Status: Complete
The Sniper
The Sniper
I shut my eyes on the world around me. The trigger beneath my finger felt so warm, so tempting as if it was beckoning to me. I took one deep breath, praying as I pulled the trigger. It seemed to go in slow motion, the pulling of the warm metal to the kickback of the rifle then the scream of people around me. I didn't notice my head smacking hard against the concrete wall behind me and I didn't notice the warm blood trickling down the side of my face, not until it was too late, but when I opened my eyes again they were all staring at me.
The chaos from below was deafening as they grabbed my arm and pulled me up and raced to grab all the gear. They pushed me down the stairs and we were on the run. It didn't matter that I could feel the pulse in my head and it didn't matter that I was getting dizzy, if we stayed here I would lose my life. Everything now was a blur of running and yelling down the stairwell, guns going here and there and people hopping over railings.
Once we hit the bottom floor, we could easily get lost in the swarm of people running here and there, calling out about how they feared more gunshots. I could assure them, there were no more shots coming from us. Looking around I noticed the hand on my sleeve still pulling me, dragging me in the direction he knew we were supposed to go but I couldn't focus on enough to go myself. It was the same boy that had pulled me up off the ground when I shot the gun. Who was he anyway?
Blurs.... the world was spinning around me as the boys yelled back and forth, still under the radar with the screaming people everywhere. The courtyard was filled with them going left and right, their hands held high over their heads as they ran for cover. I could see through them all that were maybe twenty people surrounding the body, the one body in this hellish place that wasn't moving, the king.
I had killed the king. What?
The courtyard was beginning to empty as people finally found the places they believed they were safe. We were almost there, I could see the light. Things still seemed too loud, even as the people stop screaming the sound was still pounding in my head, pounding. I could feel myself getting sluggish as my legs nearly fell from under me. But he was there.
He grabbed my waist and I couldn't feel the ground anymore. Actually, I could hardly feel anything anymore than a point of pain in the back of my head. Why was my head hurting so badly? Oh, wait, right, the rock wall.
“Hang in there,” he said. I could hear him but for some reason, all I could see was this dot of light. It was getting closer, closer, closer, but wait, further, further. I could feel something solid beneath me, pressure, pain. The light was going away and things were just getting dark.
“Stay, you stay right here,” he said. But stay where? “Here,” he said. I was shaking. People were screaming, yelling. Metal was clanging around me and I wanted to scream that it hurt, my head hurt so badly. I wanted to cry, but wait, I can't cry. They were yelling, oh, why were they yelling? Couldn't they see the way it hurt me? Words went back and forth and there was light again, a different light, this one cold and sure where as the previous one was warm, less there.
Pressure, more pain. I let out a cry and they held my wrists down, keeping me where I was. “Dammit Liz,” someone grumbled. Liz, who was Liz?
My eyes were getting heavy now and the light was getting smaller, further and further away until it just wasn't there.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a green field, laying on a blanket beneath a huge oak tree. He was watching me, blue eyes shining just like his smile. He laughed and I laughed, feeling the warmth of his hand that rest on my arm, the other behind me head.
The world around us was green, the grass tall and soft, the leaves on the tree bright and healthy in the glow of the sun. But none of it was as amazing as him, his expression soft as he kissed me slightly. He laughed slightly before running his fingers over my cheek, his eyes suddenly sad.
His image was blurring the whole world was starting to fade around me into something different, something dark. The sun was gone and the soft grass was replaced with hard stone. What was a moment of happiness was replaced with dread as I watched a person hang. A crowd around me cheered as I twisted, turning to see if I could find him. Those blue eyes were peering at me as he tried to push through, stopping dead in his tracks when he came to the front.
He looked behind me, his stare shocked and scared. I turned and screamed, green eyes like my own watching me with a dead stare. My parents.
The world changed again and suddenly there was a gunshot and pain. When I opened my eyes I could see again but it hurt. Everything hurt as the world spun. It was still too loud and pressed my hands up to my ears, trying to block out the pain. Someone pushed my hands away, holding them down as they yelled something across the room.
“Leave it to you to hurt yourself during an assassination.” Assassination? Wait, the king was dead, I killed the king! He killed my parents so I killed him. I could just barely smile as something happened and the pain shot up like a boiling cauldron. Then, it was gone. I couldn't feel anymore and all I could see was him.
My vision focused on him, the sniper, as he watched me with sad eyes. “Dammit Liz, you're mom would kill me if you died,” he said with a nervous laugh. But I was okay, wasn't I? My mom couldn't kill him, she was hung. “But it would be okay, because then I'd be there,” he said now with tears in his eyes. But snipers don't cry. I tried to wipe away a tear but my hand fell away as slowly, the darkness crept back.
No, I couldn't leave, not now, not now that I remember. “It's okay Liz, let go,” he said. Wait, what? No. I could feel a tear roll down my cheek as the darkness washed over me and all the pain left, leaving me in an abyss with nowhere to go and the last thing I saw was him, the sniper.
It was only fitting, a life for a life.
The chaos from below was deafening as they grabbed my arm and pulled me up and raced to grab all the gear. They pushed me down the stairs and we were on the run. It didn't matter that I could feel the pulse in my head and it didn't matter that I was getting dizzy, if we stayed here I would lose my life. Everything now was a blur of running and yelling down the stairwell, guns going here and there and people hopping over railings.
Once we hit the bottom floor, we could easily get lost in the swarm of people running here and there, calling out about how they feared more gunshots. I could assure them, there were no more shots coming from us. Looking around I noticed the hand on my sleeve still pulling me, dragging me in the direction he knew we were supposed to go but I couldn't focus on enough to go myself. It was the same boy that had pulled me up off the ground when I shot the gun. Who was he anyway?
Blurs.... the world was spinning around me as the boys yelled back and forth, still under the radar with the screaming people everywhere. The courtyard was filled with them going left and right, their hands held high over their heads as they ran for cover. I could see through them all that were maybe twenty people surrounding the body, the one body in this hellish place that wasn't moving, the king.
I had killed the king. What?
The courtyard was beginning to empty as people finally found the places they believed they were safe. We were almost there, I could see the light. Things still seemed too loud, even as the people stop screaming the sound was still pounding in my head, pounding. I could feel myself getting sluggish as my legs nearly fell from under me. But he was there.
He grabbed my waist and I couldn't feel the ground anymore. Actually, I could hardly feel anything anymore than a point of pain in the back of my head. Why was my head hurting so badly? Oh, wait, right, the rock wall.
“Hang in there,” he said. I could hear him but for some reason, all I could see was this dot of light. It was getting closer, closer, closer, but wait, further, further. I could feel something solid beneath me, pressure, pain. The light was going away and things were just getting dark.
“Stay, you stay right here,” he said. But stay where? “Here,” he said. I was shaking. People were screaming, yelling. Metal was clanging around me and I wanted to scream that it hurt, my head hurt so badly. I wanted to cry, but wait, I can't cry. They were yelling, oh, why were they yelling? Couldn't they see the way it hurt me? Words went back and forth and there was light again, a different light, this one cold and sure where as the previous one was warm, less there.
Pressure, more pain. I let out a cry and they held my wrists down, keeping me where I was. “Dammit Liz,” someone grumbled. Liz, who was Liz?
My eyes were getting heavy now and the light was getting smaller, further and further away until it just wasn't there.
When I opened my eyes, I was in a green field, laying on a blanket beneath a huge oak tree. He was watching me, blue eyes shining just like his smile. He laughed and I laughed, feeling the warmth of his hand that rest on my arm, the other behind me head.
The world around us was green, the grass tall and soft, the leaves on the tree bright and healthy in the glow of the sun. But none of it was as amazing as him, his expression soft as he kissed me slightly. He laughed slightly before running his fingers over my cheek, his eyes suddenly sad.
His image was blurring the whole world was starting to fade around me into something different, something dark. The sun was gone and the soft grass was replaced with hard stone. What was a moment of happiness was replaced with dread as I watched a person hang. A crowd around me cheered as I twisted, turning to see if I could find him. Those blue eyes were peering at me as he tried to push through, stopping dead in his tracks when he came to the front.
He looked behind me, his stare shocked and scared. I turned and screamed, green eyes like my own watching me with a dead stare. My parents.
The world changed again and suddenly there was a gunshot and pain. When I opened my eyes I could see again but it hurt. Everything hurt as the world spun. It was still too loud and pressed my hands up to my ears, trying to block out the pain. Someone pushed my hands away, holding them down as they yelled something across the room.
“Leave it to you to hurt yourself during an assassination.” Assassination? Wait, the king was dead, I killed the king! He killed my parents so I killed him. I could just barely smile as something happened and the pain shot up like a boiling cauldron. Then, it was gone. I couldn't feel anymore and all I could see was him.
My vision focused on him, the sniper, as he watched me with sad eyes. “Dammit Liz, you're mom would kill me if you died,” he said with a nervous laugh. But I was okay, wasn't I? My mom couldn't kill him, she was hung. “But it would be okay, because then I'd be there,” he said now with tears in his eyes. But snipers don't cry. I tried to wipe away a tear but my hand fell away as slowly, the darkness crept back.
No, I couldn't leave, not now, not now that I remember. “It's okay Liz, let go,” he said. Wait, what? No. I could feel a tear roll down my cheek as the darkness washed over me and all the pain left, leaving me in an abyss with nowhere to go and the last thing I saw was him, the sniper.
It was only fitting, a life for a life.