Over Him ✔

|Chapter Eight|

Copyright ©2022_Over Him ✔written by OluchiHelen
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CHRISTMAS DINNER was a huge fail. The moment Ben walked in and all sorts of questions were thrown at him, especially from an oblivious Christine, he snapped. April had jumped in immediately to calm him down but all was to no avail. A full blown argument had begun, almost as if another family wasn't seated watching in shock.

By the time they'd stopped arguing, Ben had rushed upstairs, gathered Evelyn's things and thrown them out of the house whilst she sat on the floor next to a stunned family of three, tears streaming down her face, ruining the little make-up she'd put on earlier that evening.

Cherry had tried to also calm him down but Ben wasn't hearing it. It was like he was blinded by the rage, ignoring the fact that people were watching and most importantly, it was Christmas.

"I'm sick and tired of staying here. If you don't know how to behave, then leave my house. All of you!!" he bellowed, the veins at the side of his neck bulging. April frowns at his words, stepping a bit backward as she had never seen her father in such a terrifying mood.

"Dad, you're not being reasonable right now!" April states, trying to reason with him and snap him out of whatever he was in. His red eyes snap to her. The room silences.

"Oh but I am. Your mother is the most unbearable woman on the surface of this earth. I can't stay in a marriage like this," he replies and Evelyn's cries heighten, followed by gasps.

At this point neither Christine nor Dave could say anything. No one has never seen this side of Ben before, so they were cautious.

"I want every single one of you out of my house in the next ten minutes. If you have anything here. Pack them up and leave!" he yells before storming off up the stairs. The room was silent as everyone stared on in shock.

Colt's eyes travel to a broken and stunned April who was still gripping at her father's blue leather jacket which he'd flung at her couple of minutes ago. Evelyn was still a crying mess and Christine had gone to attend to her, alongside Dave who didn't seem to know what to do.

"Are you okay?" Colt asks, rushing to April. She looked a bit better than her mother but he could still see past the facade she'd set up. She was falling apart. Just before April was about to respond, Ben returns, his eyes hooded with anger and his hand clutched around a gun.

At the sight of just the barrel alone, they were all rushing out of the house, leaving behind their bags, coats and purses. It was only April who'd managed to fight against Colt's grip. This wasn't her father and it didn't matter what she felt had replaced him, she knew he wouldn't shoot. Or at least she wanted to believe he wouldn't.

"Dad, calm down. Drop the-"

"Shut up and leave! All of you!! " he screams, cocking the gun and aiming it at her. "Okay, okay, hold on. We'll leave. Let me just get the car keys and that's it," she negotiates, raising both hands up in the air.

"Ten seconds to do that or else I'm blowing your head off, " he spits and April's eyes widen.

Evelyn stomps inside, a tear stained face and a whole new angry demeanour. "You're gonna shoot your own daughter? The one girl you have always wanted to see for years after she le-"

Suddenly, almost like everyone's heart had stopped beating, the gun goes off. The first thing that registers in April's mind was that she was still alive and standing... but her mother wasn't. Christine and Cherry instantly scream in horror and Christine collapses, her knees giving out first. With shaky legs, April falls next to her mother who was still alive but struggling. A dark red patch of blood begins to spread on her stomach and the tears begin rolling down her face.

Paying no attention to her father standing just a few feet from her, she quickly grabs a napkin and presses it against her mother's wound and pulls her up. Colt on the other hand is outside beckoning on them to get out of the house.

With a wounded Evelyn resting almost all her weight on April, she only manages to get out of the house just in time for another gun shot to go off. By this time Dave had already gotten an unconscious Christine to the car and strapped her in, right about when they were all rushing towards his car.

Once April had squeezed in, almost seated on Colt's lap, Dave backs out of the driveway and zooms off down the cold icy road. None of them could comprehend what had just happened.

"We need to get my mum to the hospital," April states, her heart still thumping loudly in her chest. "It's Christmas, the hospitals aren't going to be open today," Dave responds and the reality of the situation dawns on them all.

"So we can't take her to a hospital? Is that it?" Cherry asks , her eyes glistening with more tears.

"I can try and do it myself but I'm going to need as much help as possible," April suggests.

•••

Laying Evelyn out on a bed in the Rivers house, Christine appears with a small first aid kit. "Is there some antiseptic in here?" April asks, removing the bloody towel from her mother's weak grasp.

"Yes. I just got one yesterday," Christine replies.

Colt, meanwhile, was in the living room trying to calm Cherry down. She hadn't stopped sobbing since the car ride. Her eyes were now red and face swollen from all the crying. She looked messy but no one could blame her. Neither Colt, Christine nor Dave could process what had happened a couple of minutes ago.

Thankfully the gun shot wound wasn't as deep as everyone had first thought it would be. The amount of blood lost was close to alarming but since there was no where they could take her to, they'd have to work with the next best thing, April. She had only spent two years in med school and then dropped out to study dermatology.

"This might hurt but I want you to look away for a few minutes okay? " April asks softly, staring into Evelyn's eyes. Reaching a finger into the bloody wound, she inches her finger deeper, doing her best to ignore the pain in her mother's face. Once her finger coated in blood grazes on the bullet shell, she inserts another finger, wraps her two fingers around it and pulls it out slowly.

Once out, she tosses the bullet shell onto the tray and wipes her hand off with a clean towel Christine had brought supplied, soaks another towel in some water, wrings it off and presses it to the wound. Glancing up at her mother's face, alarm clouds her reasoning and the towel falls from her hand. Evelyn was fading away.

"Mum stay awake please!" April pleads, giving her a little shake.

"I'm awake April," she mumbles wearily. With teary eyes, she continues with the procedure and once she had finally drawn up the last stitch, she looks back into her mothers eyes. Tears brim at her eyes, blinding her temporarily.

A/N: What'd you think is gonna happen? Do I let her live?? By the way, I know this chapter is a short one but I hope you liked it.

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