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Misc. >> Short Stories >> Fade to Black

:: Fade to Black ::

by Tiffany

She stared at the gun he held, and her eyes widened at the sight of the foreign entity. “Jason?” she asked, shakily, but somehow managing to bring her eyes up to meet his and away from the offending object he held.

“Stop saying my name like we’re friends! You changed that a long time ago,” he replied, bitterly, as he brushed his dark, shaggy hair off of his forehead. The quick motion made the girl jump, and she winced at the harsh tone his voice held.

“W-we’re friends,” Sarah stated, her voice somehow taking on a calm quality.  

"We are not..” he replied, his voice weak, as he shook his head furiously.

She took a step forward, as once again her eyes slid over the dull, metal object he held in a tight grip.

“Stop!” he commanded, his voice harsh.  Tears threatened to fall as he looked at her.  She wondered how he had masked the flood of emotions so well that he was now exhibiting.

She held up her hands in what she hoped was a comforting manner, “Jason, we can talk about this,” she stated, nodding reassuringly.

“We can’t,” he said, his hazel eyes standing out even more in their watery cell.  “Stop acting like you care,” he commanded, suddenly enraged.

“I do care,” Sarah assured him, as she slowly dropped her hands to her sides.

The hand that held the gun had dropped slightly, but it had begun to shake violently.

“Jason, please put it down,” she pleaded. “We can change things...”

“We can’t change anything,” he said, his voice finally calm as if everything had been corrected with that one statement.

“We can,” she assured him. 

He shook his head gravely, “The dead can’t change anything” he said, once again raising the gun.

The light played across the metallic finish as he leveled it at her.

“Jason, please...” she rasped, as she finally began to cry.

“Nothing changes,” he said, shaking his head sadly.  There was an audible click as a bullet slid into place in the chamber.

Sarah began to cry harder as silent sobs wracked her frail frame.

“Nothing changes,” he repeated, as he suddenly turned the gun upon himself.

As the resonance of the lone gunshot filled the room….everything changed.

* * *

Sarah tried to stand, and once she was able to move she climbed shakily to her feet.  Her eyes landed, unbidden, on the shattered body of her former friend, and she squeezed her eyes shut forcing herself not to vomit.

            The guilt rushed over her, as she relayed the scene over and over in her head, and she thought of all the things she could have done, and all the things she could have said to stop it.

            She took a hesitant step forward, as she frantically wiped her tears away, but they were replaced immediately by more. 

            ‘Jason, wake up’ She pleaded mentally, even though she knew there was no chance of that happening.  Over and over, ‘Wake Up’ hammered through her brain, that simple phrase repeating over and over until it no longer sounded like words.

            She wondered how things had gotten so messed up.  She took another hesitant, shaking step toward her friend…no not her friend, just a body and the memories she had of what he used to be.

            How had he been feeling the way he had to have been feeling, and she hadn’t noticed?  And now…he was dead.

            She looked down at his bleeding, battered body, and all the memories she had of him were pushed aside, and only that remained; His body was the symbol of her helplessness.  She closed her eyes tightly, but the image remained etched on her eyelids.  The darkness tainted by the reflection of blood surrounding him.

            She turned away, and opened her eyes slowly.  She knew she had to go for help, which was what you did when something like this happened right?

            She let out a peal of hysterical laughter at the thought; no one should have to go through this.  She quickly slapped a hand over her mouth though, feeling as if her laughter would defile Jason...or at least the memory of what he had been.

            She opened the door to the outside world slowly, as if not sure what to expect after the horror she had just witnessed.

            Unsurprisingly, well to everyone but Sarah, the world had remained unchanged.  Only she carried the news of the tragedy that would cause so many emotions in so many people.

            It was as if the world had not yet been told of the loss it had just endured, and she felt that if it found out it would truly lose its innocence.

            She walked blindly down the street, surveying the innocent world through a veil of tears.  The message she carried may actually effect very few, but she felt as if she was holding the information on the tip of he tongue, that would make the world crumble.

            And above it all, above the illusion of innocence, above the pressure to let people know about the news she carried, the feeling of helplessness weighing down on her was all she felt, and it was threatening to bury her alive.

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