Backwards Into Hell

Part Three: Everybody Dies

Jake's Diary

Friday 29th October

I didn't know what to do.

I was on the floor—I knew that much after having ducked so violently my chest hit the wood.

Was I injured?

Maybe.

In the split-second that the gun had gone off, David had jumped and successfully restrained Darren. They were now wrestling on the floor and getting covered in red.

Red.

Lily was on the ground next to me, and Lottie cowered in the corner. But where had the bullet gone?

David?

I felt a hand on my arm.

Lily.

My stomach twisted as I craned my neck to watch her. Her breath shook and rasped like a fish gasping for air. On her chest grew a terrifying red stain.

I crawled for her, arms and legs hardly working as Darren and David growled in the dining room. I paid no attention to them.

No

What should I do?

I was a lawyer, not a doctor.

'Oh my god... I...'

Half-remembering some Hollywood-style advice, I pressed a hand to her chest. Lily winced, struggling for air, and I met her eyes. All that ran through them was shock and fear.

I didn't have the time to think about it then but the bullet must have hit her lungs, and not knowing any better, I just kept pressing.

She was going to die anyway, but it didn't help.

She tried to talk, everything coming out in weak, shallow gasps.

'J—j...' was all she managed.

Her eyes were white as I ran my fingers through her bloodied hair and kissed her.

'Don't,' I said, pressing harder.

It was no use.

Eventually, the light in her eyes dimmed.

A final, brutal tear leaked down her cheek, and Lily died.

Her death was slow, not like the others, but it was clear: she was gone. Her eyes were vacant and glazed like an old fish, and her mind was so quiet. I'd never hear her voice again.

The Lily I knew was dead—and it was Darren's fault.

By then, I had my head buried in her jumper as Darren began to get an advantage over David.

Looking up and running my cheek against the soft fabric, I saw the gun on the other side of the room. In the commotion, Darren or David or whoever had tossed it to one side and Lottie, leaning against the wall and trembling, picked it up.

She watched the two men fight, wrestling and shoving into the floor and walls until eventually, Darren shoved David's head against the table.

It made a terrible crack, and David dropped.

It was up to me now.

Oddly, it was easy to approach Darren. There was so much pain burning in my chest that everything moved on its own.

He'd killed Lily.

Hurt David.

Destroyed my plan.