writing café submission 1

By Anonymous

Click. I heard the click of the safety being pulled before I saw it. The hair on the back of my neck rose, goosebumps spread all throughout my body, and a profound feeling of dread overwhelmed me. It was suffocating. Frozen in place, it took all my willpower to turn my head, inch by inch. The barrel of the gun was staring right back at me.

My gaze slowly crept up to meet the cold, lifeless eyes that were glaring down at me. My heart ached as I remembered how those very same eyes had once been full of light. Bright with joy, and all things swift and beautiful. I recalled how those same eyes that bled hatred had once looked at me like I was a secret that only she knew. Because she knew all the secrets of the universe, and I was always the one who marveled at her brilliance.

“What happened to us?” I whispered. She didn’t respond. Didn’t move. Didn’t do anything that indicated human life or emotion I could only see those eyes, so dark they were almost black, melting holes into my face.

Finally, she moved. Her eyes flickered over mine, and I saw a hint of who she once had been.

“Simple,” she said suddenly. “You happened to me. And I happened to you. We were always meant to end up this way one way or another.”

Before I could respond, her hand suddenly jerked forward, preparing to pull the trigger

I watched the girl on the other side of the gun flinch at the click of the removal of the safety. I’d never been so thrilled. Excitement filled every corner, every vein, every bone in my body. I’d imagined this moment again and again over the last two months, planning it to the very last detail in the depths of my room.

“What happened to us?” she asked in a hushed tone.

What happened? In the broadest sense, every aspect of our lives had changed. She’d been a fool not to see it A fool not to expect this A fool not to raise her own gun There was no way around it; there was no possibility that we could co-exist. She was only too empathetic to see it, too blinded by the past to see the future, my future, and all the power I would soon have. I was no longer blinded by empty promises of returning to childhood carelessness. We had grown up now, and she was holding me back.

I pulled the trigger, then watched her body fall. A sense of emptiness washed over me, not from guilt, but from all the hours spent planning this. The payoff was not as exciting, not as fulfilling as I’d imagined it would be I left the room through the window and moved towards the future.