Page 107 of Pride

Arran sighed loudly and dramatically.

“I’m tired, Alex. Life’s boring. Everything’s boring. Even the kills you forbid, the ones I kept hidden from you, they don’t give me the same thrill anymore. So, it’s time for us to move on, step into the next realm and see what that holds for us.”

“Can you fucking hear yourself?” Alex sneered with repulsion.

“Oh, I hear myself loud and clear,” Arran replied, still pointing the gun at Alex, as he said, “We’ll lie together on thefloor right here, in the foetal position, knees up, my head to your feet and vice versa. Just like we were in the womb. Just like Yin and Yang. I know you won’t have the balls to pull the trigger, so, I’ll shoot you in the head first, then lay with you and shoot myself. When they find us, it’ll be tragically beautiful. And tomorrow, my friends on the dark web will flood every website they can with the images of what we did. Our final performance. It’ll be legendary.”

“It’ll be nothing because it’s not gonna happen,” Alex spat, then added, “Have you prepared a monologue for this fucked-up shit? You do love the sound of your own voice.”

“It will happen, and this time, there are no words needed,” Arran replied. “I’ll let the images speak for themselves.”

He turned to face me. “Maybe she can finally put her words to good use and use them to tell our story. To tell everyone about the tragedy of our ending. Hey...” He shrugged. “She might even get the promotion she wanted. The news networks will be clamouring over themselves to get her story.” Another nonchalant shrug. “It’ll be a win-win. For everyone.”

“Except, I’m not going to play,” Alex snarled. “I’d rather die fighting than let you use me as a pawn in your fucked-up games.”

And he lunged forward, grabbing Arran’s legs and pulling him to the ground.

Everything happened so fast, it all became a blur as they grappled on the ground, fighting, punching, rolling around.

Angry snarls and shouts echoed around the forest. The sound of punches and grunts peppered the air.

My eyes bugged as I watched, willing Alex to fight, to win.

And then...

BANG.

The gun went off, and the fighting stopped.

They froze, both of them lying slumped on the ground in the middle of the clearing. Huddled together on the forest floor.Neither one of them moved as blood began to soak the leaves and twigs where they lay.

And I tried to scream.

I howled behind the tape covering my mouth, tears blurring everything as my struggle turned to despair. Sirens blared in my brain, echoing in my ears, as all I felt was total and utter anguish. The excruciating agony in my heart, radiated through my whole body, overriding any of the pains I’d felt before in my wrists and ankles.

The gun had gone off.

Nobody was moving.

They were both dead.

CHAPTER FORTY-SIX

ALEX

The sound of the gunshot echoed in my ears, piercing my eardrums like the stab of a knife.

It was all I could hear.

It was deafening.

It was excruciating.

I could feel my life draining away, the anger and tension from fighting so viciously ebbing as we lay on the ground.

There were no more flying fists, no energy to fight, no movement at all.

Just stillness.