​

​     Screaming, really. ​Suddenly, Gloria wasn't a cute-drunk-having-fun person anymore. Her face turned crimson and twisted with rage. "You fucking little shit! I'm coming! I'm coming!" 

​     The baby screamed louder. 

​     And then it was Gloria's turn to scream.

​     And it wasn't like a frustrated scream or an exasperated scream or anything like that. No, this was the scream of someone truly crazy. 

​     Trevor felt the sudden need to be anywhere else. 

     All passion disappeared like a light being switched off.

​     He, er, wilted.

​     Gloria jumped to her feet. "I'll be right back!"

​     "I...I..."

     "No!" She shook her finger in his direction. "You stay right where you're at! Don't move!"

​     "But I..."

     "Don't move a muscle!" She stomped on her heels from the room.

     To hell with that. Trevor looked around for his pants. From the other room he heard, "What do you want, you silly little bitch! Stop crying or I'll give you fucking something to fucking cry about!"

     His jeans and underwear were where he'd dropped them, midway between the kitchen and the bathroom. He ran to them, staying as quiet as he could, and he slipped them on. 

     And that baby didn't stop crying, either. Her wails only got louder.  

     "Shut up! Shut up!" Gloria shrieked. "I never wanted you! Where's your father? Where's your fucking father?"

     Trevor thought, okay, now where did I leave my tennis shoes and T-shirt? Oh yeah, there they are. 

​     He turned to go for them, and that's when he saw the man. 

​     And the guy stood, like, only about three feet away from him. Whoa! 

​     Now where the fuck did he come from?

​     He stood just inside the kitchen on the other side of the kitchen door. He looked around the same age as Gloria, someone in his mid-to-late twenties. How long had he been standing there? 

​     He swayed. He looked about as drunk as Gloria. Fury had his features so twisted he looked like a man making a crazy face to amuse children. 

     And he had a gun in his hand. 

​     And it was a huge motherfucking gun. Trevor didn't really know guns, but he knew a hand cannon when he saw one. 

​     And that gun was aimed right at Trevor's gut. 

​     Okay, that's not going to happen, Trevor thought. I'm not about to let anybody shoot me down like a dog. Trevor held up his arms in surrender, like he meant no harm to nobody, but as he did he took a half step towards the guy. "Hey buddy, this isn't what..."

​     Trevor reached for the gun. The guy flinched. He really didn't know what to do with a weapon like that. Trevor got his hand on it and gave it a twist so that it wasn't aimed right at him and...

​     BOOM!

     The gun didn't just BANG! when it fired. It BOOMed. He'd pulled the trigger. The bastard had actually gotten off a shot with that damned gun. The BOOM! was so loud it made Trevor's ears ring. It jammed the guy's arm enough so that it looked like it hurt. From the other room, Trevor heard Gloria scream. The payload itself, because Trevor had twisted the gun, slammed into the ceiling.  Plaster drifted like baby powder to the floor. 

​     Trevor used both hands now to grab for the gun even as the guy pulled it towards his body, refusing to let go of it. Gloria heel-thumped nude from the bedroom, an equally naked baby in her arms. 

     "Bobby!" she wailed. 

     Both Bobby and Trevor turned to look at her. As they did, the gun twisted in their grasp until it was aimed directly at Bobby's chest. Did Trevor mean for the gun to wind up pointing that way? Had he twisted the gun around himself so that, when it fired, it would kill Bobby dead? And, if he did mean to do it, did he do it out of a sense of self-preservation or because he was pissed? Trevor didn't know, would never know. It all happened so fast.  

​     One moment they struggled...

     and in the next moment the gun BOOMed a second time. 

​     The gun itself spun into the air. Trevor snatched it. 

     That second fired bullet went right through Bobby's heart.

     A sizable portion of his insides blew out a hole in his back to go splattering all over the kitchen floor. 

     "Ah...Ah..." Bobby staggered back from Trevor in total shock. He looked down at himself like he couldn't believe what just happened. And then he collapsed. He hit the floor so hard Trevor knew he just had to be dead.

     "I...I...I didn't mean to...I mean, we didn't...he's the one who...you saw what..." 

     Gloria stood in the doorway leading to the bedroom. She didn't look the slightest bit intimidated or repulsed by what she'd just witnessed. She also, now, looked sober, although Trevor knew she wasn't, couldn't be. She assessed the situation as coolly as a high stakes gambler. She looked Trevor cold in the eye as she said, "You'd better get out of here. Those shots were loud. The cops are coming. You know that, don't you?"

​     "But I...I...I was on my way to..."

​     "If I was you, I'd start running," she said. "Yep, I'd run fast and far, if I was you."

CONTINUE