Saving A Life

Shoot Me

"Do it," Maya beckoned as she pressed her forehead against the pistol aimed at her.

"You won't do it," She smiled at Gabe as he held a disgusted look towards her. Maya didn't know it but tears were running down her face. She wanted to seem strong as she stood up against him. One mistake. One mistake from when she was fourteen. Could this really be what broke her down once and for all? The feeling of the gun against her head terrified her.

Death didn't scare her. Just make it quick, she would say. Everything that came after terrified her. Infinity breaks more hearts than it creates.

Don't do it, she thought.

"Do it!" She screamed.

Please, don't! She thought.

"Just fucking do it! Shoot me!" She cried out.

Her hands were raised up and she dare him with her eyes. Maya didn't particularly want to die, but she didn't not want to. It was all circumstance for her. The circumstance of life and death. Maybe she looked a bit weird. Maya was screaming at the person holding a gun to her head and the entire mall was cleared out. Who would go through that much trouble just to hurt a seventeen year old boy?

He would. Gabe would.

Gabe shook as his hand held the gun. The serial number had been scratched off and there was no way he had retrieved such a thing legally. He was never one to really go the legal route when the opposite was much easier.

For Gabe the world was black and white. You were either with him or against him. Maybe it was the look in his eyes that told me that he really didn't want to be there. Not like this. He wanted to go back to when Maya didn't hate him. To when she wasn't always running and changing her number and filing restraining order. I wouldn't doubt that somewhere deep down Gabe had truly felt a sort of connection to Maya. Call it love if you will, but for someone so young that word creates deep scars. That doesn't change as the world keeps turning, but I wouldn't lie and say it doesn't fade. Your first rejection is pain. Pure pain; yet we learn to laugh. Feeling those things for the first time break your heart more than the actual heart break.

Gabe had his own tragic backstory. He held onto Maya even after she was long gone for a couple of reasons. She revived something in him that she didn't think she would ever feel again and she knew too much. Way too much.

These people didn't know her as Maya because she had changed her name to Carmen. When Gabe first learned about this he said it out loud to himself. The name didn't feel right on his tongue when he pictured Maya while saying it.

Regret filled his face as he realized he was finally going down for something. Not the extortion, assault, or murder. He let Maya into his heart and when she left he couldn't let go. Imagine if he had. He knew he wouldn't be able to get out of this one. He first spotted Maya at the tiny boutique she worked at and he waited until she left just quietly at a bench across from her store inside the mall.

Maya was never the biggest fighter, but she saw Gabe. It hit her like a truck. How long had it been? Seven months and she was growing fond of the small city. Could you blame her? It was cozy and she hadn't heard of or from Gabe in almost a year. She would pick up and leave. Up and go anytime she felt it wasn't safe anymore. Here, though, it was almost immediate. She thought she was seeing things. Maya had always been mistaking people for him. This time it was different because when she looked at him. It didn't slowly fade into something else, it pulled at her veins and make her know she was in trouble.

Even when they made eye contact Maya had been frozen. Gabe had stood and started making his way over to her, but she just froze in the middle of the mall. No tears, no scream, she wasn't even running. Her eyes widened and she just shook her head at him as her eyebrows pulled together.

"Please," She whispered.

Even as Maya stood right by him she remained stiff. The gun poked her ribs and she shook her head. Maya knew what happened to people like her. It was the life and she was well aware of it when she got involved with Gabe.

Fight burned at her core and she pushed him away putting up a fight. Not a big one. Barely one at all. Gabe was shocked, but he pulled a stoic face and pointed the gun at her.

"Do not move."

It was quick. It was cleared out. Not a shot fired, but screams and panic. Somebody had called the cops. Maya and Gabe stood silently facing each other.

"I'm sorry Maya but you know how it is," Gabe remarked with guilt in his voice.

Maya looked down at the ground for a moment and back at him. He was only a few steps away from her and he would surely hit her, but the trigger was never pulled. The silence and dread twisted her lungs as she waited for it to just happen.

"Are you just gonna stand there?" Maya had whispered.

Gabe looked at her. Maya had been wearing her boutique shop uniform. Gabe had never minded what she had worn because for him she always looked great. More or less, that is. Even when he tried to find a signal, a little strength, somewhere in Maya there was nothing to be found. She had given her only fight. An impish push and that was all she had left.

At least this way she wouldn't have to run anymore. There was no more looking over her shoulder. No more being afraid of who she was. Even looking at her Gabe knew that she had no more interest in putting up a fight.

"Say something," She demanded.

Gabe had nothing to say. What was it he had done? He destroyed her. This person who was so good. He destroyed her. Not even murder made him feel so guilty. That was why, though. Maya had tried to love him the way she said she did. She couldn't do it.

It was like she was okay with what he did on a daily basis and it made her hate herself. Maya was so young and she was never okay with loving the hell out of someone who just couldn't get rid of that part of them.

"Say something!"

The waiting was torture. She took a step forward as she searched his eyes for something saying he wasn't going to end her life in such a horrendous way. Maya would rather he do it than wait so long to do it the way he was. She took a few more steps forward as Gabe held his pistol straight out but refused to make eye contact. Slowly she had raised her hands to the sides of her head.

"Do it," Maya beckoned as she pressed her forehead against the pistol aimed at her.

"You won't do it," She smiled at Gabe as he held a disgusted look towards her. Maya didn't know it but tears were running down her face. She wanted to seem strong as she stood up against him. One mistake. One mistake from when she was fourteen. Could this really be what broke her down once and for all? The feeling of the gun against her head terrified her.

Death didn't scare her. Just make it quick, she would say. Everything that came after terrified her. Infinity breaks more hearts than it creates.

Don't do it, she thought.

"Do it!" She screamed.

Please, don't! She thought.

"Just fucking do it! Shoot me!" She cried out.

Gabe raised his eyes to meet hers. Remorse filled his, but it was too late he couldn't look away. He opened his mouth to say something to Maya.

What was it? A goodbye? An apology for everything he has done or was about to do? Was he about to confess his love? Maya would never receive that answer because not a single word could escape his mouth before a shot rang through the empty building and blood splattered across her face.