Chapter 56

Cody stopped in mid step, clutching his chest.  Justin had shot him.

Holding his chest, Cody looked at Justin and then over to Kerrigan whom had slumped to the floor when Justin pushed her away.  Stumbling towards Kerrigan, Cody reached out one hand to her.  “Kerrigan…” he mumbled.

“Stay away from her.” Justin growled, moving to Kerrigan’s side.  But Cody kept coming.  “Stay where you are.” Justin repeated pointing the gun at him, but still Cody kept coming.

Justin heard Kerrigan’s sobs and he kneeled down beside her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder pulling her to his chest.  “Damn it, get back!” Justin yelled at Cody when he was merely a couple feet in front of them.

“Kerrigan…” Cody said again reaching out for her.

Determined to keep him from getting near her or touching her in any way, Justin fired the gun again, striking Cody again in the chest.  This time however, he fell forward to the floor with a thud.

Justin trembled at the thought of what he’d just done, the gun falling to the floor from his hand.  Kerrigan’s sobs grew louder and Justin immediately turned his attention to her.  Wrapping both arms around her tightly.  “Shhhh.  It’s all over, Kerr.  He can’t hurt you anymore.” Justin whispered into her hair, gently rocking her back and forth.

Trace stood against the wall staring on in shock.  Justin had just shot someone.  Twice.  He didn’t know what to do.  Looking over at Justin and Kerrigan curled up together, rocking back and forth, Trace turned his attention back to Mike in the hall.

Mike had been the first thing Trace had seen upon entering the hallway.  When he’d gotten to the house he had heard yelling coming from upstairs so he’d rushed up the stairs, only to find Mike laying, bleeding in the hallway a few feet before the door.

He had checked on him to make sure he was ok and Mike had told him he was, but that he needed to check on Justin and Kerrigan because he didn’t know what was going in the room.  And that was when Trace had barged into the room, nearly scaring himself half to death seeing Justin holding a gun.

“Mike, the paramedics are on the way.  Just hang in there man.” he told him.

“I’m fine, Trace.  What happened in there?  Is J and Kerrigan ok?” he questioned.

“They’re fine.  Well as fine as they can be, I guess.”

Mike nodded, laying his head back on the floor.  “Go be with them.  I’m fine man, I just can’t move right now.”

Trace nodded and went back into the bedroom, carefully walking around Cody’s body over to Kerrigan and Justin.  “Are you two ok?” he asked, kneeling down beside them.

Kerrigan was crying uncontrollably, but Justin looked up at Trace, a single tear rolling down his cheek.  “I think I killed him.” he said.

“You had to J, he was trying to hurt you and Kerrigan.  It was self defense.” Trace stated, hoping to make Justin feel a little better.  He couldn’t imagine the things that were going through his mind at that moment.  To know you had taken another persons life had to be a terrible burden to carry no matter what the circumstances were.

“We need to check him.  See if he’s alive or dead.” Justin informed Trace.

Trace sighed, he knew that was his queue.  Justin was too wrapped up in comforting Kerrigan to move so Trace knew he’d be the one that would have to check on Cody.

Getting back to his feet, Trace walked the few steps necessary to get to Cody’s body and then kneeled down beside him.  He reached his hand out and felt Cody’s neck for a pulse.  There was none, he was dead.

Trace said a silent prayer for God to give him and his friends strength before looking over to meet Justin’s eyes.  He shook his head at Justin, indicating that Cody was in fact dead and Justin’s head lowered, tightening his hold on Kerrigan.

Trace went back over to his friends and sat down beside them.  “The cops are on their way.  Mike said he had already called them.”

“Yeah, I know.” Justin said, looking over at Trace.  “I just wish they would have gotten here a little sooner.”

Trace nodded.  “I understand, J.  But who’s to say things would have been any different if they had.  Hell, things could have been worse.”

“They’re going to arrest me.” Justin said without thinking.  “They’re going to take me to jail for murder.”

“Justin.  It’s not murder.  At least not like intentional murder.  It was self defense, they can’t convict you of murder for self defense.” Trace argued.  He could understand Justin being scared but this was no time to freak out and start imagining the worst scenario.

Kerrigan looked up at her friends.  “This is my fault.  Justin’s going to go to jail and it’s all my fault.” she cried, feeling horrible.  It seemed no matter what she did she couldn’t win for losing.

“Kerrigan, don’t say that.  This is NOT your fault.  He was attacking you.  Trying to take you away.  I would do this all over again to protect you and I wouldn’t think twice about it.  Do NOT blame yourself because it isn’t your fault.” Justin scolded her.  He in no way wanted her to feel anymore guilty than she already did.  She had way too much guilt on her conscious for one person to handle without adding anymore to it.

“J’s, right Kerr.  This isn’t your fault.  He was fucking crazy, you cannot blame yourself for the things he did.” Trace agreed.

“But Justin’s going to go to jail.  Do you know what this is going to do to his career?  It’s going to ruin it.  And all because of me!  Why did you have to come home early?  Why couldn’t you have just stayed at the party?” she demanded, growing frustrated.

“Kerrigan, stop it.” Justin said sternly.  “This isn’t going to get us anywhere.  Don’t worry about me.  As long as you’re safe and ok then I don’t give a shit what happens to me.” he told her, pushing a few strands of hair that were hanging in her face, behind her ear.

Kerrigan looked up, meeting Justin’s eyes.  She could see that he meant what he said, but that simply wouldn’t do for her.  He was her Best Friend.  She loved him with all of her heart and soul and there was no way in hell she could let him go to jail because of her.  Because he was looking out for her and trying to protect her.

“I don’t want you to go to jail.” she cried, pulling him into a hug.

Justin squeezed Kerrigan to him, stroking her back soothingly, while looking over her shoulder at Trace’s solemn expression.  “It’ll be ok, Kerr.  You heard what Trace said.  They can’t convict me for self defense.  It’s all going to be ok.”

Kerrigan pulled back from Justin’s embrace and pulled away from her two friends, getting to her feet.  She began pacing the room, as she rubbed both hands over her face forcefully, hoping that by some miracle she could just make it all go away.

“Kerr, what are you doing?” Trace questioned as he watched her walk towards Cody’s body.

She bent down next to him and reached out to check for a pulse.  She needed to be sure for herself that he was really dead.  That he couldn’t hurt her or her friends anymore.

Not finding a pulse either, Kerrigan stood back up and began pacing again.  She could hear the distance sounds of sirens and knew that the police would be there momentarily.  Her brain was racing over the events of the evening.  From Justin’s party to coming home and being attacked by Cody.  To mere minutes before when Justin had fired the gun to protect her.  To protect HER, she thought.

Looking over at Justin she noticed that both he and Trace were watching her closely, trying to figure out what she was doing.  She diverted her eyes from theirs and began looking around the room.  She saw the gun laying on the floor a few feet away from Justin.

Quickly before either of the guys could stop her she rushed over and picked up the gun.

“Kerrigan, what the hell are you doing?” Justin demanded, getting to his feet.  Trace doing the same.

“I’m gonna tell them I shot him.” she said, walking into the bathroom with the gun.

“WHAT?” Justin yelled, following her into the bathroom.

Kerrigan turned around with the gun in one hand and a towel in the other.  “I’m going to tell them I shot him.” she said.

“Kerrigan, give me the gun.” Justin demanded.

“No.”

“Give me the gun.” he repeated.

“No!” she said firmly.  “I’m not going to let you go to jail over me, Justin.  You were protecting me and now I’m protecting you.” she said walking past him, wiping the gun down with the towel.

“What are you doing?” Trace questioned, eyeing her closely.  When she had picked the gun up for the quickest moment he had thought she was going to try to kill herself or something crazy like that.  But now he was completely lost.

“I’m wiping the gun down so Justin’s prints aren’t on it.  The only people that saw him shoot Cody was me, you and himself.  But you two are going to tell the cops I did it.  I shot him in self defense.  Do you understand me?” she said, looking from Trace to Justin.  And they simply stared at her in disbelief.

Kerrigan knelt down beside Cody after thoroughly wiping the gun down.  She placed the gun in his hands to get his finger prints on it again and then took the gun back in her hands.

“Kerrigan, this is insane!” Justin said, trying to take the gun away from her.

She quickly jerked it back so that Justin couldn’t touch it.  “I just wiped your damn finger prints off of it.  Don’t get more on it!” she scolded him.

“Kerrigan, please give me the gun.  You don’t know what the hell you’re doing.” Justin pleaded with her.

“Yes, I do.  I’m perfectly aware of what I’m doing.  I’m protecting my friend, just like he was protecting me.  Justin, you cannot get taken to jail for this.  It’ll ruin your career.  I’m not going to let that happen.  Just play along with me.  I shot him, they’ll never know the difference.  Please.  If what Trace says is true, then I’ll be fine.  But at least it’ll be me in the papers and not you.”

Trace sighed.  “J, I hate to admit it but she’s right.”

Justin turned to Trace and glared at him.  “The hell she is!  I’m not going to let them take her to jail for something I DID!” he barked.

“You don’t have a choice, Justin.  When the cops get up here and I can hear them downstairs now, but when they get up here, I’m going to tell them I did it and you’re going to go along with it.  If you love me and our friendship means anything to you, you’ll go along with it.  I’ll be fine.  I’m doing this to protect you, please don’t fight me on it.”

“But Kerrigan…” Justin started to protest.

“They’re coming.” she said, hearing the noise on the stairs.  She quickly tossed the gun on the floor and looked at Justin.  “Please, Justin.”

“Ugh!” he groaned running a hand over his face and into his hair.  “Fine.  Whatever.  But if things get…” and he was cut off when the cops barged through the door.

Justin never got the chance to finish what he was about to say to Kerrigan, because the moment the cops entered the room all hell broke loose.

They were immediately bombarded with questions as to what had happened.  And as Kerrigan said she was going to, she spoke up and told the police that she had shot him in self defense.  That he had attacked her and pulled a gun when Justin was trying to get into the room.  That Justin and Cody had fought and she had hit Cody with the baseball bat and the gun had gotten dropped to the floor.

She basically told them everything that had happened word for word, detail for detail, with the exception of the part of who had actually shot and killed Cody.