365 DAYS 365 TALES

"Don't fall for a girl who gets shot!"

Kiran would have tripped on her if he was not prepared. But then being with this woman for six months had taught him to always expect the unexpected. And Kiran was hiding behind a pillar as he realized that the place just where Aarvi was running was riddled with shots.

Kiran saw the shots and guessing the trajectory of the shots and from where Aarvi had pointed, shot twice angrily. No one shot at his girlfriend...

Kiran did not miss as two people fell.

Obviously Kiran's luck ran out.

He sensed someone behind him and turned and punched hard even before he knew who was behind.

The person whom Kiran hit did not even have a chance but Kiran had obviously not counted on two people being around him and groaned as something hit him hard on the neck.

Kiran slumped as he fell down hard, blinking back stars.

Someone swore as Kiran felt a sharp kick in his abdomen and nearly lost conscious and that was when he heard the same swearing someone pull him up hard.

"LET HIM GO!"

Honestly it was hearing that voice which really scared Kiran. Really, really bad.

Kiran squinted as he realized that it really was Aarvi with presumably the gun of the guy whom Kiran had shot and Kiran was now terrified.

He was so sure that Aarvi was going to pull the trigger and pushed himself back, falling straight back as three blind shots hit all around him. The bad guy who had just used Kiran for punching practice scrammed faster than anything that Kiran could have done.

It was two more shots later that the firing stopped.

"Duck and Run!" Kiran yelled as he tried running towards Aarvi.

Damn, damn damn, Kiran cursed himself. If there was one thing which was really dangerous – it was Aarvi with a gun. There was less than one percent chance she would actually hit what she was aiming at and she would hit everything else around her.

And now not only had Aarvi failed to hit anyone, those damned jackasses who were here knew where they were with all the racket that Aarvi had just made.

Kiran heard shots to his right and after a few seconds he heard nothing more. Kiran got up and ran as fast as he could towards Aarvi and as he reached her, he brutally pulling the gun away from her.

"How many times have I told you not to use these things?" Kiran asked in a strangling whisper.

"What else was I supposed to do?" Aarvi whimpering and whispering in the same tone.

"RUN!" Kiran nearly yelled, almost forgetting that he had to be quiet. "That is what normal people would have done," Kiran said almost threatening to blow all his brain cells from pure anger.

"Then what would you do? All alone?" Aarvi asked with slight concern as there were shots around them and she was wincing, trying to duck.

Kiran groaned. Now, the woman had to be concerned about him. "I can take care of myself and usually when I shoot people, they stay down!" Kiran snarled whispering. 

Suddenly both Aarvi and Kiran realized that there was silence all around them. Complete and total.

"Either that is very good or very bad!" Aarvi said very philosophically when she heard the silence.

"One of these days, I am going to spank you," Kiran fumed angrily at Aarvi.

"You lovebirds behind that pillar?"

Kiran sighed in relief, nearly falling on the pillar. Real glorious relief. "What took you so long?" Kiran nearly yelled, leaning heavily on the pillar, almost all the fight draining out of him.

"I believe the words are "Thank you"," Aadit's jovial voice came from other side. "Got a faint emergency signal about twelve minutes back. I ran through three red lights and a series of other traffic police vehicles are following me here. I figured if you have gone to visit Aarvi, cops or not, we would need all the backup we can get."

Kiran peeked from behind the pillar and saw Aadit studying the damage to parking lot and was looking at the place where Aarvi had just shot just about everything other than him and the bad guy.

"With the bad guys all around here, what were you trying to shoot, man? A running cockroach?" Aadit demanded as he was studying the holes on the wall.

"One more word and I will kill you!" Kiran snarled coming out from behind the pillar. "And when you fall for a girl, make sure it is not someone who gets shot!" Kiran said in the same tone angrily walking away from the parking lot.