Bullet in the Night
"No!" She yells, but too late.
Time seems to slow down as she watches the speeding bullet puncture his heaving chest, she could not reach him in time. Helplessly she watches as the man, once so tall and strong, crumbles before her very eyes. A look of shock appears on his face as he staggers then falls, sprawling in the mud and rain.
She flings herself across him, weeping and comforting him.
"It'll be all right, just stay with me. Please just stay with me! I can't lose you!"
It wasn't real, it couldn't be happening, not to them. Never had she felt anything for a man that even slightly compared to what she felt for him. Yes he was a little rough around the edges, not always following the straight and narrow, but that changed when she had met him. For her he had become a new man, a better man, yet no-one else could see it but she.
He became the most loving and loyal person she had never met, always there whenever she needed him, never letting her down. She had thought it would always be like that and everyone else would learn to accept it in the end.
But sadly this was not to be, all because he had to try and be a hero, he had to try and rescue the hostage. Why did he have to go and do that? Why did he barge in trying to set her free? Why did he have to get involved? Why did he have to stand in front of the girl as she ran? Why did he have to take her bullet?
He ran to provide a barrier between the girl and the gunman, as he shields her from the gun he feels a jolt shudder through his body and a warm, sticky liquid start to steadily flow down his chest, soaking his shirt. Blood.
Numb he staggers backwards and collapses onto the freezing, wet ground. He hears her yelling for him, but it's like she's hundreds of miles away, even though by now she's right there kneeling over him.
"I can't leave her" he thinks, "Not when I have so much still to do and tell her. I have to let her know what she means to me, it can't be my time to go, not yet, not yet…"
They're hands shake and fumble as they find each others grasps, clutching on tight, not willing to let go. She sobs and splutters whilst he struggles to speak.
With immense difficulty he pulls her face towards his, "I love you" he chokes.
"I love you" she whispers back. With the last of his strength he kisses her softly on the lips, holding on for as long as possible before he gives in.
She returns the kiss and all too soon his head and hand which she had clutched to her cheek fall limply away. "NO!" she howls, "No, no, no….no…" her words turn to splutters then to heavy, gasping sobs, she can not breathe through the tears. The sound of her complete despair, the utter ache of a heart broken forever, the inconsolable pain in her soul, rips through the cold night air like a blade stabbing in the dark.