The sound of splitting wood echoed off the church walls, making several elderly women in the back row jump out of their seats. Small splinters of painted wood scattered across the polished floor. A woman sitting near the front, wearing a dark green velvet dress, stood up quickly and brought both hands up to cover her mouth in utter disbelief.
Green Dress Woman: Daniel, what is this? Why did he just do that?
Daniel: The boy has lost his mind from grief! Someone grab him before he hurts himself!
Toby: Stay back! Don't touch me, Daniel!
Sarah: Toby, drop that hammer! Oh my goodness, look at the coffin lid!
Toby ignored his aunt's desperate cries and dropped the mallet onto the floor with a loud thud. He leaned directly over the jagged opening he had just created, his tears falling into the dark space beneath the cracked lid. He peered down through the broken wood, expecting to see his mother dressed in her favorite light blue dress for her final rest. Instead, his eyes widened in pure terror as he saw a tight layer of dark gray duct tape pressed over a woman's lower face. Two wide, terrified eyes stared right back up at him through the gap.
The woman inside was moving slightly, her hands bound tightly against her chest with thick plastic zip ties. Her breath was short and muffled against the heavy tape. It was Clara, fully alive, breathing, and trapped inside the box under heavy blankets.
Toby: Mom! She's alive! She's breathing!
Green Dress Woman: What is he saying? Is this some kind of sick joke?
Daniel: Stand back from that box! Everyone stay where you are!
Daniel reached deep inside his beige suit jacket with a quick, practiced motion. Before anyone could process what was happening, he pulled out a small black handgun and pointed it straight at the boy and the coffin. The crowd gasped in horror, several people screaming as they ducked down behind the heavy wooden pews.
Daniel: Move away from the coffin. Now! Nobody move or I swear I will pull this trigger!
Sarah: Daniel, put that gun away! Are you insane? That's your wife's son!
Daniel: Shut up, Sarah! You don't know anything about my family or my money!
Toby stood completely still, his hands held high in the air as he backed away from the altar step by step. The barrel of the gun followed his movement, but Toby never took his eyes off Daniel's furious face. The quiet sacred hall had transformed into a nightmare in less than sixty seconds. Guests were crawling toward the exit doors while others tried to hide under the chairs, terrified that a shot would ring out at any second.
Toby: You did this to her! You trapped her so you could take her home and her trust fund money!
Daniel: Keep your mouth shut, Toby! You were supposed to be at school today!
Toby: You gave her those blue pills on Tuesday night! I saw the medicine bottle in the trash bin!
Daniel: That was just sleeping medication! She was ruining my life with her demands!
The front doors of the church burst open with a loud bang, letting in a rush of bright daylight and hot afternoon air. Two local police officers stood in the frame with their own weapons drawn, having responded to a silent alarm pressed by the church pastor moments earlier. The head officer moved quickly down the center aisle, keeping his body low and focused entirely on the armed man in the beige suit.