All I Have Left

Chapter 4: Don't hurt her...please

"One more step...I blow her brains out." He says calmly. I look over at Bria and she's crying her eyes out.

"J-just let her go, alright?" I stammer. He scoffs.

"No no no. That's not how this works, beautiful. Do you have any idea what's going on?" He says. Bria is still crying and screaming. He rolls his eyes and tightens his grip on her hair.

"If you don't shut up, I will kill you right here. Got it?" He says to her. His eyes are still locked on me. "Or I can kill your...beautiful little friend here. Hmm?" He walks closer to me, dragging my best friend in the world, the only person I probably have left in the world in his hand. He has my best friend's life between his fingers. And I'm probably next. Before long, he's a foot away from my face. Of course, I'm terrified. But when I panic, I become a smartass. I try to suppress it for the sake of my best friend in the world.

"Look...just take me as a hostage...l-leave her alone..." I force out. He sighs.

"See, now, what would the point of that be? I'm here to kill you both." He throws Bria against a wall and she hits the wall and then the floor. I can hear her sobbing. I try to run to her side and he grabs my arm and turns me to face him.

"What did I say?! DON'T. MOVE!" His eyes pierce into mine and I can feel my heart drop to my feet. He slowly backs up, taking me with him. My legs feel like anchors dragging across my floor. My eyes don't leave his and his are locked on mine. Why hasn't he killed us already?

"Let her go!" Bria screams between sobs.

"SHUT UP!!" He screams, snapping me back into my terrifying reality.

"W-what are you gonna do to me?" I whisper. He chuckles darkly.

"Ooh...I have plans for you sweetheart..." He says. I feel a tear roll down my face. I turn away so that he doesn't know that I'm weak.

"Don't try to be strong, angel." He brings me closer to his face. "Your not getting out of this alive". I try to keep it together but I don't know what scares me more. Why hasn't this psychopath killed us? What does he want with me? WHO THE HELL IS HE??

"What's going on...why is all of this happening? Why is everybody so mad? Why is everybody dying??" I blurt out. He seems amused.

"Woah woah woah cupcake, one at a time. First, what makes you think I know? Second, maybe it's your fault. Maybe it's mine. OR maybe the world is just....evil." His voice lowers. Now my smartass side is about to come out.

"Exactly how could this be my fault?" I asked, with a slight attitude. He tightened his grip on my arm and pinned me against a wall.

"YOU KNOW WHAT YOU DID!!" He screamed. He is right in my face, his nose is touching mine. I'm filled with a mixture of confusion and fear.

"What the hell did she do?" I suddenly heard Bria and my heart eased a bit. The man turned to her and exhaled.

"Sit. Both of you." He ordered. Bria slowly walked to the couch but I was still in shock. Mostly because he just blamed me for an almost week-long riot and he broke my window so anyone could easily kill us now.

"I SAID SIT!" He yelled at me. I hesitated, glared at him and then sat next to Bria, holding her close. He exhaled sharply.

"Names. Now." He demanded.

"You seem to know everything already." I snapped. He just looked at me and smirked.

"You know, for someone who could easily be killed by me, you talk to much." He said. I smiled.

"It's kinda what I do." He slams his fist on the table between us.

"NAMES." He repeats. I sigh silently.

"I'm Adrienne and this is Bria." I say calmly. He just chuckles and sits back on the chair, he looks amused again.

"Adrienne. You really made a mess of things, haven't you?" He asked. I tilt my head a bit. I say nothing, hoping he'll continue. Of course, he doesn't.

"I'm guessing this is the part where I say, "Gee! What'd I do?!" hmm?" I snapped. He rolled his eyes. I can tell he's getting tired of my smart mouth. Too bad I don't care. He slowly got up from the chair and walked behind the couch that Bria and I were sitting on. I just kept look forward. That is, until I felt my hair being pulled and my head being forced backwards. He's in my face again.

"If you really want to protect your friend, I suggest you keep the backtalk to a minimum and listen to what I have to say...or I will kill her. Slowly. And I'll make you watch." He whispered. Then he let go of my hair and yanked it forward. My neck hurts like hell now.

"Adrienne, you don't know what you've done. But I can assure you that your parents do." He said.

"My parents?" I asked, confused. He nodded.

"How do you think you got this apartment so quickly and so far away from home? They had everything arranged. The riots weren't directly because of them, but they were the reason it started. Their intention was to see the town burn to the ground. But what they didn't know was that the riots would spread to neighboring areas, including this one and the one your boyfriend lives in. You're the reason the riots are so bad. Your parents were evil people and in order to keep you safe, they let you move away so that their enemies couldn't use you as leverage. I guess they thought ahead. But the riots spread so that we could find and kill you, whether it was intentional...or an accident." He said. I could tell the part about Danny really satisfied him. Why does he want me to feel so much pain? My eyes started to burn and I could feel them welling up.

"I...I can't believe this. Why did they want this to happen?" I mumbled.

"Don't know, don't care. But since this is happening, I might as well kill you both now." He pulled out a gun and I held Bria closely. Little did he know, I whispered something to her.

"Bria, listen to me very carefully, you won't get hurt. I promise. But I need you to run somewhere in the living room, away from the windows, so that his back is turned toward the kitchen." She slightly nodded. I patted her back, signaling her to get up. She ran towards the corner of the room where the window is and I ran to the kitchen. While he was focused on her, I quickly grabbed a knife and threw it. It landed in the middle of his back. He dropped instantly. I walked over to Bria and held her.

"It's okay sweetie...it's over."