One Night In A Supermarket

Lesson Learnt

Chapter Seventeen... Lesson Learnt

Sarah's POV

My whole body had frozen. In the darkness of the quiet residential street, I could only see the outline of what was most definitely a person. The bitter winter cold was nothing compared to the icy fear that ran throughout my entire body. I wished I had just kept going, that I had not wanted to turn back.

I could have screamed. But I opened my mouth to silence. I couldn't make any sounds...

This was bad, I thought to myself. My time was up. The end was near. I had sealed my own fate as I'd turned around to head back and help my friends.

The figure got ever closer to me, and my legs wouldn't work to allow me to run in the opposite direction. I wanted to die of fear rather than have a man with a knife butcher me. I didn't want to feel pain, because I was already feeling the horrible pain of guilt and regret. I had only wished for things to be different, and now I was paying the price.

As the figure got closer, I knew instantly it was him.

The murderer had followed me.

"You got what you wanted," I breathed. "You got your money. Why kill us?"

"You could be smart, you know," he whispered. "But you stopped running. I almost lost sight of you until you turned around. You decided to go back, what a foolish mistake. Now you must die."

"Is that the only line you have?" I frowned. "Because honestly? It's kind of pathetic."

"What kind of line do you want me to have?" he asked, holding his knife to my chest.

"Well, now you must die?" I gasped. "It's just... so stupid. I must die because I didn't run? How lame. Don't you know that uh, life doesn't work that way."

"Why are you talking to me?" the murderer asked. "Why are you waffling on with useless crap? Trying to delay your death, eh?"

"No," I replied. "Trying to understand why. Why, if you were only after money, did you attack us? You could have gotten away with the money, and we'd never say a word. But now? You've sealed your own fate, too, psycho. Because the police are probably after you."

"I killed the man you love," he said, chuckling evilly. "That's why you don't look scared. You're ready to join him."

"Maybe I am," I said as firmly as I could. "Brian was good, and you hurt him."

"So?"

"So?! He never did anything wrong."

"He stabbed me!"

"You stabbed us first!"

"The last time I looked, my knife hadn't made contact with your skin!" he screamed. "But now? Now you'll pay the price! The entire eight of you will all be dead or dying, and nobody will ever suspect me!"

"Eight?" I frowned. "Uh... there were nine of us."

"I missed one..." he breathed.

He lowered his knife in surprise. I took the opportunity of catching him off guard and ran up the street, towards the supermarket. He followed me, but my legs were long and fast and carried me efficiently to safety. Well, away from him, anyway. Because once we were in the same street as the supermarket, he disappeared. And I didn't care where he'd gone.

I saw why he'd gone. There were sirens and flashing red and blue lights everywhere.

The police... the ambulance... Wow.

We were being saved.

I ran until I ran straight into the arms of a police officer. Tears streamed down my face. I never in my wildest imagination thought that waffling on with crap as he'd said I did would save my life. And I had my talkative nature to thank for that.

What idiot in their right minds talks to a psycho killer?!

Me, of course. Idiotic me.

"He was after me!" I wailed as the officer led me to a seat. "He was there! He was chasing me!"

"Did he hurt you?" the woman asked.

"No!" I cried. "He was going to... if I hadn't have talked shit to him, he would have."

"Do you know the man?" she asked.

"He... he did look kind of familiar," I admitted, thinking of the dark features.

The dark hair... the dark eyes. Tall... looked strong... big muscles... olive complexion.

Where had I come across this man before?

And then it hit me.

I didn't know his name, I only knew him as a regular customer. He'd asked me out several times, and each time I'd turned him down. I remember discussing it with Lisa one day, and he'd hit on her, too. And then he began asking me odd questions about how secure the place was of a night, and I had never really thought too much about it.

But I should have. It's not every day you come across a customer who has interests in what sort of overnight security measures are taken to prevent theives.

"He's a customer," I recalled. "I don't know his name. But he kept asking me how secure the store was of a night time."

"And you never thought to bring this up with your supervisor?" the officer questioned.

"Well, I am the checkout supervisor," I gasped. "But... it never crossed my mind. I never gave it another thought. I didn't tell him anything, I just remember laughing along with him, thinking he was making a big joke."

"Okay," she smiled weakly. "Well I'll see what we can do with that."

"He's tall... dark... olive skin..." I breathed. "I bet you could find him eventually. He was just up the street there... until he saw all the cop cars."

"We'll send a few cars around to look for him," she promised me, smiling.

I walked over so that a paramedic could look at me. Not that I needed looking at. I wasn't hurt. But the officer had insisted.

I had come close to being butchered... closer out in the street than I had been all night.

"Is everyone else okay?" I asked.

"There's one young guy who is being treated inside," the paramedic informed me.

"James?" I asked hopefully, praying that he'd come back to safety.

"No, his name is Nathan I believe," the paramedic smiled. "He was found wandering the store injured by the police about five minutes ago."

"Nathan's alive..." I smiled to myself.

"Yes, he is," she smiled. "Can't say the same for a few of your other colleagues, though. Unfortunately, there have been a few fatalities..."

"I know," I said sadly, tears welling in my eyes. "I know..."

James' POV

After Sarah and I had run away from the supermarket, I found myself stumbling weakly down a street that was familiar to me. There were houses... trees... a park... then more houses.

I had lived in this town my whole life, and Cameron and I used to ride our bicycles down this road and go to play at the park. He had a bad accident at the corner I was standing at, back when he was seven. Four broken bones, seventeen stitches and a skull fracture, even though he was wearing a helmet.

It was hard to think that I might never see my brother alive again.

If I died... or if he died... Oh, it was hard to think about. But I knew I wasn't going to last much longer, so I glumly walked over into the park. My whole body hurt, and my breathing slowed as I laid down in the cold snow that covered the ground.

I saw a figure approaching me...

But then everything went black.