Chapter X: The Reflections

I want to see things that only a blind man can see, hear things that only a deaf man can hear and feel things only a dead man can feel. Only then can I tell you the true beauties of what the word life really is. I walk along this empty hallway and I see no one…i hear no one. The only thing I have is the little book that has brought me to this point.

I look back at things as i keep moving forward. I look back and remember Jessica and her failed marriage and what I was able to tell her. I look back at Victoria and her new family and what I was able to be to her. I look back at Alana and her life and what she meant to mine…this is my story so far, these have been the chapters of my life that seem to define the moment where I am now. I look back and I remember Gayle White…my first love, my only love. There are so many things that rush into my mind as I say her name, there are so many tears that run down the side of my face…there was so much left unsaid.

I stopped, sat down on the floor and looked at the little book that Gayle left for me. I can’t help but feel the emptiness in my heart. There is this feeling of complete loneliness as i sit here waiting for the world to change around me…waiting for someone to pick me up from the hole i have fell in.

Suddenly from a distance, I hear the squeaking of wheels and i don’t dare to look up but the person stops right in front of me. I look up and it’s another familiar stranger. A Mr. David Knight, healthy as can be standing before me. He was the man who was next to me when Alana gave me her heart. He looked down with a smile and he offered to help me get up from the hospital floor.

As i stood before him, he shook my hand and told me “it seems that every time I knock on death’s door, no one is home and your always around to keep me company.” I cracked a grin at his comment and I asked about his condition. He replied saying “same old, same old…making the best out of what doctors keep telling me is the rest of my life.” We walked back to his room and I explained to him the story in which I held in my hands.

David laid in his bed, looked at me and told me “your heart always likes to get hurt. Look at it like this kid, it seems like so much is going on in this road you are in…ever stop to think about the fact that all of these girls you picked up along the way don’t want to see you the way you are? All of the things they have done, all of the moments you had…they did it for you kid, and only you. Don’t hide in the shadows…don’t hide away in your sorrows…be bigger than that, make them proud to have loved you.”

I smiled and thanked him for the words he shared with me. “Hang in there because I can’t have you dying on me when I need more advice,” I joked with him. David smiled back and gave me the signal to run off. I felt like this was the last I would see of him, but like everyone else…he shares a moment in my life that means more than anything I can describe.

As I left the room, Dr. Sheryl Wood was waiting for me outside. “I heard everything and I’m glad to have met and talked to a person like you. It is an honor and I hope one day someone can love me the way you loved those around you.” She hugged me and her eyes glossed from the emotions that rushed her body. “I have something to show you,” she told me. I followed her to the nursery and I saw a countless amount of babies lying asleep. I was simple amazed.

“Victoria told me to bring you here and to show you her son, Joseph Peters…he was named after you,” she told me. I smiled at the sight of his little hands and little feet…I never thought something could be so beautiful. I stood next to Sheryl and she smiled and told me “this is how much you mean to people…this is how much you have meant to their lives.” She hugged me and left me in the happiest place I have been in a long long time.

I stayed there for a little longer before I made my way back to Jessica’s room. She was feeling more than amazing now and was full of joy when she saw me enter the room. “I’m getting a divorce, I wanted you to be the first to know…and I wanted to thank you from the bottom of my heart for holding my hand and leading me out of the darkness.” She hugged me as tight as she could and thanked me again thinking that there would never be a limit to how much she owes me.

I smile and told her “I did nothing but tell you what you already know…one day someone will sweep you off your feet and bring you to places you never thought you would be.” She held me as long as she could until she got to tired to hold onto me. Isabel walked in a little later and stayed with Jessica as I left.

I left the hospital soon after and found myself reading Gayle’s diary all over again. It was sunset as I walked across Brooklyn Bridge and a slight breeze brushed my cheeks. I closed my eyes and embraced the wind as it felt like Gayle was still there kissing my cheeks and holding my hands. I felt her there with me and I smiled. She brought me to the place where I am now and I am ready to make her proud. I looked out over at the East River and I looked down at the diary Gayle had left me and decided it was time to part ways. I threw her as far and as hard as I could…letting her go and moving onto bigger things…they way she always wanted me to.

I went home and found the box that held the diary that Gayle had left for me. I broke it down and when I lifted the box a page fell out. She left me one more message:

Joseph, I hope you read the diary I left you and now I am leaving you one last message. I always said how I wanted to visit Paris…but now I want you to go for me. I am leaving you enough money to go there and back. I love you Joseph and I want you to know that you can’t lie to your mind in something your heart already knows and i kept telling myself that I wouldn’t ever be able to see the Eiffel Tower or the bright lights…but my heart tells me that you will bring me there. My heart is yours now and always be…take me to Paris…

I found myself thousands of feet up in the air flying to a place Gayle only dreamed of, but i know now that through my eyes she can see, through my hands she can feel and through my heart she can love.

My name is Joseph Peter Hart, and I have lived my life moment by moment and day by day. I had my life saved by the girl with the black eye, her name was Alana. I had a child named after me and his mother’s name was Victoria. And I fell in love with a girl who left me a story to share with you all…her name was Gayle White. For once in my life I can say that I have lived a life that I am proud of and I will never forget to never lie to my mind in something my heart already knows….

THE END

Chapter IX: For All I See

It seems every time that I open Gayle’s diary I get even more and more confused on the reality that was set upon me. I remember the day when I told her my love for her and I remember the day that she told me that she was leaving for Paris. I remember it as if it was yesterday…how can I forget.

I sat and stared a bit for a while and listened to nothing as nothing happened. I looked down on the book and I was too scared to reopen it for what I might find. Just the thought of what I might find next put an ache in my mind. I looked up and realized I was the only one in the cafeteria until I heard the clicking of heels coming down the hallway. Through the corridor it was Dr. Sheryl Wood again, walking down to the vending machine to get her tomato juice.

I cleared my throat and she took notice. “Hey, it seems like I’m always running into you here in this place. Ever think about finding a new hangout?” She said to me with a smile. I smiled back and motion for her to take the open chair next to mine. She came with a bottle of tomato juice and a folder in her hand. She pulled out her scrunchy and let her hair flow. It was her one moment of pure rest and relaxation, something I haven’t seen from her…she was truly beautiful.

“How is Jessica and Isabel doing?” I asked.

“Well Jessica is okay and I know you haven’t went to visit Isabel yet but she seems to be just fine…her daughter is in the room with her…why don’t you try to stop by and give her a quick check up?” She said in response.

I said nothing as I looked back down on the diary and remembered something Gayle wrote in the last entry. Today is the day I visit Dr. Wood. I looked down on Sheryl’s name tag and it was SHERYL WOOD MD. I looked up at her and she was already looking back at me wondering my thoughts.

“Dr. Wood? How long have you been working here?”

“So many questions today I see…well I have been here for almost four years. Treated a lot of people here in those years.”

“Have you ever heard of Gayle White?”

She looked at me with shock in her eyes as she heard the name, and asked how I knew her. I told her of our past and she smiled a little.

“She spoke a lot about you…actually she wrote in a little book all the time and every time I asked her what she was writing about she told me it was you.”

She paused for a minute, looked down and put her hand on mine. She looked into my eyes and told me: “She really loved you and I was jealous of her to have someone to hold onto like she did.”

Sheryl’s beeper went off and she apologized for rushing off, but her one last look at me and the words she told me was enough for me to open the diary again…The little book had only one page left and it read:

He came to me today and we held each other with such a tight embrace. I felt as if I was lost for years and he was the only one who could lead me through the forest of darkness I found myself in. I was caught in the moment and never got the chance to tell him the truth…but I am going to leave this book with him so that maybe one day, with hope he will find it and it would reveal to him the ending to my story. So I write to you:

I am dying…I have only six months…or at least that’s what they tell me. I couldn’t bare to tell you the truth because I enjoyed the moments we shared with one another…enjoyed the life we shared and I couldn’t bare to watch you watch me die. I left you with the story of me leaving to Paris because it was always the place I wanted to visit…maybe you can go one day…for me…I love you and always will. I will never forget the touch of you hands against mine, the warmth of your hugs as you held me, the softness of your lips as we kissed. I will never forget the fact that my heart will belong to you and only you…forgive me for hiding the truth…forgive me for loving you so much…but know that your heart beats with mine and always will. Love is not enough to describe my feeling, but what I want from you is to live as I would…with a smile worth smiling and a heart full of love. I will never leave you, my love and I will never ever stop loving you.

Gayle White, the love of my life, the only person who I could remember loving so much was gone…and I never knew. I found myself crying in an empty room feeling alone in the world i was left in. I was there for hours trying to figured out what was happening, but I realized without her I wouldn’t have been where I am now…I wouldn’t have felt the things that I did and be the person that I am.

I found the strength to pick myself up…Gayle White I will never forget the times we shared, the love that we gave one another and I will never forget you…but I can’t stop to wonder, why didn’t you tell me?

I went to visit Isabel a little later on and I walked in as her and her daughter were playing a game of solitaire on the computer. I knocked three times and Isabel looked happy to see me. She gave me a happy hello and introduced me to her daughter Paulina. We talked a little bit, watched some prime time television and stayed there until Paulina fell asleep next to her mother. I tried to sneak out as they both snoozed but Isabel caught me as I motioned towards the door.

“Hey before you leave can I ask you something?” She asked.

“Sure what is it?”

“Jessica told me you always walk around and carry this beat up little book…you mind if I ask…why is it so special to you?”

I hesitated to answer and pulled out the book from my back pocket. I looked down on it and looked back on Isabel as she waited for my answer.

“It’s the only thing that I have to keep memories of the only thing person I truly loved…the one who changed my life and put me where I am now. If I parted way with it…it just seems like the love that we had would just be a memory.”

“Things that you love never really leave you…even if you don’t have that little diary there…if she loved you as you loved her, then one little book doesn’t really matter…because that feeling you get when the wind brushes your cheeks is her way of letting her know she’s still there…it’s almost as if she’s kissing you letting you know she’s not out of reach.” She smiled at me before closing her eyes again.

The words she spoke to me it really made me realize that Gayle was always with me and always will be with me. No matter of what she told me or didn’t tell me, it never changed the fact that my love for her still burns and will always burn…I forgive you Gayle and I promise you to one day make you proud of who I am…proud of the person you helped to shape in life…proud of the person who you loved. Your heart is in mine and with me…it lives on…

Chapter VIII: Familiar Strangers

There is this one uncomfortable feeling you get when you first walk into a hospital. There is an even more unbearable feeling when you know someone inside. I came rushing in after Jessica and Isabel got hit by a car on the way back to the office. It went by so fast…I couldn’t do anything but watch…and now, I’m back in the hospital again.

I was in a room with Jessica as she laid sleeping…I found myself in these crossroads in figuring out what I should do. Go back to work, stay here. I was lost, it seems like when the shit hits the fan, in my life, it splatters all over the place. I went down to the vending machines for a big of cookies or chips, something to fill my stomach. I reached down and opened the little door that brings me to the little baggy inside and get my treat. When I looked up, I saw a familiar face.

“Hey,” she said and I looked back and said: “Hi Victoria…”

I was speechless as I saw her in a wheelchair preparing to give birth, I assume. I asked how she was and she replied with a smile. We sat and chatted for a little bit…she told me how she moved back to the city that made all of her dreams come true. Her husband Carson came in. I introduced myself and told him that he was a very lucky man to land a girl like her. He smiled, gave me a handshake and told me that he’s heard a lot about me and was proud to name their son after me.

I was in shock to know that Victoria never forgot about me and would honor me by naming her son after me. I got a little teary eyed as they told me that…she kissed me on the cheek and gave me a big hug as they began to walk back to their room. But before she let go she whispered in my ear: “You’re the guy girls wait to marry.” It was one of the best compliments I ever had.

Even though Victoria broke my heart, even though she left…I was okay after she told me the things she did in that hospital. I was smiling a genuine smile. I went back to the room where Jessica was and I saw someone else I knew. Dr. Sheryl Wood, she was the person who treated me after Alana, and just so happened to be the doctor of Jessica as well. I smiled when I saw her and Jessica awake…everything was going to be okay i told myself. Sheryl left the room and I stayed their with Jessica for a while and talked to Jessica about work and life.

“Can I ask you something?” She said. I nodded. “With all of those stories you wrote I always wanted to ask you…have you ever been in love? I mean the type of love that these four letters couldn’t define…the true, real, genuine love?”

I was confused in what she was telling me and was speechless. I truly had no clue what to say. I looked back at her smiled and just nodded.

“I love to think so…” I said.

“How did you ever get over it?” She replied.

And I looked at her and her eyes began to water. I knew something was wrong. I told her: “Falling in love isn’t the hard part in a relationship, it’s the constant clawing out which hurts the most.” She told me all about her failed marriage with her cheating husband and asked me for advice. Jessica was a lovely person and she didn’t deserve a man who didn’t truly love her. She held on because there was some hope of her and him being the old them…the time where every kiss felt like the first kiss. I told her:

In the world of falling in love and living in romance, every moment matters. The little things are meant to keep you happy not frustrate you. You deserve someone who is going to be there when you want to do something new and he is there right next to you ready for anything. Someone who is going to hold your hand during moments that scare the hell out of you just so you know he is there. Someone who will make you smile even when the rain comes falling and your day seems all dark and grim. Someone who can truly, honestly and deeply say that he loves you. Jessica you deserve to smile and be happy.

I did the best I could and to me, what I said didn’t really mean anything…but she hugged me as if her life changed. In the end I felt like the only thing I told her was things she already knew. She held me tight a thanked me for the little pep talk I gave her. She didn’t tell me what she was planning to do, then again that is her story to finish not mine.

I went back to the vending area. I thought back to the moment I saw Isabel and thought of Gayle. I reached into my bag and took out the little book. I opened and the next page read…

Only through the pages of my journal can I truly say the things that I feel. Only through the beige colored sheets can I say how much I love him…how much I care for him…how much it hurts for me to lie to him. I can never tell him what is truly going on because I can never hurt him in such a way. My tears flow down my face as you can hear the sounds of my heart breaking before me. I love him…and always will. Today is the day I visit Dr. Wood…today is the day she tells me…please God give me a few more days with him…

The words on the page frightened me…please God give me a few more days with him…what does she mean? Where is she?

Chapter VII: Only Hope

For a year I was afraid to fall asleep because I thought that if I closed my eyes, she wouldn’t be there when I opened them. I had the genuine fear of being alone…a genuine fear of feeling alone…I just didn’t want to be all by myself…but I guess in the end…being alone was much more of a better feeling than being heartbroken.

My heart wasn’t only broken, it was shattered…it was destroyed and thrown in the toilet to be flushed away. I spent the next few months recollecting what ever was left of the embarrassment that I called “my life.” I focused more on finding myself through my work and ended up becoming one of the junior writers for the company after a shift of luck came in my direction. My senior writer Jessica Conroy read a piece I wrote about Alana and Victoria and decided that it was good enough to put on paper after someone walked out before posting his column.

Last I heard of Victoria she moved down to South Beach and moved in with her mother. But before she left, she told me something I will never forget…”you’re the one girls wait to marry.” It was something that replayed in my mind over and over again…it was something that almost made me forgive her for what she had done.

I found myself sitting and writing everyday…everything became so ordinary, so routine. Until a phone call at the office changed everything…

“Hello?” I answered, unexpected of the phone call…

“Hey, it’s Jessica…come out for lunch I have someone to introduce you to…”

I picked up my laptop, sports coat and sunglasses and headed out. As i stood there waiting for the elevator to open up…a girl passed by me and her perfume was so distinct…I didn’t pay any mind to it, no matter how tantalizing the smell was. I put my shades on and walked into the elevator as the doors opened. I looked back towards the girl and I saw Gayle White.

I tried to push the doors to open, but I failed to do it in time. It was no longer than two minutes as the elevator went down to the first floor…i don’t have to say how long those two minutes were. I pressed twenty-four and headed back to the office but before the doors closed a hand came and blocked the door from closing…it was Jessica.

“Hey, did you leave something upstairs?” She said to me

There was utter shock on my face still from the moment that had just befallen on me as I stuttered to say “yes.” She rode the elevator up with me to make sure that I got to her lunch date with her. She was telling me how she wanted to meet someone very important to the company, someone who could publish my book, but all I could think about was getting to that floor and getting to Gayle…

The doors open and I immediately begin looking around for her. Frantically and anxiously i walk around everyone’s cubicles and look and look…and then I saw the dress. The same black dress that I saw Gayle in as I was leaving for the elevator. The world stopped as I began walking towards her, I had no idea what I would be saying or what I would even do to say “hi” but it was her and that’s all I cared about.

Before I could reach her Jessica interrupted “Oh you found her!”

I turned remembering that Jessica was still there and said “ummm, who?”

“Come let me introduce you.” She took my hand and tapped the girl in the black dress. I held my breathe waiting for Gayle’s eyes to once again be against mine. She turned and to my surprise…

“This is Isabel Horn…Isabel this is the guy I was telling you about.”

It wasn’t Gayle…but what did me seeing her mean? It didn’t make sense to me.

“Hello,” I said before my stare became any more awkward than it already was. You could sense the disappointment in me just by the face I was making. She smiled though and shook my hand. “Jessica told me a lot about you, will you be joining us for lunch?”

I nodded and agreed to lunch with a Isabel and Jessica. We sat there and talked about a donation Isabel had just made to the company and how she would love for me to begin writing a romance novel for her publishing company. I stopped for a smoke as Jessica and Isabel were headed back to the office.

All I could think about is how I know I saw Gayle today…I wasn’t wrong…it was her, it had to be her…could I have been wrong? What does all this mean? Is this a sign? It has to be a sign…

Then the sound of a car horn startled me, but the sound of what came after shocked me even more…

Chapter VI: A Change is Coming

I was released from the hospital a week later...and everything was back to normal. Victoria and I were back into the new apartment in Queens and our lives went on. There wasn't a single moment in time though, that I didn't think of the sacrifice that Alana made for me. The shooter was convicted and sent away to prison for a very long time and in the end, everything felt like a routine...it was...predictable.

I found myself looking for adventure and that's when I opened the little diary once again and read what Gayle left for me...

There isn't a single day that goes by without me second guessing myself on telling him what is really going on. I feel like if I tell him the honest truth that he would get mad at me...he cares like no one else does and it's something that I have never experienced before...I don't want to lose him...but eventually the day will come when everything is over...I need to find the courage.

I assumed she was speaking of the day she was leaving...but I had this gut feeling that there was something more to it than that. Before I can turn the page, Victoria came to me and asked, "what's that?" I told her it was nothing and she held my hand and kissed my cheek ever so softly. Victoria turned her head, looked me in the eyes and told me, "I love you."

I sat, kissed her back and said that there wasn't a single place in the world that I would rather be. Her eyes watered as she held me...but for some reason, the way she held me...it felt like this was the last time I would be able to hold her in my hands. I held her tight and whispered in her ear, "is everything okay?" She began to cry and she told me, in that moment that my feelings were true, she was leaving me...

I was speechless and confused. What did I do? How can she leave me now? Where is she going? I didn't want to let her go but I couldn't believe my ears. I moved to look her in her eyes and she moved away. She turned her back to me and refused to even face my direction.

"What do you mean?" I asked. "I have to go," she said, "I'm going out west, I'm being offered a salary position at one of the schools, and it's something I really want to do." I tried my best to convince her that we don't have to be in the same place to be together, that I could even go out west with her or even me picking up the slack around the house and picking up an additional job. I didn't want her to leave, not now, not after all that has happened. And in an attempt to say how much I loved her, I said:

"You are my reason for waking every morning and sleeping every night. You are the reason that I can smile and look forward to seeing your face, your eyes, your smile. There's nothing else in this world that can bring me that happiness...Victoria...I want to marry you and have kids and have a future together...please don't leave me."

She finally turned to me and said "I'm pregnant...and it's not yours..."

Chapter V: Moments For One

At first all I could hear was the sound of the heart monitor: "BEEP, BEEP, BEEP." I couldn't see anything that was going on. Next I heard the sounds of people urgently talking to one another and the sounds of instruments rustling. Finally I heard a the monitor flat line...
I came to consciousness and my vision was blurred. I was sitting in a hospital all wired up as if someone had given me surgery. I looked down at my chest and felt a sharp pain. There was bandages around my stomach and a giant pad on my chest. I looked around and I saw Victoria sleeping on the chair besides me. She looked so calm and peaceful in her sleep. I tried to recollect my memories of that night but all I can remember was the gun shot. "BANG," and then the sounds of the heart monitor and surgical room. The more I tried to remember the more it hurt for me to move.
I laid my head back on the pillow and stared at the ceiling. The one person who I couldn't stop thinking about was Alana...what happened to her? The nurse came in a few minutes later and checked to make sure everything was in order. She smiled at me and said: "how do you feel?" I smiled back and gave a slight nod.
The doctor came in soon after. Her name was Sheryl Wood, she came towards me with an awkward smile as if she was almost forcing it. From that moment I knew something bad happened to me. Victoria woke up upon her entering. Sheryl told me that I was unconscious for the last day or so. Victoria began holding my hand as she knew some news was coming. Sheryl began telling me the story on how it all began....

We got a call late two nights ago about a shooting around the Queens area and we were called into action. When I got here I had two victims. One had been you and the other was a Miss. Alana Linebrink. You had been shot on the left side of your chest but exactly underneath your heart. There was a second wound but less lethal. Alana was shot as well, but her wound was very much treatable. We did everything in our power to save you but what you needed was a transplant...a heart transplant. Alana was healing and we kept you on support for hours. She came into your room that night and left you this note.

To My Hero,
I am sorry for bringing this on you and I am sorry for the actions of tonight. I never wanted any of this to happen. You were the only person who I felt was there for me in a time where no one would even dare to look at the girl with the black eye. I smiled a true smile with you, laughed a true laugh, and loved a true love...even though I only saw you a few times and none has ever been as heart wrenching as my first time I felt like you were my brother. A brother I always wanted when my parents would hit me...a brother who would stand up for me. I promise you that you will live to tell your story and in the end I know you will share mine as well. I love you for what you have done and I thank you from the deepest ends of my heart.
- Alana

She died that night from natural causes...it was almost as if it was meant to be, because her heart is now yours. You both shared the same blood type and she filled a will only for her heart. She gave it to you...so that you can live on. Alana Linebrink is the greatest woman I have ever known.

I began to tear and Victoria was there beside me with her eyes watery. I held the letter ever so gently in my hands and folded it back up before crying my eyes out. The girl with the black eye who I cared for gave her heart to me...she gave everything to me.
I was left alone that night in the hospital bed and all I could do was hold the letter in my hands and look at the stars from outside my window. There was a patient beside me who heard the entire story. His name was David Knight and he was an old man waiting to die. Those were his words to be exact. He looked at me holding the letter and he got up and stood beside me as I stared into space. "We all die young one...my favorite writer wrote once that the goal is not to live forever...it's to create something that will." His words pierced my heart and I began to tear again.
David fell back to sleep while I stayed looking out the window. I stayed there for hours thinking of what I would've said to her if I was conscious but nothing ever came to mind. In a life full of moments there is only one that leads to something special, this is my moment and I will do everything in my power to live the life that Alana would've been proud of...I swear it...

Chapter IV: A Little White Diary

It has been almost a year and I have been with Victoria for a few months now. She became a full time teacher at the school she was working at and flew out with her students to visit Washington for a field trip this month. We decided to move in together so once again I'm on the move. Had a few friends help me out with the boxes and found a bunch of stuff that I didn't even open when I first moved into the city.
I went through those boxes and did some "this is where that thing was!" moments. The last box I went through had nothing but a bunch of styrofoam peanuts and one small black book. It had to have some importance to me being the only thing in a box that size. I took it downstairs to the living room sat on the big brown love seat and opened the book.
THIS DIARY BELONGS TO GAYLE WHITE, it read. I stopped in my tracks in this new discovery that I had found. I slammed it shut before i could read any further. I walked into the kitchen and gave myself a shot of whiskey...and another shot...and another. I looked back down at the book and opened it again. It read:

With nothing ventured there is nothing gained...I fell in love today, never thought it was ever possible but i did. He's a sweet guy and he means the best...I could definitely find myself marrying him one day...still...there is the matter of ME that effects everything. I never told him about anything and he is definitely bound to find out, I just don't want to break his heart...if I told him the truth I don't think he would ever forgive me...I just hope one day he understands.

I didn't bother to read the next page...to be honest I was terrified of the next page. It's been so long and now is when Gayle reenters my life. Why now? I remember the last few moments we shared together and I remember her exact smile and laugh and even touch...what am I doing? I'm with Victoria now and I love her.
"KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK," there was someone at the door and the knocks seemed a little urgent. I walked over and three more knocks were heard. I opened the door and it was Alana, in tears. "You said you would be there!" I was in shock when I first saw her, she looked exhausted and she was still crying even you can see it in her that she was holding back her tears.
I wanted to hug her but she was in no mood for any physical contact. She pushed me and cried a little harder, "where were you, when I needed you?!" I was speechless. She began to strike me and I held her and grabbed her close. She was crying even harder now, she pushed and pulled but she finally gave in to my embrace. She held me tight, almost as if she let go she let go of her life and I held her.
"HEY!" I heard from the distance. I looked and it was a fairly big man with a huge anger problem heading my way. Alana shivered in fright, I moved her behind me to protect her and thats when I saw it. The man pulled a pistol from his back and pointed it directly at me.
My heart was racing as he screamed and rushed towards me. I closed my eyes and waited for the impact. "BANG!" it was all i heard before the world came crashing down...