Second Chance

Realization

Oh no. They were now looking at me with an angry expression. I could see a few boxes around them in the dim light and one of the men was holding a packet of white powder.
Drug dealers. They were some dangerous drug dealers that probably belonged to a gang. And I bumped into them in the act.
“What are you doing here?” one of the closest men demanded, “You’re here at the wrong time, and I’m sorry, but we can’t let you go away. You’ve known too much.”
A couple of them began to advance on me and I backed away, shaking with fear.
“(Yn)!” Edward had now also turned into the path I was standing in, and I heard him gasp when he saw what was happening.
“God, no,” he gasped, and before I knew what was happening I was yanked backwards by him, “(Yn), run!”
That was when I realized what I should do. Edward was holding my hand and we were running out of the shadowed sidewalk with the men chasing us. We turned back to the main street and I did not know where we were heading to; I was only following Edward’s lead. We turned into different streets and paths, as Edward probably was planning to lose the gang. My heart was thumping like crazy and I thought I would fall down any moment as I was running to fast. I could hardly catch up with Edward, and the fact that I had already run some distance from the house did not help with providing me enough energy.
“Edward,” I panted while running, “I can’t run anymore.”
Edward glanced back but did not stop running, “I guess we’ve kind of lost them,” he said, “I can’t see them now…”
And then he slowed down a bit. I felt a bit better and kept up with him.
At last we were back at our house. Edward glanced around cautiously before walking up to the door. When he could not see anyone near, he let us both inside.
Now I was safe. I had completely forgotten about my argument with John earlier and now I needed him.
“John!” I called out, running into the house madly with Edward following behind. John looked up from the sofa in the living room as he was watching TV grumpily.
But his expression changed once he saw our alarmed faces. Blood had drained from my face and I bet I looked as white as a sheet now.
“What—” John came towards us and before he could finish his sentence I threw myself at him, tears running down my cheeks. I sobbed into his chest.
“Oh God, John,” I cried, “I – I’m so scared.”
“What happened?” John asked, shocked, and stroked my hair, “Are you hurt?”
I wanted to answer him but I could not speak; all I could do was cry. Edward spoke for me, “She ran into a gang – drug dealers – and they were going to hurt her. I pulled her away and we ran home after getting rid of them,”
“Wh – what?” John stuttered – I could imagine his eyes widening, “Drug dealers? You – and – d – we need to call the police.
“I’ll do it,” Edward said and walked away to call the police. John brought me to the sofa and sat me down. He wrapped his arms tightly around me.
“It’s okay now,” he whispered against my hair, “No one can hurt you, I’m here. I’m sorry for everything, (Yn), I love you. I was just being stupid. I’m so sorry…”
I looked up at John with blurry vision, “I’m sorry too; it’s not your fault John. I was also overreacting… I love you,”
John leaned down to kiss my tears away and Edward returned. He sat down on the sofa opposite to us.
“Police said they’re com—” Edward was halfway through his sentence when loud banging was heard from the front door. My heart skipped a beat and I thought I was going to faint. John tightened his grip on me.
“What’s going on?” John said to himself and we all stood up, facing the door and whatever was coming.
“It can’t be the gang, can it,” Edward whispered, coming over to stand next to us, “We’ve lost them.”
I leaned into John further and he positioned me slightly behind him protectively with his arms still around me. Edward stood on the other side of me just in case.
“Why don’t we hide upstairs?” I asked quietly.
“They’re going to find us either way if we’re what they’re looking for; we can’t possibly leave now,” John patted my back and told me.
The banging kept going on, and I was trembling. I was scared. I was not scared for myself though; I was scared for John and Edward. What if they got hurt because of me? What if it was really the gang and it was me who caused this? If I had not been reckless and ran away, then maybe it would not happen at all.
One was my boyfriend and one was my best friend. I could not bear the thought of them being hurt. I loved them dearly and I should not be standing behind them.
“I think we should go and seal the door,” I whispered, and attempted to leave John’s embrace to bolt the door. But John pulled me back.
“No,” John stopped me, “I can’t let you do the dangerous work. I’ll do it – Edward, make sure she’s okay.”
Then John passed me to Edward and Edward held his arms around me protectively. John was about to grab some chairs and I quickly pulled away from Edward to grab John’s arm. I could not let him out of my reach; I was scared of losing him.
And that was when an exceptionally loud bang was heard. The door had been forced open, and I screamed. John quickly fell back and held me in his arms again.
There stood the gang, and they filed into the room with guns and weapons in their hands. I thought I was going to pass out any moment. This could not be real. The night only started off with a silly argument; how did it end up in a life-threatening encounter?
“It’s okay,” John assured me in a whisper, but I could tell he was scared as his voice was slightly shaking, “I’m here.”
“So,” one of the men said and the door was closed again, “You.” The man pointed at me with a scary expression.
“We can’t possibly let you go because you have seen our deal,” he continued, “We need to clear all the evidence… And as for you and you,” he pointed at John and Edward, “I don’t know who was with this girl just then, but the one who was innocent, I’m sorry… We can’t let you go too.”
“We won’t tell the police,” Edward tried to reason with them, and now he had a hand on my back.
“Only an idiot will believe that,” the man boomed with laughter, “Hmm, who should be the first one?”
I froze. He held up his gun and swept his target across us three, choosing his first prey. Please God, I prayed silently, please, let it all be a dream… This was too dramatic to be reality.
Then the man spoke again, “Maybe we should kill them all at once – we don’t have only one gun, do we – we can’t linger that much after the first gun shot is heard so maybe we should end it quick…”
I thought of running away and pulling the twins with me. But we were too late. If we made a move right now we would all be dead in a matter of seconds. They had guns in their hands, for crying out loud!
“I love you,” I whispered to John and closed my eyes.
“I love you too,” he replied, choking.
“John, (Yn),” Edward stepped closer to us and said in a low voice, “I love you two; you two are the most important people in my life…”
“Edward, I—” I was about to reply when the man who did all the speaking spoke again.
“Oh come on, you’re going to be dead anyway, let’s make it quick, shall we?” he said and all together three men raised their guns and pointed at us.
“NO—” I screamed and a loud bang was heard. A shadow flashed before us and I did not feel anything. Nothing at all. Like I had not been harmed. I saw that the men were about to fire again when a loud voice was heard.
“FREEZE!” the police were here! The front door was kicked open and police were surrounding the gang with guns, filling the room. The men all dropped their weapons and surrendered as there were too many police.
“EDWARD!” John screamed next to me and he dropped to the floor. To my horror, blood was gushing out from Edward’s torso from two spots. He had dodged the bullet which was meant to be shot into him, but he took the two bullets for John and I.
I screamed when I realized what exactly was happening and dropped to the other side of Edward. I took his hand and held it against my cheek. Tears started to fall from my eyes.
“Edward,” I sobbed, “Why? Why are you so stupid! It’s my fault; you shouldn’t have taken the blame for me! I should be the one in your place now…”
John was crying crazily that he could not even speak. Edward turned his head to look at me weakly, “(Yn), you know that I love you, don’t you?”
“I – I—” I could not answer and simply nodded.
“And I love John. So why shouldn’t I do that?”
“I love John too, and I love you Edward,” at that moment, the memories I had with Edward flashed before my eyes and I remembered how caring and sweet Edward was to me, and how happy I was when I was with him. At that moment I realized I actually loved Edward in the same way as I loved John.
“Edward, I love you, I really do, I love you more than a best friend should, I love you like you love me, so please, don’t go,” I sobbed.
“Ah,” he sighed and closed his eyes, “Finally. You admitted it.”
“Yes,” I cried, “Please…”
He opened his eyes and smiled at me weakly before turning to John, “John, take good care of (Yn), okay? I love you brother,”
“No Edward, don’t go, I love you,” John choked and Edward smiled at him.
He then closed his eyes forever.