AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Pausing, I leaned in, their disgusting microphones so close to my face you’d think they were trying to shove them down my goddamn throat.
“The Sandbox Sniper?” I asked.
One woman stepped up, her red hair cropped at her shoulders. Her eyes were green, scared, and excited, like a fledgling bird just starting to fly.
“Yes.” She stood straighter. “Due to the nature of these crimes, people have—”
12:17 PM
BANG.
The shot was so loud it echoed in my ears. Like ants, they all started to run, tripping over one another as I fell backward. Murphy and the other guards grabbed hold of me, all of them pulling me into the safety of the hospital. I knew they were screaming, I could see their mouths moving, but I couldn’t hear anything. Glancing down at my white Valentino shirt, I saw blood now soaked into the fabric and only one thought came to my mind.
Liam…I’m going first.
FOURTEEN
“A reason for living is also an excellent reason for dying.”
~ Albert Camus
NEAL
12:24 PM
“You’re out of mayo.” I frowned, glaring at my very plain turkey and cheese sandwich. “How am I supposed to eat this without mayo?”
He didn’t answer. Well, he couldn’t answer.
Our police commissioner…former police commissioner…was too busy weeping, naked and bloody on his living room floor, his legs and arms bound. He actually looked like a pig ready for slaughter—a pale pig, but a pig nonetheless.
Opening the fridge, I searched high and low, but he was apparently one of those goddamn health nuts. Gluten-free shit, fruit, kale…how do people fucking live like this?
“Freaks,” I grumbled, grabbing my humble sandwich and walking around the kitchen, eyeing the black granite countertops. I entered the living room, sat in the middle of the couch, and kicked my feet up on the glass coffee table.
“Nice house. I think high ceilings are always the best choice. It makes the house feel open and airy. Plus all the extra natural sunlight really helps,” I told him before taking a bite. I’m not sure if this actually tastes good or I am just really hungry.
“Gmmsh.” He grunted against the duck tape over his mouth.
“I’m sorry, you’re going have to speak English…or Irish, if you know it, which I would be pretty impressed at because not many people speak it here anymore. It’s more like pidgin, used to drive my father crazy,” I replied, taking another bite.
I wasn’t sure what I’d said but he got riled up, screaming and twisting his body as if that would really help him get out of the zip ties or something. He grunted and scowled, his pale face turning pinker and then redder each passing second. Reaching over to the coffee table in front of me, I took the crystal coaster and threw it right at his head.
“Calm the fuck down, Jesus. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack you know. And where is the fun in that?”
He rolled over onto his side. The blood…first one drop, then two, then far more than I could care to count…slowly began to spill from his head.
“You still with me, Commissioner?” I paused mid bite. He didn’t reply, or move, or even seem to breathe. “Well, this is disappointing. I’ll just make myself at home then until you come to…I wonder if you have milk.” Reaching forward, I took the remote, turned on the television, and got up, heading back to the kitchen. Of course, it was soy milk. Fucking shit.
“We go back to Andre Curry, with our breaking news…”
“Thanks, John! Ladies and gentlemen, we’re just across the street from Merry West Hospital, the location in which just moments ago, current Illinois governor Melody Callahan was shot—”
Everything in my hands fell and slipped to the ground. It all slowed down, everything: my heartbeat, my breathing, me turning back, the reporter on the screen. Everything was slow with the exception of Mel. The video of her speaking one moment, then falling back, it all lasted two, maybe three seconds, and they just had it on loop. Melody talking. Melody falling. Mina screaming. Melody being rushed inside. Over and over and over again. Melody talking. Melody falling. Mina screaming. Melody being rushed inside.
“We have no current update from the hospital, however, John, there is a lot of blood in front of those hospital doors.”
Liam…he’s going to…kill, everyone.
