“Hey, Kid!” Bill called out. “I hear you’re up for visitors? I took the liberty of sending Paul into your apartment to get you some things.”
He sounded unusually upbeat, while Paul simply handed me the bag with my missing entertainment, phone charger, and clothes. I barely got to thank them before Mr. Miller demanded my attention.
“Timothy. Thank you.” he simply said, as he presented me with his outstretched hand, like he wanted me to shake it. “I owe you for this.”
I shook his hand, but wasn’t particularly comfortable with him thanking me for helping Mia, after I spent hours trying to figure out why I even did it.
“No, you don’t. You should thank Jack. I was just defending myself at that point, but while the others were all panicking, Jack immediately jumped into action, pulled Mia out of harm’s way, and got her to safety.”
I could literally see his chest swelling with pride as a warm fatherly smile spread on his lips. I couldn’t help but envy Jack at that moment.
“I will let him know. But before you were ‘just defending yourself’, you literally took a bullet for my little girl. I will not forget that.” he said in an insistent voice.
Before I could answer him, the police officer stepped forward. I gave my brief statement that, apparently, was corroborated by the surveillance tapes and the others’ testimonies.
“So ... how is he?” I asked carefully after finishing my tale.
“Who the hell cares!?” Mr. Miller asked roughly. “Let him suffer! The man tried to kill my daughter!”
I could not dispute his feelings, but I was seriously scared about the repercussions of what I did to him.
“As far as I know, he’s breathing through a tube for now. It’ll take some time before he’s healed up enough to be properly processed.” the officer informed me, and I visibly cringed.
“That bad, huh?”
“Yes. But I wouldn’t worry too much, Mr. Brown. It is pretty clear to us that you acted in self defense.” Hearing the officer say this, I took a breath of relief. That prompted Bill to take over, as he tossed me a gun that looked remarkably like the one Campbell had used.
“It’s a Ruger SR22.” he said.
“You have his gun!?” I wasn’t sure if it was such a good idea to touch the thing.
“No, notice the orange Tip, Kid. That’s just a model I brought along so you can take a look at it. It has quite a fanbase when it comes to quiet killing. Campbell didn’t just use a silencer to muffle the ignition-noise, but also loaded the thing with subsonic ammunition.”
“Subsonic .22s? Would they even have enough power to do real damage?” I asked like an idiot, not thinking about the fact that I was lying in a hospital bed after being shot with it myself. I didn’t know much about guns, but I had heard the guys at work make fun about .22s more than once.
“Oh yes, definitely. They can penetrate a skull alright, but then don’t have enough energy left to do it a second time, meaning the bullet bounces around in the victim’s head and literally shreds your gray matter. It also has the added benefit that the recoil is much weaker, making it easier to handle for amateurs. And...” Bill paused to throw a careful glance at Mr. Miller. “ ... going by Ms. Miller’s height, compared to where your shoulder wound is, we’re fairly certain he was aiming for her head when you stepped in front of her.”
“That is why we believe you acted in self defense.” the officer added when I saw Mr. Miller’s hands clench into tight fists. “He entered the house with clear intent, and your actions to stop that seem more than justified.”
“But why!? What’s his problem with Mia?”
“Deluded stalker, Kid. Going by what was found in his apartment, he was completely fixated on some fantasy world, and spent his Holidays ruminating about spending them with Mrs. Miller. He finally reached the conclusion that it must be her children that stopped her from starting a new life with him. So, he decided to do her a favor and free her from that burden.”
I could just shake my head.
“Well, at least they don’t have to worry about him anymore.”
Just as I said that, Nora opened the door. To my astonishment, Mia rushed past her to my side, and placed one soft hand on the side of my face while using her other hand to hold one of mine.
“Welcome back.” she smiled as her thumb started brushing over my cheek, though I could see that her eyes were tired and slightly reddened.
“You Okay?” I asked, unsure how to handle this situation.
“Am
Her voice was unusually soft, though it was also wavering as her eyes started to glaze over. Which was also noticed by everyone else in the room. Bill and Paul smirked as they stepped to the side, Nora grinned while watching her daughter, and Mr. Miller went back to looking unhappy, albeit not nearly as much as when Mia presented me with a Christmas gift.
“Yeah ... We really have to stop reenacting that movie, don’t we?”
