Brittany Reid

9/10/08

Creative Writing Honors

Writing Homework: Bear at the Door

                                                            Rob Me of Life

            Katie had been flirting with the cashier to get a discount on her sundae when suddenly shots rang out across the food court in the mall and loud screams pierced the air.

            “Get down and put your hands on the ground!  Don’t anyone try to be a hero!”  The robber cried in a deep voice.  He was dressed in black and had a ski mask covering his face down to his nose, but his mouth was free so he could talk. Katie shivered with fear as she ducked under a nearby table and hunched over into an egg-shape like they had taught her to do during tornado warnings back in middle school.  How did this happen?  She had gone to the food court to get something to eat before shopping for a gift for her long-term-boyfriend-recently-turned fiancé.  Now she was about to get her brains blown out a few months before her wedding day?  What a pain in the butt!  To her left a mother was trying to calm down her child who was wailing, and the robber came over to their direction.

            “Shut that kid up!”  He cried, waving the gun around.  The mother’s eyes grew wide with fear.

            “H-he’s scared.”  Her voice broke down.

            “I don’t care! Shut him up!”  The guy cried, firing and shooting at the glass window just behind the mother.  The window shattered and pieces rained down, cutting the mother in several places as she held her child closer.  He then pointed the gun in the direction of the child. 

“Please! Please don’t kill my baby!”  The mother cried, making her little boy fuss even more. The man fired another shot, grazing the mother’s arm.  She shrieked in pain.

“SHUT UP!”  He cried.  The mother sobbed softly while rocking her son back and forth. 

Katie’s heart went out to the mother.  She had to do something.  She had been told in high school that her promiscuous ways allowed her to control men.  So she put her talent to work again, hoping that maybe she could save these people; even if the man was dangerous, he was still a man. Katie pushed the thought of her fiancé to the back of her brain for a moment as she stood, grabbed the robber’s shoulder, turned him around and firmly planted her lips on his.  When she did so, the man fired, in surprise, and shot her in the gut.  She gasped and pulled away just as the man started kissing her back, almost as if he recognized the feel of her lips against his own.  Katie held her hand to the wound, a bloody river gushing out of her stomach and coating her fingers with a slick, sticky liquid.  The man’s eyes widened in fear as he yanked off his ski mask and shook his head in horror. 

            “K-Katie?”  Katie gasped as she recognized the face of her love behind the mask.  She collapsed to the floor and her love’s heart pounded out of his chest, what was he going to do now?  As he stood, frozen, the blood continued to pour rapidly from her wound.  No, this wasn’t supposed to happen.  He thought she’d be with her girl-friends; that was what she had told him!  Why was she…?

            “DROP THE GUN, AND GET DOWN ON THE GROUND, NOW!!!” Loud authoritative voices rang out.  The man gasped and looked up at the police rushing towards him.  He swore silently and glanced back down at Katie, his heart wrenching out towards her in a solemn cry.  A lump welled up in his throat and he couldn’t swallow as tears burned behind his eyes; but the sounds of the policemen’s feet stampeding ever faster towards him echoed in his ears, causing him to panic.  Nearly hyperventilating, he turned on his heels and ran.

            “AFTER HIM, HE’S GETTING AWAY!”  One of the men cried, when another approached the mortally injured Katie.  He bent next to her and put his finger to her throat.

            “We’ve got one hurt.  She needs help, her pulse is fading.”  He said.  Katie could hardly breathe, everything around her was fuzzy, and only one word barely breathed past her lips,

            “A-Adam.”  Where had he gone?  He was supposed to be by her side, holding her hand, forever and always.  But…she squinted her eyes in disbelief and confusion…he, ran away didn’t he?  That’s right.  He… shot her, and left her…alone.  With that thought, Katie’s vision faded into blackness.

            Adam ran as fast as he could, jumping over food carts, dodging baby strollers and pushing people over to slow down the police as he made his way to the exit where his buddy was waiting in their getaway car.

            “Go, go, go, go GO!!!”  He cried, yanking the passenger door open and jumping in his seat.  He slammed it shut as his friend stepped on the gas.

            “Yo, did you score?”  The guy asked.  But Adam was silent.  His friend shouted his question again, but Adam was trying to calm his racing heart.  He pounded on the passenger side window with his fist before banging his forehead against it in despair.  Katie, his precious Katie…she was helpless, dying, he had shot her and he left her too… he didn’t even want to finish his thought.  He tightly shut his eyes and let out a distraught moan of anguish.

            “Adam!”

            “Shut the heck up Danny!”  Adam cried.  He swore loudly, “I’m not in the mood now!  Just shut up!”

            “Oh, I KNOW you’re not telling ME to shut up when YOU were the one who blew our operation and…” There was a click.  Danny glanced out of his peripheral vision to see Adam holding the gun to Danny’s head.

            “Say one more word, and I’m gonna blow your head off.  Shut. Up.  I won’t say it again.”  He said.  Danny narrowed his eyes at Adam before shaking his head and turning his attention back to the road.  Adam returned his gazed to the scenery outside of the window.  He’d probably lost the love of his life…for good.  How could he have shot her?  What possessed him to do that? And after she had kissed him…how had she known it was him anyway?  At this, Adam’s eyes widened as a thought crossed his mind.  Katie, she didn’t know it was him before he removed his mask; his face was covered and he had disguised his voice.  What was she doing kissing a stranger, and in an armed robbery situation at that?  He growled and punched a crack in his window out of utter frustration, cutting his hand on the glass and making his fist bleed heavily.  Danny noticed this, but said nothing, wondering what had happened inside to make Danny so upset. 

            About a week later, Katie was healing in hospital and Danny staying as far away from her as possible.  Katie had seven days to think of how Danny had kept his life of crime a secret from her, and the fact that he even had a such a life in the first place, and the fact that he had actually shot her and then left her to die.  She didn’t want to talk to him, but at the same time she had so many questions.  She currently stared at the engagement ring in her hand and rolled it between her thumb and forefinger in deep contemplation.  She frowned before picking up her cell phone and staring at it.

            Adam was doing the same with his ring and cell phone in his hideout downtown.  His college roommate Danny had completed their past few crimes alone to give the heat on Adam a chance to die down.  After all, he had revealed his face in the panic after shooting Katie.  Adam shook his head.  He couldn’t take this.  He loved her so much, but felt guilt for what he had done; and he didn’t want to face the fact that she probably was as promiscuous as her reputation preceded her when she wasn’t around him.  Suddenly, his phone rang.  Without thinking to check his caller ID, he answered and before he could say hello,

            “Love, I want in.”  Katie’s voice was a whisper.  She had forgiven Adam for shooting her, but she also was curious about this life of crime that he had kept secret from her.  Adam’s eyes widened.  He recognized her voice.  She was alive, and okay!

“K-katie…”  He said lowly, his heart fluttering in his chest.  At first he was about to decline her offer for her sake, when he realized, she was alive.  She called him “love.” She had forgiven him.  She wanted to help him and he could keep her away from other guys while she helped him and Danny in their crime spree.  With a sly smirk he nodded as he answered,

            “Alright.  You’re in, love.”  With that, both adults closed their phones. 

            After Katie closed her phone, she placed it on the table next to her hospital bed before sighing and resting her head in her pillow.  The way she saw it, if she joined up with Adam, she could at least make sure that he didn’t seriously harm other people in his crimes like he had nearly done that day about a week ago, and she had salvaged their relationship. 

            “Good to have you on the team.”  A masculine voice echoed in her room.  Katie gave a small smile before smirking to the man at the foot of her bed.  Of course, getting closer to Adam’s old, oh so very hot, college roommate would also be a plus.