sakura
I screamed at the top of my lungs as blood splattered all over my clothes. Callan kicked the gun in Gunther’s hand away to a couple of empty parking spots and then turned toward me, saying something but I couldn’t hear him.
Because Callan had taken his life. His life!
Dropping to my knees, I crawled over to Gunther, heart pounding and beads of sweat forming at the small of my back.
This can’t be happening. This can’t be happening. This can’t be freaking happening.
“Callan! What did you do?!”
“Get up, Sakura,” Callan said, taking my wrist. “Don’t look at him.”
After ripping my wrist out of his hold, I held Gunther’s chest wound closed with my hands. Blood oozed between my fingers, coating them in a thin, wet layer. I pressed my hands down harshly against his chest, needing him to stay alive.
“Stay with me, Gunther. Please, stay with me.”
“Let him go.”
“Stay with me. God, please,” I sobbed.
“He’s dead, Sakura,” Callan said.
But he wasn’t. He couldn’t be. It was slight—very slight—but I felt his chest rise and fall underneath my fingers. Or maybe that was just me shaking his body with my trembling hands. Either way, we had to try something!
I leaned down and listened to a very soft, strained breath. “He’s alive.”
“No, he’s not.”
Frantically, I shook my head. “You have to bring him to the hospital,” I pleaded. “He’s still breathing!”
“He’s dead, Sakura.”
“No! He’s still breathing.”
“There’s no time.”
“There’s no time if you don’t do anything!” I shouted at him.
“Sakura, get up,” he said, grabbing my arm and jerking me to my feet.
“No!” I cried, shoving him back. “I told you not to hurt him!”
“He was waving a gun around you,” Callan growled.
I shoved him again and again and again, pushing him back. And when he collided with his car, I slammed my fists into his hard chest, tears pouring from my eyes. “How could you? How could you kill him?!”
“Lower your voice,” Callan said. “Or we’ll both get in trouble.”
Snapping my mouth closed, I stepped away and scowled at him. Furiously, I pushed the tears off my cheek so I didn’t seem weak. But my knees wobbled.
How can … how can he just shoot him like that? Why isn’t he doing anything? Gunther was still breathing.
If he wasn’t going to do anything, then I would.
“Leave, Sakura,” Callan ordered me. “Find somewhere to wipe the blood off—”
After falling to my knees once more, I wrapped my arms around Gunther’s heavy body, right underneath his arms, and attempted to stand. I opted for crouching because I couldn’t completely lift Gunther and dragged him a couple of inches before I tripped over my own feet and fell face-first onto the concrete on top of Gunther.
Callan seized my entire body, lifted me into the air, and walked with me to my car. I struggled against him to escape his hold, to get Gunther help, but he held me even tighter so I could barely move, trapping my arms between his stronger ones.
“Let me out!” I shouted. “Now!”
“No,” he growled, shoving me into my car. “Leave.”
“Callan!” I screamed. “Don’t!”
“Leave, Sakura!” he shouted back. “There is nothing you can do for him.”
Fury rushed through me as Callan tossed my backpack into the passenger seat and then grasped the door handle.
“I hate you!” I shouted right before he slammed the door in my face. “I hate you so much.”