TW: Gun use and violence/death

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Beep! Beep! Beep!

An alarm was blaring in an emptied hospital within the heart of an urban city. Lights blinked and people evacuated as fast as possible. Shards of glass were shattered on the floor

Aisha was running through the skyscraper hospital, desperately trying to keep any sense of sanity she could as she bolted from hallway to hallway. Her hijab was flowing with the wind, threatening to loosen itself with each passing step. Her turtleneck was becoming suffocating and her heels were gradually growing into an indicator of her location.

The Indian eventually busted into an open room with scared captives and crying children. Her eyes widened as she realized the scene she'd just alerted the predator to. Aisha's hands shook as her mind raced for a way to distract the incoming monster from a room full of people. She gulped and ended up running in the opposite direction.

While running down the hall, Aisha felt a piercing wound enter and exit her body. Aisha gasped, stopping suddenly and holding her hands to her stomach. She could hear the overwhelming beat of her own heart in her ears as footsteps inched closer to her. Aisha's heartbeat sped up with every moment that flew by. Her steps became staggers that turned into mere shuffles. As red blood stained her clothes and her skin, the pool of invasive color caused her to weaken. Her hands gradually got crusty with drying blood and her knees gave out.

The woman fell onto the wall, clutching on with a somewhat free hand. She tried to keep her body up because she knew the second she hit the ground that that would be it. Aisha's life was fleeting before her eyes as the predator got closer and closer.

It was a dry heat type of Summer night. The group of six, wild teenage friends were driving around in a car while belting out songs they knew all the words to (such as the Best of Both Worlds from Hannah Montana and some old Jonas Brothers tunes). Remi was driving, Cato had his head sticking out of the sunroof while Simon shook his head in embarrassment and Zach filmed for his Epc Summer Snap Story (it was named). Kate was in the backseat, keeping a hand on Cato's back so the blonde didn't fly out of the car. Aisha was giggling and scrolling through Remi's phone to find a suitable song for the moment. She was sitting on Kate's lap, the two barely buckled in (Kate's other hand was keeping the buckle close to the seat to have a sliver of security if they crashed). Young and triumphant, they rode through the night without a care in the world.

Heartwarming moments turned into bittersweet memories. Her face contorted into a pained expression (like when you eat a lemon lol) but she tried her hardest to keep her eyes open. She could not let her eyes off of the blonde tuft of hair coming her way through her blurred vision.

Aisha's vision stabilized itself and she found an old friend in front of her: Cato Simmons, child genius, soccer prodigy and Snapchat god. From friend to foe, the mere sight of the blonde made Aisha nauseous. Cato had been picking at their old friend group one by one, and Aisha knew why. After a traumatizing six months during high school, Cato had completely fallen off the wagon and found himself in the depths of California scraping to survive. After being left by his best friend, partner and parents, Cato disappeared only to come back years later as a crazed strategist with vengeance on the mind.

"Why--" Aisha coughed, blood falling onto the floor, "Why are you doing this?" Her voice was weltering with her wellbeing.

"You're the reason I'm like this!" Cato shakily pointed an accusatory finger at the withering Indian, "I sacrificed myself for you!" He yelled, "And for what? Nothing!" His teeth gritted, "I should've left you to get stabbed just like I did!" His gun cocked.

"I-I didn't--" She groaned and hunched her back over, "I didn't do this."

"You did though!" The blonde exclaimed whilst waving a pistol around in his hand. Each twist of the firearm caused Aisha's body to flinch, "The only reason I got injured is because I saved you. I saved you because you were and still are too weak to defend yourself!" Cato's words were oozing with a poisonous venom that would make any skin crawl.

Aisha completely fell to the floor, chest hitting the ground and blood pool expanding from her stomach to a puddle around the rest of her body. She heard a villainous laugh echo throughout the hallowed halls, the sound causing shivers to shoot down her spine. Through her blurry vision, she saw the footsteps of her shooter walk off with a pistol dangling loosely from his fingers. It was swaying from side to side, finger so close to pressing against the trigger. Aisha watched intently as his finger inched closer and closer to the trigger.

Boom!

A loud curse traveled throughout the hallowed halls. Cato had shot himself in the foot, and was not meek about it. He crumpled to the ground, rolling into himself as he wrapped his arms around his weltering body. Loud stomps entered the area, people yelling and gear clunking.

"Hands up!" A voice proclaimed.

"Stay there!" Another yelled.

Cato started bawling, body shaking and teeth chattering. He stayed there, curled up and injured. The cops located Cato and approached him, cuffs ready to be applied. Cato looked up with the gun still trembling in his hand (which was pressed against his thigh). His desperate look turned into a scowl as he started to raise the gun towards the officers. He shot a few times, but the cops avoided the bullets. One hastily grabbed Cato's wrists and wrestled the gun out of his grasp, eventually cuffing the blond.

After those cuffs latched onto his wrist, it was over for Cato. His life had ended before it had even begun. Even though he wasn't dead, he was going to be locked up for the rest of his life. He was better off dead than in prison, in his opinion.

Aisha's eyes got heavy. She saw paramedics rushing towards her, but her eyesight began to get lighter and foggier. Her body started to numb and her senses were progressively dulling. Right as a paramedic reached her, her last breath escaped from her lips.