36. The Final Stance

_______________

The tension lingered in the air as I watched Travis marveling at Luke's body.

Kyle began roaring with laughter, despite the fact that he looked like shit from our fight. "Surprise, motherfucker!"

"What the hell is this?!" I asked.

Travis looked at me. "This? It's exactly what it looks like."

I shot a glance at look who was not moving. I feared the worse.

"You're in on this."

"Duh."

Sayora held tightly onto my arm. The situation had just gone from bad to worse and I had no idea what to do now.

"I imagine you have even more questions," Travis said, "but trust me, you already know the answers to them."

I said nothing at this notion, because nothing I could formulate in my mind at the moment made sense.

"I'll help you," Travis continued. "Remember that day at lunch? That same night we had gone to the church? You and I had a conversation, regarding our parental situations. Do you recall what it was that I said about my mother?"

"That the one time you'd met her she wasn't happy to see you," I said. "So?"

"So," Travis continued, calm and almost relaxed, "who exactly do you think my mother is?"

"You're not saying..."

Travis scoffed. "I don't think of Mariana as much of a mother these days. The bitch will get what's coming to her."

"But Kyle said he lied about there being another kid--"

"Kyle's a liar," Travis said. "This has been nothing but a web of lies in our little game. Plus we couldn't have you demanding who the other child was. I wanted to reveal that myself. Just so I could see the look on your face."

"So it's you," I said, coming to terms with it. "Raymond's your father and the story Kyle told me about Mom and Dad separating for a year was true."

"Isn't it a compelling story we've all created together?" Travis said. "I go to your school. I hang out with you. I become your friend. And all the while you were clueless as to who I was."

"Raymond was in on this the entire time," I said.

"Not entirely, we can't give my dad too much credit," Travis said. "The house that Kyle attacked us in was my dad's. He had this grand plan of moving here without all of you knowing and slowly convincing Mariana to let me be apart of her life. After that night, he knew that you and I knew each other, and I had to reassure him that I hadn't told you anything regarding the family, and fabricate as if it were truly a random break in and not part of the plan Kyle and I had. He wanted to tell you and your father everything, too. A noble man, my father is."

"And you couldn't be happy with that?" I asked. "You'd rather kill and torture people?"

"By that point, I had long decided that I hated Mariana and wanted her dead. I couldn't have cared less to have a mother figure. Though, Shawna would be a nice addition to the family. Dad seems to like her a lot."

"Don't tell me she's in on this, too," I said.

"No way. Can't risk too many people being involved. She's clueless."

"This took a lot of planning," Kyle added. "Two whole years in fact. We had almost everything calculated precisely."

"Two years of holding a grudge," Sayora said. "Must be tiring holding on to so much hate."

"Not at all actually," Travis said. "This was something important to us both. It's because of shitty parents that we are the way we are, right? They deserve this."

"You're crazy."

"Am I, Sayora? Am I really?" Travis questioned. "Do you know what it's like growing up without a mom? More than that, could you possibly understand the feeling of utter joy when you finally find her, thinking that she'd accept you? Want you? Love you? Only to have a door slammed in your face. For her to say that you're nothing to her? That you stem from a part of her life that she says is dead to her? That you were the biggest mistake of her life?"

Sayora and I stood in shock.

"Yeah," Travis continued. "I bet you don't. And you know what sucked even more than that? Something that can push a man over the edge? Learning that she had adopted some other boy into the home. Learning that some random kid had more of a right to be a part of her oh-so-perfect family than I did, when I'm her own flesh and blood!"

"You didn't have to go this route," I said.

Travis pointed the gun at me.

I stepped back and I felt Sayora's grasp tighten on me.

"Shut up," Travis warned. "You think you have any room to talk here? Kyle thinks it's cute calling you our brother, but me? I can't stand it. I can't stand the thought of you having everything that was owed to me. Why was I the one that had to hide from everyone when you had the perfect life? It wasn't my fault Mariana was a whore, so why did I have to pay for it? Huh? Can you answer that question? Well, don't. It was rhetorical. Think about it.

You have zero blood ties to this family. Kyle and Kevin were twin brothers. I'm at least a half blood to the two of them, but you? You just came out of nowhere; a replacement for Kyle being gone and easing the guilty conscience of deadbeat parents, who couldn't be bothered to even visit their son who they sent away to be locked up like an animal!

How shitty is that?! Dad told me stories about the family, that's how I even knew you and Kevin existed. He's one of the people who were authorized to see Kyle at SPI. He told me the location in case I'd ever wanted to visit him one day when things weren't so weird. But I did one better. After Mariana told me to fuck off, I started sending Kyle letters through my dad. He didn't think much of it, he wanted us to develop a brotherly bond with one another. Little did he know that I had something else in mind."

"Raymond brought Travis in to see me one day as a guest," Kyle interjected. "He let us get some alone time together to talk. Naturally, Travis brought up Mariana and it was clear that we had a mutual hatred for the bitch."

"And so the plan was concocted," Travis finished. "Kyle reached out to Kevin under the guise of 'X' and the rest is history. Poor guy, it wasn't his fault."

"It's not my fault either," I dared to say.

Travis nodded. "Sure. I'm not totally unreasonable, but like Kyle told you; it's less about you than you think. This was mostly away of causing the beloved parents a little bit of angst before ending them."

"You have a scar on your arm from the staged attack in your house," I said.

"I can take a little pain," Travis said. "We had to be convincing. Even when he was dragging me here through the dirt, I was fully conscious. You don't have to say it, I know my performance skills are quite amazing. So are Kyle's for that matter. I mean, he pretended to be a completely different person and you fell for it! Not to mention him faking his own death, achieved by leaving articles of clothing in a river and pretending to be suicidal. His case will forever remained unsolved."

"You won't get away with this!" I said. "I promise that case will be closed after tonight."

"Won't I?" Travis patronized. "Do you really think you'll live to tell the tale?"

"You think you will?"

"I'm the one with the gun, stupid," Travis retorted. "You tell me. You and your girlfriend will both die tonight. I know you're religious, so it's best you say your prayers."

Kyle walked up beside Travis, that same wide grin plastered on his face. "Save the girl."

"You really are a scumbag," Travis said.

"Ask me if I care."

"You're not gonna touch her," I said, unsure of that myself.

"Whatever," Travis said, "when we kill you, you'll join your brother in his grave. Rather poetic if I do say so myself."

Travis began stepping toward us, Kyle following his footsteps. I was petrified, knowing that this very well could be the end of my life. What could I do? I had the knife sure, but what good was that going to do against a gun?

It was over.

Travis was dangerously close to Sayora and I now. I had to think fast. But what to do?!

He raised the gun higher so that it was now pointed directly at my head. I was staring down the barrel of the firearm. Both the attention of he and Kyle were solely on us. Kyle was hyper with anticipation, looking like a lunatic with his battered face and crazed chuckling.

And in the midst of all that, they hadn't noticed the movement behind them. Sayora briefly tightened her grip on me again to signal to me that she was aware too.

"I feel sorry for you," Travis said. "Really, you got dealt the wrong cards in life. You can thank Mother for that."

"You know he doesn't care about you," I said, stalling for time that I knew was running out fast. "You know his condition. He doesn't care about anyone, but himself."

"And what does that matter?" Travis said. "As long as we succeed tonight, I get everything I needed; the end of this family."

"You're pathetic," I said.

The movement again. A shape right behind Kyle and Travis picked up the shovel I'd dropped earlier. I stole only a quick glance so as to not cause suspicion. Their attention was only to remain on me.

"Call me what you want," Travis said, "but at least I won't be dead."

He cocked the gun. I'd run out of time.

"Any last words?" he asked.

"Just two," I said, as the shape got closer.

"And what would those be?"

"Head's up."

"Head's up?"

"Head's up!" Luke exclaimed before swinging the shovel and hitting Travis in the side of his head.

Kyle turned his attention to Luke behind him as Travis toppled to the ground, and I seized the opportunity, using the knife and lunging at him, managing to stab him in the shoulder.

He bellowed and managed to strike me with a fist to the face. I stumbled back and he kicked me in the stomach with a mighty force that knocked the wind out of me and sent me flying back to the ground, hitting my head. The knife flew from my hand.

I looked up, trying my best to ignore the pain to see that Kyle was about to come for me. However Luke made the mistake of letting out some battle cry of sorts when he went to swing at Kyle, allowing Kyle to gain the upper hand. Kyle turned, took in the situation for what could only have been milliseconds and dodged the attack, then grabbing hold of the shaft of the shovel, he tugged at it with all his might, pulling it away from Luke's grasp and tossing it to the side.

"Sayora, run!" I shouted.

I looked in her general direction and saw that she was going for Travis' gun. It was there next to him, as he groaned and attempted to gather himself back together.

She grabbed it, but despite being hit in the head with a shovel, Travis reached out and took hold of her arm. She screamed and tried to pull away, but his grip was firm.

In the midst of Kyle and Luke's match, which had seemed to devolve to wrestling with Luke managing to get Kyle in a sleeper hold, Kyle had managed to loosen Luke's hold on him and elbowed Luke in the abdomen. The first time, Luke held strong, but by the third blow, Luke was recoiling, and Kyle broke free.

I scrambled to my feet and started to make my way toward Sayora, but Kyle had gotten a couple good and quick punches on Luke that made him hit the dirt by that time and before I knew it, he swiftly directed his attention to me.

He charged at me and tackled me to the ground. It was now a wrestling match between the two of us and I wrestled for dear life. Sayora was my main concern, and I could not see her now. All I could hear was her screaming.

Eventually, Kyle managed to straddle me and he reached over for something that was close to us. My eyes widened when I realized he'd grabbed the knife. He put one hand around my neck and squeezed. I tried prying it away, but he was stronger than me. In his other hand, the knife was readied to go in for the kill. We were right next to Kevin's grave now.

"Goodbye, bro!" he said in maniacal laughter, as he brought the knife down. I defended myself using one of the hands I'd been trying to use to pry his fingers from around my neck. I hadn't been able to think clearly, and it wouldn't have mattered anyway because it was do or die.

In bringing my hand up in defense, the knife plunged right through the middle of my palm down to the hilt.

I let out what would have been an agonizing scream had I not been struggling to breathe. It instead came out as a nasally and chocked off screech.

I was able to glimpse at Travis and Sayora again now through teary eyes, and saw that Travis was on top of her, too. She'd let go of the gun as it was still there next to them. She was struggling for life, screaming and crying.

I looked back up at Kyle who appeared shocked at my tactic at first, before that look dissolved into a smile. He pulled the knife out of my palm, now smeared with blood.

He was going in for the kill again, about to stab down, but then Luke appeared above us and brought the shovel down upon Kyle's head faster than Kyle could attempt to kill me again.

A dazed look now overcame Kyle's face and I pushed him off of me. He rolled onto the ground groaning.

My undivided attention went to Sayora and Travis. I raced over to them and scooped him off of her, summoning a strength that I never knew I really had, tossing him some feet away. I quickly went for the gun.

He was up again, roaring in anger at me and about to charge, when I aimed and fired.

I hit him. Where I hit him I couldn't tell in the darkness, but I hit him and he went stumbling backwards, hitting the ground and groaning still.

I tucked the gun and went to help Sayora up. "Babe, are you okay? He didn't hurt you did he?"

She didn't say a word. She was sobbing and simply buried her head in my chest as I wrapped my arms around her, kissing the top of her head, thanking God that she was alive.

Looking over at Luke, I saw him laying into Kyle. I watched as he was on top of him, punching and punching with his right fist. He'd abandoned the shovel as a weapon.

I forced myself to break the embrace with Sayora and went over to Luke.

His face was scrunched up in angst. He was unrelenting and I noticed he was crying as he kept striking Kyle's face.

"You motherfuckers killed her!" he cried. "You killed her, you son of a bitch!"

"Luke..." I trailed.

He did not stop.

"Luke!" I shouted.

By this point, Sayora had joined me at the side, watching Luke's onslaught.

I walked over and grabbed Luke. He jerked around and struggled, as he clearly had other plans to continue with his beating, but it was enough. I pulled harder, dragging him away from Kyle. He kicked and screamed and cried and protested, all the while I was trying to get him to calm down. To stop him from seeing red.

"Luke, stop!" I shouted, grabbing him by the shoulders and making him face me directly.

That seemed to work because he calmed down as he stared into my eyes. Then he broke down into sobs and I embraced him as I had done Sayora. She walked over and joined in, rubbing his back as he let it out.

I heard Kyle coughing.

After a few more seconds I broke free of the hug and made my way over to where Kyle was, pulling the gun from the hem of my pants. I stood over him and watched as he smiled, even in the condition he was in.

"You... You won," he croaked.

"That's your problem," I said. "This has been a game for you. No one wins in this. Not really."

"Tienes un corazón muy honorable," Kyle said.

"No quiero tus felicitaciones," I said back. "So you can keep them."

"You g—gonna roll me into Kevin's grave and l—leave me to die now?" Kyle went on.

"No," I said. "His grave is to good for you."

I cocked the gun and aimed directly at his head.

"Where's Mom and Dad?" I asked.

"They're dead, remember?" Kyle spat.

"That's a lie," I said. "When Travis was speaking he said something along the lines of 'they're getting what they deserve.' That's not a past tense phrase. Which means they're alive somewhere and you're gonna tell me where."

"Smart," Kyle said. "B—But you and I both know that I won't tell you shit."

"Fine," I said. "Then this is goodbye, brother."

His smile widened in response. "See you in hell."

I hesitated a moment before doing it.

BANG!

I pulled the trigger, flinching as I was still not totally accustomed to the feel of holding and shooting a gun.

I'd hit my target. The bullet went straight into the middle of his forehead.

Sayora and Luke walked up next to me as we stared at his body.

"You killed him," Sayora said.

"Let's hope he stays that way," I said. "I've had enough of the undead walking around."

I looked at Luke. "You got shot."

"He grazed my side," he said, putting a hand up to the side of his waist. "Dude had pretty shit aim. I'll be fine."

We stood there a few moments more. The wounds I'd sustained during the night were taking their toll. The slightest movement in my left hand resulted in pain, blood trickled out of the hole that was made in it. But I kept my face stoic as we stood there.

"We have to find my parents," I finally said.

"Yeah, let's get out of here," Luke said bitterly. "I officially hate this cemetery."

"And what about Travis? Is he dead too?" Sayora asked.

"Only one way to find--" Luke started, but stopped mid-sentence when he turned around. "Where is he?"

I snapped around and saw the spot that Travis had been laying in was vacant.

I spun this way and that, scanning our surroundings.

"Where the fuck is he?!" Luke shouted.

"The car," I said. "He's getting away!"

I took off running, speed dwindled by the aches in my body. Sayora and Luke weren't far behind me. I dashed to the exit of the graveyard, pushing the gate out of our way and sure enough the car that had been here when I pulled up was gone.

"Where would he go?!" Luke asked.

"Raymond's house!" I said. "Get in!"

"Wouldn't that be the last place he'd go?!"Sayora asked as she hopped into the passenger seat of my car.

"We don't have phones to call for help and I don't know what else to do!" I said. "He could be keeping my parents there. He has nothing to lose. He just wants my family dead and I'm sure he's on his way to ensure it happens."

"I hope you're right," Luke said.

"Yeah," I said, starting the car up. "Me too."

___

I must have done sixty-five all the way to our destination. There were hardly any other cars, but there was no telling how many traffic lights and signals I'd neglected to pay attention to. I needed to save my parents and this was the one place that popped into my mind

I screeched to a halt in front of the house. I didn't see Travis' car at all.

"He's not here," I said, slightly relieved, but also concerned that my parents would not be here if this was not the first place he was coming to.

I couldn't think too hard about all of that. I got out with my two guests following suit, gun gripped firmly in hand and went up to the front door of the house and tried for the doorknob.

To my surprise, it opened.

"Why would the door be unlocked?" Sayora asked.

"Help!" Came a woman's shout. "Someone please help us!"

"That's my mom!" I said, following the sound of her voice.

We followed the cries into the kitchen and to a door that presumably led downstairs to the basement. I opened it and led the way