Victims Of A Cold-Blooded Killer

Aurore Cagnjer

It was June 19th, 2008. It was warm, bright, and not raining for once. After getting off the phone with my friend Vivian, I put my shoes on and and began to walk to her house, ready to see what she'd said she wanted to show me. What I saw when I got there was more horrific than either of us could have imagined. I ran in the door to see Vivian laying on the ground on her stomach, hands behind her head. A man, about 40 years old, was holding her at gunpoint. I grabbed her home phone and attempted to call for help. The man, keen on discouraging me, pivoted on his left leg and pointed the gun at my head. I distracted him just long enough to make a 911 call. Before I could call my parents to come over, the man returned and fired his gun at me. At just the right time, I ducked as the bullet whizzed over my head. Then he took a few steps forward and resumed his original position, legs spread apart with his right leg in front, head cocked to the right, and his gun in his right hand, pointed at Vivi.
"Where the hell are your parents?" the man shouted at Vivian. She whimpered and began shaking.
"I told you, they're not here," she sobbed. The man cocked his gun and got ready to shoot. Just before he pulled the trigger, I stepped in front of him, the bullet entering my right shoulder. I'd decided that if this guy was going to shoot my best friend, he had to shoot me first. I staggered to the right, collapsed and began painfully crawling back to Vivi's side. The man refused to let me protect my best friend. After shoving me aside, he lowered himself to his knees and took hold of the gun with both hands.
"Brunette," he said, addressing me. "Tell her parents they owe me money." He removed Vivian's hands from her head and shot her once, blood splattering into her red-blonde curls. Vehicles pulled up with their sirens blaring.
"It's too late," I though. "She's dead." I believe I passed out at that moment, not remembering any other events that took place. I woke up in the hospital and screamed. My shoulder had been bandaged and was in severe pain. I was sure as hell Vivi had to be here as well. As soon as the nurses calmed me down, I asked where she was, refusing to believe that she had been killed. Unfortunately, that's what I was told. I broke down and began crying. She couldn't be dead.
As a nurse changed the bandage on my shoulder, she said, "The bullet was successfully removed from your arm this morning."
"This morning?" I thought. What day was it? The clock on the wall read 12:30. That's when I had begun walking to Vivian's house. It wasn't June 19th anymore.
The nurse finished putting a new bandage on my shoulder and said, "I'm sorry about your friend." She began putting her equipment away. "She died instantly yesterday." Yesterday! After being unconscious for what seemed like a year, my life as I knew it had only ended yesterday and would never be the same again. I began to participate in police interrogations and questioning following Vivi's murder. Police arrested the man at Vivian's house. His trial was held a few weeks later. The verdict declared him guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison. While we were all relieved, I remained saddened by my best friend's death. I am sad about it up to this day. I will never forgive myself for what I could have tried harder to prevent. I lost my beautiful friend and a big part of my life forever that day.