The Mistake

"Look out!" the voice shouted, but it was too late. by the time Greg had turned around, the gun was fired and the bullet had already pierced the skin of his right leg. He fell with a loud thud that caused the wooden floor to squeak in pain. I stood there stock-still, almost in paralytic shock, staring at the lying form on the floor that was engulfed in crimson red. I could feel someone forcefully tugging at my arm, yet I could not move as I was entranced by the form that was in front of me.

Another shot was fired but this time it pierced the silent aura of the atmosphere. At that moment realization dawned on me, they were coming and if I didn't move I'd end up just like Greg. I snapped out of the dream-like daze I was in and suddenly everything was clear.

"Reggie come on if we don't get out of here we're gonna be next. Do you want that? huh?" Jamelia screamed at me. All I could manage was a subtle nod of the head and the next thing I knew was that my feet were moving and Jamelia was holding on to my hand in a vice-like grip, dragging me down the barely lit alleyway.

I chanced a look behind us and saw that they were coming and they weren't far behind either.

"Jamelia!" I tugged at her upper arm. She glanced at the direction of my line of sight, seeing what I was seeing. With that, she tugged me even harder down the alleyway. It seemed as if we were running forever, but really it was only just a mere matter of minutes. Jamelia suddenly came to an abrupt halt and thank goodness I had slowed down a bit or I would've slammed into her petite frame. I glanced around her shoulder to see a wooden door. She pushed it opened and then quickly closed it after we stepped inside.

As I stood there with my hands folded across my chest, I could hear Jamelia fumbling around for a light switched. The slight click followed by the sudden illumination of the room made me aware that she had found her object of fascination. It seemed as if we were in some type of abandoned basement. It was dilapidated, to say the least, with rodents running havoc on the dingy floor and walls and not to mention their killing equipment that was strategically placed around the room and on the poor excuse for a table.

I removed my gaze from my not so pleasant surroundings and focused it instead on Jamelia's stone-cold expression. Though her face showed no emotion I could see them in her once bright blue eyes, which now looked lifeless, she was just as petrified as I was. But even though I knew she was scared, I couldn't help but direct my anger towards her anyways.

"I told you guys I didn't wanna come on this stupid trip!" I whispered shouted at her. "Look what happened to Greg, Max, and the others and only God knows what's gonna happen to us when they find out where we are!" I finished off my mini-rant with a barely audible sigh escaping my trembling lips.

Jamelia's stony expression fell and was replaced by one of guilt and fear. I could see the tears starting to glisten at the sides of her eyes like a lake being admired by the early morning sun.

"I-I'm s-s-sorry," she stuttered with her body visibly shaking.

My stance softened and I reached out to give her a hug in an attempt to comfort her when really I wasn't even sure we were going to be okay.

Suddenly there was a knock on the door and Jamelia and I stepped back from our embrace taken aback by the sudden intrusion. The lights began to twitch and then the knock came again but even louder than before. It almost sounded rhythmic as if they were taunting us. Jamelia moved towards the door but I quickly grabbed her upper arm, pleading to her with my eyes not to go out there. She gently shrugged off my hand looking at me with remorse before she turned and walked away. At that moment I knew that I had lost a friend. I heard the click of the door when she walked out and then silence followed suit.

I began to walk after her but then stopped when I heard her scream echoed in the silence. The lights stopped twitching and then there was immense darkness. I could hear the thud of shoes outside the door. Then I felt it. The pain radiated from the back of my head all the way to the tips of my toes. My body became slack and I fell to the floor. But the last thing I could remember was thinking that all of this could have been avoided if Max hadn't called the cashier at the gas station a hillbilly before I was consumed by nothingness.

The ticking of the Grandfather clock in my therapist's office made me aware that it was just my subconscious trying to allow me to remember what had happened that dreadful day. It had almost been a year since that trip, yet it felt like it was just yesterday. It consumed my life. But, not today. I didn't have to come back after today. It was my fresh start, a chance to move on with my life, reinvent myself even; that's what they would've wanted. Onward with my life and outward with the past.

As I stepped out of the building to the sun kissing my cheeks, I smiled, it was my time to shine

Off in the distance, a looming figure hidden behind green shrubs thought to himself "She was always unsuspecting of her surroundings, hmph this is gonna be fun, just like old times if I may say so myself." As he threw his hoodie over his head to walk away from his hideout, a chain that was complimenting his outfit, glistened in the light to reveal the name MAX printed. in big bold black letters