Now that the time had come, Jessica wasn't so sure that she wanted to do it. The Slashers kept telling her that when she found Frank's killer, she was to dust him. She was to show courage, power and turn away from any pleas for forgiveness with a stony heart. After all, did the killer deserve a break after gunning down one of their own? The gang kept telling her she owed it to Frank. He was after all, her own flesh and blood. To the Slashers, family was the most important thing in the world. Your family was the most sacred thing of all, held above all else. The Slashers were also family and they looked after each other, even when the rest of the world turned its back and said 'we don't give a damn.' But this was different because Frank was a part of her. Having shared the same mother, it made it Jessie's responsibility to hunt down the bastard who gunned him down in this very basement. To track down the coward who had snuck up behind him and shot him point blank. Frank was only doing what he did every evening - waiting for Jessie to return from wandering the streets.
 

A wave of longing swept over her. She wanted Frank! She wanted the big brother who used to tuck her into her sleeping bag next to Ronald the bear, kissing her forehead with soft butterfly kisses. She wanted to hear him singing beside her as they strolled around the streets, looking for their next meal. She wanted him to protect her from the rest of the world, a world that had pushed her aside as if she was last weeks garbage. After her mum left, her brothers Frank and Damien were all she had left. They looked after her long after she was able to take care of herself. She remembered the fights. In the end, Damien gave up but Frank was another story. Frank refused to let Jessie take on the same amount of responsibility the others shared. He said she was still only fifteen and a child. He wanted her to enjoy being the little girl that she was, and should be. But she was no longer that little girl Frank used to fawn over and protect. Someone had seen to that when they pulled the trigger aimed at her brother. No one said who, but they knew it was one of their group. They knew that another Slasher had violated their own code. Damien reckoned it had to be one of the new guys and that they should all be systematically eliminated until one of them squealed. According to him, the newbies always squealed quicker and higher than anyone else. Like a little piggy being lead down to it's death, Damien used to say. He said that only someone with no sense of family or justice would gun down a nice guy like Frank Hallow.

Jessie had thought it would be easy. Uncover the rat, shoot him in the head and move on. Justice would be served and Frank's death avenged. But it wasn't so easy. Trixie Donnell heard it all. She was outside the door. No one knew that she was involved with Frank. She didn't think it would go down with the others so well. Frank was a family man and wasn't supposed to be scoring it big with the chicks. I didn't even know Frank was seeing the petite blonde with sparkling blue eyes and a fog horn laugh that filled any sized room. Jessie could hear Trixie's words now, even as she sat there, rubbing her fingers over the letters, faster and faster. It had shattered Jessie's safe little world forever.
"He did it!" she had shrieked. "He pulled the trigger and never looked back."

 Above her, she heard the door open and the sound of heavy feet on the rotting steps. She pretended not to hear. If she ignored them, maybe it would all go away. Maybe he would go away.
"What's the word little girl?" Jessie could put it off no longer. She had to look into the eyes of someone who could kill their own family. She had to know if it were true. Slowly, she looked up, her eyes shifting from his sparkling eyes to his wide smile.
"Murder," she whispered softly.

Damien was caught. She could see the surprise, panic and disappointment on his face. He really thought that he would get away with it all.
"You got me, little girl. Is that what you want to hear?"
Jessie shook her head. She put a hand in her jacket pocket, feeling the heavy weight inside. The gun was cold and ready. Just waiting for her to give the order and pull the trigger.
"I wanted what he had. I wanted the power he held over everyone else. They were like those damn lemming things, following the leader and ready to do anything he said at the drop of a hat. He was a fraud, little girl. He didn't care about you and he didn't care about me. I did everyone a favour."

Jessie could feel her body shaking. She closed her eyes, wanting Damien to take back those ugly words. Frank didn't care about her? How could that be true? Damien was lying to her, trying to make excuses for what he did. Frank loved her! He loved Trixie, the Slashers and even Damien.
"Face it Jessie, life will be better without him. You'll be free to do what you want."

In a moment of passion, Jessie whipped the gun out and trailed it on Damien. She could feel her hands shaking with the weight of both the object and the deed. Did she have to kill him? It would have been different if it was someone else but Damien was all she had left. Her only reminder that she was Jessie Hallow. From the laughter on his face, she knew he doubted that she had it in her to kill him. That must be why he wasn't so scared that she'd found out about it. He held out his hands, motioning for her to hand over the gun. Jessie shook her head.
"No way."
"Come on, little girl. You don't want to kill me. You may detest me now that you know about it all, but you won't kill me. I'm the only thing that you have left."
He laughed again. She hated how he was so sure that things would go his way. She hated how he could see that she was meant to get justice for Frank but couldn't go through with it if it might mean becoming an orphan. He saw straight into her soul, realising that when it came to the big things, she was still a little girl. Enough was enough. She had no more time to think. Her days of being a little girl were over in the second it took Damien to kill Frank.

Jessie snapped the bullet into the chamber, continuing to keep it trained on him. She could see the sparkle in his eyes as his laughter rang through the basement. She felt hate swelling in her chest. He was no brother of hers! He killed Frank. Silently, she slid her finger along the trigger, staring straight into Damien's face. Looking deep into his eyes. She wanted him to see just how much she hated him for destroying her family.
"Oh, won't I?"