Love Thy Neighbour

I laughed as I watched Khristiano silently cursed at the screen. For some reason, Khristiano had taken me to the arcades. The arcades seemed a bit suspicious, and I had no idea why he brought me here. But nevertheless, I was still having fun. Laughing at him, I mean.

Maybe he had taken me here because my first day of school had absolutely sucked and to put me out of my miserable mood and to end my non-stop whines, he decided to take me here. Though, at first I was highly suspicious of him and his motives, watching Khristiano lose in all the games had immediately put me in a better mood. Especially when I was beating him.

“Wow.” I grinned as Khristiano lost his last life, “You really suck at shooting games.”

Khristiano didn’t say anything as he inserted another coin into the machine. I quietly chuckled to myself as he pressed the ‘replay’ button. We all knew how this would end.

“I mean, your form looks good,” I said as I observed Khristiano as he aimed the gun at his target, “but what’s the point if you can’t hit the monsters?”

I watched him play again, trying to shoot the monsters. I couldn’t help but smile. He looked so serious and so intense, but he couldn’t hit any monsters. He was losing.

As Khristiano continued losing the game, I surveyed the arcades. The arcades seemed like any other arcades I imagined to be, although it was basically empty. There were only a handful of people here – and even they looked suspicious. There was a young lady wearing gaudy clothes who accompanied by a man who was hunched in a corner, on his phone, a couple of men huddled around the billiard table, just keeping amongst themselves. It seemed like Khristiano and I were the youngest here. I found it strange how there were adults playing in the arcades. I shrugged it off. School had just ended so that was probably why there weren’t any teenagers here yet.

Khristiano frowned and grumbled incoherent words as the score credits rolled onto the screen.

“How could you get a lower score than me?” I mocked.

He half-heartedly shrugged as he returned the gun back to the machine. “I just don’t like these sort of games.”

I giggled, “Because you suck at them, right?”

He didn’t say anything, but took my arm and began to walk in a different direction, “Let’s play the basketball game before we leave. I was wrong, there’s nothing here.”

I inwardly smiled, was he trying to divert the attention? “But I want to play the racing game!” I grinned at him, “Wait, don’t tell me you’re bad at racing games, too?”

Khristiano looked at me and for a brief second, it looked like he was hesitating. I blinked at him, “Khristiano…?”

He looked away and checked the time on his watch, “Shit. Let’s leave.”

“What do you mean…?” I frowned at him as he suddenly grabbed my hand and held it. “H-hey! What are you – ”

But he wasn’t listening. He had his phone out, and was muttering something I couldn’t hear. As soon as he hung up, he began to walk briskly, pulling me with him.

“Hey, hey.” I frowned at him, unsure with the sudden change of attitude. Was this a form of sulking? “Are you upset of what happened in the arcades?”

“We need to leave now.” Khristiano kept walking, not letting go of my hand, “I was right all along. We really need to leave – ”

Suddenly, I heard a shrill scream and a loud crash.

BAM!

Khristiano cursed under his breath. I frowned and looked at him, confused from what just happened. “What just…?”

“Shit. I knew it.”

“Knew what?”

“They know,” He grabbed my hand and began to run. “Don’t ask, just run.”



Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I was panicking. Khristiano had told me to run straight to the car and go on without me, but I just couldn’t do it. I felt like I was abandoning him and I knew something was wrong. I couldn’t leave him! So against my better judgment, I decided to look for him.

I was alone with no clue what was going on. I hardly knew this city well enough to know where I was going and there was no one around to ask for directions. I sighed. Khristiano would probably kill me if he knew I was lost and deliberately disobeyed him. Oh well.

I frowned. I thought I saw a man; just like me, he looked like he was lost, maybe looking for someone. Maybe he could help!

“Excuse me,” I called as I ran towards him, “excuse me, sorry, I’m looking for someone…”

The man stopped and turned around. The moment he faced me, I knew something was off. I tried to ignore my gut feeling; I was just being neurotic these days. He smiled at me, but his smile was dark and sinister. My body froze.

“Distinctive light eyes that look like violet…” the man mumbled.

Hearing that, my blood ran cold. Only my dad called our eyes ‘violet’.

“You,” the man cooed as he slowly stepped towards me, “I was looking for you.”

Run! I could hear my brain scream, and I tried to force myself to run. Really, I did. But I couldn’t move my legs. I couldn’t move. I couldn’t even breathe. I began to panic. What was wrong with me?! Why can’t I move?! I screamed and shut my eyes as tight as I could as the man lunged forward. Maybe this was all a horrible dream.

BAM!

I heard a heavy thud. Realizing nothing happened, I slowly opened my eyes. And to my astonishment, the man was on the ground. He didn’t move. My knees gave out.

Somewhere, I heard someone sigh.

“A word of advice,” I looked up to find the voice. I gasped when I saw who it was.

“Don’t just stand there when you’re about to be attacked.”

I finally managed to find my breath. I turned around to face him. I couldn’t help but stare at him, stare at what he was holding. My mind began to carefully process all what had just happened.

“Wh-wha-what… Wh-where-where… Y-you… you just… just…”

Khristiano didn’t say anything, but the faint click of his gun confirmed it.

“Geez, Lyzelle. You just won’t listen to me, can you?” He shook his head at me.

I… I just couldn’t believe it. I just stared at him. He-he… he just… I mean, he… well, he… I mean, ho-how can he d-do something like… like that?!

“Y-yo-you…” I looked at the man’s body. I tried not to faint when I saw a little pool of… of red stuff ooze out of his body and slowly seep into his shirt. “You-you di-did that…”

Khristiano didn’t look impressed, “Indeed I did. Thank-you for pointing out the obvious,” he sighed as he ran his hand through his dark hair, “You know, why didn’t you just did what I told you to? You’re so lucky I managed to find you in time…”

“He-he… he – tha-that man… he…”

“I wouldn’t worry about him. He won’t be coming back to get you.”

I stared at the man. He was on the ground face down. It took a moment for my mind to process on what had just happened. I gasped in realization.

“You’re a murderer,” I whispered.

Khristiano looked right at me, his voice no louder than a whisper. “Am I?”

I didn’t say anything. I just looked at him, leveling my gaze to his.

He just shook his head. “Whatever, you’re safe. For now. But we need to get out of here. What happens if there’s more of them?”

I nodded and tried to get up, only to realize I couldn’t. My body just seemed to have given up.

He softly chuckled and shook his head. “So do you think I’m the ‘bad guy’?”

I… I honestly didn’t know what to say, or what to think.

“Lyzelle, we can have the moral discussion later. We need to leave this place. Like right now.”

“But… but…” Really, I couldn’t believe him! He was…acting as if… k-killing people were the most natural thing in the world! “I-I mean… I mean he-he… he’s dead!”

I glanced at the man’s body and nearly threw up, but stopped myself. Khristiano was right; we needed to get out of here. I tried to get up, but stumbled forward. Khristiano offered me a hand. I shook my head. I didn’t want his help. I didn’t want to touch him.

I heard him sigh.

“That-that… that’s bad.” I looked up at Khristiano and frowned at him, “Really. That’s bad. Killing is bad. Don’t you know? Killing is bad. Very bad! You just… you just-just… How?!”

“That depends on your standpoint,” Khristiano replied coolly. “If it’s in defense, you may justify your actions, but if its something you’ve grown up with, you may see it as a norm. That’s the same with people. So who are we to say who are the good people and what’s bad?”

I stared at him, at his illogicality. “I-I-I… You-you just…” I shook my head. What just happened?! “I mean, you-you just… you k-killed someone! I mean, that person is dead!”

Khristiano didn’t say anything. He turned to me and suddenly grabbed my hand. I looked at him, but he began to run. “And we’ll be too if we don’t get out of here.”

I wanted to snatch my hand away. Away from him, but all of a sudden, my hand gripped his. I guess I sort of understood the situation when I heard more gunshots.

“Shit. I almost forgot this place was marked. We might be surrounded.”

I frowned. “‘Marked’?”

Khristiano reloaded his gun. “It just means a place or a person that’s targeted for… stuff.”

“Stuff? What kind of…?”

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I flinched at the sudden shootings and tightly gripped Khristiano’s hand.

“That kind of stuff.”

I tightly shut my eyes. This wasn’t happening. This wasn’t happening. This was all just a dream. A horrible dream I was having from all the stress of moving houses. Yeah, that was it, a horrible dream where I would soon wake up and –

“What are you doing, Lyzelle?” I heard Khristiano’s voice scold, “We need to run. There’s an old building over there we can hide for cover.”

Feeling him pulling me, I immediately opened my eyes. This was a terrible dream; I couldn’t even force myself to wake up.

And so we ran. We ran into an old run-down deserted building. I needed to rest. I needed to catch my breath. But we never stopped running. Not even in the old run-down deserted building.

We stumbled into a room. I couldn’t see anything – it was too dark. Although I knew it was incredibly dusty. I was terrified. Where were we? Where were we going? Why were we running? Who was chasing us? Why? I squeezed Khristiano’s hand. This was like a never-ending nightmare, spiraling down.

We ran into another room, there were windows, so there was light. I saw old crates aimlessly scattered around the room and broken furniture was everywhere. Was this an old storage warehouse? I tried not to trip from all the clutter.

Khristiano pulled me closer to him. “Stay behind me.”

I nodded. And then I saw Khristiano hold out the gun. Instinctively, I held my breath as he began shooting. Straight away, I noticed he had a good form, just like in the arcades. But, unlike in the arcade games, he didn’t miss his target. He didn’t miss anything.

What was the meaning of all this?!

As the body fell backwards, I couldn’t help but think back to the game Khristiano was playing. 100 points. 100 points for each body, for each monster. In two seconds, we passed the body. Those two seconds was all I needed. Two seconds, and I had the image of death etched into my mind. I couldn’t help, but stare in horror at the body as we ran passed.

Dead. 100 points.

We had entered a new room, and already, I could hear the loud noise of gunshots fill the room. I flinched at the noise and immediately clutched onto Khristiano’s shirt. I never realized how loud a gun could be. It wasn’t like in the video games. This was nothing like the video games.

“We can’t stop running.” Khristiano whispered as he squeezed my hand. “You can do that?”

I bit my lip and nodded. What else could I do?

And we ran. Passing another corner, another room, Khristiano began shooting again. I clenched my teeth and forced myself to not close my eyes. I managed to steal a quick glimpse at one of the bodies that were shot. Shot in the head. Seeing the bodies, I nearly threw up. But something caught my eye. Even though the man’s face was disfigured, I immediately recognized him. He was the man on the phone with the gaudy lady at the arcades. I staggered from the recognition. And I don’t know whether it was my imagination or not, but after seeing that body, a foul stench of death filled my nose as we passed it.

Dead. 100 points.

I felt my whole body shiver. I glanced at Khristiano. He looked calm. He was running so fast, pulling me with him. I tighten my grip on his hand, afraid of him letting go, afraid of being left behind. He shot two other men and this time these men were in close range. I saw the men’s faces when they got shot. I got to witness the last look on their face. Horror. Fear. The bodies fell only a few feet away from me. It wasn’t until I felt the blood splatter onto me that I realized what was truly going on.

Dead. 100 points.

Another bang. Another body. This time, I didn’t have time to look at his face. No, this time, Khristiano pulled me with him. I could feel myself grow weak. I began to stumble, but Khristiano held my hand tight, ensuring that I could not let go. Holding his hand, I stepped on the body. My blood ran cold when I heard that deafening squelch. Against my better judgment, I glanced at the body. The man’s face did not even wince.

Dead. 100 points.

I was beginning to feel suffocated. I could feel my breath grow heavy. And I knew it wasn’t from the running. We were running through the corridors, and I could feel I was beginning to slow down. My legs were no longer heavy, no. I couldn’t feel anything at this point. What was weighing me down was my mind. Everything, everything was branded into my mind, the images, the noise, the smell, the feel of it. This wasn’t a dream. This was a nightmare. This was really happening.

Everything was real.

I quickly surveyed the area we were running in. We were in another room, filled with old, broken crates, furniture and other useless random junk. And as far as I was concerned, there were no one chasing us. There was no one in sight. It was just the two of us.

I… I can’t go on,” I huffed as I tried to pull my hand away from Khristiano. He frowned at me, but tightened his grip. I couldn’t let go of his hand. I couldn’t stop running.

“Lyz…” he began. He didn’t stop running. Not until I forcefully yanked my hand away from him. I looked away. I couldn’t even look at him.

“Lyzelle,” he murmured, this time more gently as he tried to hold my face. I flinched. I didn’t want him touching me. Sighing, he gave up and ran his hand through his hair.

“Just… go on without me,” I sniffed. I had no idea what was going on and I was honestly too tired to care.

Khristiano silently cursed as he reloaded another gun. I froze. He had another one? Who was this person? How and why does he have that… that thing? I could feel him staring at me as he threw his other gun away, “You don’t have a choice.”

I still couldn’t look at him in the eye.

“I know you’re tired and weary and feel like you just want to give up, but remember this and remember this well: the moment you give up, you lose.”

I glanced at him.

“Don’t think they’ll go easy on you because you’re a girl. No, they’d do far worse things to you than you could possibly imagine because you’re a girl.”

“I don’t care!” I cried. I was tired and frustrating from everything. “I’m… I’m sick of this! There is something going on and I don’t know what and it’s frustrating me! Khristiano, just was is going on?!”

He wasn’t facing me, but I heard Khristiano sigh. He didn’t seem surprised from my sudden outburst. “It’s better if you know nothing. No one is telling you anything for a reason…”

“What?!” I demanded, “What kind of reasoning is that?! I’m just – ”

“To protect you!” Khristiano cried. He was now facing me, “Knowing useless information is pointless and dangerous.”

“Protecting me against what? What is with all this cryptic talk? Why am I not allowed to know anything? It’s frustrating! What is dangerous?!”

Khristiano exasperatedly sighed. “Everything. Everyone.” He shook his head, “I’m sure your parents are protecting you for a reason – ”

“Wait, what? I thought… I thought…” I frowned in thought, “Wait, I thought… you mean, my parents have… they know about everything?”

“Yes. Now let’s go – ”

“Why don’t you just tell me what’s going on?”

Again, Khristiano had his back facing me. “You… you’re just as Crevello said. You’re like a child, trying to live in an animal world. You don’t understand or even know the simple concepts – ”

“Killing isn’t a simple concept!”

“Exactly!” Khristiano turned to me, “You don’t understand. Lyzelle, this isn’t like the arcade games where once you lose you can just start again. You will really die if we don’t run. There is no ‘replay’ button in life, Lyzelle.”

I sniffed and bit back a sob. I knew that. I know at least that much. And truthfully, I did care. It was… I was… I just wanted to know what was going on.

“Shit Lyzelle,” I heard Khristiano mumble, “Don’t cry…”

He reached for me and I flinched.

“Lyzelle, don’t you get it?” He grabbed my hand.

“No!” I snatched my hand away. “Don’t touch me! I’m scared!”

I looked away.

“Oh.” In the corner of my eye, I could see realization in his eyes. Crud. He knows. “I get it.”

He sighed and this time, I felt guilty, but I hoped he knew I couldn’t really help it.

I was afraid of him.

I sighed and crouched down. “Just… just go on. I-I don’t… I can’t do this. I don’t like this.”

“Neither do I, Lyzelle.” I heard him mumble, “Neither do I.”

I looked at him. He was also crouching down, there was a little distance between us and his eyes were careful. “Let’s go before they catch up, okay?” Khristiano spoke softly, offering me a hand, “Chin up and keep fighting, right? We’ll get out of this alive.”

I shivered at that thought. But immediately pushed it away. I had no time to think. Already I could feel my body start to pump. I sniffed and took his hand. What was all happening was like a blur. I was tired. I was scared. I just wanted this to all end. “I want to go home.” He nodded and wrapped his arm around me and I wrapped my arms around him. “I just want to go home, Kaz.”

I felt Khristiano flinch. “Did you… did you just say – ”

BAM!

Khristiano immediately jumped on top of me. I noticed we were in a seclusion area; stacks of crates and other broken furniture were surrounding us. I looked at him in horror as he positioned himself on top of me, wrapping his body around me. I mentally panicked and tried to push him off me. “Wha-what are you trying to do?!”

“Shh.” Khristiano hushed as he covered my head.

BAM!

I flinched. Someone had shot a window just above us. The glass had shattered and shards of glass flew everywhere. I bit my lip and shut my eyes. Was someone else in the room? Suddenly, I felt thankful for being the stacks of crates and other furniture that acted as a fortress.

“Shit.” Khristiano mumbled.

Immediately, I opened my eyes and tried to look at what just happened. Khristiano frowned. “No, Lyzelle stay put. Stay under me.”

“You just got cut from the glass – ” That was when I realized it. He wasn’t doing this to harass me or take advantage of me; he was doing it to protect me. I blushed from embarrassment.

“That doesn’t matter.” Khristiano blinked. “Oh shit.”

I looked at Khristiano.

“They’re coming.”

I froze and instinctively held my breath. I peeked between the broken table and one of the crates. I could see two men entering the room.

The first one had a big built and wore a pinstripe suit. He scoffed as he surveyed the room. “Thanks to a little rat, many of our men are dead.”

I shivered at the word. I felt Khristiano tighten his grip around me.

Pinstripe man snickered, “Where do you think they’re hiding, eh, Lefty?”

The other guy, or ‘Lefty’ the bigger guy had called, was noticeably short and wore a plain suit. I noticed had a faint scar across his left cheek. He began to shoot around the room. “Not far, Tiny. Definitely not far.”

I clutched onto Khristiano. “What do they want from us?” I sniffed.

Khristiano didn’t say anything. He looked away.

“Why… why are they chasing you?” I whispered.

He sighed. “It’s not me they’re after.”

I stared at him, not quite getting what he was saying, “What…?”

“The person they want,” Khristiano whispered, now making eye contact, “is you.”

I blinked. “M-me?! Wh-why me?!”

Khristiano didn’t say anything, but looked away.

I held his hand and tried to look him in the eye, “Why?” I leaned closer to him, “Why me, Kaz? Why me?”

Responding to his child nickname I once gave him, I felt his body stiffened, “Lyzelle…”

I squeezed his hand.

“You really don’t know want to know, Lyzelle…” He murmured.

He lightly touched my cheek. I blinked at him, “What?”

“Lyzelle,” Khristiano whispered, “Do you trust me?”

I looked at him. “Y-yeah…?”

Khristiano closed his eyes and sighed. “Do you trust me with your life?”

I began to panic. “What are you…what are you…”

Khristiano held my hand. “I won’t abandon you. Don’t worry. But you trust me, right?”

I gulped and nodded weakly.

“Okay. Good.” Khristiano began to shift himself. “I trust you too.”

I felt slightly uncomfortable. “What are you going to do?”

Khristiano sighed. “I’m sorry. But you’ll need this.”

I gasped as he gave me his gun. “N-no! I can’t – ”

“You don’t need to kill them,” Khristiano reassured me, “just distract them. You can shoot them if you want, but you don’t have to. You don’t even need this. This is for just in case, okay? Just in case.”

I slowly nodded. But I knew it wasn’t for ‘just in case’. We both knew it was for: defence and to buy time.

“I’m done waiting,” a loud voice boomed. It was the guy wearing the pinstripe suit. Or ‘Tiny’ the other man called. “If you don’t come out till the count of three, I’ll burn this building.”

“Huh?” I heard Lefty mumble, “But Tiny, I thought we’re supposed to…”

I took a deep breath. I had managed to conspicuously sneak away from Khristiano. I took another deep, slow breath as I slowly got up. “I’m here.”

The two men turned around. I bit my lip.

“Ah. So you finally came out, huh?” Tiny chuckled.

Lefty smirked. “That’s a good girl. Come here.”

“I… I know it’s useless to run away… I can’t run away.” I sighed as I made my way to them.

Lefty chuckled, “You’re smarter than we thought.”

“And where is your little friend who was helping you?” Tiny looked around the room, “You should thank them, don’t you think so, eh, Piccoletta?”

I looked away. “He doesn’t matter anymore. He… he abandoned me. Go find him if you want.” I tried to control my breathing and steady my heartbeats; afraid they might hear how loud and rapid it was thumping. “Kill… kill him, if you can.”

Lefty began laughing and shook his head at me. “You! You really are a Costanzo!”

Tiny nodded at me. “‘Kill him’, you say, Picoletta? Don’t worry. We’ll kill him after we’re done with him. First we need to find him. You’ll help us, right?”

Lefty held out his hand, beckoning me to come closer, “This girl is a keeper. She’s definitely one of us.”

I took a deep breath as a reached my hand to the two. I knew it was now or never. “I’m not like any of you.”

BAM!

“Y-you!”

“Cagna!!”

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. I gasped. I could not believe it. I had just shot a person. I didn’t kill them, but I shot them him the leg. I had shot Lefty in the leg. I had shot a person! I shot a person with a gun! I began to panic.

“I-I-I… I’m so sorry! Oh my gosh! I… I-I… it was… my-my f-finger slipped and… and…”

“You little bitch!”

I noticed Tiny reached into his jacket. Oh my gosh! My hands were shaking too much. I needed to defend myself – but I couldn’t shoot a person! Even if it was for defence!

But before anyone could respond, out of nowhere, Khristiano suddenly grabbed my hand and pulled me away as he threw something at them. “Good job.”

I nodded and ran with him. “We’ll have a grand exit,” I hear him mutter as he pushed me out of the broken window. I stared at him in confusion as he wrapped himself around me and held my head.

Then I felt that feeling as if my stomach was slowly rising… We began to free fall and I felt the room exploded. It wasn’t a large explosion, but it was still an explosion. Oh my gosh. He had a hand grenade. He threw a hand grenade. A… hand grenade! But I had no time for questions. I clutched onto him tightly and wrapped myself around him.

Oh my gosh, oh my gosh, oh my gosh. This was it. I was going to die. I shut my eyes and prepared for the worst.

THUD!

I slowly opened my eyes. Somehow, we managed to luckily land on some wild bushes, which sort of broke our fall. I couldn’t believe it. Well, okay. We didn’t fall very much since the old abandoned warehouse was only one storey high. But I was still thankful to the bush.

I heard a sigh of relief. I turned to Khristiano. “Khristiano! We’re alive – ”

“I’m dying, Lyzelle…”

I gasped and began to panic, “Wh-what?! Are-are you okay?!” Of course he’s not, you idiot! He was dying! “Where does it hurt? How many fingers am I holding up?! Oh my gosh, you got shot, didn’t you?! Um… hold on, Khristiano! Remember, if you fall asleep, you’ll die, so try to stay awake as much as possible! Khristiano, don’t worry, I know first aid – ”

Khristiano managed a chuckle. “I meant you’re heavy. Get off me.”

I paused. That was the moment I realized why the bushes weren’t scratching or itching me. Khristiano was acting as my landing mat. “Oh.” Well, I felt dumb. “S-sorry. I… I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to… Are you – ”

Khristiano shook his head at me as I got off him. “You can stop fretting. I’m fine. You okay?”

I stared at him. I thought back at what had just all happened. Was I ‘okay’? I-I… I had just…

Khristiano knelt down beside me and patted my shoulder. “Calm down and breathe. We’re fine. It’s okay. No ones hurt. We’re together and we’re in one piece. So you good?”

I took a deep breath and slowly nodded.

Khristiano nodded. “Good.”

We looked back at the run-down building. It was consumed in flames. I felt a wave of guilt hit me.

Khristiano sighed as he stood up, “Well, it was collapsing already, anyway. We just paid the council a huge favour by demolishing one of their old buildings. If anything, they should thank us. It costs money to demolish buildings, you know.”

I stared at him. He was already walking away. “But-but… You just… you just…”

He turned around. “Hm?”

I slowly shook my head at him. “That-that saved us… You just saved us…”

Khristiano held out a hand, which I took. My knees were still a bit weak, but I managed to stand, I managed to walk. I still couldn’t believe what just happened. “That… that…”

“We need to leave.”

I nodded. I took one more glance at the old building and shuddered. “Khristiano…”

He turned around.

“Thank you.”