Prophecy of the Heart.
Chapter 1.
The End.
"Hey Jamie, is that the last customer?" Astrid asked her only remaining Team member.
It's the end of the day and Team Leader Astrid Wynters was looking forward to closing up after a very long 10 hour shift. She was the only manager rostered on for the day and the Home wares store they worked in had been flat out all day.
"Yeah that's the last one, thank the gods. Today has been a total drainer." Jamie sighed.
"I couldn't agree with you more. Let's grab these tills so we can get out of here ay." Astrid replied. She flicked the doors onto lock and started taking the tills out while Jamie gathered up the days receipts.
The two young women chattered away whilst they worked, oblivious of the hooded figure moving stealthily up the aisles toward them from the back of the store.
"So what are your plans for tonight then? Got anything good on?" Jamie asked.
"No. Not really. Thinking a nice relaxing dinner and bath is about all the excitement I can handle for tonight." Astrid mused.
Just as they were about to grab everything and head to the office to bank the day's takings; a person dressed in a dark hoodie, jeans and a scarf wrapped around the lower part of their face appeared out of an aisle to the left of the women.
Astrid figured it to be a male judging by its flat chest and slim hips, receiving confirmation of this when the unknown man addressed them menacingly.
"I'm gonna' ask this once only lady. Put all the money in a bag and hand it over!"
Astrid and Jamie stood where they were, staring at him dumbly with their mouths open.
At their lack of response the man slowly pulled an object he had been concealing from the front pocket of his worn and stained hooded sweatshirt.
Astrid's mind slowly clicked on and she realised with horror that she was being robbed at gun point. Disbelief and panic flooded her mind and she thought; "No way! No way, this only happens in movies. This can't be happening to me!"
"I aint gonna ask you AGAIN. Give me all the money NOW!" He screamed at them, raising the matt black gun and pointing it at Jamie's face.
"ALRIGHT. Alright! Astrid exclaimed. I'm doing it!"
She slowly tugged a plastic bag from under the counter and started filling it, notes first, followed by the larger coin denominations.
When all the tills were empty except for small change, she tied the now heavy bag by its handles and offered it to the man, trying not to look him in the face. She had once had some minor training for this in a previous job and they had been advised not to look an armed robber in the face as this can aggravate them. She didn't ever expect to have to use the training though.
The man snatched the bag out of her hand, still pointing the gun but now waving it nervously back and forth between the two women. He started backing away, anxiously looking over his shoulder at his exit route. The front doors.
As the man moved further away, Jamie shifted closer to Astrid and whispered, "I think I know him!"
Astrid knew as soon as the man snapped his head round to look at them that he had heard her.
She saw the panic flash through his eyes, saw him weigh up Jamie's life and knew his decision as he took aim.
At the same moment he squeezed the trigger, Astrid moved in front of Jamie without thinking, and then everything seemed to move in slow motion.
She heard Jamie scream, she saw the man turn and run and she felt a sudden and violent impact ripple through her body.
Her mind struggled to focus but when it did the pressure on her body where the bullet had entered was so incredibly intense, and Astrid dropped to the ground, unmoving, her eyes half closed, unseeing.