I ran through the rain, throwing the gun into a trash can, my lungs screaming, my breath curling into the air. I rounded a corner and stopped a moment underneath an eave. I gasped and fingered my chest, feeling my heartbeat.
My racing heartbeat.
I was alive.
I screamed aloud and kept running.
I burst into my house and collapsed to my knees, shaking and weeping. My mom and dad ran in, expressions of total fear on their faces at the sound of my sobbing.
I couldn't even choke out a word.
I just sat and cried and let my parents surround me, holding me close.