Collin's POV
I let go of Ansley's hand and started running across the back yard, trying to limit my pace so that she could keep up with me.
I knew Ethan was gaining on us. I heard Ansley say he had a gun. I heard a loud bang and a scream. Ansley wasn't beside me anymore. She screamed my name and I turned around to see her laying on the ground in a small puddle of blood. I sprinted back to her as fast as my body would let me.
"Collin, he shot me," she said.
"I know, I know," I said. I was absolutely freaking out. I just promised myself that morning that I wouldn't let Ethan kill Ansley!
I saw that the blood was coming from her shoulder blade. My guess was that the bullet went through her shoulder and punctured her lung or even her heart. I didn't think she would make it much longer. I pulled her into my arms.
"Collin," she said. I never noticed how small and fragile she was until that moment. I should have protected her better. I should have been the one laying there while she was running off to freedom.
"Yes?" I asked.
"I'm gonna die, aren't I?" she asked in a voice that was void of any and all hope.
"No! No," I replied. "You're gonna be ok." I couldn't stand this. I loved this little girl like she was my own sister, maybe even my own daughter, and now she was bleeding out in my arms.
"You know what?" she said as a small, weak smile spread across her face.
"What?" I was hoping she would say I was right. I was so hoping she would say I was right.
"I think that's the first time you've ever lied to me," she answered, sounding both amused and extremely weak.
"Oh my goodness, oh my goodness!" That was all I could think or say. I was dying along with her, except I knew I would make it out alive. Which, in hindsight, might have even been worse than what Ansley had to go through.
The last light faded from her eyes. I broke down in tears and gently put her back onto the ground. It occurred to me that "Oh my goodness" was the first and the last thing I ever said to her.
YOU ARE READING
Locked Away
HorrorWhen Ansley, a 12-year-old orphan, is kidnapped by a man while she is on an outing, she is terrified. Then, she meets a 19-year-old orphan named Collin who was also kidnapped by the man and has been living in the man's basement for four years. Now...
