Original Poetry Fan Fiction ❯ Random Compositions ❯ #1 ( Chapter 1 )

Danielle Tippitt: 09/21/2008

 

 

I didn't see the spirit leave her body

But I watched the bullet pass through.

 

She was the embodiment of cynicism: a trademark smirk was still plastered on her face. Then the gray matter splattered, and-

 

There was red. So much red.

 

-I couldn't turn away: couldn't close my eyes. I think I owed her that much for not being able to save her. She deserved that much respect for being so close to invincible. For being able to stare down the barrel of a gun and quirk up the corner of her mouth so slightly, before-

 

-A deafening crack that should have traveled- only to get lost in the sounds of horns honking; sirens blaring; barking dogs and laughing kids.

 

It was an act that held no honor.

The scene I see playing out behind my eyelids still

 

-Blood, fanning out around her like a grotesque halo, sickening in its own right-

 

-The slight widening of her eyes as she realized the trigger had been pulled-

 

-The way her torso jerked before falling backwards, one arm pinned awkwardly beneath her ribs, the way-

 

-One leg was splayed out, the other curled up against her body almost gently, almost doll-like-

 

She was almost innocent. I couldn't look away.

 

The back half of her brain was pasted on the wall behind her. I couldn't close my eyes.

 

So I closed hers. The accusation still hangs in the air: she was almost innocent. So close, so very close to innocent. I closed her eyes so she couldn't accuse me again.

 

I couldn't save her.

 

I could have.

I should have.

 

So I will wait as dry blood cracks and begins to peel-

-Coming away from my skin, away from the sidewalk-

 

I will wait for someone to search, someone to claim this girl I do not know. I never saw her before, and once I leave, I never will again.

 

This much I owe her. She wasn't mine to murder, after all.

She was almost innocent.

 

-But I gave up on innocence long ago-