A Duet of the Soul

Chapter 2: One Down, Two to Go

*Maria's POV*

The shot echoed through the empty room. I watched as Carlos's body jerked back and slammed to the floor, a single hole in his forehead. Ciara, still clutching onto his shirt, toppled over and landed on top of his lifeless body. There was a moment of stillness, complete and total silence, before anyone reacted.

Ciara began screeching, her words incoherent but filled with pain and agony as she leaned over Carlos, sobbing into his chest. Her fingers curled into his blue t-shirt as her body convulsed over him. I felt my body quivering as the room started to spin and darken. My eyes were already forced as wide as they could be, yet the darkness continued creeping in at the edge of my vision. I can't pass out, I remind myself. I had to figure out the song before they killed Ciara and me too.

"Breathe blondie," the gunman said, waving his weapon in my direction.

Only then did I realize I hadn't taken a breath since he pulled the trigger. I stumbled backwards a couple of steps as I forced air in through my mouth and out my nose. Everything in me wanted to collapse to my knees and scream for help. But I knew no one was coming for us. There were no video surveillance cameras outside the building, and clearly these men must have disabled any possible interior security system that would have been in place.

No one would arrive until tomorrow morning when work resumed after the weekend.

Although I could feel myself swaying, I remained standing on my feet. Think, Maria, think, think, think! I knew this song. Deep down in my memories, I knew the melody, I knew the lyrics, I knew the title and artist. So why wouldn't my brain release the information?

I pulled my gaze away from Ciara and Carlos to look between the two men holding us hostage. The gunman seemed quite pleased with the pandemonium he had created, and though the mask covered his face, I knew a large smile was plastered there under the surface. His gaze was glued on the scene before him, and I couldn't help but notice the disgusting bulge in his pants.

Tearing my eyes from this sadistic psychopath, I looked back to the man holding the boombox. His appearance threw me off; his eyes were wide and fearful, and he appeared visibly shaken. Wait, fearful? Shaken? I shook my head knowing that he was probably just as turned on as his friend. As I studied the faceless man, I saw his eyes leave Ciara and Carlos. They slowly drift towards me before locking in on my gaze.

His dark brown eyes matched those of the gunman's, yet his overall stature was far different from the murderer's. I blinked, breaking our connected gaze and pulling my thoughts back to the problem at hand. I could feel his eyes drilling into me, but I turned away to try and rejog my memory. Squeezing my eyes tightly shut, I tried to hum the melody I had heard in hopes of remembering. Unfortunately for us, the shock of Carlos's death completely stripped the music from my memory. All I can see, hear, and feel was the moment the bullet hit his forehead.

"God, please, no, no, no! Oh, God, no!" Ciara's wails were growing quieter, and I knew that the gunman was ready to move on to the next one of us. Our time had run up and if I didn't figure this riddle out, then we were both dead.

"Alright, ladies, clearly your friend wasn't using his life properly and wasted it on lesser things. Let's see if the two of you have been as well."

Ciara lifted her head off Carlos's chest to face the gunman. "I don't know what your fucking song is. I don't fucking care either! You might as well just shoot me and get it over with, because no one will ever figure out your stupid fucking question with only ten seconds!" She spat in his direction, hitting her target: his black dress shoes.