Cass!" I''m out of the car before it evenes to aplete stop, my heart pounding in my chest. I don''t know what I''m going to find, but the look on her face tells me it''s bad. Real bad.


    I run up the steps, my breath catching in my throat. "Cass, what happened?"


    She doesn''t answer, just stares at me with wide, ssy eyes. I push past her, my heart in my throat as step into the house. The sight that greets me stops me dead in my tracks.


    Steve is lying on the floor in the living room, his body twisted in an unnatural position, a pool of blood spreading out beneath him. My mother is standing over him, a gun dangling from her hand, her face as pale as death. "Mom?" My voice is barely a whisper, my mind struggling to process what I''m seeing. "What... what have you done?"


    She looks up at me, her eyes hollow, empty. "I had to, Winona. I had to end it. He... he would never stop."


    I can''t move. Can''t breathe. Everything is happening too fast, and I''m not sure I''m really here, that this is really happening. But the smell of blood, the sight of Steve''s lifeless body... it''s all too real.


    Before I can say anything, I hear sirens in the distance, growing louder by the second. I turn to Cass, who''s still standing in the doorway, her face contorted with fear and anger.


    Mom copses and the gun drops on the floor.


    "Mom!" Cass screams and rushes down beside her, cradling her in her arms.


    "She''ll be okay, Cass." I say.


    "This is all your fault," she hisses back at me, her voice trembling with barely contained rage. "You came back. You ruined everything. Why couldn''t you just stay away?"


    I want to tell her she''s wrong, that I never wanted any of this, but the look in her eyes stops me. She''s húrting, and in her pain, she''sshing out. But that doesn''t make her words hurt any less. Even if they are true.


    "I''m sorry, Cass. I''m so sorry." It''s all I can say, my voice choked with guilt and sorrow. But it''s not enough. It''ll never be enough. Not if anything happens to Mom.


    200 Steve is Dead


    The sirens are deafening now, and secondster, the police and paramedics are inside. I watch in numb horror as they approach my mother. "Ma''am, is anyone else hurt?"


    I shake my head.


    The paramedics move in, easing Mom onto a stretcher I start to follow, but Cass steps in front of me, her eyes zing with anger.


    "Stay away from her," she snaps. "I''m taking care of her. We don''t need you anymore."


    Before I can respond, the paramedics are wheeling my mother out of the house, Cass by her side. I stand there, frozen, watching them go. Everything feels like it''s falling apart, and I don''t know how to stop it. The police lead me out and begin to question me. I ask them if I just see my Mom into the ambnce. They say I can but not to leave the premises right now.


    "Was your mother taking any medications?" A paramedices to the door to ask me.


    "Yes, Sleeping medication she told me. I''ll go get them."


    Thurry to the guest wing and grab what I can see in the bathroom, and rush back out to hand them to the


    paramedic who''s waiting at the door.


    "Thank you," he says, ncing at thebels. "This will help." He does a double take at thebels. "Ma''am, these aren''t just sleeping meds. They are for strong pain." "Really? She never mentioned anything."This is the property of N?-velDrama.Org.


    "We''ll get her stable."


    "Thanks. Take care of Cass too."


    "We will." He goes to walk off.


    "Hey? How did you know toe here? I never called." It didn''t look like Cass was in any condition to


    make the call.


    "Lucy Nn called us."


    "Mom? How?"


    "Talk to the police, as far as we were told she reported she was about to kill a man at this address."


    That confuses the fuck out of me. How would she know she was going to kill him?


    I watch as the ambnce pulls away, taking my mother and sister with it.


    Steve is dead. I started this day knowing Steve would die. But I thought it would be by my hand, not hers. I don''t even know how this happened. Am I sorry, no. I''m happy he''s dead.


    But Mom has suffered and what if she goes to ja