"REESE!"
He
laid on his stomach now, deep red staining the robes from where the bullet had
split his spine. His hands fumbled, touching the fatal wound in shock. In the
process, he dropped the cocked, concealed pistol. Reese looked at it in alarm,
realizing who its first lead pellet had been meant for. She looked back up,
catching Rashid's eyes. For the final second they continued to glare and fester
their hate on her, before glassing over and stilling. His chest too.
And with that, he was dead. A full breath finally entered Reese, pumping her
lungs back into the steady rhythm they'd lost. Rashid was dead. Again she
lowered her gun and lifted her eyes farther up the aisle of the mosque. She
found Justin standing, a gun of his own raised. God's wrath on Rashid... His
mercy upon her... which one had just played out through her younger brother?
"He didn't give you a choice." Reese spoke up, the same sentence
expressing her gratitude. A moment passed before Justin tore his eyes off of
the body and met hers. They were a light, almost transparent shade of sea
green. Just like Mom's, though some of their shine had been dimmed by reality.
Dimmed, yet revolutionized at the same time. Reese tried to think of something
to say that might settle them, but Justin cut her off. "Let's go get
Spence."
Reese thought to smile, but knew it wasn't the time. Justin didn't rejoice in
death, as no one should. Yet, she couldn't help feeling relief in knowing
Rashid's soul had now departed the earth. But she dismissed it as they
both put their guns at the ready and headed to the prayer room. A small space
for kneeling was laid out, with curtains of solemn muslin cloth covering all of
the walls. Reese and Justin wasted no time in whacking them back, searching for
the hidden passage.
"Here." Justin exclaimed as the left side fell away to reveal a
narrow doorway, leading down five or so stone steps. "Spencer?"
"Spencer!" Reese echoed him, trying to hide the sudden frantic in her
voice. She hovered behind Justin as he started down the steps, spying a bolted
door at the end. She turned back to her prayers as he wrestled with the lock. Please,
Lord... You gave me the strength not to shoot. Give my brother the strength to
answer!
"Spencer!" Reese ordered her sibling's name now, demanding an answer
as her eyes blinked to adjust to the darkness behind the door.
"Reese?"
She about wilted in relief and she pushed past Justin, falling to the cool
ground of the tiny room. Her hand instantly connected with a leg. Reese
surpassed a squeal, feeling up the leg to a lean torso as Justin kneeled beside
her. Her hand passed over a heavily breathing chest, moved up a thick neck, and
finally touched Spencer's face. As his own fingers came to touch hers.
"Reese's Cup, what're you doing here?"
Reese cringed at the damp sensation of blood along Spencer's cheek and the
swollen skin around his eyes, but she bent down and kissed his forehead anyway.
"Hey bro. We've missed you."
"I miss daylight." Spencer groaned, but she heard the infallible
teasing tone in his voice.
"Let's get out of here, huh?" Justin spoke up, his own voice a mix of
emotions. Spencer coughed as he tried to sit up. "That a... rhetorical
question?"
His face met theirs when it hit the dim shaft of light they had let into his
prison. There was no denying the faint glints of tears in his eyes. Reese held
back her own, brushing back his hair, like Mom used to do for all of them. With
it, she was able to further brush in the reality that he was really before her.
"Reese?" Spencer squinted at her. "You... your hair.
What'd..."
"Later, ok." Reese pulled his arm up over her shoulders, giving him
that sly, little sister smile.
THE END
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