trapped | lierra

one

Amber

"Come on Bambie," dad yelled up to me, "we've got a busy day,"

"I'm coming," I yelled back with a giggle. Quickly, I threw my hair up in a claw clip, then raced downstairs where he was waiting. At the island, he stood there drinking his final cup of coffee for the day. Meanwhile, I was just getting my first. I poured some almond milk creamer into a travel mug, then poured the already brewed coffee in and shut the lid.

"Alright, where do we have to go?"

"You have to go to Lowes, the post office, and the mall to get a button down shirt,"

"Right," he nodded.

"And I want to go to Ulta,"

"So you can spend more of my money?" he joked, but I just nodded firmly.

"And bath and body works, we need candles,"

"Why do we need candles?" he asked as he grabbed his keys.

"So the house can smell nice," I shrugged, sliding on my airforce 1's.

"Right," he nodded. "Well, then let's get going," we both went out to his car, then he drove off. The post office was first, then Lowes (which was more boring than I remembered), but finally the mall. Before we went shopping, we stopped at the food court and got pizza.

"I'd say this is a pretty successful shopping trip so far,"

"Mhm," I hummed in agreement as I took a bite of pizza.

"Any other places we need to go? We're here, might as well go,"

"I need some shorts for summer,"

"We'll go to some stores then," he smiled and I grinned back. For a while it had just been me and my dad. My mom passed away when I was five. I don't remember much about her, but my dad says that I have a lot of her traits. I have her long brown hair, green eyes, and the same work ethic she does (according to him). After my mom passed, my older sister and my dad's relationship became really rocky. She wanted nothing to do with him, and my dad couldn't fix that. So three years later, when she turned eighteen, she left. Neither of us had heard from her since. For the past seven years the only family I had was my dad, and I was ok with that.

"I was thinking, since you're out of school in less than two months we could go on a vacation,"

"Where to?"

"Maybe The Grand Canyon?"

"Yeah," I nodded quickly. "I've always wanted to go there,"

"Then I will book some hotels tonight,"

"I can't wait," I giggled. We were quiet for a moment as we finished our pizza, but then we heard a group scream a couple of tables away. I turned to look at what they were screaming about and saw a teenage boy holding a gun.

In a second everyone reacted, including my dad. He grabbed my arm and started to drag me out, but there were too many people crowding the area. And though I only thought there was one gunman, there were multiple. As I looked down at the first floor, there were other boys walking with guns throughout the area, blocking off exits.

Stores began to shut down, not letting anyone in. The stairs and escalators were packed, no one moving. And that became an easy target for them. My dad did the only thing he could, which was grab my arm and drag me somewhere else.

"Hide here," he pushed the trashcans to create a barricade.

"What about you?"

"Don't worry about me, go there now," he demanded, so I listened. "I'm going to go help other people,"

"Dad, no," I disagreed.

"Amber, please, stay here," he begged. "I'll be right back," I sunk down to sit, but nodded. He rushed off and I was left worrying. I could hear police sirens outside, but still hear gunshots and the chaos inside. I covered my ears and felt tears start pouring down my cheeks as I waited.

And I waited. And waited. And waited.

My dad never returned.

After not hearing any gunshots, I poked my head out and saw the second floor completely empty, other than the eleven bodies that laid there. I pulled myself out of the barricade and began to walk around, looking for my dad. I saw him next to a boy, around my age, and holding his jacket to him.

'Dad," I quickly ran over.

"Amber, hold this," he demanded, having me take his place. "Give me your jacket, I'm going to go over there," he gestured over to a woman. I nodded and took my jacket off, giving it to him instead.

"You're dad-" the boy started.

"Please don't say anything," I begged, "I don't know if it makes it worse,"

"I don't wanna die," he barely got out.

"You won't, you won't," I shook my head.

"You don't know-"

"You can't die, that's just not fair," I shook my head. "It's not fair at all,"

"Someone's coming," he coughed. I turned and looked to see one of the gunmen walking up the steps. I did the first thing I could think of, which was drag the boy behind a pillar to hopefully hide, but I didn't stop holding that jacket on his wound.

"Let go of her," he demanded. I looked and saw he was talking to my dad. My dad didn't move though.

"I let go, she dies,"

"My point," he snapped.

"No," my dad disagreed, and I wish he didn't disagree. The gun pointed at him, and I didn't have enough time to react. The shot was fired, and my dad went down. I screamed in horror as I rushed over, leaving the boy.

"Dad, dad," I quickly yelled out, kneeling down to his side. He couldn't say anything, but his eyes widened as I lightly slapped his cheek. At first I didn't know why he was panicking, until I felt something hit my forehead and force me back. When I hit the ground I felt the wound and looked up to see the man holding his gun, having hit me in the forehead with the back of it. His eyes met mine, but he left, leaving me there with my dying dad and eleven other wounded people.