Smoke Inhalation

It Happened So Fast

All I heard was the gun, it caught me so much by surprise that the sound hurt even more than the wound. The bullet hit my abdomen, I remember that. I remember her saying that. I remember shouting, the police I think it was. They were screaming that someone needed to go somewhere, she was telling him to put the gun down. I remember that. My mum touching my face, sobbing, hardly able to tell them I was her son. And I heard the ambulance, the police and I heard the fire brigade. I hadn't realised. No-one had. So much happened that it was impossible to know if everyone was okay.
There was a huge bang and then I fell. Everything hurt, ached, throbbed yet it was so sharp, I couldn't move. I couldn't even breathe. I was trying but every time, it was like there was no oxygen left in the air. I was gasping, struggling for some relief, struggling to provide my body with the air it needed to calm it down.
I can't remember much after that, there was a helicopter I think. And I woke up the next day in a hospital bed.
The first thing my mum said is she can't lose another one. She couldn't bear to lose another one of us. She's so alone. She needs me. She sits there sobbing and I hold her hand and just tell her I'm still alive, I'm still here.
My dad comes in and tells me what happened in the square, the explosion, the fire, the injuries. And he tells me about Steven. And all I can do is stare at him in shock. Steven can't be dead. He can't be. He was with us, helping everyone before I left. He has his kid, his family, his new job, everything. He can't be gone. He's my mate. He was my mate.
My dad leaves and I sit in the bed and just think. Steven. He was my friend, we would go out drinking together when the girls were too tired. We would get absolutely wasted then go back to the pub and down a bottle of the cheapest drink we sell. We would make out behind the bar and end up in fits of giggles when we took a break for breath. We'd talk till the sun came up and cry together at how shit everything was. We were the only escape for one another. Now he's escaped from his fucked up life but I'm still stuck here.
I'm still stuck breathing in the smoke from the fires all around us and Steven. Well he died from the smoke inhalation.