A gun to my head

Helena’s P.O.V

The old mouth of the gun pressed against my forehead, this was the third time it was happening this week.

My hands had grown used to being held above my head so the robbers won’t think I was trying anything funny.

I kept my face expressionless; at the moment I couldn’t make any, all I wanted was to get back to the novel I was reading. My gaze shifted to the novel a few times, I wanted to find out what was going to happen. The villain was about to make the annoying main character, Lilith pay for embarrassing her. 

“Money. Now!” The robber ordered and I nodded. My hands reached for the cash register and tugged the compartment open. 

10 dollars and two cents. 

I sighed. 

The robber won’t be happy but it was a slow night. 

I reached in, tugged them out and dropped them on the counter. His gaze shifted from the cash then to me, twice.

He was pissed and it was visible on his face. The way his eyebrows furrowed, jaw clenched and veins popped out, it was either he was going to explode or this shop did and with me in it.

“Are you fucking with me?” He yelled.

“Look, you guys rob this place so much, no one even comes here anymore,” I explained. “Except that guy,” I turned to the customer that stood at the edge of the room next to a washing machine with clothes in his hands. “This laundry mat is failing and I’m surprised I still have my fucking job. My salary has been set back twice so it’s tough on everybody”.

“Move, I’ll do it myself,” he approached the counter and I stepped backwards.

My gaze remained glued to my book as he leaned over, his body pressing against the book and wrinkling the pages. Something inside me churned and I scrunched my nose; could this day get any worse?

“Pss!” I heard a voice. 

I looked up. It was the customer and he no longer had clothes in his arm. He was approaching the counter slowly and he signaled me to step back. 

My eyes grew wide. 

“He’ll kill you,” I mouthed but I doubted he heard me. 

“Fuck!” The robber slammed his gun on the cash register, annoyed. He pulled himself back then pointed the gun at me. 

“I told you,” The words slipped from my lips but I wasn’t wrong. 

Within a blink of my eye, the customer had thrown his hands over the robber and wrapped an arm around his neck.

The customer tightened their grip to cut the robber’s oxygen. The robber reacted quickly and reached for the customer’s arm tugging.

The customer didn’t let go so the robber turned the gun towards him. Before the robber could pull the trigger, the customer grabbed his arm and turned the gun to another direction. Towards me. 

My body was frozen and I couldn’t move. My eyes were wide and my heart raced. 

The customer and robber struggled. 

I watched them. 

Suddenly, the gun cracked, shattering the silence. 

Their struggling stopped and they slowly pulled away from each other. The robber dropped the gun, stepped back slowly as he stared at me with wide eyes.

He held a bag in his hand and left the money on the table. When he got to the door he reached and pulled it open. he turned swiftly then dashed through the door. 

I gulped.

What was going on? 

The customer has the same look on his face. He was terrified and I was too. 

This was the third attack this week but none of them had actually used the gun. 

He stepped back.

His gaze scanned my body before it returned my gaze. “I-I’ll go get help.”

Sirens wailed in the distance and his head napped towards the window. “I didn’t do it,” he whispered like he was already narrating what had happened. 

“Do what?” I questioned. 

“H-help,” he turned and dashed out the door. 

Weird. 

I looked around and my book was no longer on the table. 

I scanned the floors till I spotted it next to the gun. It had a footprint on it and I scowled. 

My night had just gotten worse. 

I groaned in annoyance then leaned over. 

My body stopped just inches away from the book. A sharp pain shot through me and I bared my teeth.

No. 

It couldn’t—

Blood. 

Blood dripped onto the book once then twice. It just kept going. 

My mouth parted like air had been knocked out of me. My knees grew weak. One hand shot to my waist and the other reached for the ground. I slowly pulled myself to the ground and laid on my side, clutching my stomach. 

I was shot. 

I looked out the window. 

Blue and red light washed over the building and the sirens got louder and louder. 

I waited. 

Five seconds passed and the pain grew worse. 

My vision had began to blur and I regretted coming to work today but I had no choice. My life was shit. I lived in a depressive town, with a depressive boyfriend, loans and a terrible paycheck.

I hated this life and if I died, no one would care. My boyfriend would sleep with other women like he already did, I should have left him a long time ago but I was too attached for my own good and he owned the house I slept at everyday. Plus, I was an orphan. 

Maybe if I was like the villain in the novel, my life would be different. She had power which I had never tasted, money I could only dream of, and chances to make people who hurt her pay.

If I was the villainess, I would make Lilith Westbrook kiss the ground I walked on. 

There was one reason I loved the villainess; not just because people were afraid of what she could do, or they only thought the worst of her but because she was nothing like me.

The woman with my exact name was in another world and she is everything I want to be. If I get a second chance at life, I will be her.