MINE
The bullet struck the blade’s entry point, shattering muscle and bone, sending a fine red mist spraying across the one clean stretch of white frontage wall I used as a backdrop for my pictures.
Aldo collapsed into the dirt, writhing and screaming.
My mother shrieked as if she’d been hit herself. Leo finally moved but it was too late and entirely useless, dropping to his knees beside the spreading dark pool. Frankie just stood there, mouth agape, eyes glassy and hollow.
I stood on the curb, hugging my arms around myself against the cold, waiting for the expected grief to arrive. I waited for the stomach-churning horror a dutiful step-daughter was supposed to feel.