I Have Business

• Callie Rickard , Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2013

Bang. Bang. Shot after shot. It doesn’t help; you can’t fix a shot after a shot has been fired. At night I think about it, in slow motion. The Callabrei laughing, me staring as I was punched, spitting blood. My eyes never left him. I was kicked and bashed and still, my eyes never left him. I had a gun, why didn’t I shoot? He was the one who killed my nation’s hope, my family, and my friends. He killed them all, and I didn’t shoot. I toss and turn; I stood up & grab my gun, sticking it in the belt. I put my hair in a high plait; it needs to be out of my face. I kiss my little brother on the cheek, the little angel. If anything happened to him... I don’t even want to think about it.
That’s it. I am going to assassinate him, I am going to kill him, even if I die, it will be worth it. I know where he is and I know how to get there. I run with my shirt over the belt, but my hand always on the gun. I climb up the tall tree and run across the branch, I jump and land on the roof of the tall building. Quietly I crawl down the building, fifth window on the right, I keep repeating it to myself, praying he will be there, alone, it is the most stupid thing I have ever done. Killing someone with no plan. But I have to do it. It will haunt me forever if I don’t.
I jump in the fifth window and shoot the first person I see. Bang. It wasn’t him, a woman in her fifties, ‘No, oh God no.’ my hands started to shake and I dropped the gun at her feet. I had killed an innocent woman. I didn’t know her but I started to sob, nobody knows how soul wrenching it is to know you have killed someone. I heard footsteps and grabbed the gun, jumping into the cupboard.
I heard the footsteps get louder and louder as someone walked into the room. I heard a girlish scream. “MUM! OH GOD MUM!!!” I peeked out the door and saw a man, holding a girl at about 19 years of age, and she was lurching with each sob. My hand went to my mouth as I tried to hold in my own sobs.
The man looked around for a hint. I saw his face, and my heart stopped. It was him, it was the guy. I jumped out from the cupboard and the man stepped away from the girl. She looked shocked as I held the gun up towards the man. I let out two shots, into the man’s chest. He collapsed over and the girl screamed again. She looked up at me with tears through her eyes. “I’m sorry.” Was all I said as I climbed out of the window and back up onto the roof. I sat there curled up in a ball. I did something horrible, I can’t believe that I actually killed an innocent women. Just because I was too caught up in my own mind. I have blood on my hands, and a lot of it.