Freedom's Heart

Chapter 1

Some people call my life boring. My friends and family tell me that all the time, but I find comfort in my daily routine. Stacking shelves, chatting with regular customers, and watching the little traffic drive by always makes me feel at ease in such a chaotic world. I can see why people say my life is boring by I do not care what they say. I would never change my life for all the wealth and power in the world.

The corner store where I work is only a small one owned by an elderly man who spends less and less time here, but I can hardly blame him when his health has been slowly degrading. He has always been kind to me, and I enjoyed visiting his house whenever I made him a soap or stew on days his illness was practically bad. I hope he will get better soon.

Ding dong!

Even that sound that annoys other people is comfortable to me. But I wish it were not her that entered the store. I know this is wrong to say something like this about my very own twin sister, but I wish I never had to see her. We are the complete opposite. I always tried to do what was right. I gave to charity, helped those in need and never broke any rules in my life. My sister, on the other hand, was a schoolyard bully, a thief and someone who would beat you within an inch of your life just for looking at her the wrong way. But as much as I want to push her away, I cannot do something like that to my own twin sister.

I watch her disappear in between the aisle, our eyes briefly meet, but she seems more interested in the man approaching me than myself. I guess she is only here for my friends and family discount. I should not feel bad that such a bad person does not want anything to do with me, but it still hurts a little to be ignored by her. At least the man is a regular that I enjoy dealing with, even if his stories about his farm goes on a little too long.

"Thank you for your business," I smile as I hand the man back his change. "Please come back soon." As usual, he only comes by to buy his morning paper and a pack of cigarettes. Not onto my next company. "Thank you for shopping with us. Is there anything else you..."

I take a step back, instinctively feeling my heart race at the sight of the silver gun aimed right at me. Is that thing real? More importantly, why is my sister pointing it at me? She has never done anything like this before. Even at her worse, she has never held someone at the end of a weapon. I pray she is just playing some lousy joke on me, and that gun is just a fake. However, that hope is quickly dashed.

"Open the register and give me the money!" She yells, leaning over the counter. "Don't try anything or hit the alarm, and you won't get hurt!"

"Hey... you don't want to do this...." I put my hands up, hoping my sister was not too far gone. "It's not too late... you... you could just leave and I... I won't tell anyone about this...."

"Shut up!" Spit flies from my sister's mouth as her cold eyes lock onto mine. "Just give me the money or... or I will shoot you!"

I shiver, seeing there is no saving her. Slowly I step forward towards the register, not giving her any reason to shoot while looking at her hoping to see any chance of her changing her mind about this. No such luck. I open the counter and start to remove the money but not fast enough for my sister, who suddenly pushes me away and grabs it all herself.