Searching for A Paradise

The Man with the Rifle

      Inspired by A Walk To Remember
                 ***************** READERS MAY FIND THE CONTENT DISTURBING•READ AT OWN RISK!
(Sadddd😢) NOT FINISHED

My eyes landed on every single flower and creature I saw.
      Natalie, my big sister, grabbed my hand and gave me a gentle pull. "Avery, if we're  going to get there before dark, you need to put some pep in your step!"
      Natalie made me so mad sometimes, acting like I was a five year old. It was never the actual words that got me, it was just the tone and facial expressions she used.
      "Natalie, you're only 4 years older than me! And, I'm twelve. Just because dad died doesn't mean you need to talk to me like I'm stupid!"
      Her cheeks turned pink, and sadness filled her eyes. I hadn't taken a moment to think about what I was going to say. I'd forgotten she was sensitive when I talked about our passed father.
      When she was six and I was 2, my mom walked out and never came back. It caught all of us in surprise.my dad watched us for 5 years after that. Everything was fine, until 3 months after my mom left us. He started getting home late, wasted. He'd always hit Natalie at least once a week, but he never left marks, and if he did, it was always hidden. The next morning when he was sober, he was good. He fed us properly, took us out to places, everything a dad would do. Only because he never remembered what he had done the previous night. One day, Dad spotted a huge, swollen bruise on the side of her eye. "What happened? Who did this to you?" Dad would ask, sincerely concerned. Natalie got red in the face, and stared at him. "You, dad." She then told him how often this happened. He agreed to get therapy, and after 2 years, he became all sober and fixed. He was happy, and it made us happy.
      2 weeks later, I find him in the bathroom, a gun in the floor, blood on the wall. I ran and screamed, because that's what came into my mind. Natalie came to my rescue. "What's wrong?" I simply pointed to the bathroom, refusing to open my eyes. After sitting in the den for a while, the image of him on the floor haunting my thoughts, Natalie went to the phone and called 911. They arrived ten minutes after the call. "It will be ok," is the last thing I remember hearing.

      The rest of the walk to our destination was silent. I felt guilty for saying that to her.
      "Natalie, you know I always say my thoughts out loud. I'm sorry." I said, hoping to make things better and less uncomfortable.
      She gave me a small smile. "We're here!" She said, already sounding cheerful. I looked at her in a confused manner, as if to say that she had the most mixed emotions I have ever seen.
      She climbed up a tree. But this was a special tree. This is where we would always go to hang around.
      I climbed up there with her.
      After about an hour of sitting up on the branch, I climbed down to get some water.
      Without warning, my sister started screaming, like she was getting stabbed right up on that tree. I heard the loudest BANG I've ever heard.
       "RUNNNNN!!!" She screamed. I spilled my water all over me, but didn't care.
      Red dripped down from the tree. I looked up to see Natalie looking down at something.
      There was a man with a rifle behind the tree. I gasped. He grabbed the gun and shot 5 bullets at me. All missed, except for the last one, which hit my arm, and I winced in pain, but didn't stop running. I guess he ran out of bullets, because he didn't fire anymore.
      I heard my sister scream out a loud message to me: "RUN, AVERY!" She kept shouting and screaming, till finally, she stopped. The only thoughts that popped up in my head is that she was brutally murdered. I kept shooing the thoughts away like flies on a horse, but they kept shooting in my head like that mans rifle and I cried so much I had enough water to supply the whole planet for a year!
      I ran down to my uncles house, since he only lived 2 blocks away from me. I told him what happened.
      First, he called 911, then comforted me till the police arrived.