Everything or nothing (the decisions we make)

Greg ate silently and stared deep into Elizabeth’s beautiful and loving eyes.  Today they were the color of warm dulce du leche and flecked with greens that matched the raw essence of spring.  Her eyes were accented by naturally long lashes and a pretty light purple tone around her eyes.  Her oval face bore sharp features that were elegant, graceful, and captivatingly beautiful.  When she noticed that Greg was staring at her she began to blush; to calm her nerves he gave her the sideways smile that she said always made everything better.  “Your gorgeous.” He said, his smile was so genuine that it showed in his voice.

Just as he raised his fork to his mouth to take another bite of his scrambled eggs, the diner’s door flew open.  A disheveled man wielding a colt 1911 walked drunkenly through the door.  Immediately the entire room took an eerie silence.  The silver of the gun reflected the sun that was coming through the large windows.  For a moment the man paused, he wore jeans and an old Poison tee-shirt.  The man seemed to locate his target because when he set his eye on the couple in the corner he set off directly towards them.  In six strides he was standing at their table with his gun raised.  The woman, her son who looked all of four, and her boyfriend sat at the table with looks of fear plastered on their faces.  The child had begun to cry, and sobs were starting to echo in the small space.

                Nothing could have been more frightening.

                “I came here, to offer you what we once had.  I came here because I wanted to find my wife and my son.  I wanted them back in my life.  And here I find you with another man?  You common piece of s**t w***e!”  As he said this the man raised his weapon and pointed it at the boyfriends head.

                “Please,” begged the boyfriend as silent tears began to course down his face.  The soulless man squeezed the trigger and obliterated the man’s head.  Blood spattered all over the table and walls.  It covered the mother and bathed the child in the red life force of someone they had once cared about.  The young boy clung to his mother for dear life, and began to sob even harder.

                “Give me my son.” The lunatic said with almost no inflection in his voice.  He grabbed the child’s arm and wrenched him out of the booth and onto the floor.  There was a snapping sound as if the child’s arm had just broken.  At the angle at which it now hung from the boy’s body it seemed very likely.  “If I can’t have my own child, then no one can.”  He put the barrel of the gun to the child’s head.  The boy’s sobs intensified exponentially.  “Shut the hell up boy!” the man yelled and the child fell silent.

                “Stop!” Screamed Elizabeth at the very top of her lungs.  It was such a loud and primal sound that it probably tore her vocal cords.

                For an instant the man wheeled around and looked shocked at her.  It was as though her hadn’t been aware that there were others in the room.  As soon as he registered this fact though her raised his gun and pointed it at her.  The moment lasted less than half a second but time seemed to freeze.  Then the gun went off and it was the loudest noise in the whole world.  In fact the noise shattered Greg’s entire world.  Elizabeth collapsed onto her knees before completely collapsing onto the floor.  Her blood had splattered onto the wall behind them and now pooled under her.  Greg fell to her side and rolled her over; he stared into her eyes but she seemed to be looking past him. 

                There was only sadness on her face and pain in her eyes.  She was hurting bad and greg couldn’t do a damn thing.  He grabbed her hand and clutched it for dear life.  “I love you.” Was all he could manage to say.  The pain had radiated through his own voice even though she was the one who had been shot.

Her breathing came in labored gulps; each one producing a sucking sound from her chest.  Blood started to drip from the corner of her mouth as she began to speak, “Please Greg, help the boy, you know how we always wanted kids.  Don’t let the boy die.”  All Greg could do was nod silently because the tears and sobs had come.  Her eyes began to become glassy as she whispered, “I love you, I always have and I always will.  Nothing not even my death will change that.  I made you a promise.  I’m yours forever.”  Her eyes closed and her hand went limp In his.  She was gone from this world.  All Greg could do was cry.

“Not my boy!” came the mothers desperate cry.  It was this that snapped Greg back into the here and now.  Beside him lay the knife that he had used to cut his steak and eggs not more than a few minutes ago.

He picked it up and held it firm in his hands; he gripped it so tightly that his hands began to ache and his knuckles turned pale white.  Without thinking he rushed towards the man; his noisy run caused the man to take the weapon off the child for a fraction of a second.  The crazy man fired two rounds into Greg before turning back to the child.  Still Greg kept going, he reached the man who didn’t seem to notice Greg was still standing.

Greg knocked the gun away from the child just as the man squeezed the trigger,  even though he had saved the child from immediate death the bullet had grazed the kids inner thigh.  Greg shoved the knife into the man’s abdomen and hoped that would be enough.  The man dropped the gun but swung a huge fist at Greg’s head.  Greg took the punch hard and was slightly dazed but managed to kick the handle of the knife deeper into the man’s stomach.  When the man fell on the ground greg picked up the .45 and fired once into the man’s head.   The brain matter on the floor showed that the fight was over.

Greg turned around to see that the child was sitting in a pool of blood.  The bullet had grazed the kids leg but ripped open an artery.  As a medical student Greg knew that the boy only had a few minutes.  He immediately took off his belt and pulled it tight above the area on the boys thigh.  No matter how much pressure he applied the bleeding continued.  Greg had to do something fast or this kid would die.  For an instant Greg’s mind went completely blank and after only a second he had a brilliant idea.  “I need alcohol!”  he screamed.  One of the customers pulled out a hip flask and silently handed it to him.

Greg looked at the child and said in his most caring voice, “I’m so, so sorry buddy but your hurt pretty badly but I’m gonna fix you.  Okay?  This is gonna hurt but you gotta tuff it out.  Just show everyone what a big boy you are.  Can you be a little soldier?” Greg poured the alcohol over the child’s leg to sterilize the child’s would.  The child grimaced but didn’t even make a sound, this kid was truly tough.  When he had cleaned the wound Greg looked at the wound more carefully, it was deep and it he didn’t do something the kid was definitely going to die.

Immediately, Greg snapped into action.  He picked up the child and ran him into the back of the kitchen.  The griddle they used to cook burgers on was still hot.  He poured the remainder of the alcohol onto the edge of the grill and wiped it off with a clean towel.  When he had finished he turned back to the kid.  “Look buddy this is gonna be painful but I have to do this to save your life.”  The kid’s face was set in stone and all he did was nod.

Greg lifted the child, this time it was a strain.  He could feel himself weakening but he pushed on through it.  Lifting the child’s leg Greg pushed it against the grill; he held it there for a few seconds before checking the wound.  This time the child screamed and cried.  In seconds it was over and Greg was walking over to the first aid box they kept in the kitchen.  Inside the box was burn ointment that he smeared all over the child’s wound before wrapping it tightly with white gauze.  When the wound looked presentable he lifted the child and carried him out to the dining area.  When he spotted the mother Greg walked over and handed her the child.

“Thank you,” she repeated over and over again.  Sobbing as she held the boy close.

Greg put his hands to his stomach where all the sudden he felt pain; the adrenaline that had coursed through his veins had been all used up.  The only problem was as his heart beat faster, it pumped more blood.  It was almost amazing how much blood Greg had lost.  He knew that he would die soon if he didn’t get help.  A smile crossed Greg’s face and he walked over to Elizabeth’s dead body.  He lay beside her and took her hand in his.  He lay his head on her chest and held her close to him.  He was fading into the darkness when a voice and strange pain brought him back to this world.

A paramedic was working on him.  “Get off me and help that kid over there.”  Greg whispered.  But the paramedic kept working.  Greg slapped him with all the strength he had remaining and screamed (more like gargled) “Help that f*****g kid right f*****g now, he’s scared shitless and needs someone to keep him from going insane.”  The paramedic said something that Greg’s ears didn’t hear, but he got up and walked away.  Greg looked one last time at Elizabeth’s face and said, “I love you and I always will.  I promise you that.  There is nothing, nothing at all that could keep me from you.  Not even this.”  A warm smile spread across Greg’s face as he whispered, “Im coming.”  Tears streamed down his face as he lay there content to die here in her arms.

It didn’t take long for Greg to leave this world; His extremities went numb, the pain subsided and eventually he felt his mind start to shut off.  Yet as he was fading from existence he heard “Ill never leave your side,” it was Elizabeth’s voice.  It was then that he felt completely lost, in a dark world.  There in the darkness of nonexistence, Greg’s soul felt something, it was a warmth and comfort that he had felt before.  It felt exactly the same way Elizabeth’s presence had always made him feel.

He didn’t hear, because he had no ears, but rather felt her say, “see I never break a promise.”

All the sudden there was a flash of bright light and a painful smacking.  A baby inhaled its first breath and was alive to the world.  A year later a baby girl would be brought into this world.