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SEVENTY-ONE

“No, don’t leave!” Claire’s scream was muffled by the gag.

Outside the thick cement door, she heard footsteps cross the floor then on the steps, and realized the police were leaving. Tears clogged her vision. He gripped her around the neck so tightly he lifted her off the floor, her body and feet dangling like a rag doll.

Stars danced behind her eyes and her lungs begged for air. Her daughters’ sweet faces flashed behind her eyes, their pleading looks begging her to bring them back to life.

Or maybe to join them. Then she could hold her babies in her arms forever.

But… what if she went to hell instead and never got to be reunited with them?

Guilt overwhelmed her. That would be fitting for a mother who hadn’t protected her daughters.

The room spun and she felt herself slipping into unconsciousness.

Joel’s image came next. Handsome, charming, smiling, down on one knee with a sheepish grin on his face as he proposed. His beaming smile when she’d walked down the aisle and met him in the rose-draped gazebo at the winery where they’d declared their vows. She saw his face light up at the sight of the pregnancy test. Heard the shock and excitement when she’d surprised him with the ultrasound of the twins.

“Not one, but two,” he’d said as he picked her up and twirled her around.

Then the birth when they’d first held the tiny infants in their arms. He’d kissed her so gently and murmured, “We’re finally having the family I’ve always wanted. I love you, Claire. I always will.”

She loved him and the girls, too. More than life. But now they were all gone…

“Please just kill me,” she begged as she heard things go quiet upstairs.

His evil laugh pierced her ears as he slapped a piece of duct tape over her mouth. “That would be easy for you, darlin’, wouldn’t it? But do you deserve it after your lies?” His sinister chuckle filled her ears. “I think you should have to live with the knowledge that it’s your fault your family is dead.”