Behind Locked Doors | Finale
#17 of Inner Dilemma
"What the hell are you doing here Kyle?" I asked both scared and nervous. For a moment, I forgot where I was. The realization that Kyle was at this house was something that I couldn't grasp. Seeing John here was shocking enough, but Kyle as well? It was beyond what I thought possible.
"Allen," Kyle all of a sudden sounded scared, "look at your arm, you're hurt."
My left arm was in fact covered in blood from the two bullet wounds. Until just recently, I hardly noticed the pain from all the adrenaline, but it was slowly coming back. "It's nothing," I said, "I'll be fine."
A soft cry coming from my left side caught my attention. One of the female otters was hunched over the body of the other, her paws cradling the lifeless head.
"Dezaray," she sobbed, "my sister." She lowered her head onto her sister's chest and said something else, but the rising intensity of her crying made her words incoherent. John knelt beside her and put an arm around her. He whispered what I guessed were words of comfort. From the otter's body language, it seemed to be working.
John gave her a friendly squeeze before standing up and turning to me. "So this is what you've been up to?" He did little to hold back his chocked up tears, "This is what you've become? What have you been doing? It's like you're a whole different person." He stopped to take a few breaths and to calm himself down. "I don't know what to think of you anymore Allen."
I couldn't think of anything to say. He was right. I had been so blinded by hate and revenge that I became an entirely different wolf. "John, I-"
"You had a fucking gun pointed at me! A fucking gun!" John yelled, "For a while, I thought you were actually going to shoot me." He couldn't say anything after that because he became so choked up. He turned his head away from my and put his paws to his face.
"We followed you Allen," Kyle said from behind me. He still had an innocent and somehow caring look on his face. "You weren't as secretive as you thought you were. John and I were scared for you. We worried that you were getting so caught up in what happened that we wanted to see what you were up to. We followed you from the beginning of the night. We lost you for a bit, but then I saw that detective follow shortly afterwards." Kyle took a few paces closer to me. "Then after you went off with that one guy," Kyle looked over at Zig's body still covered in blood, "then we got scared. We followed you to this house. We tried to sneak around the house but then they spotted John and grabbed him before we knew it. They didn't see me though. Not long after that did I realize who was in here."
Kyle and I both looked at his father, who had passed out for the moment. He was still breathing, but seemed okay considering the bullet wound.
"I'm sorry Kyle," I said, "and you too John," I looked at John who still had watery eyes, but seemed okay. "I found out that your dad was here Kyle and he wanted to kill you. It was suppose to be a sting and go smoother than what happened. When John came into the picture, I was so scared. I didn't know what to do. I was never going to shoot John." John looked up at me and I returned the look. "I would have died before I'd shoot you." John nodded at me.
I turned my gaze towards Franz. He started to stir and open his eyes a little. My paws rolled up into fists as he made a groaning noise.
Franz looked up at me and repositioned himself as though he was going to stand up again.
"Don't move!" I yelled aiming the gun right towards his face.
Franz obeyed. His eyes flicked around the room to see this guys either dead or unconscious, then to John, then to his son.
"Logan," Franz said with a hint of anger in his voice, "what the fuck you are doing here you little shit, I thought I taught you a lesson when I-"
I shoved the barrel of the fun against his forehead, "Don't fucking talk to him like that!" My arm and voice shook.
Franz just looked first at the gun, then at me. He looked like he wanted to say something, but no words came out. Maybe this was the first time he was actually scared or worried. I felt powerful at that moment, like I was the alpha wolf. My eyes narrowed as my paw started to squeeze the gun and trigger.
"Don't!" Kyle's voice shouted making almost pull the trigger. I looked over to see his worried expression. "Don't" he whispered again.
This baffled me, "but Kyle, after all he's done? Kyle he ra-"
"I know what he's done," Kyle interrupted in a demanding voice, "I know what he's been trying to do." Kyle's tone came a little more relaxed although it still shook a little, "I want to pull that trigger as much as you do, but I can't let you do that. If you shoot him, you're no better than he is."
I still didn't lower my arm, the pain from my wound started to come back and it was getting hard to think. I wanted to find some way that would prove Kyle wrong; but I couldn't. This whole thing had already spiraled out of control and it wasn't until now that I realized it.
"You gonna listen to that little shit?" It was Franz's voice. I wanted to retaliate but Kyle turned around to his biological father.
"Shut up! Just shut up!" I had never heard Kyle with that much anger in his voice, "How do you live with yourself after all you've done? To me and everyone else. That day when you," Kyle paused as he tried to find the right words and as his eyes began to water, "when you did that horrible thing, you tried to take everything from me and for a while I thought you did, but guess what, I went through your shit and came out clean the other side. I've found a family and friends that love me more than you can know."
Franz said nothing, just stared at his son with a sort of strange look like he was seeing a new side of his son and Kyle seemed to get his confidence back.
"You see," Kyle continued, "death is too good for you. You're gonna live without love for the rest of your life, and I can't imagine a worse kind of hell." Kyle stood up and faced me, "it's over Allen, you can put the gun down."
I took my finger off the trigger and put the safety on before I lowered the gun. I turned and found Zig's body. I reached into his coat and found the button to signal the police to come it. And set the gun on the floor.
I looked at Zig's body lying on the ground motionless and lifeless. He did so much to make this day and sacrificed his life to save mine. I grabbed onto his chilled paw, and whispered, "Thank you."
Sounds of law enforcement running into the building came as they came into the room and saw the aftermath of what happen. I didn't recognize what was going on around me or what anyone said. A tug at my shoulder broke my daze from Zig's body and I offered no resistance.
A calm voice came from what I recognized at Detective Bosh's saying, "Come on, let's get you out of here."
I followed him obediently. My mind still in a mix of exhaustion and I couldn't really focus on any one thing. Bosh held the front door open for me and I stepped out a mixture of police cars and even some news vans.
The sun was just presenting itself over the horizon and the cool morning air met my fur as I stepped away from the house.
Everything seemed like it was moving in slow motion. Each step took an eternity as I walked among the sea of police and spectators with nothing but mumbles reaching my ears. I couldn't hear exactly what news reporters were saying to the large cameras but I knew that what they knew barely scratched the surface of what happened.
Bosh tugged my on the shoulder and led me into his car. I got in and realized that neither Kyle nor John were around.
"Don't worry, you'll be with them soon," said Bosh whom seemed to have read my mind.
I simply nodded and stared out the window to the rising sun as Bosh started the car and drove away from the scene.
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I'd like to thank all you readers for sticking with me for the duration of this series. This was my very first writing progress and it's bittersweet to see it come to a conclusion.
Thanks to those who've read since I first posted and gave me the confidence and support to make this series a reality. I honestly did not plan to make this a series after writing the first part of Inner Dilemma, but I'm glad I did.
I have made a lot of improvements on my writing as you may have seen during the progression of this series. I don't know if I'll go back and revise them later, but maybe I will.
I understand, as this was my first project I have many areas where I need to improve. Some of you have already told me and I thank you for your constructive criticism. I also know that I may have left some details hang out to dry as I had ideas at the time but then realized that they wouldn't work out in the end.
If you have any questions or comments or any takes on this series, feel free to PM me and I'd be glad to read and respond to it.
Be on the lookout for more stories, both single and I have another series in the works but I'm going to write a good portion of it before I start posting it. I'll keep you guys updated on it.
Thank you guys again, I wouldn't have any reason to write and strive to improve if it weren't for you guys.