I Promised

• Roza Singh, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2016

“I love you” said a little boy with a stutter and flushed pink cheeks. His friend Cassandra giggled at that. “You can’t love me, we’re just little kids and we need to wait till we’re old like our parents” she informed him. He pondered over that. “How old?” he asked looking slightly hurt. “30” she decided in a bossy tone. “So we’ll marry when we are 30?” he confirmed. She nodded and added after a second “only if I’m not dating anyone at the time though.” He smiled at that. She was about to walk away when he grabbed her arm with a little too much force necessary. “Promise?” he looked at her with no longer any signs of innocence. His glare a little too dark for someone so young and his grip had strengthened. “I promise Adam”. He let go of her and let her walk away with a slightly bruised wrist.
Cassandra is 27 years old and has had a few boyfriends. However every single one of them had died while she was right next to them feeling heartbreak in the cruellest form. They all died due to a gun belonging to a man with a black mask.
She knew who it was. What had given it away was what he whispered to her, just for her ears before disappearing without a trace.
Cassandra and her boyfriend go to get some coffee. She is not unprepared any more. She’s got a gun neatly tucked in the pocket of her hoodie. She keeps a hand pressed on the crook of the handle. She knows this will be the day he’ll attack. This was the day they met. She sees Adam out of the corner of her eye with a mask covering him. He reaches to his pocket slowly which makes Cassandra quickly get into his point of view and shield her boyfriend. Her knees are shaking and her rapid breaths increase faster and faster, her body tensing her muscles bracing herself. Adam slowly retreats his hand back to his side and goes to get a different view.
She rushes behind him hearing her heartbeat. She feels the cool metal in her hands and aims at his head,
BANG
Just a second before she shoots he does it first. She sees her lifeless boyfriend dead near her feet. Adam turns around, gun in hand pointed at Cassandra. She keeps her gun steady aimed at him. Without saying anything she shoots feeling her body vibrate with the force of the bullet. Adam shoots her a second later. She fell to the ground with a thud but felt nothing. As her vision was growing blurry he whispered what he whispered every time he killed, for her ears only. “We will be together, even if it’s in heaven.” As her eyes rolled back to her skull she quietly laughed. “No chance” She gripped her boyfriend’s hand and all 3 of them succumbed to the darkness, never to be woken again.