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Held at Gunpoint

By Ember A. Conners

By Ember A ConnersPublished 3 years ago 3 min read
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I didn't really know what to put here, so I made a cover (Cover made using Canva.com)

Held At Gunpoint

Ember A. Conners

Despite what everyone expected, the world didn’t end all at once. Even now, not much has changed. Skyscrapers remain ivy-free, no cracks have split the pavement. The main difference, however, is how empty the streets are.

I know most cities are different. Heck, according to the news rural areas haven’t changed a bit.

Of course during the end of the world people apparently decided they still needed to run the news.

It is useful knowing what’s going on outside this dumpster fire of a city, but it’d be even better if they’d focus on the people stuck inside of it.

It feels like longer, but really it's only been three years since the government called it quits. Apparently they got tired of all the protestors and people thinking they could do better, so they gave us the freedom we’d all been asking for.

No one knows for sure whether the government is gone forever or if they’re just trying to prove a point. Either way, most of us would take a corrupt government over none by now.

Now that crime goes unpunished, few people risk the main streets where gangs now run rampant, most stick to the alleyways and side streets instead.

Weirdly enough, it was gangs that both saved and ruined my life. Actually, most of that credit should probably go to the locket.

I was twelve when it happened. It was a day like any other after ‘Anarchy day’ -as people had started referring to it as- when a thief found our home.

She probably wasn’t expecting anyone, as we had done our best to make our apartment look abandoned from the outside. She was carrying a gun anyways.

My dad had just come back from a grocery run, and so me and both my parents were in the house. I had no siblings, but my mom was expecting, which made the whole scene worse.

The thief didn’t even bother trying to sneak in, she just kicked the door open and started taking things. We were all in the living room, but my parents went to investigate the noise, telling me to stay put. Of course, I didn’t listen.

Despite how scared I should’ve been -and how terrified my parents obviously were- I couldn’t help but feel excited. Nothing that interesting had ever happened to me, and I found myself thrilled at the prospect of telling all my friends.

I can’t believe how stupid I was.

She didn’t give us a moment to think. Before I could process what was happening, my parents were on the floor and a scream was building in my throat.

She was going to kill me. She should’ve killed me.

That was when I remembered my locket.

Now, the most powerful gang in the city at that time had been the ‘Hearts’, and their mark was a small black heart tattooed on the members’ wrists. Often, the members’ children would wear a heart-shaped locket to symbolize their protection.

I had one such locket, though mine didn’t come from any gang. It had been a gift from my grandmother before she passed away.

I saw the thief's hesitation as she aimed the gun away from my parents and towards me. It wasn’t much, but it was enough time for me to hold my locket towards her with shaking hands.

I watched horror dawn on her face as she looked from the locket to my parents’ still-warm corpses. She didn’t say anything, just picked up her bag and ran off into the night.

I only saw her once more after that, about a year after to be exact.

And that was at the opposite end of my gun.

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About the Creator

Ember A Conners

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