Page 2 of Welcome to the Friendzone

She gasped in shock the moment she realized that this was blood. A lot of blood. Lowering the gun, she stepped around their king-sized bed, and suddenly her heart stopped beating. Her brain stopped thinking. Her whole body shut down.

In the middle of a huge puddle of blood laid Frank.

Lifeless.

He was on his side, one arm in front of his face so that Marta couldn’t see him properly. She also couldn’t see where he was shot so she placed her gun on the bed and quickly knelt down next to him.

She didn’t even feel the tears slipping out of her eyes.

“Frank? Frank?” She asked carefully before she tried turning his body around with one arm.

He was so heavy. Nobody truly realizes how heavy lifeless bodies actually are. With both hands and some more strength she finally managed to roll him onto his back. The angry wound on his chest caught her attention first. The blood was still oozing out of it.

“Oh my god.” She inhaled sharply before checking his body for another wound.

It had been only one shot but she wanted to be sure. While digging with one hand in the pocket of her pants to grab her phone and call an ambulance she let her eyes wander along his body until they met his face.

Instinctively she knew what she was about to see.

That’s why she avoided looking him in the face the moment she knelt down.

When she saw her husband's lifeless eyes a hot, burning blade of grief sliced into her heart, twisting around and going deeper with every beat.

The gray eyes that were filled with so many sparkles, affection, and adoration for her. The eyes that still showed her how much he loved her, even when they were fighting. The gray eyes she fell in love with when they first caught sight of each other in a meeting at the White House three years ago.

Those gray eyes were empty.

“Frank,” she whined, trying to shake him back to life.

This couldn’t be reality. This wasn’t true. This was a dream. She would wake up soon, cry in Frank’s arms, and tell him about the horrible nightmare she just had. She needed him. Peach needed him. She couldn’t do this alone.

Suddenly she heard a noise from the walk-in closet behind her but before she could turn around to see where it came from a searing hot pain shot through her shoulder. She gasped loudly in shock, but finally managed to turn around.

She looked into the sneering face of a dark-haired man with a gun in his hand.

“You think you’re undefeatable, Samantha?” He spat at her before continuing with a sharp voice. “Breaking news. We found you. Checkmate!”

Another shot left the man’s gun.

This time the bullet hit her lower stomach and she knew she would bleed out next to her dead husband. When her body fell back and the blood seeping out of her wounds started to mix with the crimson liquid that had poured out of Frank, all she could think about was the Peach. She would be reunited with the love of her life but Peach didn’t have a chance to even arrive in this world. The tears that slipped out of her eyes were not because she was scared to die, they were because she was mourning the child that would never be born.

Her mind was fuzzy and she felt like she was only processing every tenth picture in front of her eyes. She was sure that this was what dying felt like. Confusion, pain, blurriness and then a sense of calm.

People were shouting. A shot rang out and the intruder collapsed to the floor. A blonde woman in a police uniform appeared in front of her. There were more sirens and then her body was being carried down the stairs and placed onto a gurney. People were talking to her but they were miles away.

Eventually she made it into an ambulance and when her eyes finally closed, all she could hear was “All I want for Christmas is you”.

Her last thought before darkness consumed her was:

It was the first Christmas of many that she would spend alone.

All alone.

You drive me crazy

NOW

March 2022

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