The Gunshots

A Chapter by Sandr

He stood at the foot of a long and gray mountain. Rain slowly soaked his bleach blond hair which hung in his face. At the top of the mountain a single pitch black crow circled. It’s lonely call, full of pain and loneliness rang in his ears. He ran after it, only to have it beat its wings harder. The more he ran the farther the crow flew, farther, and father away from the only one who could save it from its heart wrenching misery. When he could not run much farther the crow alighted on a thick dark branch attached to a gruesome tree that twisted as if to show its own spirit. The branches curled like reaching hands that came to steal rather than earn. The crow glared at him with defiant red eyes and proceeded to reach its beak down to its chest and with a shrill sound of what could only be perceived as joy it ripped out its own heart.

“Anthony, Anthony”

Anthony slowly lifted his head off the desk to see the unpleased teacher staring at him.

“Uh, yeah” he muttered feeling embarrassed and altogether not there.

“Well if you think this class is nap time, what is the answer?” the teacher said, knowing, she had him stumped.

“Um, is it the French Revolution” he guessed.

“Very funny, do you think this is a joke?” the teacher asked getting more annoyed.

Anthony glanced up at the board which had a complicated math equation written on it with red marker and realized his mistake. Knowing there was no way to solve the math problem on the spot he gave up. “Well then it’s got to be Benjamin Franklin” he said, laughing good-naturedly. Half the class erupted into laughter, while the rest nervously giggled.

“That’s it go see the principle” the teacher said obviously reaching her limit. She scrawled out a note and thrust it into Anthony’s hand. Anthony gave her a short bow of the head, which she seemed to take as him mocking her, given her expression. When Anthony shut the door he heard her ask someone else the math problem. Anthony sighed glancing at the note which was surprisingly long. He imagined that she had to have been writing this out while he was sleeping. He slowly rubbed his temples; he was really feeling off lately. First the lack of enthusiasm then the sudden tiredness and now the strange dreams, that haunt him whenever he closed his eyes.

He clenched the note in his hand and walked into an empty classroom. Leaning his back against the cool wall, he put a hand on his forehead which was quickly burning up. That’s it he thought, this was getting dangerous. Anthony reached into the pocket of his shorts and pulled out a folded up piece of paper. He unfolded it only to reveal a pattern that encircled a blank spot. He put his finger in his mouth, biting down hard until he could taste blood. He then wrote A in the circle with his bleeding finger. He murmured a few words and the blood turned a glowing blue before vanishing completely.

Satisfied, Anthony stashed the piece of paper away and looked at the silver watch on his wrist. There were only ten more minutes of class. Anthony felt slightly nauseous and slowly eased up the window and climbed out. He didn’t feel up to visiting the principle today, he would just have to come back tomorrow with a good apology. As he walked away the school slowly began to seem smaller, and insignificant; just one building among many. Anthony walked slowly with purpose on the edge of the sidewalk; glancing kindly at the people rushing by. He only stopped when a glint of red caught his eye from a shop window. When he looked in he saw a beautiful silver ring with a red gem in a black satin box. Anthony walked to the shop door and pushed it open. A jingling sound from the bell on the door made a little girl look up.

She was standing by a glass case with necklaces lying in it. Her golden blond hair curled around her big blue eyes. When she saw Anthony looking she turned away.

“Well how about it, what do you think mother would like?” a tall man asked the little girl. The girl laughed and pointed enthusiastically to one of the necklaces.

“Oh that looks like a great choice” the man said.

Anthony smiled to himself and walked over to the ring. Oddly it looked quite black from where he was standing. He shook his head and looked again, only now the ring looked scarlet red. Anthony laughed; it was quite an odd ring.

A quiet jingle sounded from the door and Anthony looked up. A man wearing a dark jacket walked in. Anthony immediately didn’t like his cold eyes, which seemed to antagonize the people they looked at. The man seemed almost nervous as he ventured to the center of the room. Then with stumbling fingers he pulled out a silver gun that gleamed in the low light.

“Everyone, get on that wall” he said motioning to the far wall away from the door. The shoppers obeyed with quiet sounds of terror. “You there, what do you think you’re doing, are you deaf. I said get on that wall” the man screamed at Anthony who was still standing by the ring. Anthony noted that the man was now pointing the gun at him. He slowly put his hands up and walked to the far wall.

The man then turned to the store clerk who had already put down the bullet proof window, which was only to be expected from a high class jeweler’s shop.

“Hey open that goddamn window” the man screamed to no response. With a look of insanity in his eyes he released two bullets at the window. A few of the costumers screamed in fear and Anthony could see the little girl clinging to her father’s arm with tears running down her face.

“That’s it” the man said walking over to the people huddling by the wall. With anger he roughly grabbed the girl’s arm, when the father tried to hold onto her the man pressed the gun against her head.

The man then dragged her to the center of the room. “If you don’t open that goddamn window, I’ll shoot her” he said pressing the gun against her temple. The man’s trembling finger on the trigger was ready to pull it.

“Daddy, daddy” the girl sobbed. The father looked hopelessly at his daughter, afraid of what would happen to her if he dared moved. Anthony worried that the man might accidentally pull the trigger took a step forward.

“Hey I said stay where you are” the man said.

“No” Anthony said quietly, taking another step closer.

“I’ll shoot” the man threatened pointing the gun at Anthony’s face.

“Just let the girl go” Anthony said in a calm voice “you won’t gain anything from shooting.”

“I don’t care” the man screamed desperately.

Anthony stepped closer eyeing the gun warily “it’s ok, we’ll figure this out, just let go of her” he said a mere two feet away. Anthony stooped down and picked up the girl, who clung to his sweatshirt sobbing. The man stood shaking as if unable to register. A deathly silence befell the room, except for the occasional whimper from the girl.

When Anthony looked back at the man he was horrified to see a boy or else a young adult standing behind him. The actions that followed seemed to almost happen in slow motion. First the boy jumped at the man trying to grab his arms. Anthony put down the girl and ran over. He tried to stop the boy, but was out of reach. The man knocked the boy back and frantically pointed the gun at him.

Outside a couple walking their dog heard four gunshots in quick succession.

Blood slowly spilled on the clean black carpet as a shrill scream was heard. Anthony’s hand was clenched on the end of the gun. The man let go and backed away in a panic. Anthony dropped the gun and turned his head to see the boy who had tackled the man, lying on the ground shivering. Anthony smiled at the boy slightly and then cringed grabbing his stomach and coughing. When Anthony pulled his hand away, it was covered in scarlet blood. He could feel his breathing becoming short and painful. The four bullet holes in his chest and stomach began to sting and his mind became cloudy.

The boy jumped up “we need to call an ambulance or something” he said while supporting Anthony who was quickly losing any sense of balance. The boy turned as he heard a jingling sound from the door. A man wearing a white suit and a blue tie walked in and calmly looked at the scene as if he was gazing at a peaceful meadow.

“Are you a doctor” the boy asked, desperately trying to hold Anthony up while stopping the bleeding.

“Of course” the man said, as if, to himself. He walked over to the boy and motioned for him to set Anthony down. “The rest of you can leave” the man said politely “The police are waiting outside”. The people slowly got up and left the building, all except for the boy who was sitting anxiously by Anthony and the man still standing by the wall, at a lost for what to do. “Is that the shooter” the man in white asked. The boy nodded.

“I see, and what would be your name”

“My name is Glen” the boy said wondering why the man wasn’t more focused on Anthony.

“My name is Ester Mahili” the man said, as he shook Glen’s hand “pleasure to meet you”.

Glen nodded perplexed.

“Now I think I should bring him to the hospital, thank you for your help” Ester said picking Anthony up.

“Okay” Glen said as Ester began to leave “wait, do you think he is going to be alright?” he asked afraid to hear the answer.

Ester looked Glen strangely and then turned and left without a word.

“Ester, I’m sorry” Anthony said quietly and then squinted at the sharp pain in his chest.

“I’ve brought you back to your house, but as I see it, you are going to die, there is nothing I can do at this point to save you” Ester said coldly.

“I’m sorry”

“You should be, you were an absolute idiot and this, this pain you feel right now is punishment for you stupidity.” Ester said angrily.

“I’m sorry” Anthony murmured.

“Stop saying that, when you don’t mean it.” Ester muttered, while removing Anthony’s shirt and getting out clean white bandages from a silver case.

“I do mean it” Anthony said wiping his eyes with his now bare arm.

“If you could do it again, you would do the same foolish thing. Do you know how I know? Because, this has happened three other times in the past year. Why are you being so reckless?”

“I don’t know” Anthony said and then stifled a scream as Ester put on a bandage.

“Does it really hurt that bad” Ester asked.

Anthony nodded his eyes closed tightly in pain. “I’m really sorry, I just haven’t felt like myself lately” he said breathing heavily.

“I don’t like to see this keep happening to you” Ester said in a surprisingly kind tone. “You had to of known that you would get shot, didn’t you?”

“I guess I wasn’t really thinking” Anthony said.

Ester shook his head “that’s not true, you may be an idiot, but you always do think about stuff. You knew what you were getting yourself into.”

“Maybe” Anthony sighed “I can’t feel the pain as much anymore; I assume that’s a bad thing.”

Ester put his hand on Anthony’s cheek and then moved it up to his forehead “yes it is.” He said and then let his hand rest on Anthony’s chest. “Your heart is already stopping.”

Anthony nodded “I know, it feels nice, like falling to sleep.” Anthony then took a sharp intake of breath and then stopped moving.

Ester frowned as he felt Anthony’s heart stop beating and he could hear that his breathing had stopped. He slowly moved his hand up to Anthony’s eyes and closed them. “Well then sweet dreams.”