Finally

I was ready this time.

I squatted with my back against the empty pickle barrels, tightly grasping the pistol, waiting. My hands were clammy and shaking, and I tried taking deep breaths to calm myself down. I didn’t want to miss again, not when I only had one bullet left.

I heard some loud footsteps nearby, presumably the graceless footsteps of the enemy. I leaned out from behind the barrel to get a better look, and sure enough, there she was. She was looking around the dim basement, her expression was frustrated.

I lifted my gun, aiming for her shallow heart. And then as she turned her demonic head and saw me there, behind the empty pickle barrels, I shot her.

The sound reverberated throughout the room, muting her cries, and she staggered before collapsing in her own pool of blood on the cold cement floor.

I crawled out from behind my hiding place, and then I stood up and creeped over to where the enemy lay. Her black eyes were still open in shock, her pale lips were parted mid-cry. Her hair was spread out around her head, some of the ends soaked in blood, forming a bloody, tangled halo.

I looked at her disgustedly, trying to recall the days when she was beautiful, but time, events, and mistakes had tarnished her beauty. I reminisced about her pleasant attitude and charm that she had recently been using to manipulate others. I recalled her once strong and positive mentality that had fallen apart at the smallest of mishaps. Her heart had become a cold stone that had dragged me under the murky water that I used to swim in. She had turned against me; she had become the enemy.

And after standing over my limp body a little bit longer, staring into my hollow, black eyes, I laid the pistol down beside my dead self. I didn’t need to fight myself anymore.

That part of me was finally dead.

Then I walked away and started over.

© 2017 Vic Romero

This is a repost from…probably 2012 or 2013.  I wrote a sequel for it around 2013, but I cannot find it.  Since I currently relate to the feelings that inspired me to write this piece about four years ago, I decided to write a new sequel for it.  Well actually…it’s not a sequel.  The original story is retold with an alternative ending.  It will be posted next week.