The Man In Forest Hills Page 16

  “How did you know I was here?” he asks.

  “I was following you the whole time and trailed you to Maddox’s house,” she notes.

  “I saw everything. I had to follow you. I wanted to stop you,” she says.

  As they make their way through the woods, Kent gets worse and worse. He falls to his knees even with Mary supporting most of his weight. She knows she needs to hurry up the process in order to save his life.

  “I saw Harper walking through the woods and I had to hide in a bush. I was shocked to see him. I thought he was here to help you, but I guess not.”

  “Thank God you were following me.”

  He tries to give Mary a smile, but all she notices is how pale and sick he looks from all the blood lose. Seconds later they get to her car on the side of the road. She puts him in the back seat and runs around to the driver side door.

  “We got to get you to a hospital.”

  She starts the car. He yells her name before she can put it into drive.

  “Mary!”

  She looks back at him through the rearview mirror. She knows something else is wrong.

  “I don’t want to go to the hospital.”

  “But Tom if we don’t get there, you’re gonna bleed out,” she says.

  He takes a couple of deep breaths.

  “It doesn’t matter now.”

  A tear runs down her left eye.

  “I want to be with my family.”

  She knows how serious he is, but she doesn’t want to lose him.

  “You have changed my life Tom. I don’t want to lose you.”

  “I know, but I’m no good in this world. I need to be close to them. That’s the only way I can be happy,” he explains.

  She knows she can’t change his mind, and she also wants to help Tom find that peace that he so desperately needs.

  “Okay Tom. Show me the way.”

  She puts the car in drive and takes off, as he proceeds to give her directions. Tom has laid his head back in the hopes that it will all just be over because the pain is so unbearable at this point. He lifts up his hands to see nothing but blood. Mary looks back at him through the mirror with a face full of tears.

  They pull up to Forest Hills Cemetery. This is the same cemetery where Amy and Ryan were laid to rest. They drive up close to their gravestone. She stops the car and hops out. She walks over to the back passenger side door where Kent is to help him get out of the car.

  “We’re here Tom.”

  Tom opens up his eyes and looks over at the gravestone extremely thankful that he made it here before it was too late. As she helps him out of the car, she can’t help but notice how much blood is on the back seat. She struggles to help him, but after a while she gets him to the gravestone. He leans forward to kiss both Amy and Ryan’s engraved names.

  “My loves,” he says.

  He rests his back on it and looks up at Mary.

  “Leave me here.”

  “Tom. Please don’t do this,” she pleads.

  “Trust me Mary. This is where I belong.”

  The tears run down her face at a rapid pace. She feels she is about to lose the one man that gave her a reason to live. There is no way she can watch him die, so she takes the revolver out the small of her back and tries to hand it to him.

  “No, no. You keep it. Keep it safe.”

  She places it back in the small of her back and leans in and grabs his head. She gives him a goodbye kiss on his forehead and walks away. She gets back into the car and drives off. He watches her leave the cemetery.

  Kent is finally where he wanted to be all along. The happiest he will ever be is with his family. Whether it’s dead or alive, he knows his time in this world is up. He lies there with a smile on his face knowing at this very moment he is with Amy and Ryan. He isn’t certain he will end up with them after this, but all he needs to feel right now is their presence before he dies. He hopes that God will forgive him for his sins to let him be with his family, but if not this last moment with them is all he can ask for.

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Alex Owumi was born in Lagos Nigeria, and moved to the United States at the age of eleven. He is also the author of QADDAFI’S POINT GUARD: The incredible story of a professional basketball player trapped in Libya’s civil war which was an international bestseller. His first fiction trilogy THE FIRE RAVEN, is about a female assassin who travels the world for answers about her past was a bestseller and is now available on Amazon. He is also a professional basketball player and has played in France, US minor leagues, Macedonia, Libya, Egypt and most recently in England. He currently lives in Atlanta, Georgia.