Oppy: An innocent little murderer

“She’s dead.”

“No, no, no. I don’t believe you!”

That was thirteen months ago, and I still don’t believe him. Travis, the chief of police. It was him, I know it. He was the last one to see her alive, my mother. They had been seeing each other for a few months before her death. I know he had something to do with it, and he’s covering it up. That’s why I’m here, standing at the foot of his bed in the middle of the night, holding a rifle. His rifle. I know what you’re thinking: he should have kept it locked away. It was. I stole the key three days ago. He doesn’t use it much. It’s not police issue. There’s no reason for him to have it other than that he likes guns.

Travis has a history. I asked around when they began dating. I’d already heard some things, but she wouldn’t listen to me, not without proof, so I collated a file. He found it after she died and burned it. He didn’t say anything, but I know it was him. I didn’t get the chance to show it to her. I needed more time to convince her. She didn’t deserve this, my mother. She wasn’t a good mother, but she did try, and she did love me, and I her. That’s why I’m here, to serve justice in a town void of it. It isn’t just the police department here that’s corrupt; it’s the judge, the mayor, the lot of them. Ever since the O’Donaghans moved their tech start-up here. Since then, everything has changed, well, not everything, I suppose. Travis was always a bad cop, but now he has the boldness not to hide it. He thinks he’s protected. Other than a few quiet protests, nobody stands up to them. Except for my mother, she would have if she’d seen the truth, but her grief blinded her.

After my father died on the construction site of the giant new tech headquarters and server farm. Travis was the one to console her. My dad found something he shouldn’t have. I know it. I feel it in my bones. It wasn’t an accident. If my mother knew, she wouldn’t stop at nothing to expose them. I tried to do it for her, and now I’m taking another route.

I cock the gun, and Travis wakes with a start, throwing his hand to the table beside his bed. He won’t find it. It’s in my back pocket in case I decide to make it look like a suicide.

He’s breathing heavily, Travis, but when he pulls the cord on the lamp, his breathing stops. I knew he’d never see it coming. He’d never think I was capable of murder. Why would anyone suspect a sixteen-year-old bookworm who lost both her parents before her final year of high school? Well, I’m eighteen now, I’m a woman, and I’m not the quiet girl I used to be. On the contrary, I have a lot to say. I only graduated with honours to throw them off, and by the look on Travis’s face, it worked.

“Ophelia?! Op-py...” he’s just seen the rifle I’m holding and pointing directly at him.

“Don’t call me that. That’s not my name. Not anymore. You made sure of that.” Only my mum called me Oppy, and I won’t hear her words on his lips.

He wipes his eyes and scoots back slowly, looking around the room. “What… what are you doing here, honey. And why are you holding that?”

“You know why.”

“Now, now, I don’t know what you think you know, but let’s talk about it. Why don’t you put the gun down before you do something you’ll regret? I won’t say anything. I won’t press charges. We can forget about the whole thing. I know what you’ve been through—”

“You don’t know shit!” That shut him up. He’s never heard me swear before, but he can’t sweet-talk his way out of this. It doesn’t work on me. I know who he really is.

“Why'd you do it? She didn't need to die. She never hurt anybody.”

"I… I don’t know what you’re talking about, sweety, I swear. Now if you just—"

I stamp my foot, "No!" I scream as hot tears build up behind my eyes. "Tell me why you did it!"

"I didn't do anything to her, I swear." He's holding his hand out, pleading with me. I can see the rapid rise and fall of his chest, and there's a rattle in his voice; he's scared. Good.

"You killed my mother!" I snap.

"No, no, no, now listen to me. It wasn't me. I had nothing to do with it. You have to believe me. I would never do that to her."

"Don't lie to me!" I rub my eyes into the crook of my shoulder and jerk back into a shooting stance when he clambers forward.

"Don't move. I'll do it, I swear!"

He holds out his palms and sits back on his knees, now in the middle of his bed, only an arm’s reach from the barrel of my gun. His gun. I don't know if this is what he used to kill her. No one ever found her body, but I know someone knows where she is. I didn’t get my chance to say goodbye. To bury her next to my father.

Travis lowers his head and his voice. "It wasn't me, Oppy, I swear."

"No, no. I told you not to call me that. Only my mother calls me that! You don’t get to say it! She trusted you. You took advantage of her, and then you killed her and covered it up."

"What, no, is that what you think? I would never do that." He exhales sharply, "Look, I know I've made mistakes, but I would never hurt Margaret. I loved her." His voice is pained, but I don’t believe him.

"That's a lie."

"No, it's the truth, I didn't kill her. I... they." Heavy tears fall from his eyes, and the floorboard creaks as I step back on my heels. "They made me keep quiet. I swear I didn't hurt her. I would never!" He rubs his eyes fiercely with the heels of his hands and moves to the foot of the bed, reaching out to me, and I scream at him to stop.

"Don't move. Don't you dare move!"

"Oppy, I'm sorry, I'm so so sorry. Please forgive me." I shake my head, tears streaming down my face. Stop saying THAT name. "They forced me to keep quiet. I didn't want to let them get away with it, but I had no choice, I swear." He looks back at the bedside table and around the room like he's searching for something. "Oppy, they, they told her to stay away, and I tried to warn her and keep her from getting hurt, but she wouldn't listen. I tried, I swear I tried."

"Oppy, they said they'd kill you, and I couldn't let them." I shake my head harder, stop saying THAT name! "Your mother made me promise. She even gave me her… her… It's here somewhere. Oppy, I promise. I didn't want any of this to happen. It broke my heart losing Margaret; she was the love of my life!” He sounds so sincere, I almost believe him. “I tried to expose them, but they warned me, and I couldn't… I couldn't break my promise to her. I had to keep you safe. I had to take care of her little Opp—"

BANG! There’s a flash like lightning and a crack like thunder that reverberates around the room.

I told him not to say it. I warned him. I scream at him, but he didn't listen. And I don't believe him. He could have saved her, and he did nothing. He deserves to be dead!

I look down at his limp, lifeless body, one arm hanging off the bed, blood everywhere. My heart beats in my eardrums. My head thrums. I can taste copper on my tongue. I wipe my tears with my free hand and drop the rifle to hang beside my hip. I look at my hand, it's covered in blood. I check my reflection in the dim light; there's blood all over my face. He was too close. It's his fault. It's his fault. It… was.

I shake my head; it doesn't matter. He couldn't stop me; nobody can. I've got a job to do. I lift the rifle, cock another round in the chamber, and pick up the used shell. Now the sheriff's dead, the judge is next. I have to keep moving, I only have the night. I spent too much time here.

I turn to leave, but something makes me pause. Something draws me to his bedside table. I look down and there on the floor is my mother's necklace; it must have fallen when I woke him. Why does he have it? It's the one my mother was wearing the last time I saw her. She wore it all the time. It's the one my dad helped me choose for her when I was six. It's a silver heart pendant. I gave it to her on her birthday, and she was so happy, she kissed me and hugged me… I… I open the clasp, and there's a picture of me from when I was sixteen. She must have updated it before she... and.. and there’s a photo of her with my father on their wedding day.

I rub my eyes on my shoulder. What did he say, Travis? Before I killed him. What was it? I shake my head. No! It doesn't matter what he said. He's DEAD. And he deserved it. They all do.

I leave the way I came in: under the cover of darkness, but with a rifle in my hand. One I’m no longer afraid of using.

Judge Reynolds lives just over the hill. He’ll be dead within the hour. And I hear the mayor likes to run at dawn. So I’ll be there before then. As for their wives, they don’t have to die. But I have enough bullets in the magazine. Besides, they’re just as complicit as Travis. Doing nothing has consequences, too....

As far as I'm concerned, they all deserve to die.

…

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© Simon George 2025. All Rights Reserved.

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