A Gun's Blaze

• Carmel Aghdassi, Grade 10
• Short Story
• 2022

All she could hear were sirens, which reflected blue and crimson in her eyes and haunted her mind like a curse. She realized they had sealed their destiny as soon as she saw her partner.
"Not having second thoughts, are you?" he cynically said.
They both swiftly cocked their chambers and yanked down their masks as she shook him off. It was the last memory she had before everything went to hell.
When she looked in the mirror and remembered the nightmare, she began to cry.
“Why…Why did you abandon me?" she lamented.
Her legs fall as she wildly strikes her plaguing reflection in the mirror, the blood flowing from her knuckles serving as a reminder.
"We were meant to go out together," she wailed as she lay on the floor, grieving.
Over and over in her consciousness, it played out. People crying and weeping as they hugged the floor begging for their lives. She was laughing as he told bankers to put money in the bag. They'd spent the previous few weeks composing bucket lists, and this was their ultimate dream.
She was aware that they would perish together nut it was what she wished rather than being alone. Outside, authorities gathered, snipers on the ready, while they finalised the money bags.
"So, this is it," she grinned, inhaling deeply.
"I can't let you do this," locking eyes he stated earnestly as her grin began to fade.
"You have a future; it's been nice to be with you these last few weeks," he added, "but my time is over."
She squirmed and cried as she was quickly picked up and thrown out the window into a neighbouring garbage can, but there was nothing she could do as she lay in the trash can that cushioned her fall.
“NO! "Please don't leave me alone," she cried, but was abruptly interrupted as he shouted out the window, “Live a life worth living!"
As the bin's lid closed, darkness descended rapidly, leaving just the faint sound of gunfire in the distance as she lay powerless in the garbage, clutching the money bag firmly.
She swiftly drew her self-awareness back to the lavatory floor and bandaged her blood-soaked arm. The same scene restarting over and over like a game.
When the doorbell rang, her eyes widened. "Did the police finally come to get her?” she thought walking helplessly to the front door. Nothing except a note was left on the porch as she was prepared to voluntarily hand herself up. It was him who sent it.
"Dear Anabelle, I hope you don't do anything rash from the moment you get this...please understand what I had to do," she read, her voice quivering once again.
"I couldn't provide for you, and I don't want you to squander your life on me... We are about to rob the bank and I know we are meant to die together, but you can do so much more.”
“I won’t survive to be with you, I have cancer.”