Jennifer forced herself to breathe, still watching the hand on the doorway. Something crunched and she knew the intruder had stepped on glass from one of the broken pictures. The hand pulled away from the doorway, and she heard a muffled noise. The noise came again, then again. A stifled cough!
Jennifer lowered the gun. “David?” she hissed, listening for a response, “David? Is that you?” she hissed again, more urgently this time.
“Mom?” came David’s frightened voice. “Mom, it’s me. Are you okay?”
Jennifer started to shake. She dropped the gun and crawled across the room to her bedroom doorway. “David, you scared me,” she said, her voice choking off. Tears flowed down her cheeks as she envisioned herself shooting David and watching him die by her hand. She reached him and wrapped her arms around his head as he sat on the floor in the hallway holding his foot.
“Mom, be careful. There’s broken glass,” he said. “I cut my foot. I heard a crash, then someone running. What happened?”
Jennifer knelt on the floor embracing her son, barely able to think, completely unable to answer.
Monday, October 17th
Deer Creek, Montana
“Who is it?” Jennifer yelled through the closed door.
“It’s Carol. What’s going on in there? Are you okay?”
Jennifer cracked the door open, squinting in the bright afternoon sunlight and braced to slam the door shut if it wasn’t her.
Carol, her head cocked to the side, looked quizzically through the narrow slit. “Jennifer?” she said. “What’s going on? You missed our meeting today. I figured something must be wrong.”
Jennifer opened the door wider. “I’m sorry Carol. I just didn’t feel like going today. I should have stopped by to tell you.”
“You’re still in your robe. Are you sick? There are a lot of people down right now.”
Jennifer shook her head. “David’s sick, but the rest of us are doing okay. Did I miss anything at the meeting?”
“No, just the usual depressing reports. Seems like everyone’s hungry, and no one’s sure how we’re going to make it through the winter. Heat’s also a problem of course, but that’s not why I stopped by. You’ve never missed a meeting. Something’s got to be up.”
Jennifer stepped away from the door and let Carol in. “You want to sit down?”
“If I’m not intruding. You look horrible. You sure you’re okay?”
Jennifer wobbled her head from side to side and shrugged her shoulders, then the tears started to flow. “It’s kind of hard to talk about. Not even sure what happened.”
Carol took her friend by the hand and led her to the couch. “Jennifer, what happened? Was it Doug?”
Jennifer shrugged. “I don’t know. It might have been. Probably was, but I can’t prove it,” she choked out.
“Was he here?”
Jennifer nodded. “Someone was. I fell asleep on the couch and then woke up when I heard a noise. I thought it was one of the kids, so I got up to check and noticed the front door open. I was worried that maybe Emma had wandered off; she hasn’t been dealing with things too well lately. When I walked past my bedroom door…. to go check on Emma, I saw someone in my room, but it was dark…. and I couldn’t see a face, just a shape.” Jennifer’s crying got worse.
Carol put her arm around Jennifer’s shoulder. “Are you okay? That must have been terrifying.”
Jennifer nodded. “I think whoever it was thought I was going into my room because he raced out and pushed me over. He fell, and I heard a grunt. It was a man’s noise, but that’s all I heard. He didn’t say anything, just got up and took off. It scared me to death.”
“Were you hurt?”
“Not really,” Jennifer said, shaking her head. “Just a bump. But then I heard someone sneaking up the basement stairs, so I got Kyle’s gun. I was so scared and mad I couldn’t breathe, and I was going to shoot whoever it was. Turned out it was David. I came this close to killing my son,” she said, holding up her fingers a quarter inch a part. “If he hadn’t started coughing, I might have shot him.”
“Is David okay?”
“Yeah, he cut his foot on some broken glass, but that’s it. He doesn’t know his mom almost blew him away. Carol, if I had shot him, I don’t think I could’ve lived with myself. Looking back now, it was stupid not to realize it was David, but I wasn’t expecting my fourteen year old to be sneaking around in the middle of the night. It was so dark, and I was so scared…” Jennifer looked at Carol, searching for understanding in her eyes. “I’m so flustered right now I can hardly think. It’s Doug’s fault that I even have that gun in my room…. and came so close to shooting my son…. I couldn’t stand to go to that meeting today, to see his smirk, knowing what he’s doing to me.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Carol. “Or, better yet, what do we need to do about this?”
“I don’t know. I just don’t know. My kids are worried. They think mom’s going nuts, and they’re probably right. It’s bad enough that we’re living like cavemen with barely enough to eat, a bucket for a toilet, and having to walk a mile for water. Why does Doug have to do this to me? Why can’t he just leave me alone? He’s such a, a…” Jennifer’s voice trailed off as Spencer wandered in from the living room. Jennifer wiped at her tears and found Spencer a carrot to eat, then sent him off to play in the basement.
Carol reached out and rested her hand on Jennifer’s shoulder. “I can’t imagine having to deal with that jerk. Do you want to come stay with me? We have room at my house. You guys could stay in the basement, and you’d be safer there with more people around.”
“Would I be safer there, or would I just put more people in danger? It’s like we’re living in a town with a crooked sheriff. How do you get rid of him?”
“We could have a council meeting. I’m sure there are other men who could take Doug’s position. Craig’s brother moved out this week. He sounds like someone who’d get involved.”
“That doesn’t get rid of Doug though. I feel like it’s me that’s the problem. No one else is having problems, are they?”
“Not that I know about. You think he might be bothering someone else?”
“I don’t know. If he’ll harass me, maybe he’d do it to someone else, too? But I’m also in a unique situation. As far as I know, everyone else has their husband around. I don’t, so I’m an easier target.”
“I’ll ask around and see if anyone’s seen anything. Do you think we should watch him in the meantime?”
“Maybe. I just want him to go away. My neighbor, Chuck, thinks I should just go shoot the bastard. Says there’s no law right now, so I should just take things into my own hands. I’d rather just castrate the jerk.”
Carol laughed and shook her head.
“You’re the doctor, what do you think?” Jennifer continued.
“I’m a vet. I specialize in a different kind of animal.”
“Can’t be that different, can it?”
“I’m sure there are similarities, but I don’t anticipate finding out.”
Jennifer leaned back on the couch, rubbing her temples with her fingers. “The stress is wearing me out. I’ve had a headache for two days, and I don’t sleep. What should I do Carol? Where do I go for help?”
“Let me talk to some people and see what they think. You just try to relax and not let him control your life.”
“You think I’m not trying?” Jennifer snapped, then apologized.
Carol leaned over and gave Jennifer a hug as Jennifer struggled to hold back fresh tears. They visited a while longer, then Carol left to “go talk to Craig”.