Dallas sped around the corners, almost losing control of the car a couple of times. She slowed down after we nearly hit someone passing on a motorbike coming toward us in the opposite lane. I braced one hand against the dashboard, the other tightly wrapped around the rifle.
We roared up Gavin’s driveway. I was sitting forward in the seat, ready to jump out and run. Dallas pulled her gun out from her waistband with one hand.
Gavin’s truck was in front of the house, an ATV parked beside it. Was it Brian’s? We came to a stop, the car skidding on the dirt. Through my open window I could hear screaming.
“Where’s that coming from?” Dallas said.
“Sounds like the back of the house!” We jumped out of the car and started running. Dallas led the way, holding her gun out in front of her. I had the rifle against my shoulder. We kept to the edge of the house, ducking below the windows. When we came around the side, Skylar was standing on the porch, throwing her body at the door.
“Crystal!” I heard her scream.
“Skylar!” I shouted.
She spun around, and I gasped at the sight of my daughter, the rope around her neck, the stained shirt, the boxer shorts, the tape stuck to her wrists. Her face was streaked with tears and her eyes looked frantic.
“Crystal’s inside,” she cried out, then started sobbing hysterically.
“Where are they?” I said, running up the steps with Dallas.
“Gavin shot Crystal,” she said, crying so hard I could barely make out the words. “I saw through the bathroom window. I saw her fall.”
The air rushed out of my body. “Is she okay?”
“I don’t know,” she said between sobs. “She stabbed Gavin. I think he’s dead.”
Dallas grabbed Skylar’s shoulders. “Where’s Brian?”
Skylar looked like she was in shock, her face ghostly white, her body shaking violently. “He was upstairs—Gavin shot him.”
I put my arms around her, held her close. “It’s going to be okay.”
Dallas leapt off the porch and grabbed a big rock, then ran up and smashed the bathroom window. She reached in, unlocked it, then slid it up and climbed inside. I tried to hold Skylar back but she wrenched out of my arms and clambered after Dallas through the window. I followed behind.
I’d just stepped onto the bathroom floor when I heard a scream, then Dallas shrieking, “No, no, no!”
I rushed out of the bathroom, found Skylar and Dallas in the kitchen on their knees by Crystal. She was naked, a thick rope around her neck, her skin a myriad of bruises. Her chest was covered in blood.
Dallas was holding her body in her arms, cradling her. Skylar was on the other side of Crystal, her hands over her mouth and her eyes stunned.
“Oh, God.” I dropped to my knees beside them. I gripped Crystal’s hand, horrified by the raw skin around her wrists, the tape stuck to her flesh.
“Crystal, sweet Jesus, what did they do to you?” I moaned, feeling for her pulse, my fingers pressing desperately, praying.
“CPR. We have to do CPR.” I tried to pull her out of Dallas’s arms.
We tugged over her for a moment, me crying and Dallas yelling, “It’s too late!” I thought of every minute we’d spent in town, every second we’d wasted. We should’ve gotten here sooner. We could have saved her.
“We have to try,” I screamed back, my throat so choked with tears I thought I’d strangle on them. I ripped my shirt off, pressed it against the wound on Crystal’s chest, crying even harder as it turned bright red.
Dallas let go and I lay Crystal down, bent her head back, started blowing in her mouth. Dallas began chest compressions. I knew Crystal was gone, could feel her mouth turning cold underneath mine, but I couldn’t let go, couldn’t stop breathing for her. Crystal, no, please, come back. We need you.
Dallas stopped the compressions. She wrapped her arms around me, tried tugging me away. I fought back.
“No!”
I hit my hand down on Crystal’s chest, screamed in her face. “No!”
“Stop,” Dallas said, her voice anguished. “Stop.”
She grabbed me harder, pulling me away. I collapsed backward into her arms, my body wrenching with gasping sobs. “Oh, no,” I said. “No, no, no, no.”
I could feel Dallas’s body shaking behind me. I turned to Skylar, reaching for her. She was rocking back and forth, her head bowed, hands to her face. Her body sagged sideways, leaned into mine. Dallas encircled both of us in her arms, her face pressed between ours, my tears wetting her cheek.
Crystal was lying in front of us. I didn’t like her hand resting alone on the floor. I held it, so she was still with us, so she wasn’t left out. It was always all of us. I didn’t know what the world looked like without her in it. She was our light, our dancing light.
I glanced to my left, barely able to see through my tears. Gavin was lying on the floor a couple of feet away, a knife sticking out of his chest.
“She locked me out,” Skylar said. “Why did she lock me out?”
I was helpless to explain, couldn’t take my eyes off Crystal, her beautiful face. I heard a noise and turned toward the front door, saw someone stumble out.