"Smith, Anthony Neil - Fair Enough" - читать интересную книгу автора (Smith Anthony Neil)

"No. Momma will always love me."
"Love the child who killed her dad? She'll be sorry she ever brought you into this world. Get out of the car."
We opened the doors. I pointed ahead of us, and we walked ten more feet. Lionel was a wreck, trembling all over, full of self-disgust, just like I wanted him to be. I pulled the folded notebook paper and pen out of my pocket, tossed them on the ground in front of Lionel.
"Get down on your knees and write this note," I told him. He went down on one, shaking his head the whole time, tears leaking freely.
"Write that you're sorry for killing your Grandpa Jesse, and that you killed yourself to save your momma from the shame."
He looked up into my face after lifting the pen off the clay. "Killed myself?"
"You're sorry for the trouble you've caused. You killed him for being so hateful to you and your mom. Sign your name, then I'll shoot you in the head."
If I could get back to Baton Rouge in time, I'd be free, not a speck of evidence to ever tie me to it. Lionel would have inherited it all. It would pass down to his mother. I had talked to a couple of attorney friends about it already. It looked like either she'd get everything, or it would be divided among the family. That's okay. I'm sure something could be worked out for my dad to get the land and rebuild.
But I didn't count on Lionel standing up just then. "I won't write that."
"It's the only way, Lionel. Either this or jail. Lethal injection. You hate needles, remember?"
He huffed and turned red in the face. "You're the one killed him. You're the one wanted me to do it most. I did it for you, and look how you treat me now. Going to lie about me, going to lie to Momma. I come all this way to kill myself? You're the killer. Why don't you do it?"
"You idiot," I wanted the protection of the car, thin as that was. It wasn't supposed to happen like that. Lionel had never questioned me before. I backed up very slowly, two-handed the gun. "You don't understand. I tried to explain it to you, and you still don't understand, Lionel. You don't have the choice. I'm saving you from Hell, cousin!"
Lionel rushed me, grabbed my hands before I could get a shot off. He twisted my wrists, and I fell backwards across the hood of the car. And the gun went off, muffled, and I thought my gut was on fire. I stared straight up, the stalks seemed to close in on top of me. My cousin let go of me, and I slid off the hood. Lionel knelt beside me, lifting my head, telling me how sorry he was.
"That's okay, Lionel. No problem. Look, take me to a hospital, can you do that? Help me up."
"I'm a killer now. I'll go to jail for sure."
"No, you'll be fine. I'll take care of you. Help me up."
He stuck the gun barrel inside his mouth and blew his brains out. He slumped over me, and I fought to push his dead weight off before I suffocated.
When I was free, I rolled over on my side. I could only live if I could stand up, walk out of there. Maybe it didn't matter if I lived, as long as I could make it back to Grandpa Jesse's trailer. It took a while, but I got to my feet, surprised at how much blood I'd lost, dizzy and hungry, only to collapse behind the car. Thinking, How damned unfair...
The End

Anthony Neil Smith is a fiction editor with Mississippi Review Web and co-editor of Plots With Guns. His work has been featured in Blue Murder, Nafarious - Tales of Mystery, Barcelona Review, 12 Gauge Review, Thrilling Detective, Exquisite Corpse, and others. He is is from the Mississippi Gulf Coast.
This is the second story written by Anthony Neil Smith to appear in Judas ... his first, The Dealbreaker, appeared in the inaugural issue.