The Mourning After
PG-13
I do not own any of the characters in this story; they all belong to the WB.
Beep, beep, beep! The alarm clock rang loud in Ephram's ear, making him jump up in bed, "What? I'm awake, I'm awake..." Ephram slapped the clock to make it shut up, 'No problems today, everything should go fine.' Ephram thought to himself as he got out of bed.
"Ephram are you awake yet?" Andy's voice came through his room door.
"Yeah dad, I'm awake." Ephram hated being checked up on, especially now, "I'll be down in a minute." He added.
"Okay, just making sure you would be ready on time." Ephram let out a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes.
He finished getting dressed, brushed his teeth, got his books together, and went downstairs, "Okay dad, I think I'm ready, do you want to go through a checklist to see if I've got everything, or can I go to school now, like a normal teenager."
"Yeah, that's funny, I like that." Andy gave Ephram a fake smile and helped Delia with her backpack, "Are you ready to go Del?"
She rolled her eyes and turned towards the door, "I've been ready for the past five minutes!" She walked outside.
Andy walked past Ephram and stopped a few inches away from his face, "You really have to quit rubbing off on her." Ephram just smiled and followed Delia to the car.
******
Ephram barely made it into class on time, about five seconds before the bell rang. He quickly took his seat and put his pack on the floor next to him. He looked around the room for a minute, and then realized that everyone was staring at him.
He tried to ignore it, but there was this one boy right next to him who just wouldn't go away. So finally Ephram looked at him, and just stared back. The boy got a little freaked out and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again and turned away.
Secretly, in the back corner, Amy was smiling at Ephram's ability to get rid of people, even if he didn't mean to. That's what made him stand out, his uniqueness is easier to spot than anyone else's, because he is a rebel, and he isn't afraid to show it.
Normally people like Bright would stand up to him and try to pick a fight, but Ephram would stand on higher ground and stay there until the end, he wouldn't let people push him around, and that was what made him so loveable in Amy's eyes, but that was about to change, drastically.
******
Lunch came around and everything was going great, not one bad thing had happened to Ephram yet, notice the word 'yet'. He walked into the cafeteria and looked right at Bright's table, he noticed that Bright was looking back.
He smiled, but didn't go over, he went back to that same table he had gotten the day before, the one that Bright never wanted to sit at again. Ephram put his books down and sat at the table thinking. He hadn't gotten food, and he wasn't going to. Or at least he didn't think he was going to.
Son enough, though, Amy walked over to the table with two trays in her hand, and putting one down in front of Ephram she said, "Is this seat taken?"
Ephram looked at the tray, and then at Amy, he was in a little bit of shock that she had even taken the time to get an extra tray for him, but he was even more shocked that she was standing there after the seen he had made in that exact place just the day before. He could have sworn that nobody would talk to him after that, and that was fine with him.
But now he had a new obstacle standing in front of him. This was the one girl he had always like, truly, truly like, and she was standing right in front of him. Well, Ephram's brain kept telling him to pull back into reality, and so he did, he hadn't forgotten Amy's question, he had just failed to answer it, so she asked it again, "Is this seat taken?" She paused for a moment, and once again he didn't answer, "Ephram?"
"What? Oh, Amy, hey. Um, no, no the seat isn't taken." Ephram had never messed up a stuttered so much in his life, and he didn't plan to again.
When she finally sat down she looked at Ephram, and after a minute she had to ask, "Are you alright? You look kind of pale."
Ephram knew it was because he was nervous, but he wasn't going to tell her that, she broke up with him, so why would she want him back? "I'm fine." That's all he could get out, he was too afraid of messing up again, so he didn't dare say anything more.
Amy looked in doubt but decided to believe him, "Okay, if you're sure."
"I'm sure." He only spoke in small sentences.
Amy didn't know what to say, because the whole reason they were feeling so awkward around each other was because she broke up with him, and that was because of Annette, and she was dead. It left Amy in a very unusual place, so she said the only thing that came into her head, and that was the stupidest thing she could have ever done.
"Ephram, what happened between you and Annette?"
Ephram's head shot up, staring straight into Amy's now frightened eyes. Tears began to form in his own eyes, but he tried hiding them, not succeeding in any way.
"Come on Ephram, you can tell me." Amy walked over beside him.
"No I can't." He spoke in a small whisper.
"Yes you can, I'm you're friend, remember?"
"Since when?"
"What? Ephram what are you talking about?"
"Since when are you my friend?" Ephram's voice rose, "Last I checked you hated me! When did that change, Amy? Huh? When did that change?" He stood from his seat, and all of a sudden flashbacks of the day before filled his memory, "You broke up with me if you don't remember! I didn't want you to leave, but you did, you left me to be alone Amy, and that's the way I want to stay!"
Amy backed away from Ephram; she was too scared to go near him. He had never yelled at her like this. She didn't like this side of him; something had changed in him, something big.
"You know what Amy, I think it's a good thing you hate me!" Ephram was screaming now.
"I don't hate you Ephram, you're my friend, and I've already told you that."
"Well then I guess that's your loss, because you aren't my friend."
"What? Ephram, what has gotten into you?" Amy's voice was very shaky.
"You have Amy! You were the only thing keeping me alive when we were going out, and then all of a sudden you break up with me! I was trying to save someone's life when you did that, Amy. You broke my heart, and I couldn't have done anything to get you back! You hated me then Amy, and you know what, I hate you now!" Ephram WAS acting weird, but he was angry. He had never acted like that before, but he didn't notice anything different about himself.
Amy just stared at Ephram in disbelief, and everyone else stared at the both of them. Amy didn't notice anyone looking at her, the only thing she noticed was the way Ephram was acting, "You don't mean that."
"Uh, yeah I do, Amy!" Ephram didn't move, he just stayed standing beside his fallen chair.
"You can't mean that." Amy didn't want Ephram hating her, she loved him, and she was going to have to show him that somehow. But that was the problem, she didn't know how.
"Amy, how long will I have to stand here and tell you this? I HATE YOU!" Ephram yelled loud enough for the whole school to hear.
Amy didn't dare talk to him again. She looked at him one last time to see if there was any shred of regret in his face, and then she grabbed her backpack and ran out of the room, and then out of the school. She didn't want to be there then. The one thing she didn't know was that she was leaving at the exact same time Ephram had the day before...Except she wasn't going to get home as easily.
******
Ephram all of a sudden realized what he had said, when it was too late. Amy was already gone, out of the school building. He just looked at Bright in shock, and amazingly Bright knew that Ephram was VERY sorry.
He kept looking at Ephram mouthing, 'go after her, man.' but Ephram didn't budge. He felt too horrible. He didn't know what had come over him, it just happened. He hated knowing that he hurt Amy, it killed him inside.
He wanted to break down right there, but something inside of him was telling him to keep going, to go get Amy back before something happened that Ephram would regret, and that something was coming sooner than Ephram thought.
So finally, with a little convincing, he got his legs to move...At first they felt stiff under him, but once he realized what he had to do, they got feeling back in them immediately. He walked past Bright, and then past the cheerleaders table, and finally out the cafeteria door. He looked down the hall, right and left, and soon knew where Amy had gone.
Wendell had come up to him and told him he saw her run out the front doors with her backpack, and that she didn't look happy, but she wasn't upset either...She was mad, very, VERY mad.
Ephram let out a heavy sigh and then ran out the doors. He ran through the schoolyard and straight toward where he knew Amy would go, to the diner. Everyone seemed to go there when they needed a place to relax. It was a nice calm place, and you could always talk to Nina.
Ephram was going to make it to the diner, but something was going on there that nobody would like, especially Amy and Ephram.
******
"What do you mean Ephram left school again?" Dr. Brown looked at Edna, who was sitting at her desk in the old train station, "He did what? Okay, thank you." He hung up and gave Edna an uneasy look.
"Trouble in paradise, doc?" Edna looked at him and gave him a small smile.
"Ephram ran out of school again today." Edna didn't look surprised, "But there is a twist...He was running after Amy." That made her eyes widen a little, "Yeah, my expression exactly. Apparently they got into some kind of a fight, and Amy ran out of the school. About five minutes later Ephram went after her, but I don't know any more than that."
"Well, let's just leave them alone and see what happens. You know those two kids don't get in fights easily, so it must be something pretty big. They can figure it out themselves, and if they have to leave the school grounds to do so, so be it." Edna stood up and patted Andy on the back, "It'll be okay Doc, they've both got strong heads on their shoulders, they can figure this out."
Andy just stood there, not so sure about Edna's words.
******
When Ephram got to the diner something seemed different. He looked around, and everyone seemed to be really tense. He couldn't see a reason for them to be that way, but it soon became clear to him.
"Let her go!!!" Nina's voice rang loud and clear from the back, and she soon appeared, following a masked man with a gun, and Amy, "She doesn't deserve this!!!"
Ephram stood in shock, just like at the school, except this time it was because he was worried. He knew he had to save Amy, but he didn't know how.
Amy looked at him, the last place she wanted him to be was here, "Ephram, get out of here, now." The guy had his arm around her neck, holding a gun to her head.
He looked right at Ephram when she said that, and then smiled really big, "Is this your girlfriend?" Ephram just shook his head no, "Oh, okay, then you would mind if I shot her?"
Before Ephram could stop them, the words "DON'T HURT HER!!" came out of his mouth. The gunman was surprised to see that this boy had the guts to yell at a guy like himself, but he didn't know Ephram from Adam and Eve, so how was he supposed to know what he got himself into.
"So you don't want this pretty girl to die, do you?" He kept on smiling.
"Of course not..." Ephram was struggling for words, "She's...She's my friend." Amy smiled a little bit at those words, but it was quickly wiped away when the gunman pulled his arm tighter around her neck, "I SAID DON'T HURT HER!!!!" Ephram was mad now, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him from saving Amy.
"What are you gonna do about it, huh? You aren't brave enough to take the bullet for this girl; you're too much of a coward."
"I am not a coward." Ephram spoke through heavy breaths, "I will never be a coward."
"Oh really? Then why are you still standing there?"
Ephram knew he couldn't say, 'because you have to be distracted before I do anything.' that was just plain stupid. So he didn't say anything, he just looked down at his feet.
"That's what I thought." Amy struggled in his arms, and so he pulled tighter, and she stopped immediately.
"AAAHHHH!!!" Nina screamed from the back, throwing a big pot at the guy, it hit him, but he didn't let Amy go, he just stumbled a bunch.
It was enough of a distraction for Ephram, he would have gone with anything that could help him save Amy, and this seemed to be the best. He ran toward the guy and hit right arm, the one holding Amy, as hard as he could. The guy screamed and let Amy go, but he grabbed Ephram as soon as she was out of reach.
Ephram wasn't like Amy; he struggled almost more than the gunman could bear. The guy pointed the gun at him, but Ephram grabbed the hand with the gun and started pointing the gun at the ceiling, firing all the bullets the best he could.
The gunman was getting the better of Ephram, but that wasn't stopping Ephram from saving Amy, and everyone else in the diner, "GET OUT, EVERYONE, NOW!!!!!!!!!" He looked over at Amy, who was shaking her head, and told her to go. She obeyed, as did everybody else.
Soon it was only Ephram and the gunman in that building, fighting to either kill or keep alive. Ephram kept trying to pull the trigger, but it wasn't working, he couldn't get a firm grip on it. He kept reaching for it, but finally the gunman won, to an extent.
He got one his left arm free and hit Ephram in the head as hard as he could. It only threw Ephram on the ground, nothing more. Ephram quickly looked up and saw that the guy was about to aim the gun right at him. There was no escape.
Ephram's life flashed before his eyes, just like when he was on the mountain about to *fall. He didn't want to die yet, and definitely not this way. The gunman smiled and his finger flinched a little, but not before Ephram got out of the way.
He had managed to get enough sense back in him to slide under one of the benches in the diner, just before the gun went of. He heard a few more shots go off, but he didn't get hit. He could see where the bullets fell, and they were very close to Ephram. Just then, he realized that he had trapped himself. He was caught in the corner under a bench, with no place to go.
The gunman looked at Ephram and gave an evil laugh, one that chilled Ephram's spine. Ephram closed his eyes, ready to get shot at any moment, but just then he heard a click.
The trigger had been pulled, but the gun didn't go off. It was empty, there were no more bullets. Ephram let out a sigh of relief and then scurried out from under the bench. He ran for the kitchen and grabbed a big cutting knife. With it, he ran back into the main dining area and look at the gunman with the same smile he had given only minutes before.
"I told you I was not a coward!" Ephram ran and tackled the guy, pinning him on the ground, "Now if you move, this knife moves to you. Do you really want that?" The guy quickly shook his head and held his hand out where they could be seen, dropping the gun at the same time, "I didn't think so. Come with me."
Ephram picked him up and carried him to the door. He looked outside and saw that there were police cars everywhere. He pushed the guy out the door, but didn't follow. He was too overwhelmed with everything that had just happened that day. The fight with Amy, and then this. He was having a hard enough time dealing with Annette's death; this was throwing him over the edge.
Amy came running in; she went straight to Ephram's side, "Are you okay?" She grabbed him and hugged him when she realized he was. He didn't say anything, he didn't even hug back. He just sat there; sweat clinging to his dark brown hair, making it stick to his forehead, "I am so sorry this happened to you, Ephram. I wish we didn't get in that fight."
Ephram then turned to Amy and stared at her. He couldn't believe what he had just heard, "This happen to me? This happened to you, Amy, I was just saving you. If we hadn't gotten into that fight, someone might be dead right now." Flashes of people screaming came to Ephram's mind, but he immediately blocked them, "If we hadn't gotten into that fight, Nina would probably be dead."
Amy didn't say anything else; she just sat down beside him and kept him in her embrace. They both just sat there as the commotion of the outside world was ignored. They didn't move, or speak, or hardly even breathe for quite some time.
Even though the diner had been held up, it was still the calmest and most comforting place to be. And so there they sat, for at least an hour, comfortably.
**********************************************
Please review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wish I could tell you the name of the next one, but I haven't figured that out yet. I am going to soon require at least 4 reviews per chapter, just so I know you want me to continue...lol, just kidding! But reviews are VERY welcome! The next chapter will be up shortly! Thank you for reading!
*Story 1, Hanging by a Moment, chapter 5
PG-13
I do not own any of the characters in this story; they all belong to the WB.
Beep, beep, beep! The alarm clock rang loud in Ephram's ear, making him jump up in bed, "What? I'm awake, I'm awake..." Ephram slapped the clock to make it shut up, 'No problems today, everything should go fine.' Ephram thought to himself as he got out of bed.
"Ephram are you awake yet?" Andy's voice came through his room door.
"Yeah dad, I'm awake." Ephram hated being checked up on, especially now, "I'll be down in a minute." He added.
"Okay, just making sure you would be ready on time." Ephram let out a heavy sigh and rolled his eyes.
He finished getting dressed, brushed his teeth, got his books together, and went downstairs, "Okay dad, I think I'm ready, do you want to go through a checklist to see if I've got everything, or can I go to school now, like a normal teenager."
"Yeah, that's funny, I like that." Andy gave Ephram a fake smile and helped Delia with her backpack, "Are you ready to go Del?"
She rolled her eyes and turned towards the door, "I've been ready for the past five minutes!" She walked outside.
Andy walked past Ephram and stopped a few inches away from his face, "You really have to quit rubbing off on her." Ephram just smiled and followed Delia to the car.
******
Ephram barely made it into class on time, about five seconds before the bell rang. He quickly took his seat and put his pack on the floor next to him. He looked around the room for a minute, and then realized that everyone was staring at him.
He tried to ignore it, but there was this one boy right next to him who just wouldn't go away. So finally Ephram looked at him, and just stared back. The boy got a little freaked out and opened his mouth to say something, but closed it again and turned away.
Secretly, in the back corner, Amy was smiling at Ephram's ability to get rid of people, even if he didn't mean to. That's what made him stand out, his uniqueness is easier to spot than anyone else's, because he is a rebel, and he isn't afraid to show it.
Normally people like Bright would stand up to him and try to pick a fight, but Ephram would stand on higher ground and stay there until the end, he wouldn't let people push him around, and that was what made him so loveable in Amy's eyes, but that was about to change, drastically.
******
Lunch came around and everything was going great, not one bad thing had happened to Ephram yet, notice the word 'yet'. He walked into the cafeteria and looked right at Bright's table, he noticed that Bright was looking back.
He smiled, but didn't go over, he went back to that same table he had gotten the day before, the one that Bright never wanted to sit at again. Ephram put his books down and sat at the table thinking. He hadn't gotten food, and he wasn't going to. Or at least he didn't think he was going to.
Son enough, though, Amy walked over to the table with two trays in her hand, and putting one down in front of Ephram she said, "Is this seat taken?"
Ephram looked at the tray, and then at Amy, he was in a little bit of shock that she had even taken the time to get an extra tray for him, but he was even more shocked that she was standing there after the seen he had made in that exact place just the day before. He could have sworn that nobody would talk to him after that, and that was fine with him.
But now he had a new obstacle standing in front of him. This was the one girl he had always like, truly, truly like, and she was standing right in front of him. Well, Ephram's brain kept telling him to pull back into reality, and so he did, he hadn't forgotten Amy's question, he had just failed to answer it, so she asked it again, "Is this seat taken?" She paused for a moment, and once again he didn't answer, "Ephram?"
"What? Oh, Amy, hey. Um, no, no the seat isn't taken." Ephram had never messed up a stuttered so much in his life, and he didn't plan to again.
When she finally sat down she looked at Ephram, and after a minute she had to ask, "Are you alright? You look kind of pale."
Ephram knew it was because he was nervous, but he wasn't going to tell her that, she broke up with him, so why would she want him back? "I'm fine." That's all he could get out, he was too afraid of messing up again, so he didn't dare say anything more.
Amy looked in doubt but decided to believe him, "Okay, if you're sure."
"I'm sure." He only spoke in small sentences.
Amy didn't know what to say, because the whole reason they were feeling so awkward around each other was because she broke up with him, and that was because of Annette, and she was dead. It left Amy in a very unusual place, so she said the only thing that came into her head, and that was the stupidest thing she could have ever done.
"Ephram, what happened between you and Annette?"
Ephram's head shot up, staring straight into Amy's now frightened eyes. Tears began to form in his own eyes, but he tried hiding them, not succeeding in any way.
"Come on Ephram, you can tell me." Amy walked over beside him.
"No I can't." He spoke in a small whisper.
"Yes you can, I'm you're friend, remember?"
"Since when?"
"What? Ephram what are you talking about?"
"Since when are you my friend?" Ephram's voice rose, "Last I checked you hated me! When did that change, Amy? Huh? When did that change?" He stood from his seat, and all of a sudden flashbacks of the day before filled his memory, "You broke up with me if you don't remember! I didn't want you to leave, but you did, you left me to be alone Amy, and that's the way I want to stay!"
Amy backed away from Ephram; she was too scared to go near him. He had never yelled at her like this. She didn't like this side of him; something had changed in him, something big.
"You know what Amy, I think it's a good thing you hate me!" Ephram was screaming now.
"I don't hate you Ephram, you're my friend, and I've already told you that."
"Well then I guess that's your loss, because you aren't my friend."
"What? Ephram, what has gotten into you?" Amy's voice was very shaky.
"You have Amy! You were the only thing keeping me alive when we were going out, and then all of a sudden you break up with me! I was trying to save someone's life when you did that, Amy. You broke my heart, and I couldn't have done anything to get you back! You hated me then Amy, and you know what, I hate you now!" Ephram WAS acting weird, but he was angry. He had never acted like that before, but he didn't notice anything different about himself.
Amy just stared at Ephram in disbelief, and everyone else stared at the both of them. Amy didn't notice anyone looking at her, the only thing she noticed was the way Ephram was acting, "You don't mean that."
"Uh, yeah I do, Amy!" Ephram didn't move, he just stayed standing beside his fallen chair.
"You can't mean that." Amy didn't want Ephram hating her, she loved him, and she was going to have to show him that somehow. But that was the problem, she didn't know how.
"Amy, how long will I have to stand here and tell you this? I HATE YOU!" Ephram yelled loud enough for the whole school to hear.
Amy didn't dare talk to him again. She looked at him one last time to see if there was any shred of regret in his face, and then she grabbed her backpack and ran out of the room, and then out of the school. She didn't want to be there then. The one thing she didn't know was that she was leaving at the exact same time Ephram had the day before...Except she wasn't going to get home as easily.
******
Ephram all of a sudden realized what he had said, when it was too late. Amy was already gone, out of the school building. He just looked at Bright in shock, and amazingly Bright knew that Ephram was VERY sorry.
He kept looking at Ephram mouthing, 'go after her, man.' but Ephram didn't budge. He felt too horrible. He didn't know what had come over him, it just happened. He hated knowing that he hurt Amy, it killed him inside.
He wanted to break down right there, but something inside of him was telling him to keep going, to go get Amy back before something happened that Ephram would regret, and that something was coming sooner than Ephram thought.
So finally, with a little convincing, he got his legs to move...At first they felt stiff under him, but once he realized what he had to do, they got feeling back in them immediately. He walked past Bright, and then past the cheerleaders table, and finally out the cafeteria door. He looked down the hall, right and left, and soon knew where Amy had gone.
Wendell had come up to him and told him he saw her run out the front doors with her backpack, and that she didn't look happy, but she wasn't upset either...She was mad, very, VERY mad.
Ephram let out a heavy sigh and then ran out the doors. He ran through the schoolyard and straight toward where he knew Amy would go, to the diner. Everyone seemed to go there when they needed a place to relax. It was a nice calm place, and you could always talk to Nina.
Ephram was going to make it to the diner, but something was going on there that nobody would like, especially Amy and Ephram.
******
"What do you mean Ephram left school again?" Dr. Brown looked at Edna, who was sitting at her desk in the old train station, "He did what? Okay, thank you." He hung up and gave Edna an uneasy look.
"Trouble in paradise, doc?" Edna looked at him and gave him a small smile.
"Ephram ran out of school again today." Edna didn't look surprised, "But there is a twist...He was running after Amy." That made her eyes widen a little, "Yeah, my expression exactly. Apparently they got into some kind of a fight, and Amy ran out of the school. About five minutes later Ephram went after her, but I don't know any more than that."
"Well, let's just leave them alone and see what happens. You know those two kids don't get in fights easily, so it must be something pretty big. They can figure it out themselves, and if they have to leave the school grounds to do so, so be it." Edna stood up and patted Andy on the back, "It'll be okay Doc, they've both got strong heads on their shoulders, they can figure this out."
Andy just stood there, not so sure about Edna's words.
******
When Ephram got to the diner something seemed different. He looked around, and everyone seemed to be really tense. He couldn't see a reason for them to be that way, but it soon became clear to him.
"Let her go!!!" Nina's voice rang loud and clear from the back, and she soon appeared, following a masked man with a gun, and Amy, "She doesn't deserve this!!!"
Ephram stood in shock, just like at the school, except this time it was because he was worried. He knew he had to save Amy, but he didn't know how.
Amy looked at him, the last place she wanted him to be was here, "Ephram, get out of here, now." The guy had his arm around her neck, holding a gun to her head.
He looked right at Ephram when she said that, and then smiled really big, "Is this your girlfriend?" Ephram just shook his head no, "Oh, okay, then you would mind if I shot her?"
Before Ephram could stop them, the words "DON'T HURT HER!!" came out of his mouth. The gunman was surprised to see that this boy had the guts to yell at a guy like himself, but he didn't know Ephram from Adam and Eve, so how was he supposed to know what he got himself into.
"So you don't want this pretty girl to die, do you?" He kept on smiling.
"Of course not..." Ephram was struggling for words, "She's...She's my friend." Amy smiled a little bit at those words, but it was quickly wiped away when the gunman pulled his arm tighter around her neck, "I SAID DON'T HURT HER!!!!" Ephram was mad now, and there was nothing anyone could do to stop him from saving Amy.
"What are you gonna do about it, huh? You aren't brave enough to take the bullet for this girl; you're too much of a coward."
"I am not a coward." Ephram spoke through heavy breaths, "I will never be a coward."
"Oh really? Then why are you still standing there?"
Ephram knew he couldn't say, 'because you have to be distracted before I do anything.' that was just plain stupid. So he didn't say anything, he just looked down at his feet.
"That's what I thought." Amy struggled in his arms, and so he pulled tighter, and she stopped immediately.
"AAAHHHH!!!" Nina screamed from the back, throwing a big pot at the guy, it hit him, but he didn't let Amy go, he just stumbled a bunch.
It was enough of a distraction for Ephram, he would have gone with anything that could help him save Amy, and this seemed to be the best. He ran toward the guy and hit right arm, the one holding Amy, as hard as he could. The guy screamed and let Amy go, but he grabbed Ephram as soon as she was out of reach.
Ephram wasn't like Amy; he struggled almost more than the gunman could bear. The guy pointed the gun at him, but Ephram grabbed the hand with the gun and started pointing the gun at the ceiling, firing all the bullets the best he could.
The gunman was getting the better of Ephram, but that wasn't stopping Ephram from saving Amy, and everyone else in the diner, "GET OUT, EVERYONE, NOW!!!!!!!!!" He looked over at Amy, who was shaking her head, and told her to go. She obeyed, as did everybody else.
Soon it was only Ephram and the gunman in that building, fighting to either kill or keep alive. Ephram kept trying to pull the trigger, but it wasn't working, he couldn't get a firm grip on it. He kept reaching for it, but finally the gunman won, to an extent.
He got one his left arm free and hit Ephram in the head as hard as he could. It only threw Ephram on the ground, nothing more. Ephram quickly looked up and saw that the guy was about to aim the gun right at him. There was no escape.
Ephram's life flashed before his eyes, just like when he was on the mountain about to *fall. He didn't want to die yet, and definitely not this way. The gunman smiled and his finger flinched a little, but not before Ephram got out of the way.
He had managed to get enough sense back in him to slide under one of the benches in the diner, just before the gun went of. He heard a few more shots go off, but he didn't get hit. He could see where the bullets fell, and they were very close to Ephram. Just then, he realized that he had trapped himself. He was caught in the corner under a bench, with no place to go.
The gunman looked at Ephram and gave an evil laugh, one that chilled Ephram's spine. Ephram closed his eyes, ready to get shot at any moment, but just then he heard a click.
The trigger had been pulled, but the gun didn't go off. It was empty, there were no more bullets. Ephram let out a sigh of relief and then scurried out from under the bench. He ran for the kitchen and grabbed a big cutting knife. With it, he ran back into the main dining area and look at the gunman with the same smile he had given only minutes before.
"I told you I was not a coward!" Ephram ran and tackled the guy, pinning him on the ground, "Now if you move, this knife moves to you. Do you really want that?" The guy quickly shook his head and held his hand out where they could be seen, dropping the gun at the same time, "I didn't think so. Come with me."
Ephram picked him up and carried him to the door. He looked outside and saw that there were police cars everywhere. He pushed the guy out the door, but didn't follow. He was too overwhelmed with everything that had just happened that day. The fight with Amy, and then this. He was having a hard enough time dealing with Annette's death; this was throwing him over the edge.
Amy came running in; she went straight to Ephram's side, "Are you okay?" She grabbed him and hugged him when she realized he was. He didn't say anything, he didn't even hug back. He just sat there; sweat clinging to his dark brown hair, making it stick to his forehead, "I am so sorry this happened to you, Ephram. I wish we didn't get in that fight."
Ephram then turned to Amy and stared at her. He couldn't believe what he had just heard, "This happen to me? This happened to you, Amy, I was just saving you. If we hadn't gotten into that fight, someone might be dead right now." Flashes of people screaming came to Ephram's mind, but he immediately blocked them, "If we hadn't gotten into that fight, Nina would probably be dead."
Amy didn't say anything else; she just sat down beside him and kept him in her embrace. They both just sat there as the commotion of the outside world was ignored. They didn't move, or speak, or hardly even breathe for quite some time.
Even though the diner had been held up, it was still the calmest and most comforting place to be. And so there they sat, for at least an hour, comfortably.
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Please review, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I wish I could tell you the name of the next one, but I haven't figured that out yet. I am going to soon require at least 4 reviews per chapter, just so I know you want me to continue...lol, just kidding! But reviews are VERY welcome! The next chapter will be up shortly! Thank you for reading!
*Story 1, Hanging by a Moment, chapter 5