Forums · Red December Night
WARNING: RAEP
Red December Night
By CENSORED
There was a crisp and cool breeze on the highway as minivans and eighteen-wheelers sat there, moving about ten feet every minute. A mural of different grey colors, a mountain rose up on one side of the street, and a different one on the other side. The sun was beginning to set now, in between the mountains, and it painted the sky shades of red and purple as it sank.
I was sitting on a large flat rock on the left side of the street, watching the noisy traffic jam and the beautiful sunset at the same time. I popped open another bottle of water ? hell, I was tired. But I couldn?t rest now, not yet. The traffic was starting to clear, leaving a clean and peaceful air to the area? sort of reminding me of this farm we used to live in, over in Virginia. We being me and my parents, that is, because I?m an only child. Or at least I was back then and there; my parents had a baby girl almost as soon as we came out here? five years ago that is. I always thought it was peculiar though, to have a baby ten years after your first one? there was too much of a gap in between ? ten years ? for them to really bond.
Anyway, I was up here waiting for this girl I met a week or two ago. She was really into space and stars and stuff. She told me she was going to travel into space one day. Anyway, that?s why I was here. There was supposed to be a meteor shower in an hour or two that she wanted to see, and I told her about this spot up on this rock here that I could take her to watch it. But she said she already knew the place and would meet me here at six o?clock. I looked at my watch and tapped it with the finger of my glove ? five forty-five. Still another fifteen minutes, but probably about twenty-five because girls were always late.
I was getting a bit nervous then, I started thinking of packing up my stuff and leaving then. It was cold as hell up here too, being December and all. While I was thinking of the goddamn butterflies in my stomach another five minutes went by and the sky was no longer a mural of reds and purples but a damn dark abyss in the sky. Amazing how something can change from one thing to another in a matter of minutes. I started to tap my foot on the rock ground ? I?m really impatient about everything, it gets kind of annoying sometimes, at least in my opinion.
It was now getting dark and the traffic was just about cleared up, but there I was sitting there waiting for this girl. I took another quick look at my watch ? six fifteen. I?m such a damn clock-watcher that I couldn?t go fifteen minutes without seeing what time it is. She should be here by now, I thought, where is she? I didn?t think she was one of those kinds of people; someone who would just blow you off without telling you or anything. Well it was getting darker and colder, and I wasn?t going to be able to get home all right if I stayed out any longer. Of course I would usually just sleep outside in the mountains ? I?ve gotten in the habit of hiking there often, setting up tents and all that stuff. I used to think that it was a waste of time, camping that is, but it turns out that the mountains are actually really beautiful at night, when the sun was setting and the sky would turn red. Anyhow, tonight was not just another night. It was close to Christmas, and my parents wanted me to get home that night to help prepare for this party we were going to have. My family?s pretty small but we had tons of relatives,- all those fat aunts who would come over and comment on how cute and adorable everything was, and those old grandfathers who would come and stand in the corner thinking about what they just did and what they wanted to do next, then forgetting and ending up not doing anything. Just loosing their minds ? it made me pretty sad inside. I?ve decided that I don?t ever want to grow old. I didn?t see what was so goddamn good about it ? I?d probably kill myself if I ever got to be as forgetful and lanky as all those old people. So I have decided that I should die before I hit eighty, or maybe even seventy. Theres no way I wanted to become one of those ancient people who can?t do anything for themselves. It would be damn terrible.
So I walked in circles on the rock I was on, thinking about Christmas and old people when I noticed it was about six-thirty and I had wasted fifteen minutes doing nothing. So I turned around and started walking out without thinking. I had done it so many times, been up here on this rock that is, that I didn?t even have to think about the hike down. That?s when it happened ? when I was almost at the bottom of the rocks I heard a loud piercing sound that popped my eardrums ? a gunshot. A goddamn gunshot in the middle of the night. I was scared as hell then. It wasn?t coming from around where I was, but a little west. There was an old parking lot I remembered, that was right around where the shot was fired from. No one ever used it anymore though because the old school that used to be there shut down years ago. Also, I didn?t know too much about guns, not even my own (a small revolver). It?s not like to go out killing people or anything like that. My gun was used just for protection since there were mountain lions and bears up in the mountains. This other shot though sounded like it was being used to actually shoot a person, because I thought I heard a muffled scream afterwards.
Well, at first I was scared, but then I was a little bit interested in what could have happened ? it was most likely the sheriff apprehending a criminal, shooting his leg or something to immobilize him so he couldn?t get away. I guess I?ve seen too many movies or something to have thought that could have happened in real life, but I was dumb and went to check it out anyways.
It didn?t really take me long at all to get to the parking lot, since the road was clear and all. But when I got there, well, there was no sheriff. Just an old rusty red car smack in the center of the lot. At first, I couldn?t see anything in the car? it was too far away, but then, I saw a shadow in the car ? no, two, and one of them had a knife, or something sharp, and swung its arm towards the other shadow. I have to tell you I was frozen in my goddamn shoes the minute I saw what was happening. But I suddenly got a spark of courage then. The fucking stupid notion that I could be a hero. I fumbled for my revolver in my bag, hiding behind a tree so that neither shadow would see me. I loaded it as silently as I could ? I was a terrible shot though so I didn?t think I would actually shoot the shadow with the knife. I thought I would just scare him enough to comply. I had completely forgotten that the shadow had a goddamn gun too. I took a breath and stepped out from behind the tree and started to walk towards the car. Let me tell you, it was the longest two minutes of my life, I think that it?s like that for everyone before they do the one thing in their life that they think makes them a hero. I didn?t even know who I was saving, and from whom, but I didn?t care. I could be a hero, someone who matters, I would be on goddamn television and get interviews from reporters and then friends and girls wouldn?t just blow me off because they didn?t have time for me, they?d make time for me, I?d be a hero. Just like the sheriff in those old western movies ? I?d stop the bad guy. That was the only thing that was in my mind as I walked towards that old red rusty car. The sole thought in my mind was that I wouldn?t be Shay Brooks anymore; I?d be Shay Brooks the hero.
As I got closer to the car, I saw in the window that the shadow with the knife was a man, and he had the knife to a girl?s throat. The girl was half naked. I was only about twenty feet away from the car, crouching behind another tree that had grown through the cracks in the long abandoned parking lot. The tree was blowing in the soft wind and shedding the last of its dark red leaves onto the ground. The wind was the only goddamn sound I could hear, but I had a pretty good idea of what was going on in the car. I couldn?t stand sitting there anymore, waiting for the man to be done raping the girl so he could finish her off with the knife. I hadn?t seen the girl?s face yet, but I could imagine the man sticking the knife in it when he was done with her. It made me so pissed off inside that my face and hands started to turn red with anger. I couldn?t hesitate any longer. I drew the revolver from my pocket and shouted ?Burn in hell!? as I shot three bullets through the car window. What happened next was just a blur. Two of the bullets missed the guy ? I told you I was a terrible shot ? but then in a sheer stroke of luck one nailed him right in the shoulder. The man then kicked the door of the car open and spat out a stream of profanity too foul to repeat ? besides, I don?t think I can remember it anyways ? and then he took his knife and threw it at me, not with terrible aim like I had, but almost perfect aim, the man could have been a sharpshooter or archer in a past life of his. The knife went straight through my lower leg, my right one. I didn?t want to see the stream of dark red that was coming out of my leg. I didn?t care. ?God fucking damn it!? I screamed, and ran towards the man, disregarding the pain. I had almost forgotten the revolver in my left hand. He pulled out his gun, the one I had heard being shot earlier, and fired ? again with perfect aim ? into my right hand.
?Next one hits home,? the man said, in just the voice I would imagine a guy like him to have, low and deep, but raspy in a way. It perfectly suited his persona. But suddenly I couldn?t care less if he had shot me then, right through the heart and both eyes. I didn?t care because I had just caught a glimpse of the girl?s face in the car. I screamed a scream of fury that I didn?t know I ever could get out, and ran towards him, firing my revolver straight at his head as I ran. The first shot nailed him right in the forehead, but I didn?t stop. I kept emptying goddamn bullets into his dead body; I didn?t know how many and I couldn?t have cared less then and I don?t care now. He deserved it, every single bullet. I saw him on the ground, now a red bloody pulp. I stared at him for a few seconds, but in those few seconds, millions of thoughts rushed through my mind, but the most prominent was that it cost everything to be a hero, I thought then I would be put in jail for killing someone, perhaps get the goddamn death penalty. Then I thought I deserved it too, no matter what he had done, I had killed a man. A terrible excuse for a man, but still a man.
I suddenly remembered the girl in the car. The girl I had been waiting for no the mountain. The girl I had fallen in love with within two weeks earlier. I ran to the car. She wasn?t in that great of shape, to say the least. She had cuts all over her practically bare body and a bullet wound in her arm. She wasn?t conscious at all, but I could tell that she was still alive. Still breathing. ?Faith, goddamn it, why you?? I choked that out through my tears, and then I realized she must be freezing. I took off my coat and put it over her bloody cut up body. Seeing her like that justified me then and there. I didn?t have anything else on my mind then but driving her to the hospital. I let everything except for Faith and the hospital slip out of my mind as I silently drove the goddamn old red car out of the parking. There wasn?t anything else to think about. I got to the hospital about twenty minutes later. Thank God that neither Faith nor I had just dropped dead on the way over. I just remembered then that I still had the goddamn knife in my leg. It was numb by now but I didn?t care. Although I could hardly walk, I took Faith?s almost dead body in my arms and limped into the hospital lobby, leaving the car still running, and collapsed on the ground as soon as I got inside.
Fuck it. Anonymous has been revealed to have a heart. /wrist
Red December Night
By CENSORED
There was a crisp and cool breeze on the highway as minivans and eighteen-wheelers sat there, moving about ten feet every minute. A mural of different grey colors, a mountain rose up on one side of the street, and a different one on the other side. The sun was beginning to set now, in between the mountains, and it painted the sky shades of red and purple as it sank.
I was sitting on a large flat rock on the left side of the street, watching the noisy traffic jam and the beautiful sunset at the same time. I popped open another bottle of water ? hell, I was tired. But I couldn?t rest now, not yet. The traffic was starting to clear, leaving a clean and peaceful air to the area? sort of reminding me of this farm we used to live in, over in Virginia. We being me and my parents, that is, because I?m an only child. Or at least I was back then and there; my parents had a baby girl almost as soon as we came out here? five years ago that is. I always thought it was peculiar though, to have a baby ten years after your first one? there was too much of a gap in between ? ten years ? for them to really bond.
Anyway, I was up here waiting for this girl I met a week or two ago. She was really into space and stars and stuff. She told me she was going to travel into space one day. Anyway, that?s why I was here. There was supposed to be a meteor shower in an hour or two that she wanted to see, and I told her about this spot up on this rock here that I could take her to watch it. But she said she already knew the place and would meet me here at six o?clock. I looked at my watch and tapped it with the finger of my glove ? five forty-five. Still another fifteen minutes, but probably about twenty-five because girls were always late.
I was getting a bit nervous then, I started thinking of packing up my stuff and leaving then. It was cold as hell up here too, being December and all. While I was thinking of the goddamn butterflies in my stomach another five minutes went by and the sky was no longer a mural of reds and purples but a damn dark abyss in the sky. Amazing how something can change from one thing to another in a matter of minutes. I started to tap my foot on the rock ground ? I?m really impatient about everything, it gets kind of annoying sometimes, at least in my opinion.
It was now getting dark and the traffic was just about cleared up, but there I was sitting there waiting for this girl. I took another quick look at my watch ? six fifteen. I?m such a damn clock-watcher that I couldn?t go fifteen minutes without seeing what time it is. She should be here by now, I thought, where is she? I didn?t think she was one of those kinds of people; someone who would just blow you off without telling you or anything. Well it was getting darker and colder, and I wasn?t going to be able to get home all right if I stayed out any longer. Of course I would usually just sleep outside in the mountains ? I?ve gotten in the habit of hiking there often, setting up tents and all that stuff. I used to think that it was a waste of time, camping that is, but it turns out that the mountains are actually really beautiful at night, when the sun was setting and the sky would turn red. Anyhow, tonight was not just another night. It was close to Christmas, and my parents wanted me to get home that night to help prepare for this party we were going to have. My family?s pretty small but we had tons of relatives,- all those fat aunts who would come over and comment on how cute and adorable everything was, and those old grandfathers who would come and stand in the corner thinking about what they just did and what they wanted to do next, then forgetting and ending up not doing anything. Just loosing their minds ? it made me pretty sad inside. I?ve decided that I don?t ever want to grow old. I didn?t see what was so goddamn good about it ? I?d probably kill myself if I ever got to be as forgetful and lanky as all those old people. So I have decided that I should die before I hit eighty, or maybe even seventy. Theres no way I wanted to become one of those ancient people who can?t do anything for themselves. It would be damn terrible.
So I walked in circles on the rock I was on, thinking about Christmas and old people when I noticed it was about six-thirty and I had wasted fifteen minutes doing nothing. So I turned around and started walking out without thinking. I had done it so many times, been up here on this rock that is, that I didn?t even have to think about the hike down. That?s when it happened ? when I was almost at the bottom of the rocks I heard a loud piercing sound that popped my eardrums ? a gunshot. A goddamn gunshot in the middle of the night. I was scared as hell then. It wasn?t coming from around where I was, but a little west. There was an old parking lot I remembered, that was right around where the shot was fired from. No one ever used it anymore though because the old school that used to be there shut down years ago. Also, I didn?t know too much about guns, not even my own (a small revolver). It?s not like to go out killing people or anything like that. My gun was used just for protection since there were mountain lions and bears up in the mountains. This other shot though sounded like it was being used to actually shoot a person, because I thought I heard a muffled scream afterwards.
Well, at first I was scared, but then I was a little bit interested in what could have happened ? it was most likely the sheriff apprehending a criminal, shooting his leg or something to immobilize him so he couldn?t get away. I guess I?ve seen too many movies or something to have thought that could have happened in real life, but I was dumb and went to check it out anyways.
It didn?t really take me long at all to get to the parking lot, since the road was clear and all. But when I got there, well, there was no sheriff. Just an old rusty red car smack in the center of the lot. At first, I couldn?t see anything in the car? it was too far away, but then, I saw a shadow in the car ? no, two, and one of them had a knife, or something sharp, and swung its arm towards the other shadow. I have to tell you I was frozen in my goddamn shoes the minute I saw what was happening. But I suddenly got a spark of courage then. The fucking stupid notion that I could be a hero. I fumbled for my revolver in my bag, hiding behind a tree so that neither shadow would see me. I loaded it as silently as I could ? I was a terrible shot though so I didn?t think I would actually shoot the shadow with the knife. I thought I would just scare him enough to comply. I had completely forgotten that the shadow had a goddamn gun too. I took a breath and stepped out from behind the tree and started to walk towards the car. Let me tell you, it was the longest two minutes of my life, I think that it?s like that for everyone before they do the one thing in their life that they think makes them a hero. I didn?t even know who I was saving, and from whom, but I didn?t care. I could be a hero, someone who matters, I would be on goddamn television and get interviews from reporters and then friends and girls wouldn?t just blow me off because they didn?t have time for me, they?d make time for me, I?d be a hero. Just like the sheriff in those old western movies ? I?d stop the bad guy. That was the only thing that was in my mind as I walked towards that old red rusty car. The sole thought in my mind was that I wouldn?t be Shay Brooks anymore; I?d be Shay Brooks the hero.
As I got closer to the car, I saw in the window that the shadow with the knife was a man, and he had the knife to a girl?s throat. The girl was half naked. I was only about twenty feet away from the car, crouching behind another tree that had grown through the cracks in the long abandoned parking lot. The tree was blowing in the soft wind and shedding the last of its dark red leaves onto the ground. The wind was the only goddamn sound I could hear, but I had a pretty good idea of what was going on in the car. I couldn?t stand sitting there anymore, waiting for the man to be done raping the girl so he could finish her off with the knife. I hadn?t seen the girl?s face yet, but I could imagine the man sticking the knife in it when he was done with her. It made me so pissed off inside that my face and hands started to turn red with anger. I couldn?t hesitate any longer. I drew the revolver from my pocket and shouted ?Burn in hell!? as I shot three bullets through the car window. What happened next was just a blur. Two of the bullets missed the guy ? I told you I was a terrible shot ? but then in a sheer stroke of luck one nailed him right in the shoulder. The man then kicked the door of the car open and spat out a stream of profanity too foul to repeat ? besides, I don?t think I can remember it anyways ? and then he took his knife and threw it at me, not with terrible aim like I had, but almost perfect aim, the man could have been a sharpshooter or archer in a past life of his. The knife went straight through my lower leg, my right one. I didn?t want to see the stream of dark red that was coming out of my leg. I didn?t care. ?God fucking damn it!? I screamed, and ran towards the man, disregarding the pain. I had almost forgotten the revolver in my left hand. He pulled out his gun, the one I had heard being shot earlier, and fired ? again with perfect aim ? into my right hand.
?Next one hits home,? the man said, in just the voice I would imagine a guy like him to have, low and deep, but raspy in a way. It perfectly suited his persona. But suddenly I couldn?t care less if he had shot me then, right through the heart and both eyes. I didn?t care because I had just caught a glimpse of the girl?s face in the car. I screamed a scream of fury that I didn?t know I ever could get out, and ran towards him, firing my revolver straight at his head as I ran. The first shot nailed him right in the forehead, but I didn?t stop. I kept emptying goddamn bullets into his dead body; I didn?t know how many and I couldn?t have cared less then and I don?t care now. He deserved it, every single bullet. I saw him on the ground, now a red bloody pulp. I stared at him for a few seconds, but in those few seconds, millions of thoughts rushed through my mind, but the most prominent was that it cost everything to be a hero, I thought then I would be put in jail for killing someone, perhaps get the goddamn death penalty. Then I thought I deserved it too, no matter what he had done, I had killed a man. A terrible excuse for a man, but still a man.
I suddenly remembered the girl in the car. The girl I had been waiting for no the mountain. The girl I had fallen in love with within two weeks earlier. I ran to the car. She wasn?t in that great of shape, to say the least. She had cuts all over her practically bare body and a bullet wound in her arm. She wasn?t conscious at all, but I could tell that she was still alive. Still breathing. ?Faith, goddamn it, why you?? I choked that out through my tears, and then I realized she must be freezing. I took off my coat and put it over her bloody cut up body. Seeing her like that justified me then and there. I didn?t have anything else on my mind then but driving her to the hospital. I let everything except for Faith and the hospital slip out of my mind as I silently drove the goddamn old red car out of the parking. There wasn?t anything else to think about. I got to the hospital about twenty minutes later. Thank God that neither Faith nor I had just dropped dead on the way over. I just remembered then that I still had the goddamn knife in my leg. It was numb by now but I didn?t care. Although I could hardly walk, I took Faith?s almost dead body in my arms and limped into the hospital lobby, leaving the car still running, and collapsed on the ground as soon as I got inside.
Fuck it. Anonymous has been revealed to have a heart. /wrist
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