Finally, started doing something I thought Id never do for a while. My second novel attempt and heres how it begins Russel knew he was dreaming, yet some part of him refused to accept the idea. Every ounce of him tried not to yield to the nightmare, to no avail. A six and a half foot tall, muscular brute of a man, who he knew to go by the name Joe, was holding her at gunpoint. It was his idea to take a shortcut through the alley behind the Indian restaurant ‘Peppers’ and that choice was one he would regret for the remainder of his life. Each passing moment was an eternity. In any other circumstance, he would have thought up a plan to turn the odds to his favour – he was more than capable of it. Unfortunately, that was one of those times he failed to think clearly. Fear and anger rushing through his veins, he was confused, a mixture of emotions clouding his thoughts. “It is going to be alright” He told her. He had never lied to her before, but this time was different. Then he realized he was quivering. That was when he realized how terrorizing helplessness can be – there was nothing he could do to save her. Slowly, he fell to his knees and for the first time in his life, begged, ever so pathetically. He implored Joe to leave her unharmed, tears rolling down his cheeks, his heart pounding like a war-drum. Amused by Russel’s action which was quite unbecoming of him, a smile brimming with malice crossed Joe’s lips; and in his eyes, Russel saw his intentions, clearer than day. What he perceived frightened him for the first time in many years. For, a man however chivalrous he may be, fear of loss is the one thing which he is not impervious to. As Joe slowly shifted his target and pointed the gun at Russel, hope started to trickle into him as the chaotic wreck of his mind persuaded him to believe that it meant Joe would just kill him and be done with it since he knew he was the person the brute was paid to kill. The assassin seemed to tighten his grip on her and he immediately knew he was wrong. Only a fool would possess hope in such a situation. A lowlife such as Joe wouldn’t just let someone go. People like him don’t become a gun-for-hire just for the money involved but also because they love taking lives. As Russel gazed into the darkness the pistol’s barrel held, he noticed the gun was shaking. Joe was drunk. The gun roared once and as the bullet tore into his flesh, he screamed in pain and though he knew the wound by itself wasn’t fatal, dread gnawed on his mind, for he anticipated something far more painful than flesh wounds, or even death. The bullet had missed his heart by several inches. He did not know why he failed to hear the next two gunshots but he felt the bullets get lodged in him, one in his belly and the other on his left shoulder. As he lay face down in the alley, he heard the gun roar again and this time, his heart sank in despair since he knew that nobody, not even when they are drunk to such a degree, could miss at point blank. She was gone. He heard a thump as her lifeless body hit the ground. He opened his mouth to scream out her name but no voice escaped his throat. He opened his eyes abruptly when his subconscious finally popped him out of his dream and he noticed he was sweating and breathing heavily as he would every time he woke up from the most terrorizing of his nightmares. Only, this was not the first time he had dreamt of this event and it was not just a nightmare - it was a memory, one he could never forget however hard he tried to bury it in the deepest trenches of his mind and the harder he tried to escape it, the more resilient it became. However, this time he had a reason to have dreamt about it and he was convinced that he had escaped from the clutches of the fear and guilt that memory had presented him. He had, after all these years, taken his revenge on Joe.
Posted on: Tue, 25 Mar 2014 17:31:55 +0000