The Perfect Shot (Book 3) ✓

Epilogue

Hannah

"You need to get up, or you'll be late." I heard Cleo's voice from behind me, and I knew he was right, but at the same time, I didn't want to leave the bed.

"Five more minutes."

"You said that 10 minutes ago."

"I hate you."

"No, you don't." Yeah, he was right, I didn't hate him. But I hated that he was right. I tried my best and finally managed to get up and leave the warmth and comfort of the bed to go to work while Cleo was staying in his place.

"It's not fair that you are staying, and I can't."

"I came home 2 hours ago..." Yeah, technically he was correct, I had more time sleeping than he did, but still...it wasn't my fault he had a SWAT call last night, and he should be used to surviving on much less sleep than I was.

"You have days with less sleep."

"Go away and leave me to sleep." He turned around, pulling the covers over his head as a way to end our conversation. That left me with nothing else but to get ready for work. At Ollivance High. I still couldn't believe that I managed to start there, that I finally became a teacher and it was everything I dreamed it would be. The kids were very warily at first with me. Didn't trust me, tried to see where my boundaries were, what I would allow to happen, and what not. And they quickly found out that I was a very strict follower of the rules and I expected the same from them. The place where they were free to express themselves was when they were choosing the way to do their tasks. As I told the headmaster, everyone has a different kind of thinking, and I was encouraging every one of my students to find the easiest way for them and the one that gave them the most happiness. And I was glad that more and more kids were following my instructions. They were finally managing to see the beauty of math.

But a few weeks ago, I wasn't so sure that I was going to step a foot in a classroom at all. Everything that happened that fatal day was still reappearing in my dreams, nights, and nights again. Like the shock of the car crash I had, the conversation with my parents at the hospital, the SWAT call the team had...Cleo's suggestion to go to his place so that I could take a good rest in his...our bed. I knew that this suggestion was one of the things he was regretting the most about that day, but it's not like anyone could even imagine the events that occurred a couple of hours after we entered his house. It's not like we could see a scenario where the sniper who terrorized our town would choose to change his tactics and attack something a lot dearer to Cleo.

I still remember the noises of the commotion outside of the bedroom. I had just laid in the bed and found a comfortable place hugging Cleo's pillow close to my chest when I heard the loud voices of Ali and Lily. I stood up, wondering what was happening, still not exactly understanding their words up until I opened the door. Then I finally heard their screams for me to run, but it was too late, the newcomer had seen me and he quickly caught me. No matter how much I struggled in his arms, there was no result. So, I decided to give up, for the moment. I needed to wait for the right moment when he's not concentrated enough to try again. Lily and Ali were of no help to me since he managed to tie them up even before I saw him. He was very quick and methodical with his moves, which let me believe he wasn't an amateur. It didn't pass a lot of time until I heard Luke's voice from outside the house. He was trying to make the intruder talk with him, to understand what he wanted with us, but even I could have told Luke that it wasn't going to happen. This man that was staying behind me with his gun aimed at me...he wasn't going to give up, I was sure. Then he made me move in front of the windows so that he could check who was on the street there. Luke was staying in the middle of the street, still trying to start some kind of conversation with the man that was holding me when I saw the glass breaking, then the grunt of a pain from behind me, and then I was pulled backwards. Falling on top of the man. I didn't have time to think, I knew this was my only time, so I quickly turned around and punched the man in his face. When he moved his bleeding hand with a missing finger to shield his face, I used my knee and kicked him between the legs as hard as I could despite the position we were in. And then there were hands around me. It took me a while to understand that Max was the one holding me, pulling me away. He was talking, but I couldn't hear a thing. My ears were ringing from the adrenalin, still pumping through my veins, and I managed to calm down only when I saw Cleo stepping out of his car. When I was engulfed in his strong arms, I finally felt safe. I am really thankful for his amazing skills. Up until now, I knew he was good. Everyone was saying the same thing all the time, that his riffle and his bullets were like extensions of his arm and eye. And with the amazing shot he did, managing to damage just the trigger finger of the man holding me hostage, I finally knew what they meant. From two blocks away, through a window, he managed to hit the knuckle of the point finger that was resting at the trigger of the gun under my chin. Whit this shot, Cleo managed to fully tear off the finger, making it impossible to fire the gun. And with that, he saved my life. I was a very lucky girl and I was doing my best to remember it every fucking day.