Chapter 5 #2
“Ain’t he cute?” He looks over at the men behind me before firing a stare at me. “That’s the point. To learn to hurt people. To become a weapon yourself. And with me as your teacher, you will be. When I’m done with you, your own mama won’t recognize you.”
“My mama is dead.” I scowl.
“Well, if she came back to life.” He chuckles, and I want to punch him in his eye.
“Stand up.” He pushes the gun toward me, like he actually wants me to get it.
I jerk away, forcing myself into the back of the chair. “Please. I don’t want to.”
“Fine.” He shrugs, and for a moment I think he really is fine with it.
That is until he gets up, coming over to me, the gun digging in between my eyes as I gasp wide-eyed, holding my breath.
“You ready to die, then? Because that’s your only way out of this.
Death. You can join your mommy and your daddy.
” His mouth lifts at the corner and my stomach stirs the more he pushes that thing into my head, my chest flying up and down with quick exhales.
“Three. Two. On—”
“Okay!” I jump. “I’ll take it.” My body trembles, tears burning my eyes, but I still get off the chair, my fingers on the gun before I hold it in both hands.
“What do I do now?” I frown, the thing feeling like it weighs a million pounds.
“Follow me.”
And I do, not having a choice, following him all the way down until we stop in front of something which comes out of the ceiling, with circles on them.
“We’re gonna shoot these targets together so you can see how it works.
” He comes up behind me, his hands wrapped around the weapon, putting mine on it the way he wants.
Without warning, he pulls, and the sound of the gun, the vibration from the bullet causes my hands to jerk, my body to stumble backward, bumping right into Stan. I huff like I just ran.
“Whoa, kid. Relax. You’ll get used to it.” We go again and again, so many times, my hands get tired. But he doesn’t stop. He keeps having me shoot more targets. Then a mannequin-looking thing is brought out.
“Shoot it anywhere.”
“I—” It looks so much like a person. It even has eyes and a mouth. “Do I have to? I’m tired. Please,” I breathe. “I want to take a break.” I want to stop forever. I don’t like guns. I don’t like shooting them. My eyes quickly wander around, and I know I can’t run. There are too many men here.
“Do it!” he yells, his face getting red, a gun pointed at my head. “I’ll fucking kill you right this second if you don’t do it, pussy.”
Someone help me! Please! Please get me out of here!
“Kill him,” another man shouts.
“Yeah, kill the kid.” Someone else laughs, the voice further away.
I turn this way and that, my heart pounding, my breathing heaving out of me.
My hands shudder. But with tears slipping past my cheeks, I take the gun from him, lifting its weight with both hands. Slowly, I raise it, aiming it at the mannequin, closing my eyes, and I pull.
With a gasp, I stare out to where I shot, just as Stan gets up, marching all the way down to the mannequin. “Damn, kid.” He examines the stomach area. “That was either a lucky shot or you’re a natural.”
I don’t want to be a natural, whatever that means. I don’t want him to be happy I shot good. I want to be bad at this, because maybe then, they’ll tell Agnelo I suck, and I can go back to be with Aida.
“Can I leave now?” I ask with hope in my voice.
He makes it back to me. “As long as you can pass the last test of the day.”
Another test? Ugh!
But whatever it is, I’ll do it, as long as I can go after.
“Yo, Carlito,” he tells someone. “Bring it out.”
Footsteps pound behind me, my pulse slamming even louder. He gets closer now, coming over, holding a brown box.
“Remember how you shot that target?” Stan asks.
I nod.
“Well, you’re going to do it again, but this time…” That’s when this man, Carlito, faces me and takes out the cutest white bunny I’ve ever seen.
My mouth spreads into a giant grin. “Will you let me keep him if I do good? Please? I promise to take care of him!” But when I try to get near the bunny, someone else behind me holds me back around my chest.
“You think we’re gonna let you keep a bunny?” Carlito snorts on a laugh. “Where? In Agnelo’s basement while they got you chained up like a stray dog?”
“Why would you bring the bunny here if I can’t keep him?”
Stan answers, “Because you’re gonna kill it.”
I stumble back with a whimpering cry. “No! No! No!” My entire body shakes. “I won’t do it!” I scream, swallowing my tears with every breath I take. “You can kill me! I don’t care! I won’t hurt this poor animal!”
“Ahh, but see, I know for a fact that you will,” someone else says—the man whose voice I hate, the one whose daughter hates him too. His feet shuffle to us, getting nearer as he comes to stand next to Stan. “He do good today?”
“Acceptable.” Stan folds his arms over his chest, both of them staring at me with their monster eyes.
“Now, Matteo,” Agnelo calmly says. “You’re going to take that fucking gun and you’re gonna put a cap in that bunny and you’re gonna like it.
Because if you don’t…” He removes his cell phone from his pocket, and as he comes closer, he plays a video.
In it is Aida, sitting on a chair in a kitchen, a man behind her.
In his hand is a gun just like this one, but she has no idea it’s pointing right at the back of her head.
“No! You can’t hurt her!” I shout, huge tears blurring my vision.
How could her dad do this to her?
My pulse hits me hard in my neck, like it’s going to explode out of me, the room spinning.
“That’s all up to you.” He winks with a cruel sneer, making himself look even uglier than he is. “So, kid? What will it be?” Carlito drops the tall box in front of me. “The bunny or my daughter?”
I stand there, wide-eyed, panting loud as I look at the bunny, hopping around in there. “I can’t hurt an animal. I just can’t.”
“Well,” Agnelo says. “I guess you made your decision.” He picks up the phone and starts to dial.
“No! I’ll do it! Don’t hurt her!” The words fly out. “J-just leave her alone.”
He puts the phone away. “Do it, then.” His gaze narrows. “Show me what you’ve got.”
With the tears dripping out slowly, my feet weighing a million pounds, I take that fluffy bunny and place it against my chest. Those little ears wag, his eyes staring back at me. “I’m sorry,” I tell him, petting his soft hair, before putting it back in the box.
With the gun in my hand, I point it to its head. “I’m so sorry.” Then I close my eyes and pull the trigger, hoping I missed.
But when I look back at the bunny, I realize I hadn’t. Something cold runs up my arms and my chest hurts because I can’t seem to breathe while staring at the animal I killed.
Agnelo claps. “Not bad for your first day.”
Blood. So much of it, I could barely see the white fur anymore. My stomach wobbles and I instantly throw up. But nothing seems to come out.
No… What did I do?
I killed something. I hurt someone.
Am I bad now too?