Looking at Lily’s face that was full of rage brought Morgan back to one of the darkest tis in his life almost 10 years ago.
Back when he and his sibling Jamie lived with his alcholic father and drug addicted mother. Every day was lived in suspense, wondering if he was going to eat that day or if he would be beaten over sothing trivial.
To him, it was like living in an inescapable hell. However, that lifestyle was what fueled his determination to do better, study harder and grow stronger. If he wanted to take Jamie out of that hell hole, he would need to do it himself.
Then ca that night.
His father had been drinking since noon. By the ti the sun had set, the man was slurring and swaying. His mother was unconscious, face-down on the couch, her lips pale and hands twitching from whatever pills she had taken. Morgan, only twelve at the ti, stood in the kitchen with shaking hands and a silent scream trapped in his throat.
He called 911.
The operator asked for the address and said help was on the way. The first responder was a police officer.
Her na was Officer Gattioni.
He would never forget the sound of her boots on the porch or the way her green eyes t his when she opened the screen door. They weren’t cold or harsh like the other adults who had co by in the past. They were kind. Concerned. The first pair of eyes, besides Jamie’s, that had ever looked at him like he mattered.
But the mont was short-lived.
His father ca stumbling into the living room, shirtless and angry, yelling about rats and traitors and ungrateful brats. Then he saw the cop.
Everything exploded.
He scread at Morgan, eyes bloodshot and wild, before lunging with the broken end of a pool cue. He didn’t care that an officer was there. He didn’t care that she had a badge or a gun. He wanted Morgan dead.
Officer Gattioni stepped between them without hesitation. She blocked the swing and shoved the man back hard enough that he tripped over the coffee table. Her voice was stern, but not cruel. She told him to get to his room and sleep it off. Said she didn’t want to leave a child without a parent, but she would arrest him if she had to.
For a mont, he seed to waver. His face twisted. Then he stord off, cursing the whole way.
Morgan rembered the relief he felt. The way the room seed to finally let him breathe. Officer Gattioni put a hand on his shoulder and smiled softly.
"I’m getting you and your sibling out of here. I won’t let him hurt you again, I promise you that."
But before he could thank her, the world shattered again.
His father returned. This ti with a gun.
The sound of the first shot was deafening. Then ca another. Then another.
Most of the bullets hit her vest, but one caught her near the side of her neck. She staggered. Blood painted the floor. Her knees buckled and she fell beside him.
Everything after that ca in flashes. Screams. His father yelling. A tallic taste in his mouth. Darkness swelling behind his eyes.
When he ca to, his hands were trembling and wrapped around the grip of a gun. His father lay still. A hole in his chest. Eyes wide and lifeless.
Morgan had pulled the trigger.
Officer Gattioni lay beside him, blood pooling fast. Her breaths were shallow.
She looked up at him and smiled, sad and soft.
"Sorry," she whispered. "I couldn’t keep my promise to you...or her."
Morgan stumbled to her side, but she gently reached up and took the weapon from his hands with a shaky grip.
"I have a daughter...right around your age" she murmured. "My only regret... is that I won’t be there to protect her...or see her grow up."
He was crying. She lifted a hand, brushing the back of her fingers against his cheek.
"But...I’m glad you’re safe..."
Then her arm dropped.
Her eyes closed.
And she was gone.
Paradics arrived minutes later, but they were too late for her. The rest blurred. Police reports. Social workers. Temporary hos. But none of that mattered as much as the mont that ca next.
Kneeling beside her body, Morgan pressed his forehead to the floor and whispered the words that would beco his reason for everything.
"You saved my life...You are my hero.. I promise you that no matter what I have to do, I will keep your daughter safe. Even if it ans I give up my own life."
It was a promise that led him to beco a police officer and Detective in his own right. Even as she lay dying, she had protected him from another source of danger: the dia. She had taken the gun so Morgan would not be seen negatively, allowing him to have a chance at a childhood.
Didn’t you hear ? I said what are you doing here?!"
Lily’s voice cut through the air like a lash, sharp and full of pain.
Morgan blinked, his eyes still glassy from the mory. He shook his head slightly, like he was trying to shake off the weight of the past pressing down on his chest.
He looked at her, not flinching from the fury in her eyes. His voice ca out quiet, almost hollow.
"Just visiting an old friend," he said. "I was just leaving."
Without waiting for a response, he turned and walked away, his footsteps slow and heavy against the floor. He didn’t look back.
Lily stared after him, her jaw clenched, teeth grinding together. Her hands were balled into fists at her sides, knuckles pale and trembling. The rage still boiled in her chest, but underneath it was sothing worse. Grief.
She let out a pained sigh, one that trembled at the edges, and dropped her head.
A soft touch t her hand. Luna had co to her side, silent and gentle, her own fingers wrapping around Lily’s clenched fist.
Lily didn’t look at her, but she didn’t pull away either.
"I know it wasn’t his fault," she whispered. "I know that."
But even as she said the words, they tasted bitter. There was a part of her, buried deep, that still burned when she saw him. The image of her mother lying in that hospital. The funeral. The ache of growing up without the woman who should have been there to guide her.
Years had passed, but that anger hadn’t faded. It had just sunk lower. Coiled into sothing harder to reach.
And now that he was here, now that she had seen him again, it was back.
Lily squeezed Luna’s hand tighter, her voice barely audible.
"But I still can’t forgive him."
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