Anger of Alex

             Burning.  Ashley could almost see the flames, oranges and yellows glowing against the deep, dark brown, rising up and spiking in Alex's eyes as she told him.  Whispered to him actually, as she didn't dare utter the words too loudly.  HE may come to take her if she did.  And she knew it.  They both knew. 

               As Ashley's lips moved, whispering as quietly as she could manage and still have Alex able to hear her, he sat on the bed's edge silent and stiff.  His only movement the near constant clenching of his right fist, trimmed nails denting the skin.  Deep, dark eyes, staring straight ahead, never moving as he listened to her.  Ashley went on, tears streaming down her young cheeks in slow, jagged trails, Alex's gaze growing hotter, yet colder as well.

             She was nine, he fourteen.  She was his sister, he her confidant.  And now, more and more with each passing week, her protector.  'How dare he--' Alex fumed within himself.  'She's just a child!'  His fists clenched in unison now, tighter, tighter--tighter still.

             Ashley was near ending.  Her whispers becoming less and less audible.  Alex knew.  He learned the pattern.  The more silent she became, the worse she had endured.  He could hear him.  Downstairs.  Ranting in his latest drunken rage.  It was the same.  Every time when Ashley came to him this way, it was the same.  Alex listened ... to both of them.

             "He hurts me--there", and Alex's eyes finally moved, watching her tiny hand hover near her lower region.  "Alex ...".

             It was the last Ashley was able to let out, before her tears overtook her.  She knew better than to try to go on; her meek sobs would be heard.  For the first time in minutes, Alex moved.  He stood, turning to her, placing his finger against his lips. "Shhhhhh," he soothed.

             Tonight was the last!  He would see to that.  Mother's boyfriend or not, Ashley would not be hurt again this way.  Not if it was the last thing he did.

         He crossed the small room in two strides, easing the dresser drawer open with purposeful silence--extracting his means to an end.  The end to Ashley's suffering.
 
             The burning was still there, now more intense than before, the oranges and yellows stomping against the brown as if beating a drum.  Alex strode to the top of the stairs, flames reaching their peak, his eyes darkening, his thumb pressing back against the hammer as he began his desent--

             BAAMMM






Word Count - 341