“No, Sam! Don’t!”
“You don’t deserve that chair! But I do!”
The crack of the gun was thunderous as I landed on Derek’s desk. I rolled off the side and onto the ground as the entire world went silent. I could feel someone’s hands on me. My ears began to ring, silencing the room around me as the floor thundered below my back. Feet were shuffling, and my chest was panting. I slipped my hand into my pocket and withdrew my pocket knife as I felt something warm dripping onto my skin.
I saw Derek’s face hovering over mine, his eyes full of fear, wide with terror. I assumed the worst as I rose up to take stock of his body, hoping and praying I’d pushed him out of the way in time. Tears that were cresting my eyes now poured down my cheeks as an urgency flooded my veins. I felt the need to rise, defend what was mine, and protect what had been so violently mutilated.
But not before I heard a voice pierce the silence my ears had forced me into.
“Fine. If that’s how it’s going to be, then the both of you can go.”
Jacob.
The man trying to kill Derek was his friggin’ best friend.
THE END