*3 or 4 years earlier….*
It was totally ridiculous! So stupid, dumb, and a total annoyance! Kio was a new graduate, just about to start college in an art degree, despite earlier plans that had been made for him. Kio didn't want to be a doctor, like his dad had planned for him; instead, he decided to become an artist. He had two reasons for this, the first being that he liked to paint and mix colors. Kio loved bright colors, and even more, he liked making his own colors that fit his personality. The second reason, though… it was mostly because becoming an artist would really tick his dad off.
So here he was, having just finished his school application, ready to start school the next day, and what does he realize? He forgot to buy dinner! He walked along the dark, empty streets, eyes hard I frustration, coat drawn tightly around him to ward off the cold, and his stomach blaring under it. He didn't want to order in, since he didn't have a lot of money in the first place, but convenience store food wasn't at all appetizing. Still, he needed something, and the store wasn't more than two miles away. Longest two miles of his life, he thought.
He was living alone at the time in a lousy one-bedroom apartment with an ant problem, but, he decided, it was better than being back at home under his father's calloused thumb. At last, he was his own man, free of the rules of others and free to do things his own way- …shoot. He passed the convenience store already. Kio took a minute to have himself a nice little temper tantrum on the sidewalk before sighing and going back down the way he'd come. The store was mostly empty, since it was later in the day. The middle-aged cashier was ringing up an older man with two six-packs of beer. I'd tried the stuff a little behind my parent's backs, and didn't like it at first. But I've been drinking a beer or two every couple of weeks since moving out, and I kind of like it. It was cold and bitter, just like my childhood. …no, that's important. He passed the man as he left with his booze and went down the chip isle first. If he was going to get junk for dinner, he might as well get the right kind of junk. He got himself a beer, next, then a small sushi meal in a plastic container. It looked fresh enough… Kio shuddered at the thought. "Fresh enough" ….ick.
But there wasn't much else on sale, so he put up with it. Turning towards the cash register, Kio saw a young woman at the counter, paying for some magazines, peanut butter and a jar of mushrooms. What an odd combination, he thought, almost gagging. But then a child's voice registered, somewhere down another isle, and the woman turned to reply to him. It was then that Kio noticed the bulge in her abdomen. It all made sense to him- she was pregnant. Kio shook his head, feeling sorry for the husband, and for the woman's probably grotesque food cravings. Still, he hoped they would be happy. You see, Kio had a younger sister, himself. She was cute as a baby, and even when she was 10, she adored him so. She clung onto him all day long, but after a while, she started growing distant… or maybe it was the other way around.
Kio couldn't see the child running around the store, but he could hear his laughing, and the sounds his shoes made as they stomped against the tile floors. He was energetic… but he had better be careful, les he fall down. That's one of the things Kio didn't like about kids- their minds weren't developed enough for them to use common sense. They don't think about the repercussion of their actions or consider how much it would hurt if they- *bam* …Fall down like he just did. Almost immediately, the boy starts to cry, and his mother, still at the register, scolds him softly before comforting him from afar. That seems to be all he needs, as he hops right back up to his feet and scurries off. Kind of cute… but a little annoying.
Anyway, Kio's stomach was throwing a fit of its own now, and he headed towards the checkstand and the expectant mother. This was just another ordinary day for him, a normal person, so when everyone heard the door open and the bell above it ring softly, none of them expected anything to change. But it did… the lives of four and a half people changed drastically that day. Time moved almost in slow motion as Kio took another step towards the register, head turning unconsciously towards the door in response to the noise of entry. And then I saw them…. Three average-sized people walked in, dressed in black from head to toe with ski masks over their faces and semi-automatic weapons in tow. Kio froze in place even before the one up front yelled "freeze!" the woman gasped, dropping the bags she'd just picked up.
"Put your hands up!" he yelled next, pointing the gun about the small store. Everyone but Kio put his hands up, since they were full of food. For that, he was yelled at, but there wasn't a lot he could do, so he just stayed perfectly still. The woman with the bags was shoved roughly away from the counter and fell to the floor as the man started barking orders at the clerk. He looked shaken up, but at the time, I was more concerned with the moaning woman on the floor. Groceries rolled out of the bags towards him, and she was holding her stomach in pain and fear. Her hands shook as she struggled to get a hold of herself. This was a hold-up… those thugs wanted to rob the place, and Kio just HAD to be there during it, didn't he? What rotten luck, he thought. While the leader kept barking orders, the other two looked jittery and nervous, looking out the windows. Nervous robbers were not a good combo, and Kio knew that everyone had to remain calm and quiet, or something bad could happen.
Then there was a noise. It sounded like crunching and whatnot. Looking around stealthily, Kio tried to discover where it was coming from. If it didn't stop soon, the bad guys would just get even more anxious. Was it the kid? Was he making noise somewhere, unaware of the danger before them all? What a stupid kid! Though, Kio couldn't find him… was he hiding somewhere? Crunch crunch… kid, shut up! …But what he didn't realize at the time was that the noise wasn't coming from the kid… looking down, he saw the top of a chip bag and cursed himself. His hands were shaking, too, and he was practically breaking every chip in the bag. He needed to calm down or put the bag down, but he was too afraid to do either. Filled with fear, all Kio could do was stare at the man at the counter as he was handed a bag of money from the clerk. He took the bag and looked back at his accomplices. That's when the clerk made a move. His hand was reaching under the counter, and Kio just knew he was trying to get to a weapon. So now he was faced with an even worse situation. The clerk was going to try to scare the thieves off, but would it work? Would they give up and run away, or-
Kio didn't get the chance to finish his thought before the clerk lifted up a modest-sized shotgun and pointed it at the robber in front of him, yelling. The leader wasn't fast enough to catch on, but someone was, and Kio jumped, hearing the piercing sound of a gun going off only a matter of feet in front of him. the clerk was thrown back and into the glass case that held the cigarettes, hacking up blood and spurting it everywhere before falling to the floor. The mother on the floor screamed, which Is what Kio wanted to do, but not a second later, the leader turned, rose his gun up slightly and pulled the trigger. My eyes widened, mouth hanging open slightly. His heart nearly stilled in his chest, seeing the woman pant on the floor before falling completely still and silent.
He never saw this coming… he never expected it, and he definitely wasn't prepared to see two people die right in front of him. Now the robbers were yelling amongst themselves, complaining about idiots and such. He had an opening, and so Kio slowly knelt down, abandoning his unimportant nourishment and crawled over to the woman. She was a bloody mess, dress stained and hair matted. Her eyes were hard to look at, widely open in surprise. He tried not to vomit right there, and though she was a mess and he was afraid, he had to check… Placing two fingers on her neck, he checked for a pulse. He begged silently for a pulse, for any sign of life, but it was already too late. Tears burned behind the young student's eyes at the horrible turn of events and he tried his hardest not to let them free, clenching his now-stained hands in the dead woman's bloody dress.
"Damn you…" He choked out. He didn't mean to be heard, but sure enough, the leader turned back around towards him, glaring down.
"What was that, brat?" At first all he wanted was to curl up in a ball and forget he was there, but rage was building in his stomach, and without thinking, he turned his head and returned the glare.
"You're *bleep*ing murderers! You just killed these people!"
"They interfered with us!"
"Maybe the clerk, but you didn't have to shoot him! And her… she was pregnant! She was going to have a baby and you shot her for being afraid of you!! You bastards!"
For his outburst, Kio received a harsh blow to the head by the butt of the gun, but in all honesty, he preferred that to being shot and killed. When he looked back up, glare still set in place, the end of the gun was pointed in his face.
"Just shut up and keep to yourself or I'll do the same to you!"
"Bastard… you have your money, why don't you just GO?"
"Shut up!"
"No, ji!" One of the other robbers shouted. "We've got what we came for! Lets just go!"
"Idiot! Don't use names!" They were arguing again, and Kio was forgotten. He was tired, afraid, and now a bloody mess. Lying his head on the woman's stomach, he could feel as the baby moved one last time inside the mother's stomach before going as still as she was. It was cruel… he never even got a chance. Kio cried… he wasn't a cold-hearted bastard, and he wasn't afraid to cry… But as he got a good sob started, he saw movement out of the corner of his eye. It was this sight that nearly made his heart stop cold in his chest. It was the boy of the woman… standing only a few feet away, staring down at the bloody mess. And wouldn't you know it- and it's embarrassing that this was the first time he noticed it- right behind the boy was the back entrance. Kio's heartbeat raced in his chest as he rose his head up from the motionless body. He could still hear the robbers arguing amongst themselves behind him… If he was going to try to pull this off, he would have to be dead quiet, fast, and pretty damn stupid. He could pull this off, he thought. Quietly, Kio got to his feet, trying not to slip in the massive puddle of blood at his feet, and stepped over the body, towards the boy.
At first, the boy was still, but the closer Kio got to him, the more he started to step away, obviously afraid of what was happening, and no doubt, all of his mother's blood stained on Kio's clothes. If the kid didn't stop being stupid, they wouldn't be able to stay alive. That's when Kio caught a Twinkie out of the corner of his eye. He reached for it, but made too much noise handling the rapper, causing one of the robbers to whip their head in his direction. Kio tensed, moving his body slightly to block out the sight of the kid, and lowered his eyes.
"S-sorry… I haven't eaten all day, so…" The robber rolled his eyes at him, before went back to yelling at his cohorts. Soon, hopefully, the police would get there, and they had to think of how they were going to clean up after themselves. Staring at the robbers just in case, Kio sneakily lowered the Twinkie and waved it in the direction of the kid. His ploy worked, and the hungry child started to follow the snack with his eyes before slowly heading back his way.
For that moment, Kio had hope that he would make it out of there alive, and the fact that he could save this innocent young life made him so happy… this compassion was dangerous… and he underestimated the stupidity of children, as he put it. The child laughed and grabbed onto the Twinkie, crumpling up the wrapping. It wasn't that which the robbers noticed… but how the kid started to cry after squishing his treat. The robbers all turned to look at them this time, and Kio cursed, grabbing up the child, heading for the door. There was a lot of yelling, crying followed by shooting and…
Before he knew what was happening, the floor came right up to meet Kio's head. Everything spun, everything was numb, and all the sounds were melding together in a mumbled mess. Somehow, he'd managed to barely hold onto consciousness, but he was so confused. He didn't know which way was up or down… Eventually, though, he heard loud noises, sirens and people filing into the store. The robbers were probably long gone by then, and Kio filled with relief, but he could barely move, and the body of the child he was trying to protect was… unmoving. With every bit of strength he could muster, Kio shook the body. It still didn't move. A sticky, copper-smelling substance was quickly staining his clothes again, and Kio could feel his shirt sticking to his chest. He wanted to puke, to cry, even to die… but it seemed as though he wasn't going to be allowed to do any of those things.
From above him, a horrified police officer shouted, "My god, this one is still alive!" and Kio's heart stopped. He had survived… when all around him died. He just couldn't stand it! So he gave up… But fate had other plans, and the paramedics pulled him back from death several times before he gave in, and allowed himself to live again. Kio sustained very serious injuries, having taken two bullets in the back. The first one entered and imbedded itself in one of his lower ribs, while the other went straight through, hitting part of his heart and a lung before exiting… right into the child he was holding. The child bled out for a few minutes before dying, himself. He didn't need to be told that part. He didn't want to know. During the several months he was stuck in the hospital recovering, he'd been visited by a psychiatrist, but he knew he would never be able to forget that awful day.