FirstLineFiction beta

from Contest #1

She told him with a little gesture he had never seen her use before. There can be no doubt as to her meaning or her feelings on the matter.

‘Tsk, tsk, that was rude and completely uncalled for,’ he admonished her lazily.

She blew an impatient sigh. ‘Whatever, Meissner! I couldn’t care less what you think,’ she spat out defiantly.

He studied her through the bars of the tiny cell. She sat right in the corner, as far away as she could get from him, her face turned towards the wall, her back to him.

It really bothered him that she so blatantly refused to look him straight in the face or to call him by his first name. He had tried for days now to hold a civil conversation with her but each conversation had inevitably turned into a shouting match resulting in either him storming off or her attempting to kick down the cell gates. He told himself that it would be different this time.

‘You know, it takes two. It always does. You can’t just blame me for this,’ he watched as her head shot up at his words. She bristled and stalked towards him, her bright blue eyes flashing dangerously. She stopped an inch away from him, the bars preventing her from coming any closer.

‘Get out. Now.’ Her voice was deceptively calm but he felt the rage behind her words.

He merely stared at her, the corners of his mouth lifted in a half grin. ‘No,’ he replied cheerily, knowing his nonchalance would infuriate her even more. He just wanted her to look him in the eyes. She denied him this, choosing to gaze at the ceiling instead.

‘You are a selfish, self-serving, arrogant, sanctimonious bastard!’

‘And you had really enjoyed screwing said selfish, self-serving, arrogant, sanctimonious bastard. Multiple times,’ he drawled, stung by her words and suddenly needing to hurt her back. Her entire body froze as if she had abruptly been turned into a block of ice.

She still refused to look at him. It was only then that he caught sight of the tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes. She uttered no noise as her tears silently trailed down her cheeks until at last, they splashed delicately onto the filthy floor.

He flinched and felt a sharp pang in his chest. He had gone too far this time and wounded her deeply. In that instant, he absolutely despised himself. He hated seeing her in any sort of pain and to see the heartache and misery etched so clearly upon her face was devastating. He wanted to envelop her in his arms and just hold her close to him.

‘I have nothing to say to you. I’ve told you and the others over and over again. I.will.not.give.them.up!’ She punctuated each word with a savage kick to the cell bars. ‘Do what you came here to do,’ she said flatly. Her voice carried no fear or anger, just sadness. He pleaded silently for her to look at him but her head remained bowed as she valiantly tried to stop her tears.

 ‘Do you still love me?’ he asked quietly. He held his breath as she finally, finally looked up at him. He saw the answer to his question in her eyes. God, her beautiful eyes. He remembered how they used to light up with so much joy, how they had brimmed with passion and raw emotions. All for him. Just for him. Their shared happiness in the midst of all this madness. He had never deserved her. He should have walked away. He had tried but found that he was unable to. He had been drawn irresistibly to her from that very first glance.

She looked at him gently now, her anger slowly dissipating. Her pride prevented her from saying what she felt but her eyes told a different story. He watched as she struggled with herself, torn between her love for him and her paralyzing hatred for what he represented. He closed his eyes and for a blessed moment, he could almost pretend that they were locked in a passionate embrace in some hidden room, precious stolen moments that were rare and treasured but a loud clang from above the prison cells brought him back to the harsh present.

They were running out of time. He stood up slowly, feeling as if he had aged a hundred years in the span of seconds. He opened the gates to her cell and entered, standing directly opposite her.

There was so much he wanted to say, still so much he needed to tell her. He raised his right hand to her face, wanting to touch her just one more time but the contempt in her eyes stopped him. He wanted her to understand that he never meant for this…for them to happen. He nodded and stepped away from her. He never meant to fall in love with her. He unfastened his holster and drew out his gun haltingly. He never meant to betray her. He raised the gun to her forehead, arm steady and unwavering. He never meant to love her so much until it made his heart ached. She closed her eyes but not before he saw the love that shone through them. He never meant to break her heart. It was as if he had stepped out of his body and was watching the scene through someone else’s eyes, powerless to stop what was to come. He wanted so badly to tell her all these things. He cocked the trigger. But now there was no time. He silently mouthed ‘I love you’ even though he knew she would never see that. And time stood still.

The moonlight shone tenderly on her through the window, illuminating her with a soft glow. She looked pale and ethereal, silent and still. But to him, she looked as she always had. Perfect. The only color on her was the shockingly crimson red pooling behind her head and the bright yellow six-pointed Star of David sewn on the left sleeve of her torn shirt.

 

back to Contest #1