Me and Zaria anxiously watched the iPad.
We watched the 10 men take their bites, we watched their faces light up then start to dim. We watched their life disappear from their eyes. We watched them fall to the ground, and die.
It almost didn't seem real, sitting 200metres away from it all in a car, watching it happen live from an iPad. This wasn't something ordinary people experienced everyday.
A few seconds after the dead men dropped, more men flooded into the kitchen and grabbed Chase roughly but a few seconds later the deadly sounds of Aiden's machine gun spitting bullets made all the men drop to the ground among the already dead bodies.
Some of the mafios died instantly, blood squirting everywhere, but some tried to fight back.
Suddenly, the cam and mic cut off. Making my heart beat faster than ever before.
"We have to go there!" I looked Zaria dead in the eyes.
She jumped out of the car and yelled for me to come. I fumbled with the door handle but soon by her side, we were running towards the huge mansion, knowing that what was inside was no way near as pretty as what was outside.
We had just jumped the fence when Zaria pulled out two guns from her trousers, handing me one. I looked at the foreign object, it was heavier than I expected it to be.
"I've never even held one!" I screamed in horror.
"First for everything," she blatantly said, running towards to front door.
She pushed at it, but it was locked.
"First test," she sighed looking at me, "shoot the handle open,"
My eyes widened, but then I realised that if I was going to help Justin and Jeff, I needed to do something. So I aimed the gun at the handle, and pulled the trigger.
The door busted open and for a couple of seconds me and Zaria stool still, in shock of the view before us.
Bloodied corpses lay every where like life less mannequins and the once white walls were now sprayed with crimson blood. We step in and I see Justin, gun in hand and shooting someone straight in the head. My knees felt weak and I collapsed to the ground. This wasn't how I expected it to be, I didn't know what to expect but killing so many men, taking so many lives, is not how I thought it would be. Justin's eyes met mine and locked. His dirty blonde hair was a mess, sticking in all ways possible. His cheeks were scared and bloodied. His right eye was slightly swollen and had a harsh, purple tint to it. He looked awful.
A man behind him appeared, aiming the gun straight for his head.
"JUSTIN!" I screamed as loud as I could, my voice breaking and my whole body started to tremble.
But then the man got shot, he fell to the ground and lay lifeless, gun still in hand. I trembled and looked at who had just saved Justin's life.
Chase stood, bruised on this sharp temples, eyes dark lips quivering. He lowered his hand, where he was holding the gun that had resulted in that man's death.
I was speechless.
Zaria grabbed me under the arm, pulling me up to stand.
"You have to be strong, come on we have to find Jeff," she shouted.
I started running in between the corpses of men. It was as if a flood of dead men had passed through this house.
I was screaming out Jeff's name but no one answered.
Finally I heard Aiden give out a huge cry from upstairs. I rushed up the grand stairs, following the yell.
I ran into the first room I saw, the double doors opened wide.
And then I halted in my tracks.
I slowly covered my mouth with my hands, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Aiden was on the ground, crying uncontrollably.
In the corner of the bedroom, filled with nothing but a bed was Jeff.
He was tied to the chair, both his hands and legs. He had a gag around his swollen mouth. He stared straight ahead, at nothing. Almost as if there was a ghost in front of him. He didn't blink. He didn't breath.
There was no emotion in his eyes and at that moment I began to shut down.
I felt a heavy, metal curtain close in on my heart. Shutting out all the light and leaving me dark, empty, shallow.
I looked at the man I had spent most of my life with, the man I treated like a second father. The man who loved me and my mom.
I looked at a dead man.
His suit looked identical to when I last saw him, his whole face was swollen but it was colour-less. Frail. Almost as if his skin had been sucked at by a monster and the colour had been drained.
I couldn't even bring myself to cry. I just stood there, staring, slowly falling apart. I felt strong arms lift me and carry me away but I couldn't get rid of that image.
Slowly I closed my eyes as I felt my skin be hit with the sun.
The stench of dead bodies filling my lungs.
Then I dipped off into a deep, restless sleep.
Blood.
Gun shots.
Wounds.
Yells.
It was dark, there was no light. I was trapped in a small room, filled with dead men.
"Ricciardo," echoed through the crimson hollow.
A face appeared in front of me. It was Vivian.
"That's how the Mafia works," she whispered fiercely. "You can't run away,"
Jeff sat there. Dead. Rotting. Foul. And I left him there.
Then I see Justin, Justin taking me into his arms and whispering 'sorry' a thousand times into my ear. I see Zaria, Chase and Aiden running with us towards the two cars. I see Aiden speeding down the road and Zaria tapping away at her laptop, clearing traces of us ever being there. Then I feel Justin's grip on my wrist and his weak, milk chocolate eyes look into mine.
"We had to get out of there I'm sorry, I couldn't leave you to morn, he was a victim like the rest," he whispered. I felt myself crumple. "You're Brave baby, you're very very brave," he insisted, "i can't believe you came for me,"
"You're not worth losing," I stuttered.
