Dream carried the picnic basket and blanket. He placed both on a flat grassy spot close to the drop off, affording us a fantastic view, and far enough away from the edge for me. I don’t care for heights.
“This is beautiful,” remarked Venus, looking around.
“Oh yeah, I forgot this is your first time here. We haven’t had any family events here since you joined us.” Dream smiled. “Hell of a view.”
I nodded. “Why don’t you two check out the view and I’ll bring over some wine for us to enjoy together.”
Dream’s eyes lit up. “Thank you, Sunny. That sounds wonderful.”
Venus smiled as Dream took her hand and the two of them walked to the edge of the vista, looking into the vast canyon below. What a lovely couple.
I reached into the brown wicker picnic basket, under the red and white checked towel. A bottle of wine lay inside, but that’s not what I sought.
I stared at them, remembering the early times with Dream. I loved his freedom, his passion, his ability to live in the moment without hesitation. I thought he was the one to make me whole. The one person who filled the darkness swirling inside of me for so many years. He was different.
But I was wrong.
He wasn’t different.
He was the same.
I lifted my tank top and looked at my abdomen. Faded bruises still visible. Not the splotched, purple reddish hue as when Dream gave them to me the day we moved back to Grandmother’s house. I’d seen flashes of his anger before, but nothing like this.
My gaze went to Venus again. I was jealous of her, sure. She was beautiful and now she had my Dream, except Dream had changed in a way I could not accept. Maybe he hadn’t changed. I supposed he was always that way, but now I really saw him. I would save myself and Venus, because it was only a matter of time until he showed his true self to her, too. That’s why I invited her today: It was my duty to warn her.
My hand shook as I drew the 9MM from beneath the towel inside the basket. I steadied and cocked it, took a sigh, and walked toward Dream and Venus, stopping a good distance from them.
“Dream,” I said.
He turned, his long hair caught in the wind. His smile slowly disappeared when he saw the gun pointed at him.
“Sunny, what are you doing?” He took a step toward me.
“Stop,” I commanded.
He stopped, dropped Venus’s hand, and held his hands up. “Okay, why are you doing this?”
“I thought you were so different,” I said.
“You’re going to shoot me because I disappointed you?” Dream asked. “Put the gun down and just talk to me.”
“Yes, Sunny, please put the gun down,” Venus said, visibly shaken.
I glanced at her. She seemed so young and naïve even though I was only two years older than her. “This isn’t about you, Venus. It’s about him. But I do have a reason for inviting you.”
“What do you want to say?” he asked. “I thought we were here to work things out.”
I lifted my shirt, exposing my bruised abdomen. “What about this? Do you want to talk about this?”
Venus gasped.
“That’s right, Venus,” I said. “This is what happens when Dream gets mad at you.”
Dream shook his head. “That was… an accident. I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Tell me why you’re so worried about the cops. Tell me why you did this to me. Tell me why you think it’s okay to treat me like this!”
Dream’s face softened. “No, no, it’s not okay. You’re right, I treated you badly, but I can change. I can be different. I’ll be the man you want me to be! I’m sorry, Sunny. You’re all I want.”
Venus shot him a look.
“I mean, it was so dumb. An armed robbery in a convenience store. Stupid, I should have told you about it. I was embarrassed,” he continued.
“Really, a robbery?” I paused. “Raindrop told me why you’re so worried about the police. Jim Bob told her when they were together.”
A silence fell between the three of us. A silence of secrets, lies, and truths.
Dream glared at me, his eyes narrowed. His voice deepened when he spoke. “I doubt that. If that was true, you’d have already pulled the trigger.”
He charged toward me.
I squeezed.
The sound of the gunshot was all-consuming, and in the silence that followed I watched Dream fall back and topple over the edge of the cliff. In an instant, he was gone.
“What did you do?” Venus shrieked. Peering over the edge, frantically searching for him. “I don’t see him. He’s gone!”
My arms had gone limp. I dropped the gun onto the ground and walked over to Venus, standing beside her and repeated her words. “He’s gone.”
