As I ran, I didn't realize it when I started calling out to random strangers for help, though they all just kept their distances without a budge. We were on our own, and I was as scared as hell, not just for myself, but for my brother. I couldn't imagine losing him as young as he was, with my mother entrusting him into my care.
We had nowhere to go entirely, just forward. I was again tempted to look back, and when I did, I saw we were a bit far ahead of them, and since I realized that running in a straight line wouldn't save us since we had no exact destination, I took a quick turn into a dark alley on the right. Working on raw instinct, I found a large garbage trunk sitting by the side of the wall and an idea suddenly kicked in. We managed to climb in, and then I quickly buried myself and my brother under the trash heap. After a short while, I started hearing footsteps and recognizable voices. My heart started racing faster and harder than it had been, almost threatening to pop out of my chest, yet I remained as still as a rock, and as silent as a cat, praying fervently in my mind. I heard them argue a bit, then they started talking to some other person whose voice I couldn't hear. They even asked this person questions which he or she seemed to be answering without me hearing any reply.
"The girl you saw, where did she go?" I heard one ask.
My whole body suddenly went numb with panic. According to the conversation, this person saw us enter the alley, so there was a chance he or she knew where we were hiding. At that moment, I lost all hope, so I just lay there with Dom in my arms, my heart hammering in the most frightful rhythm, waiting for the worst.
"So, she went that way, you say," I heard one of them say, "Are you sure?"
I could not believe what I had just heard. With this one statement, I realized what had just occurred. For some unfathomable reason, this unknown person who knew where we were hiding, no doubt, decided not to tell the killers. It could only be a miracle, I thought.
After a short while, I stopped hearing the voices of the killers or any sound whatsoever. Could they have gone, I wondered, but how could I tell? We were already this close to our miraculous escape, so this was not the time for any irrational risk-taking. We laid still for another couple of minutes to be extra sure the killers weren't lurking around the corners. Slowly and quietly, I lifted the trunk cover to a slight crack in order to confirm with my eyes if they were finally gone or if we should lay our heads still for another thirty minutes. My anxious wide glare traveled with unwavering thoroughness, first to the left, then to the right, then to the left again, but there was no sign of anyone in visible sight. I lifted the cover further for a much wider view. There was not a single person in sight.
"They're gone!" I exhaled in relief, "Oh, thank God."
We got out of the trunk shortly. Since we had nowhere else to go at the time, I just sat down there on the floor reflecting on all that had happened just that one night. First, Father sacrificed his life to save us, I overheard one of the killers mention while we were in the trunk, that father didn't survive the explosion, then mother got shot and also sacrificed herself in order to buy us time to escape. Now we were on our own, left with no one else but each other.
"Tasha, I… I don't feel right," Dom muttered to me in a weak voice while his head rested on my lap.
"Hey, I'm not going anywhere. You're going to be fine, we're going to be fine, I promise," I replied reassuringly, but as I looked down at him, I noticed something off. First, his breathing seemed oddly laborious with a somewhat edgy sound, then his eyeballs seemed so sunk into their sockets. It was at this moment that I finally snapped out of my thoughts totally and began to actually pay attention to Dominic and myself, long enough to discover the traces of thick red fluid smeared all over my gown, and the tiny droplets of some certain bright red viscous liquid already forming a small puddle on the floor right underneath him. My heart skipped as I felt a cold chill run down my spine. I retracted my hand from under his body where it was after noticing a strangely warm sensation. I couldn't believe my eyes, my hand was entirely covered in red. My eyes widened with fright and abject bewilderment, my heart banged even harder. I knew at once for a fact that it was blood. But whence was it from, I wondered, as tons and tons of questions and possibilities raced endlessly through my head, I turned him over and pulled up his already blood-soggy shirt.
"Oh no…" I muttered, concealing my mouth in extreme terror and disbelief. Somehow, Dominic had sustained a bullet wound below his right midsection; certainly from the frenzied spread of gunshots by the killers during the chase, and all along I wasn't aware, until now.
"What's the problem?" Dom muttered, perhaps puzzled by the panic in my eyes.
"N…nothing," I stuttered, "It's alright, y…you're alright."
At that point, I was really frantic with fear. I didn't know what to do, there was no one to run to for help. As seconds passed, my panic grew and the hammering in my chest grew more and more intense. We were already covered in nearly half his blood, yet the bleeding only seemed to get worse. I couldn't help it anymore. I laid Dom down on the pavement and bolted out to the streets for help. There was little to zero chance that I might find help, but there was no other option either. Dom was all I had, so I couldn't lose him. I knew I had to try.
"Help! Someone help me, please, I need a doctor!!" I cried out at the top of my lungs, with my eyes heavy with tears, and wide with desperation. I even forgot almost entirely about the killers, that there was a chance they might be close by. I kept calling out for help.
"Please help me, sir," I pleaded, as I approached a passerby, "My brother is dying, he…he needs a doctor. I'm begging you, sir, PLEASE!!!… Please help me save my brother," I persisted, but he wouldn't stop or even look at me, he just kept a straight face and went his way like I wasn't even there.
I was starting to get really mad with impatience. I approached some other person along the street.
"Please, I need your help. My brother is dying, he's lost so much blood, he needs a doctor," I pleaded, "Please, no one would listen to me…"
"And where are your parents, little missy?" she asked me, looking not so startled by my bloody appearance and my crimson face.
"They're gone," I answered frantically, "for all I know, they might be dead. The bad men shot them," I explained, "but I can't lose my brother too. Please you have to help me, he's all I've got".
"Where seems to be this brother of yours?" she asked.
I pointed towards the alley where Dom was.
"He's there," I said, "Please, we have to hurry."
She still didn't seem all that convinced.
"Wait a second, let me get this straight; you want me to follow you; a total stranger, into some dark lonely alley," she said, "How sure am I a bunch of crazy hoodlums aren't in there, lurking in those shadows, waiting for you to coax me into following you into that death-trap so-as-to get me robbed, or worst?"
"No, please, I'm not lying, there's no one else there, I promise!" I pleaded, "Please, my brother is dying!"
"I'm sorry child, but it's a shame I'm a tad bit claustrophobic during the late hours," she replied, "And besides, I'm not a doctor."
She continued on her way afterward, without looking back or showing any form of empathy. She didn't believe me. Frustration and panic struck me suddenly, like lightning. I couldn't believe she just walked out on me. I couldn't believe anyone could be so self-centered and heartless, but how was I to tell? I was only a novice to real life. I could hardly breathe where I was, every passing second felt like a countdown, like time was ultimately running out because it indeed was. My heart was racing with so much desperation that I was almost losing my mind. I tried asking several more people, but no one would listen, let alone speak to me.
Time was running out, and I couldn't stand it any longer. I rushed back to the alley to check on Dominic. Things had only gotten worse when I came. The bleeding was much worse, and he seemed almost barely alive.
"Hey, Dom, Hey… it's me, I'm back," I stuttered, "How… how are you feeling?"
"I don't know…" he muttered weakly, "I feel… dizzy."
"Don't worry, I'm not going to let anything happen to you, you're going to be okay, I promise, just stay with me," I said. I didn't know what to do, so I just started wrapping his shirt around the wounded area to see if I could maybe stop the bleeding. I would occasionally check his pulse and tap him to make sure he was still there.
"You're going to be alright soon, just…just hang on for me, plea…"
I stopped. I noticed something off as I looked at him this time; his eyes weren't moving, they were just stationary.
"Dom?" I muttered, but there was no movement or any sign of response.
I waved my hand over his face, but he wouldn't blink.
"Dom… Dominic, answer me…" I muttered.
"I'm right here, Dominic, would you look at me… please?" My heart was starting to race at that moment.
I tried checking his pulse again, but I couldn't get anything. He wasn't breathing either. My panic doubled, as a nameless dread suddenly engulfed me.
"No…no…no, this isn't happening," I muttered shakily, "Dom! Dom, please just wake up! Dom!!"
I cried so hard that my eyes itched, and my throat got sore, but still there was nothing I could change; my brother had just breathed his last, he was gone. I wept so bitterly as I sat by his pale body in that cold dark alley. I couldn't fully believe it was real, that the lifeless body lying there beside me was truly my brother's. I closed my eyes and prayed that this whole night was just a terrible nightmare and that I would just wake up from it any moment, but there was no waking up because this was reality. I cried my fragile heart out so much that I was so incapable of consoling myself. My whole world was gone; I was now alone… devastated… broken… bitter….
It was storming when I buried him, on a far-off hill away from the city. As I knelt by his stony grave, drenched in the rain with crimson eyes still streaming with tears, the tragedy replayed timelessly in my head. I remembered Mother's final request; she asked that I take care of my little brother. I had promised her I would, but now there I was burying him instead. Mother had died in vain. I had failed her, and for that, I couldn't forgive myself. I couldn't save my only brother. I was a failure, a loser, an abject prototype of disappointment. I hated myself.
While I sobbed silently in misery and self-disgust, I heard a sound from behind me. Immediately, I sensed I wasn't alone. Possibly someone had followed me up there. Someone was stalking me.