The events of that day had been running through his head over and over again and every detail was forever burnt into his mind. If he just closed his eyes he could see the way Ellie looked when she looked down at the note in her hands. Her long hair was pulled back in a ponytail that hung down at her back. She was wearing a pair of sneakers, a pair of army shorts and a blue tank top. Although her clothes were casual Brian remembered he thought she was beautiful, like she always was.
It was when they were getting the items on the shopping-list the horrible thing happened. Brian walked around a shelf near the cash register, looking for soap and stuff like that. He found what he was looking for and picked up a bottle and read at it. Then, suddenly, shouts and noises filled the air and he spun around towards the entrance where the sounds came from.
Storming into the store was two men. In spite of he warm weather they were dressed in black leather jackets and jeans. They had covered their faces with a piece of black cloth so nothing but their eyes were visible. The cloth managed to hide their identity but did nothing to hide the desperate look in their eyes. Desperation and anger; a very dangerous combination.
Brian just stood and stared, unable to move, as the men ran to the register. They didn’t even see him standing there, or if they did they didn’t pay him any attention. Instead they began shouting out directions to the poor girl at the counter. Robbery, quick, money, hurry up… Brian heard the words in a daze and he kept thinking it had to be a dream, an awful dream and that he would soon wake up and find himself at home lying in his own bed.
But of course, it wasn’t a dream. It was reality. One of the men pulled out a gun and pointed it towards the terrified girl at the register, who was sobbing loudly. Apparently she wasn’t fast enough to bring them the money and the men weren’t going to wait patiently. The sight of the gun made Brian freeze to ice from fear and paralyzed he stared at the gray steel object. Then everything happened so quickly, it was a matter of seconds but to Brian it felt like those seconds lasted for an eternity.
A sudden thud was heard and at first he couldn’t understand what it was, but then he realized he had been unaware of that he still had had a bottle of soap in his hands. The thud was him dropping it to the floor. Not a big deal really, but it had consequences. The sound was just as unexpected to Brian as it was to the robbers. The man with the gun spun around and now the weapon pointed straight at Brian. He found himself staring at it, at its muzzle and as in slow motion he saw how the man’s finger moved for the trigger. During that short time a million thoughts rushed through his panic-struck mind. How will it feel? Will it hurt? Just as the man pulled the trigger Ellie showed up out of nowhere.
"No!!!" Her piercing scream mixed with the sound of the gunshot and quick as lightning she jumped and pushed Brian aside. He closed his eyes as they both fell and landed hard on the floor. The silence afterwards were deafening, no one made a sound. The girl at the counter had stopped sobbing and the men held their breaths as the echo of the gunshot faded away. Brian was shocked. Was he still alive? Yes, but where had the shot hit him then? He couldn’t feel anything. And Ellie, was she all right? He opened his eyes and pulled himself up into a sitting position. The men broke the scary silence.
"Oh, my God! What have you done? You stupid idiot!"
"I didn’t mean to, the gun just went off!"
"Come on! Let’s get out of here!"
"But…"
"Quick, before the cops come!"
But Brian barely heard their shouts. There was blood everywhere. Where did it come from? He hadn’t been hit. But then he understood something that made him want to die right there and then. Ellie. She took the bullet for him. She laid perfectly still at the floor with a growing puddle of blood around her and with his heart pounding madly he made his way over to her. To his relief, her chest was heaving and carefully he placed her head in his lap in an attempt to make it comfortable for her. She opened her eyes of green and looked up at him.
"Are you ok?" Her voice was barely a whisper and Brian felt the tears well up in his eyes blurring his vision. It was so typical of her, never thinking about herself, always putting others in first hand. He nodded. "Good." She swallowed painfully.
"Oh, God…" Brian looked up and became aware of the other people in the store that were standing around them in shock, staring with big eyes. "Don’t just stand there! Call an ambulance. Can’t you she’s hurt?!" he cried, feeling annoyed that no one did anything to help. First then a woman picked up a cell-phone and dialed.
"Don’t worry Ellie, everything’s going to be ok. Just hang in there, ok? You’ll make it baby, you’re so strong," he said in a low voice while he gently stroked her hair.
"Brian, I’m sorry" she whispered, struggling painfully with every word.
"No! Ellie… Don’t you dare leave me now!" The tears ran down his cheeks but he didn’t even notice them. "I can’t live without you."
"Yes, you can. You have to. Just promise me that." Brian couldn’t even allow himself to think it, he refused to think it. No, it wasn’t going to happen! It couldn’t! But she was so weak now, and every second passing by just seemed to make her even weaker.
"Don’t talk like that, you’ll have to-"
"Brian," she interrupted him. "Promise." No, no, no, no, his mind protested. This can’t be happening. God wouldn’t let it happen. Would he? But when he looked into her eyes he saw she couldn’t hold on much longer. It was too late. There was no use in fighting. It broke his heart but he knew it was true.
"I promise." She let out a sigh and closed her eyes. She too was crying now, but she seemed somewhat relieved.
"I love you Brian."
Her funeral was nice; simple and beautiful. Just the way she would have liked it. Her family her friends and everybody who loved her was there.
The men who shot her got caught by the police not long afterwards. They were just two desperate young men who needed some money and thought they had found a good way to get it. Their intentions were never to hurt anyone. But they did.
Brian got up from his sitting position at the ground. The dark had begun to come and the autumn rain continued to fall around him. At that point it seemed like it would never end but Brian knew he wouldn’t give up. No matter how meaningless life seemed to be he would never stop fighting. Never. He wasn’t going to break his promise to Ellie and he would never ever forget about her. Their time together was so short but their love would live on forever. The memory of her was always in Brian’s heart and there she would never die.
