A shot was heard across the city. The shot that wounded my father. It was defening from beneath the bed. I tightened my grip on Roselyn's smal, frail, shaking body. I tried to silence her muffled crying by covering her mouth with my hands. I loosened my grip when she squirmed and whimpered. I noticed that I was unconsciously and unintentionally suffocating her. I saw my father slump onto the ground, the blood staining the embroidered beige rug on the floor. He keeled over as the assasins flipped out of the window. Our eyes met for a second. Everything after that was in slow motion. Mother crawled out from underneath the bed, along with Axel. Roselyn struggled to get out of my arms. I snapped out of trance and crawled out with her. I felt like someone was watching us. The moment I slanted my eyes towards the window, a drop of blood splattered on my face. My eyes widened. There was a sillhouette of a man carrying a body against the moonlight. Although I cannot make out the man, I can clearly see that the corpse in his hands was...
"MAMA!" Roselyn cried desperately. She grabbed onto the man's leg and sobbed. In her cracked voice, she spouted gibberish and nonsense. I wanted to run up and help her. I want to help my brother who was trying to strangle the man. But I can't. I was paralyzed. The thick blanket of fear covered me, weighing me down, suffocating me. When Axel was punched in the face, I panicked. I grabbed my father's pistol and took a deep breath.
I pulled the trigger.
This wasn't like the movies. It didn't sound like the movies. It was silent. I didn't hear a loud bang. I can see my siblings' mouth moving, but I can't hear anything. The bullet moved slowly, striking the man in the head. Since the distance between the man and I was not great, the blood splattered all over me. He fell back, out the window, taking my mother's corpse with him. I dropped the gun, shaking. I gasped for air. I didn't want to admit it, but there was a part of me that really enjoyed that burst of adreadaline. Rose became silent. Axel gathered her shaking body in his arms and walked over towards me. He kneeled down.
"...It's over Vicks. It's over." With that, I collapsed into his arms and sobbed. I was shaking all over. I just killed someone.
"...I killed someone. I-I j-just killed s-someone-" I repeated as I screamed into Axel's chest.
The next day, the reporters flocked to our house.
"Is it true that you killed a man, Victoria?" One reporter asked. I tried my best to push my way through to school. The reporters crowded me and my brother. I told Rose to stay home that day. "Is it true that, like, your father and mother was, like, murdered?!" A girl in the hallways asked. I ignored her as I made my way to Math. Everyone stared at me either with disgust, pity, or sorrow. Where ever I walked I was greeted by nosy students and whispering. I was so out of it that I didn't know I was about to walk into someone.
"Ow! Oh... I'm sorry for your lost." It was that boy. My crush. Jeremy. He rarely talked, and I must say, he was one of the hotter guys in the school. It wasn't like EVERYONE thought he was hot though. He isn't so dashing and douchy as Brad Suttermille or as gross as Benedict Strumer. When I finished picking up my fallen books, I stood up and managed a smile.
"...it's fine..." Why is it that I feel like crying all of a sudden? Tears threatened to spill out of my eyes. I promised myself that I would not cry in front of anyone. Why am I crying in front of him. The next thing I knew, I was clutching his shirt and crying into it. The people around us stared. I didn't care. I need to cry! I felt his muscles relax after a few seconds. He even put his arms around me. After my episode was over, I looked up at him. He really did have beautiful brown eyes. Darker than chocolate.
"T-thank you..." Then I realized. This isn't right! I just lost Mama and Papa yesterday and what am I doing now?! I'm daydreaming and crushing on a boy! This isn't right... it isn't...
"VICKS, WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?!" I heard. Oh gosh. It was Axel. I quickly shoved Jeremy away from me.
"O-oh... Ax... I-I don't...I'm sorry-" I stuttered. I sighed. There was no winning this war. I quietly walked over and followed my brother. I looked back at Jeremy. He looked at me and shrugged. I smiled. Not the full smile I smiled before Papa and Mama's death, but this was the first genuine smile I managed to make after their death.
