Introduction

As he pulls out a pair of guns hidden inside his coat, all that Amber Williams can think of is her mother. The one that she lost fifteen years ago because of a tragic incident. The scene of the man pointing the gun seems all too familiar, but not in a good way. Her breathing rate spikes up, and her hands are clammy. As the bullets leave the guns, the noise startles her. She crouches down to the ground and covers her ears as tightly as she can.

She can hear her heart pounding out of her chest.

The incident from her past replays in her head continuously:

She was eight years old and had just returned from summer camp. She aligned her shoes on the shoe rack and dropped her bag on the couch. She anticipated her mother’s arrival and yearned for her hugs and kisses, but that did not happen. After five minutes, she heard her mother scream. Amber traced the sound and reached the guest bedroom.

The door was locked from the inside and the windows were tightly shut. All that little Amber could do was watch. As the scene unfolded, Amber was phased. Her legs felt like they were shackled to the ground, her mouth chanted “mother” and her hands banged on the window continuously. Mother, Kenna Williams tried to fight, but the three men dressed in all black fired at her, nonstop. The sounds tore through Amber’s eardrums. Tears flowed down her cheek, enough to fill a pond.

Then, the men ran out of the room. They saw little Amber, but it appeared as though they didn’t care about her presence. Amber threw a heavy golden-colored vase at one of the men, hard enough to leave a scar, but they scurried out of there, sneakily and Amber could do nothing but watch.

She moved closer to the room, she was shaking, and her legs felt like jelly. The pool of blood was haunting her. When she was inches away from her mother’s body, she blacked out.  

From that day, the gunshots and the guns became her worst nightmare. She would tremble upon the mention of the words, and loud noises became her worst enemy.

Coming back to the present:

She has never been able to heal from the trauma and whatever was happening in front of her eyes was triggering it even more. She screamed, “Stop it! It hurts!” It drew the attention of the two men. After this, she felt dizzy, and ultimately lost her consciousness and collapsed.

One of the men ran toward her. He sprinkled water on her face from the leaking tap next to them, but Amber’s body didn’t respond. As he picked her up on his shoulder and walked away, he turned back and fired one last shot at the other man, who was on the ground; dead.