The Trench

Chapter 48 - Pull the Trigger

The three of us stand there, Aimee and I watching Mae and Mae making sure to watch us both. If we could somehow distract her I might be able to reach my gun, I scold myself again for not having it in hand.

"Care to enlighten us on why you're holding us at gunpoint, Mae?" I say softly, my hands still in the air by my shoulders. Aimee is behind me and slightly to my right, I can't see her but I'm assuming her stance is equal to mine.

Mae sneers at me and throws back her head in laughter, a loud laugh coming from deep inside her. I furrow my brows in confusion and look sideways back to Aimee who is staring at her, her eyes wide and her mouth pressed in a thin line.

Just as quickly as the laughter started it ended, Mae's fierce gaze came back down on me and I feel an uneasy lump in my throat.

"You should have minded your own business, I knew as soon at you stepped foot in that class five months ago you were going to be trouble for us. With your blue eyes and blonde hair, you're almost identical to Emily. Your personality, however, is insufferably different though. You're stubborn, and nosey, and I wish we could have been friends but you just had to go about snooping after Kane. I have to protect him."

She's rattling on, running sentences together and I try to follow along. She winces as if a memory gave her physical pain and she shakes her head side to side in attempt to rid it from her mind.

"Mae, what did Kane do?" I'm scared now, worried what he's done to make Mae act this way.

"Kane didn't DO IT!" Mae screams at me furiously, taking a step in my direction the gun closer to my head. At that moment I hear Aimee take a step forward and the gun swings in her direction.

"You." She snarls towards Aimee, I shift sideways and I can now see Aimee from the corner of my eye. Her hands are still up and her face is white, staring down at Mae's gun.

"You're the whole reason we're in this mess." Mae lets out a humorless chuckle and she scrunches her nose as she looks Aimee up and down. "You started a whole chain reaction you didn't even know about. That night of the party, if you would have just believed me, if you would have went to check on Emily like a good friend, like ME, she wouldn't be dead right now."

Both Aimee and Mae are on the verge of tears, Aimee's from guilt and fright, Mae's from anger and memories.

"If you, or Emily, or ANYONE had believed me she would be alive. If ANYONE believed be afterwards Randy would be in jail right now. But no, poor little Mae is just crazy, delusional, jealous." She mocks in different tones, waving the gun back and forth.

Aimee's gaze had been trained on the gun pointing at her chest, but she lifts her head to meet Mae's eyes and she shakes her head.

"You're wrong." She says bravely, her voice wavering with the tears creeping down her cheeks.

"Randy loved Emily and I know he would never do anything to hurt her, I still believe he's innocent. You were the one accusing him of abuse, you're the one who escalated the fight between them at the party by slapping him and shouting at him. You're the reason they left, if they wouldn't have left she might still be alive. This was your fault." Aimee jutted her chin out once she was done, her peace was said and she stood there quietly.

After a few seconds I see the gun in Mae's hand start to shake, her line of sight pierced into Aimee with hatred and I knew this was my chance. Slowly I brought my hand inside my jacket, at that moment Mae let out a ear splitting scream. A scream that could shatter glass, a scream filled with grief, anger, and desperation.

And she pulled the trigger.

I shout out as my hand wrapped around the grip of my gun, as I pull it out of my jacket the gun swings in my direction and Mae takes a step towards me. Before I can take off the safety and make a shot the butt of her gun smashes against the side of my head, I hear a crack and my vision goes blurry. My knees give way and I fall to the dirt, I lay there limply trying to blink my eyes and clear my vision.

For a moment I can faintly see again, I'm facing Aimee who is laying in an unnatural angle on the ground. A pool of red slowly expands around her and I hear a choking noise and I can't tell if it's coming from her or myself. I slide my arm forward, my skin scratching against gravel and try to reach out to her, but my vision goes blurry again. I try to call out but my voice doesn't work and her name gets stuck in my throat.

Despite my efforts to stay awake, everything goes black.