Family Dinner

I felt so nostalgic walking into the vine-covered house that I spent so many years growing up in. I barley return now that the family business is buzzing with crazed clients. As I hand my coat to the door man the sound of the doors shutting behind me echos across the care stone walls. The smell of an amazing cooked dinner lingers in the air. As i walk into the dining room I see that nothing has changed, the same table, chairs, rug, and light fixture.

"Hello darling." Says a croaky voice. My eyes bolt to the head of the table, seeing my father waiting there in a clean jacket. I my two brothers and my sister staring at me. They are pretty dressed up for a silly family dinner. The butler pulls out a chair at the right of my dad and my dad nods his head, gesturing for me to sit there. I reluctantly walk over, the sound of my heels clicking against the floor being the only sound present. I sit down and readjust my dress trying to not start conversation. I hear the rolling cart come out of the kitchen and look over. There is the most amazing meal prepared. They set my plate down in front of me, I look down and see a bloody steak, asparagus, and a nice accent glass of red wine. My father digs in right away.

"So- how's life in New York? You must've traveled a long ways to make it tonight." His tone seems condescending.

"New York is good. I'm writing a thriller about a twisted family who has a family business of killing people, so to put it." I send a glace at my father. I hear my oldest brother choke on his food.

"Well, that seems like an absurd book." Says my father as he cuts his steak aggressively. There is an awkward moment of silence that my sister is brave enough to break.

"Dad, I just wanted to let you know that I invited my boyfriend, he's late, but I wanted to let you know." She's looking down at her lap, picking her fingernails. My father was always so strict about relationships. Just as he is about to talk the sound of the door opening, yet again, echoes throughout the house. "That must be him!" I look at my father and shake my head. Don't I whisper. I see my father pull something out of his waistband. My sister's boyfriend walks into the room and smiles at her. That smile didn't last long and the ear-splitting sound of a gun rings through my ears. I see my sister jump up and run over to him, who collapsed to the ground. Everything feels like it's moving in slow motion. I sit still, shocked, the sound of my father's gun still ringing in my ears. My two brothers seem unfazed, still chipping away at their meals. My sister is sobbing on the floor holding a box that she must've pulled out of his pocket, as she opens the box the most beautiful ring is displayed. She starts sobbing even harder.

I look at my father , he slips the gun back into the seam of his pants. He starts eating his food again and makes a hand gesture to the maid and butler. They hurry over to the body of her boyfriend and start dragging him into the kitchen. My sister screams at them to stop, but they don't.

"That's just business sweetheart." Says my dad. "I thought that you'd be used to it by now." He seems smug, I've always hated my father. He's so full of hate, and has been since he got married to my mom. He would always tell us that she got into an accident after she gave birth to my sister, but I have seen the way that the maids get rid of the bodies. Right after the "accident" I saw some beautiful new flowers in the backyard with fresh dirt under them. My sister slowly sits back down and tries to gain her composure.

"So Mary-Anne, you wanted us to have this dinner to have an important conversation with the family?"

"Yes, I wanted to tell you guys, and mostly you, father, that I'm quitting. I don't want to work for murderers anymore. I am sick of always having to watch my back walking around at home. All of the things that I have seen have scarred me. I have a life back in New York! I'm engaged!" I flash my ring in his face, it feels so good to get this off of my chest, I have been for so long. The second that the last word escaped from my lips, the atmosphere in the room changes. My brothers look at my father and then back to their food. My sister is still sniffling and staring at her lap. My father is staring at me. I can see his face filling with more and more anger every second.

"You have worked for me since you were a child. How are you going to support yourself now? You're nothing without me." He snarls.

"I have made up my mind and I would like to leave now." I anxiously pronounce.

"No. No. No. You can't leave! Dinner has just started. Please, sit back down." I in fact do not sit back down. I gather myself and start to walk away from the table, careful not to slip on the pile of blood on the floor. "Mary-Anne! Come back here now!" He yells. I am almost at the door when I hear a gun cock behind me. I turn around slowly and see my oldest brother pointing a gun at my face.

"Would you care to join us for dinner?" He says in the same condescending tone that my father had used earlier. He grabs my arm and digs his nails into my skin. My half-drags me back to the table and pushes me down into my seat.

"Thank you for joining us again." says my father. I set my bag on the floor knowing very well that there is a glock in there. "It's a family business, you can't quit. This is your life. You have been a killer from birth." He says simply well finishing his dinner. Mine is left untouched. I grab my purse from the floor.

"Can I use the powder room?" I ask. I don't have powder along.

"Yes, Donovan, can you lead Mary-Anne to the bathroom?" My oldest brother stands up and walks over to me.

"Right this way." His face is emotionless. I walk with him, my hand on his arm. We get to the bathroom and he stops. I walk in, close and lock the door behind me. I pull out my phone, no cell service. I set my bag on the counter and pull out the gun. I set it down and take a deep breath. You can do this, you can do this. A tapping coming from across the bathroom alerts me. I look to my side and see a small window, a man on the other side, tapping on the glass. I recognize his face immediately. I run over to the window and open it. He crawls in and I immediately hug him. "Charles." I feel all of the stress roll off of my shoulders. "How did you find me?" I ask in shock that he was there.

"Well I-"

"Shhhh. My brother us outside the door, he has a gun." I see Charles' eyes widen.

"I remember you telling me that your family was no good. When you said that you were going back to Washington, I knew that you were going to your family. I had to follow just to make sure."

"How did I find someone so wonderful." I say. He pulls me in and starts kissing me. He picks me up and carries me to the counter, where he sets me down. He grabs the counter, his hand grazes over my gun and he jumps away.

"What the-?" He looks at me with a scared look in his eyes.

"I- I was going to kill all of them. I can't take it. I don't know why that seemed like a good idea, I-"

"Babe, babe slow down." He grabs the gun off of the counter and makes a gesture to the door. I look at him suspiciously. "How are we going to do it?"

I open the bathroom door. "Ready." I say to Donovan. I put my hand on his arm and he walks me back to the table. I sit down.

"Where's you're purse?" My sister asks.

"I must've left it in the bathroom, It's fine I can grab it after dinner." I notice that my food was no longer on the table, replacing it was a beautiful cheesecake and a glass of champagne as an accent. I dig my fork into the cake and take a bite. I take a sip of my champagne. As we planned out, a gun goes off, and again, and again, and again. I see red splattered on the crisp white table cloth. I look behind me and coming out from behind one of the stone pillars is Charles. I get out of my chair and grab his arm. We quietly walk to the door of the horrible house and leave. The rain outside is pouring. We run to his car that it parked at the base of the huge driveway. I fell pure bliss, I finally escaped. I am free. I am free of the pain and the torture of my family. They are gone. I can move away with Charles and we can start a family. Two kids sounds perfect. We'll raise them well, full of kindness and love. Interrupting my perfect thoughts is a loud bang, I see Charles fall to the ground.

"Charles get up, were almost out!" My smile fades as I see blood seeping out of his side onto the driveway. "Charles?" My voice starts to crack. "Charles!" I fall to the ground next to him. I grab his face. "Charles? Hey. Hey Charles." I tap his face and hold his side, trying to stop the blood flow. I hear footsteps slap against the puddles. I look up and see my father. He is limping, there is a tablecloth tied around his leg. He holds a gun to my head and I hear the gun cock. I look up at him.

"I really thought that after everything that I had given you that you would finally accept you family." He winces and puts more pressure on his leg.

"Why did you shoot him?" I say as more tears run down my face.

"You shot mine. You can't be happy if I can't."

"Please just shoot me, get it over with. I know you want to."

"I already called the cops. I told them everything. How we invited you over for a nice family dinner and you fell into a schizophrenic episode and shot and killed my whole family. They are going to bring you to jail for life." As he says this I can hear sirens start to ring through the courtyard. I fall silent knowing that there is no way that the police would believe me. My father kneels down next to me and slips his gun into my hand. I look up to him confused. The cops get out of their cars and see me sitting next to Charles, holding the gun that killed him.

"She shot and killed my whole family! She even killed her own fiancee."

"We need a medic!" Yells one of the officers. The officer walks over to me and stand me up. He slips handcuffs over my wrists and starts to walk me over to his car. I see one of the medics walk over to Charles.

"He's gone." She says.

"No! No! Please! Don't take me! My father shot him! Please believe me!" I scream. All of the cops ignore me and he pushes me into the car. I look out the window and see my father smile and wave at me as the car pulls out of the house.