SACRIFICE

• Muhummad Ziyad Ashraf, Grade 9
• Short Story
• 2019

The room the boys were in was dark. The only light was from the small, flickering light bulb on the ceiling, but it was so dim that the boys could hardly see each other.
“Hey Tom. I’m sorry. Please. You understand don’t you? I need to do this. It’s for the greater good.”
“Harry, I know. I know. It is for the greater good.”
There was a table in the room, and on it lay a gun. It was a normal, .38 pistol. Its chamber was empty, but there was a single bullet on the table. Only one bullet was needed for what Harry was about to do.
Time seemed to stop altogether in that room. Tom and Harry felt as if they were trapped there, taken captive by the gun. Such a sinister thing, that gun. It had taken many lives before, and now its cold barrel would take another.
“Tom. I don’t want to.” Tears were welling in Harry’s eyes.
“You have to Harry. Come on, before it’s too late.”
At that moment, there came a loud banging noise from outside the room. The continuous pounding filled their ears, and filled their hearts with fear- they had found Harry and Tom. They were here.
“Harry. This is a small sacrifice. It’s just like you said: it’s for the greater good. They’re already here.”
“I know. But I’m scared Tom.”
To this Tom had no reply. He just got up and hugged his companion. Harry tried to cherish this moment, tried to burn this memory into his head forever. Tom sat back on the chair.
Harry picked up the gun. Its deadly cold metal was all too familiar to him. How many times had he pulled its trigger, how many times had he let a bullet loose and ended someone’s life?
Harry shivered.
Then Harry heard a deep, voice from outside the basement.
“HARRY! TOM! Get out of their RIGHT NOW!”
Who was that? Harry thought to himself. It was obvious that they were here, but this voice was new. Harry could only imagine what he looked like- a bigger version of the demons, with a huge, sturdy build, and wings, and horns, and those terrible, dark holes in their faces that they used to see…
All of a sudden, the room began to rock. Harry and Tom both fell to their knees, and the table began shaking. The pounding on the door became so strong that the boys were afraid that they’d be discovered. They had to shout to speak to each other.
“Harry! It’s now or never! Come on!” Tom yelled. There were tears welling up in his eyes, and also in Harry’s.
Harry didn’t reply. He gripped the gun more tightly, until his knuckles were white. Tears were now streaming down his face, and his hands were shaking.
Harry took a deep breath. Put the bullet in the chamber. Aimed it at Tom’s head.
“I’m sorry.”
He looked Tom in the eye, and fired.