Page 102 of We Are All Sinners

I turn the ignition off and hop out of the car, making my way into the store. The automatic doors slide open, and I can hear yelling.

I rush in to see Evie standing between me and two armed men wearing black masks, and another in front of her at the counter between us, while gaining everyone’s attention. They have her surrounded.

The man at the counter points his gun at me, “About time you showed up, wrong place wrong time man. You shouldn’t have come back here!”

I see Evie move as the guy gets out the last syllable.

She quickly grabs a wine bottle in each hand from her cart, “Fuck you!” she screams before throwing a bottle at the guy behind her, startling the gunman in front of her. The bottle shatters when it connects with his face, dropping him to the floor immediately. She smashes the other bottle over the second gunman’s head in front of her with a blood curling scream, just as he turns his gun in her direction.

“No! Evie, get down.” I yell as I take off towards her, pulling out my gun, trying to get a line of sight on the last gunman standing.

She runs towards me with her arms out, shielding me, “No baby no!” I shout at her as everything happens in slow motion. I hear the shots firing as I try to point my gun at the guy behind her, but she is in my line of fire, and it’s too late.

I watch her eyes widen as her body slows down just as I get to her. I grab her quickly, pulling her body to mine, out of the way, and pull my trigger, hitting the mother fucker right in between his eyes.

I drop to the floor, cradling my perfect little witch in my arms, the world around me fading into a blur of chaos and horror.

“NO! Call 911, now! Please, baby, please! No, no, no! Why did you do that? Don’t leave me!” My voice breaks, a guttural scream tearing from my chest as I hold her tight, desperate to keep her with me.

The blood seeps through my fingers, warm and thick, soaking her green sweatshirt, each heartbeat echoing her slipping away. I press my hands over her heart, but it just keeps pouring out, a cruel reminder of how fragile life is.

“Hold on, my perfect little witch,” I plead, panic clawing at my throat. “We’re getting married, remember? We have so much left to do. Just hold on for me, please.”

Her eyes flutter open, filled with pain yet still holding onto a flicker of light. “Till we are ghosts…” she whispers, her voice barely audible, yet it cuts through the suffocating darkness surrounding us. She smiles, a heartbreaking, radiant smile, and in that moment, I see everything we have ever dreamed of together.

Her gaze drifts, and the light begins to fade from her beautiful green eyes. My heart shatters as the world falls silent, the chaos replaced by the deafening sound of my own grief. “No, no, no!” I scream, wrapping my arms tighter around her, as if I can somehow pull her back from the abyss.

“Stay with me, Evie! I love you so much! Please!” But the weight of her body grows heavier in my arms, and I feel the last flicker of warmth leave her. I can’t breathe; the loss is too much, too vast, too incomprehensible. In that moment, I realize that I am utterly and irrevocably broken.

I’m forcefully pulled from Evie as paramedics take her from my arms.

My gun is kicked away from me, and I’m put face down and can’t move. I can hear what the people around me are saying, but nothing is really registering.

I feel a knee go into my back as my arms are pulled behind my back. Cool metal locks my writs in place.

“No! That man and that poor woman are the only reason any of us are alive, don’t arrest him!” The old cashier shouts as the police officers carry out two men in black. I see their faces and burn them into my brain, knowing that I will have them in a hole soon.

I feel the cuffs release and am yanked up by two officers. Tears stream down my face, but I’m numb. My soul feels empty. This can’t be happening.

“Brixon.” I hear my name and try to find the voice.

Chad. Same guy who helped out with the cunt that tried to steal from Evie.

“Hey, I know this guy. I’ll take him home and get a statement.” Chad tells the officer, who just took off my cuffs.

“Get him the fuck out of here.” The little prick says as I watch them put my wife on the gurney, zipping up the black bag they put her in.

I rush over to her, stopping the men trying to do their job, “I want her body. She is a witch and needs to be consecrated. How do I do that?” I ask, barely able to get the words out as I place my hand over the black bag holding the love of my life.

“Come on man, we will take care of it okay, but we need to get you out of here.” Chad replies, putting a hand on my back, pushing me out the door.

I take my phone from my pocket, calling Liam, “I can’t.” I say, pushing the phone out to Chad.

He takes the phone from my trembling hand, his expression heavy with sympathy. “Sir, it’s Chad,” he says, his voice steady but low. “There’s been a shooting. One casualty... Genevieve LaBlanc. He’s not speaking, just lost in his own world. I’ll bring him to you. Yes, sir.”

His words sink in like lead in my veins. My wife… Gone. My mind spirals into a pool of disbelief and guilt. How did we end up here? How could I have let this happen?

Chad turns the cruiser onto our street, and the familiar sight of our home hits me like a punch to the gut. The place where we dreamed, laughed, and built our life together feels impossibly distant now. It’s just a house without her. A hollow shell.

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