Wrong Place, Wrong Time Or Was I?

The bangs on the door continued, the Green Coat looked at it.

“MOVE FASTER” He yelled to Ed, before muttering a string of four letter words.
The bangs on the door continued, getting louder and louder, as the robber got more and more agitated. Tyler took a huge risk and pelted it to the door. The gunman shot the roof.
“It’s real, so don’t even think about it, child.” As the man turned back to Ed, Tyler sprung to the door, unlocking it quickly. The guy with the gun turned and looked at him. He wildly shot and Tyler fell over against a shelf which then fell on top of him. I heard a low moan from under the packets of crisps and shattered parts of wooden shelf.

“Tyler!” Ed and I yelled in unison as the police barged in and the gunman grabbed the cash and pelted it out of the back door into the store room, Ed ran over to Tyler as I pointed the police to the back room. I turned back to Ed and saw him chucking wood all over the place to get it off his brother. One of the female officers hung back and tried to help, calling through one of the waiting paramedics over to us.

“Ty? Tyler? Ty? Can you hear me? It’s Ed, come on. Can you hear me?” Ed kept repeating, scarcely giving Tyler a chance to reply.
“Ouch, hey, Ed, what happened?” Tyler looked around, “Crap! That’s a lot of stock ruined! Not to mention all the earning’s we lost. Aw man!” He started to stress.
“Ty, bro, Tyler, that doesn’t matter right now, are you OK?” Ed asked him, worriedly, Tyler blinked and started to scream.
“It’s his leg.” One of the paramedics was saying, I could see that, and so could Ed, who was staring at Tyler’s leg. It was contorted in a way no leg should be. Tyler started to really panic.
“Dammit! Why the hell pick us? What have we ever done?” Tyler screamed, and the way Ed glanced at him, I guessed it was something.

I should’ve gotten out then. If I had…maybe they wouldn’t have found me…maybe Ed and Tyler would’ve been able to try to get on with their lives. But you see, nothing in my life ever went normally, from the day my parents were murdered. They were killed in front of me-I was four years old. A child’s nightmares. My memories. Sometimes, I’d try to forget about it. About that night, but…I can’t. The burden of the past weighs more than the thoughts of the future.

I had just woken up; I thought I heard something outside my door. Then my Mother ran into the room.
“Shh, Honey, it’ll be OK. We just need to play a little game, OK? I need you to put as many clothes and anything you can’t live without into these bags as quickly as possible, OK, Sweetheart? Hurry!” I scrambled around, it was a game, and it was fun. But she was being so intense…it scared me. I ran and put all my prettiest dresses into the bag, then my favourite dolls, and favourite teddy bear. Then my books…but I only had time to put one book in, before there was a bang downstairs. Voices were yelling. My Mother looked terrified.
“New game, OK, Darling? Hide under the bed. No matter what happens don’t make a sound. Don’t say anything. I love you-don’t forget that. No matter what happens I love you and I am your Mother. When this is all over, run. Run, Crystal and never look back. Look after yourself, my precious stone.” I started to cry when she did, but silently. I was too terrified to cry loudly.
“Mummy, I’m scared.”
“I know, Baby, I’m scared too. Just hide, please, hide.” I did as she told me, I was only four years old, but already I had been forced to mature. We were often robbed, and we had to move every six months…my parents never really explained why. Why should they have needed to? I was only four and they didn’t realize they wouldn’t have chance when I was older.
The door to my bedroom was forced open and things were yelled in a language I didn’t understand. It must have been English; I didn’t speak English back then. I only spoke French. My Father started yelling back. They didn’t like that, they struck him, and his head landed right by mine.
“I’m sorry, Crystal, I tried my best to protect you, and I love you.” He whispered, so silently I strained to hear him. I didn’t understand…how had he failed? But my question was soon answered. The four hit men fired three shots each. I watched, too scared to make a sound, as my parents bled to death beside me. The men yelled something in their language, and they jumped out the window. Next thing I heard was the rumble of a car…then silence.
“Mummy? Daddy?” I cried, but there was no-one to hear me. Only corpses. One thing I remember most about that day is crying. I cried and cried for what felt like days. Four years old…orphaned…alone.
The next thing I was conscious of, I was being carried to a car.
“What? Mummy?” I asked, disoriented.
“No, Sweety, this is Grandma, I’m so sorry. I should’ve been here earlier. You shouldn’t have seen that. I’m so sorry.” And then we were both crying. Sobbing and weeping for the family we had lost. For everything we had lost. For it all.