His hand trembles and the gun rattles in his grip. He's ready to pull the trigger again and there's no one here to stop him. No one that cares enough to stop him, anyway. Sweat drips down the side of his neck, and he heaves as looks at the clock ticking away. He doesn't really want to shoot her. He loves her. He's loved her since they were in grade-school, but things are different now. He doesn't really have a choice now. She pushed him too far this time. So did Trey. Poor Trey.
Laura's on her knees. The tip of Eugene's gun pressed hard against her forehead. Tears run down her cheeks, black from the make-up, and she's shaking worse than he is. On the floor next to her is Trey's body. Trey was her boyfriend and Eugene's best friend. Of course, that was before Eugene blew a hole in his chest.
"P-p-please, Eugene," she says, slowly raising her hands toward the gun. Her cheeks are red and her eyes are all puffy. Her face is a hot mess of sweat and snot and Trey's blood. I wonder if Eugene still finds her cute now.
"Put your hands down!" he snarls, pushing the gun into her forehead. She loses balance for a second and... I don't know. I suppose I could do something. I mean, that's the socially acceptable thing to do, right? Oh, God. When did I turn into one of them? Okay, whatever. Here goes.
"Hey Eugene," I say. I might as well be talking to the sofa. His eyes are fixed on the girl. Veins bulge from his forehead. "Dude, Eugene. Hear me out, man. I can get you out of this."
"Shut up, Mnimi!" he says through gritted teeth. "I'm not getting out of this. I'm already fucked. I shot Trey."
"Yes," I nod, walking around them both and stopping behind Laura. I put my hands on her shoulders and look into Eugene's eyes. "You're right. You're pretty fucked. But here's the thing. You might not have to be. Remember? My little gift?"
Slowly, both of their eyes turn to meet mine. I'm not sure which one of them looks more confused.
"It's simple, really," I say, as I take a knee and rest my chin on Laura's shoulder. "I can make it so this pretty girl remembers whatever I want her to remember."
His eyes widen with realization and he steps back pulling the gun away from Laura's head.
"You're welcome," I whisper in her ear before standing up.
"Y-y-you could!" says Eugene, pointing the gun at me. "You could make her believe he did it to himself. That. That I. That I tried to stop him, but he pushed me. Knocked me down. And then he shot himself!"
"No!" Laura says and tries to stand but Eugene is right back on her with that damned gun. Stupid girl. Can't you see what I'm doing. Just play along.
"Yes," I say. "I can do that. I can even make her remember all sorts of other things. Happy memories. Romantic memories. Eugene, I can make her fall in love with you."
She squeezes her eyes shut and takes my hand.
"Sorry, Sweetheart," I say. "Eugene's my boy. You fucked him over. Can't let you get away with that. But don't worry. I'll make sure the two of you are so happy together. No need to remember any of this."
"Yes!" Eugene breaks into a deranged smile, pulling the gun away again. "Yes. So happy. I can make you so happy, Laura. You'll see. So happy when we're together. You'll see."
She opens her lips to speak but I squeeze her hand and she bites her tongue. Good girl. Keep this up and you may live to see another day.
"You know how this works, though," I say, standing. "To do what I do, she needs to lie down, and she needs to relax." He looks at the gun in his hand, then lowers it slowly.
"I want her to forget this," he says, anger in his voice. "Forget any of this ever happened. Make her forget Trey completely. It was never supposed to be him. I'm the one who was always there. I'm the one who stood by her all those years."
He turns to her and she looks up at him. His eyes begin to well up.
"When your parents broke up," he says, "He was off on a dirt-biking trip. I told him my parents wouldn't let me go, but really I stayed home so you wouldn't be alone. Whenever you got sick, he was off flirting with every other girl in the school. It was me who always brought you soup and comic books to help you get through it. And when that bitch Jazlynn was picked over you for the senior musical, Trey told the guys in the locker room that they picked her because she was hotter than you. I punched him for that, then I broke her leg and made it look like an accident. Bet you didn't know that was me. I did that. Me. I always did the hard things so your life could be as perfect as possible because that's what love is. Trey only ever cared about himself."
"Okay, Romeo," I say, walking Laura over to the bed. "You've made your point. Now put the gun away and-"
"Fuck that!" he says, then raises the gun at me. "You're going to do things my way."
Shit. This is bad.
"You're going to make her remember all that stuff, just like you said and then we're going to test it out."
"Test it out?" I say.
"Yeah," he steps toward me, "And you can quit holding hands too! She's my girl now."
"Eugene, don't do this," she says. "I know you care about me. I care about you too. I promise. But you can't do this. It's not right."
"Shut up!" he swings his arm around and points the gun at her. "You're a liar! You never cared for me." His eyes flash from her to me and back again. He licks his lips and breathes through his open mouth. "Lie down! Let Mnimi do his stuff. I swear to God, Laura. If you try anything..."
"Lie down," I tell her. "I'll make this quick."
"And you," he says to me. "If you try anything. Anything at all, I have no problem doing to you what I did to him."
"Yeah, yeah, I hear ya." I walk around the bed as she lies down. Eugene stands at the foot of the bed, holding the gun up at us. I place a hand on her forehead. Her cold sweat dampens my fingers and she looks up at me with pleading eyes. I look up at him but he's not all there. I think he lost a part of himself when he shot Trey.
"Get on with it!" he says. "We don't have a lot of time." He looks up at the clock again.
"What's the rush?" I ask. "I thought you said we had all night."
"I said... We did but... No. Hurry up, Mnimi!"
Perfect. He took the bait. See, the moment he shot Trey, I knew shit had hit the fan, so I used that momentary distraction as an opportunity to slip a tiny memory into his mind. He thinks he remembers calling the cops. I didn't have time to form a complete memory, so he doesn't remember why he called them, just that he did. But I think the fragment is enough. He's worried they'll arrive any moment and find us all like this. If he's worried, he's liable to be clumsy. To make mistakes.
"Close your eyes, Laura," I run my hand down her face. "This'll be over quick."
I look at him.
"I know you want this to happen fast," I say, "But as long as she's worried about her safety, she won't relax, and if she doesn't relax, her mind won't let me in."
"Bullshit!" he shakes the gun at me.
BOOM!!!
Smoke fills my nostrils and a brilliant pain fills my shoulder. I look down and see my sleeve filling with blood. Laura rolls away and covers herself with a pillow.
"Shit!" says Eugene. "I didn't mean to... I'm sorry."
"What the fuck, Eugene!" I look at him. Now I'm pissed.
"I didn't mean to!" he looks at the gun in his hand.
"I don't care if you meant to or not, Asshole. You fucking shot me!"
He looks at me, then his expression changes and he takes the gun in both his hands and raises it to me again.
"Fuck it," he says. "Now you know I'm not fucking around. Do the memory swap, and do it fast."
"Alright, alright!" I turn to Laura. "Come here, Laura."
She shakes her head.
"We don't have time for this," I say, grabbing my shoulder. "He's going to kill us both if we don't do it."
"Listen to him," says Eugene, smoke still fuming from the barrel of his gun.
Her skin is pale. Every inch of her trembles. She looks at me like I'm supposed to help her somehow. Shit, Girl. At this point, I'm helping me. She moves slowly back to her spot on the bed. Eugene is watching her. He may be angry at her, but his snarling can't hide the affection in his eyes. Despite how crazy everything's gotten, it's his infatuation with her that drives him, and that's what I'm going to use to end this whole nightmare.
"Take off your blouse," I tell her.
"What?" she says.
"Why's she got to do that?" asks Eugene.
"My arm fucking burns, Eugene! I'd rather not waste time playing Q&A with you, so we can get this thing over with and I can get to a hospital." I look back down at her and wink. Her eyes widen only ever so slightly. She brings her hands to her collar and begins to unbutton her blouse. I glance at Eugene and sure enough, his eyes are glued to her. He's distracted. It's time.
The gun is out of bullets, Eugene. Remember, you already shot the last one. It's no good to you anymore. And Trey... He was trying to take advantage of Laura, and he would've gotten his way, but you came in like a hero and saved her. You wrestled the gun away from him, but he got violent and you shot him. It was self-defense, of course. I came in after you and startled you, and you shot me too, but only by accident. Don't worry, I'll be okay.
"Oh my god!" Eugene cries out and drops the gun. His eyes look from me to Trey to Laura. "Oh my god!"
"Eugene!" I say and jump to him. I hug him and he barely reacts. "You saved her, Man!"
I look back at Laura and she's clearly lost. Distracted.
Trey tried to rape you. He was holding a gun to your head. Eugene came in at the last second and saved you, but he shot Trey. He saved you, Laura. He made himself the villain in this situation so that you could go on safely. Like he always has.
"Trey!" she looks down at the body, then up at Eugene and me. "You. You shot him."
"He was trying to hurt you!" Eugene cries, then lets go of me and steps toward her. "I was trying to save you."
BOOM!!!
Eugene's blood paints the walls red. His body falls limp on the floor. I look down and see Trey's eyes close, with the gun in his hand. Laura doesn't even scream. Her head wavers from side-to-side. Her eyes roll into the back of her head, and she passes out. It was too much for the poor girl.
"Don't worry, Sweetheart," I say looking at the bloodshed all around me. "I'll change what happened here. At least for you, I will. Me, I'll remember. It's why this gift is more of a curse. Anything you guys forget, I remember. Anything I create for you guys to remember, I remember. My head is full of memories that don't belong to me. And that's not even the worst part. The more I use this gift, the closer he gets to finding me. The problem is, I can't stop using this gift. I want to. I do, but I can't. The rush I get. The soothing calmness afterward. The sheer power of it. I can't give that up. Just like he can't help but come for me. It's a hunger we can't quench. A desire we have to satisfy. Soon, he'll find me. Very soon.