Archer's Voice(81)

Our car spun all over and then all I heard was the scream of metal on metal, glass shattering, and my own screams as our car flipped for what seemed like hours, finally coming to a stop with a loud creaking sound.

The terror hit me hard and that's when I started to cry, squeaking out, "Help! Help me!"

I heard a loud groan from the front, and then Uncle Connor was saying my name, telling me it would be okay as I heard him moving himself out of his seatbelt and then kicking the door open. I couldn't open my eyes. It seemed like they were glued shut.

I heard the back door being pulled open, and then Uncle Connor's warm hand was on my arm. "It's going to be okay, Archer. I got your belt undone. Crawl toward me. You can do it."

I finally made myself open my eyes and look up into my uncle's face, his hand reaching toward me. I grasped his arm and he pulled me out into the warm, spring sunshine.

My uncle Connor was talking again, and his voice sounded funny. "Archer, I need you to come with me, but I need you to turn your back when I tell you to, okay?"

"Okay." Terror and confusion made me cry more.

Uncle Connor took my hand and walked down the deserted highway with me just a little bit behind him. He kept looking backwards at the car we'd gotten into a wreck with, but when I glanced back once very quickly, it didn't look like anyone was climbing out of that one. Were they dead? What had happened?

"Turn your back, Archer, and stay here, son," Uncle Connor said, and his voice sounded like he was choking.

I did as he said, letting my head fall back so that I was looking up at the clear, blue sky. How was it that anything bad could happen under a sky that clear, that cloudless and blue?

I heard a strange wailing yell behind me and I turned around, even though I knew it wasn't following directions. I couldn't help it.

My uncle Connor was on his knees on the side of the road, his head thrown back, sobbing up at the sky. My mama's limp body was in his arms.

I leaned over and threw up into the grass. I stood up a couple minutes later, sucking in air and tripping backwards over my own feet.

That's when I saw him, coming toward us. My daddy. With a gun in his hand. A look of pure hate on his face, and zigzagging. He was drunk. I tried to feel fear, but I didn't see that there was anything more he could do now. I felt numb as I moved toward my uncle Connor.

Uncle Connor lay my mama's body back down gently on the side of the road and stood up, seeing my daddy now too. Uncle Connor moved toward me and pushed me behind his own body.

"Stay back, Marcus!" he yelled.

My daddy stopped a couple feet away from us and glared at us, weaving, his eyes bloodshot. He looked like a monster. He was a monster. He waved the gun around crazily and Uncle Connor grabbed me tightly, making sure I was right behind him.

"Put the f*cking gun down, Marcus," Uncle Connor spit out. "Haven't you done enough here today? Alyssa… " He let out a noise that sounded like a hurt animal and I felt his knees give out just a little before he pulled himself back up.

"You think you're just going to ride out of town with my family?" the monster spit out.

"They were never your family, you sick sonofabitch. Alyssa… " He made that same choking sound again, and didn't finish that thought. "And Archer's my son. He's my boy. You know that as well as I do."

I felt a feeling like someone punched me in my belly and squeaked out a small sound as Connor's hands held me tightly again. I was his son? I tried to understand, tried to make sense of that. I wasn't related to the monster? I wasn't any part of him? I was Connor's son. Connor was my daddy. And my daddy was one of the good guys.

I peeked out at the monster as he looked at us. "Alyssa always was a slut. I don't doubt it. And the boy does look just like you, can't deny that." All his words ran together, just like they always did when he had been out drinking.

Connor's fists balled by his side and as I peeked up at him, I saw that his jaw wasn't moving as he talked. "Our mama could see you now, she'd cry her eyes out at the sick piece of shit you grew up to be."

"Fuck you," the monster said back, more anger filling his eyes, swaying some more. "You know who had to tell me that you were trying to drive out of town with my wife? Your wife. Yup, she came and got me and told me you were on your way out and that I better go collect what's mine. So here I am, collecting what's mine. Although I see I'm a bit late on one count," he pointed over to my mama, lying on the side of the road.

Hot anger filled my head. Connor was my daddy. He was taking me and my mama away from the monster–and the monster had messed it all up. Just like he always messed everything up. I moved fast around Connor's legs and ran at the monster as fast as I could. A loud roar came out of Connor, and I heard him scream, "Archer!!" like his own life depended on it. I heard his feet running after me as the monster raised his gun to fire and I screamed. But my scream sounded like a gurgle as something sharp and hot sliced through the side of my neck like a knife and I went down on the hard road. I brought my hands to my throat and when I brought them down to look, they were full of blood.

I heard another deep roar and I faded out, feeling myself fall, but when I came to, Uncle Connor, no wait, I thought dreamily, my daddy, my real daddy, was rocking me in his arms, tears running down his cheeks.