Outcast

The girls had been dancing for almost two hours straight, taking some breaks in the middle to have a drink and speak to the other teens around them. They had made some new friends and met some old ones.

The moment the only clock in the bar, invisible because of the dark and unnoticed by the careless teens, struck 22:40 a loud crack shot through the air.

The music stopped abruptly and there were no smiles in the crowd any more, replaced by worried and frightened looks. No one could understand what that loud sound was nor where it had come for, they feared the worst.

"What the hell was that?" Laura whispered harshly, her eyes wide and fixed on her blonde companion which looks absolutely mortified.

When a scream pierced the silence and was followed by loud sobbing; everybody knew something had gone terribly, terribly wrong.

"HELP!" a girl yelled out, her voice ringing through the space. "Oh, god!"

Christina could suddenly hear it. The sound of death approaching and of a life slipping away. She wanted to get up to help; but she was paralysed. Tears formed in the corner of her eyes and she shot Laura a look of panic.

Laura got up and walked towards the sound of the sobbing girl, which was now surrounded by other people. She managed to get a glimpse of the most terrifying thing she had ever seen.

Right there, on the floor, was one of the instructors. His name was Liam and she hadn't known him all that well, but yet it hit her so bad. He was barely twenty-two years old and laid there, bleeding out of his chest, gasping for air and spitting out blood.

Before she could even begin to react, another three loud cracks filled the room and hell was set loose.

Everybody started running around, yelling for their loved ones and crying hysterically. She saw two girls and a boy fall to the floor. Her mind raced and she couldn't see Christina any more. Through the mess of escaping people she walked direction-less, looking for the blonde haired girl.

"Christina!" she yelled as loud as possible, hoping for an answer.

"Laura!" the girl cried back, making Laura feel a pan of relief that wouldn't last for long.

When she pushed herself out of the mob, she saw her in a corner, terrified and crying like a little girl.

"It's okay, I'm here" she held her, trying not to fall apart herself. "I'll never leave you"

She broke away from the embrace to look Christina in the eyes, smiling a comforting smile even though inside she was broken to pieces and her confidence was shattered. She had never been so vulnerable in her life, it was eating her up from the inside.

Cupping her face with both her hands she pecked her lips for what seemed like an eternity, though it lasted merely a few seconds.

"It's gonna be allright" she said, her voice cracking "I love you"

BOOM.

"I love y-" Christina began saying but was unable to continue her sentence.

"No" Laura managed to stutter as her eyes went wide with horror. The blonde chocked on her own words before starting to choke on her own blood. "No, please no" she begged.

Christina pressed a hand to her chest and began coughing louder as a large, red stain began spreading on her white shirt. She began to fall slowly, and Laura tried her best to hold her but fell with her to the ground.

"Christina, please don't do this to me" she cried "don't you die on me, Christina!"

But it was too late. Christina's breathing became slower and slower as the minutes went by, and she wasn't struggling as much as before. Her sight was blurring and she could only her Laura's voice echoing in the distance.

"You...You're c-crying" she mumbled with the last of her strength and smiled.

"I know, it's pathetic" Laura chuckled in between her sobs "I love you so much"

And that was the last time she got to listen to Christina's sweet voice. She stopped moving. Her eyes were fixed on the same spot, and her chest had stopped moving. Laura's sorrowful screams still echoed throughout the whole city. Time seemed to have frozen for her.

The police had later found her embracing Christina's motionless body, both laying in a pool of blood. The gunman was long gone and the world had lost two of its children. Two others remained maimed for life, eight others were wounded and many more were left with an open wound that'd never heal.

"She was my everything" Laura concluded the talk. She had her head buried between her knees, and her eyes ached from crying. She had no tears left to cry.

Yet, she felt a heavy weight lift from her broken heart. Maybe it was good for her to finally open up, even if she had to go through a roller-coaster of heart-breaking emotions.

"Thank you, Laura" the woman spoke, holding back a few tears herself. That poor child had gone through so much in her short stay on the face of the earth. "I think you're very brave, and I'm glad you finally decided to open up"

"Me too" looking up, Laura looked straight into the woman's eyes. She knew she spoke the truth.

"And I'm sure Christina is also very proud of you, wherever she is"

"I believe that too" she said quietly, looking up to the ceiling as if looking up to the heavens.