I do not own The Crow, though I hope I'm allowed to publish this in a book someday.
They held each other in the silence of the room. They cherished these moments alone together since they came so few and far between recently. With no one else home, they didn't even have to turn up the volume of the music to drown out the noise of their lovemaking. It was the first time in months that he could have the apartment to himself so he could have time with her. He loved the other guys, his roommates, like brothers, but this was a very precious girl to him. To be honest, she was the best girlfriend he ever had. It had been almost two years since they had met and she meant the world to him. They loved each other like no others that came before them. He caressed her tiny body, which would seem like it belonged more to a fifteen year old than the eighteen year old who had it. Yet he himself was not of imposing height or bulk so it really didn't seem like such a physical mismatch. The romance of the moment gave way to tender giggles at each other's words, like it had done so many times before. They were so lost in each other that they couldn't help but be startled half way to death by the sound of the downstairs door opening.
A beaten up Toyota Tercel pulled into the parking lot of the apartment complex at around 9:30 pm. The first passenger to exit was a tall young man with dark hair that came down almost to his shoulders and an inch-long goatee on his chin. He carried an emotionless face that usually was a mask for his normal easy going feel of life. He took a few steps away from the car when he turned back to find his companion. Out of the driver's side came a girl that looked very young for a twenty one year old. She was dressed very colorfully compared to his dark pants and shirt. He smiled as he took a few more fast-paced steps from the car, wordlessly implying to the girl of brown neck length hair to hurry up. She seemed to be of the affectionate type when she cutely sprinted up and enclosed her arms around the boy as they continued on. He put his arm around her and led her around the back towards his apartment. He was happy to have a girl like her, yet he also missed the guys that day since he had spent the night at his girl's place. He was expecting them to be coming out the door momentarily when he saw that it was halfway open. "Stay back, I'll go first," he told the girl. She rolled her eyes at yet another one of the times he felt like being the sneaky type to appear out of no where.
She waited outside as he walked in quietly. He took a few small steps inside but came to a sudden halt. He side stepped in a mock Fred Astaire type of move and looked up the stairs next to the door. "Gill? What the hell are . . .?" Where the only words that were said before he exclaimed "Oh shit!". Allison came through the door to see what was up. Standing next to her boyfriend, she saw what had shocked him into the screech. Near the top of the stairs lay whom was probably her boyfriend's best friend ever, Gill, blood soaking the carpet on the next three steps under him. She stood frozen, only able to manage an "Oh my god!" under her breath. "Allison! Get the phone!" yelled her boyfriend as she managed to return just enough to reality to head forward into the kitchen. The boy ran up the stairs to his friend to see if he needed help. His friend was laying face down, his shaved head pointed downstairs while his body laid limp and facedown going up. He was about to touch his friend when he noticed the sound of the creaking floor in the upstairs hallway. From his friend's bedroom, he heard the muffled cries of a familiar girl's voice screaming Gill's name. "Corry?" he reactively yelled as he looked at the top of the stairs, where a grungy looking black guy looked down at him. The intruder was no older in looks than he was, and he sported what seemed to be a black eye and blood on his shirt. Anger instantly exploded within the boy as he saw the figure. "I'll kill you, you son of a . . ." was interrupted by a gunshot from the intruder. The boy didn't notice the bullet that had just entered his shoulder, as he was still too angry to care. Another shot made him realize that he was bleeding from his shoulder and now from his stomach. He stumbled back down the stairs, hitting the wall behind him hard enough to feel it crack and give way to him. He slumped into a sitting position on the wall, then collapsed to the side. His thick-lensed glasses were no longer on his face, but he could still see the blurry outline of Allison as she looked out of the kitchen. He could hear her cry out, "Keith!" in the most painful scream he had ever heard while at the same time he heard a voice upstairs yell, "You fuckin' moron!" He then felt the trembling of the steps as Allison rushed over to him. A dark figure leaped over him, tackling his girlfriend of over a year. The last thing he was able to mutter was a weak "no" before he felt the sharp sting on the side of his head, and then there was nothing.