What The Heart Remembers

Chapter Six: Their Nightmare

On their way back home, Ethan pulled into the small gas station on the edge of town, the one with the flickering sign that buzzed whenever the wind passed. It wasn’t late, only a little past nine but the darkness in the mountains always fell heavier and quicker than anywhere else. Clara sat quietly in the passenger seat, her hands resting in her lap. She was still smiling from the night they’d just spent at the autumn fair. The warmth of it clung to her... The warm cider, laughter, Ethan’s hand guiding her through crowded walkways, the sound of children running by, the smell of caramel and roasted corn. For her, it had felt like a world opening up.

Ethan had been talking during the drive, mostly about nothing and everything, the kind of small conversation that two people fall into naturally after a good night. But as he turned into the gas station, he fell silent. Maybe he was tired. Maybe he was thinking about the moment he had confessed his feelings to Clara and the way her breath had caught before she said she felt the same way. He wasn’t fully sure yet if that moment had changed things or simply made them clearer.

“I’ll just be a minute,” he told her, putting the car in park.

“Okay,” Clara replied. “Is it the same station you always use?”

“Yeah. Though I’m starting to think I should avoid it. The lights look like they’re about to give up any day now.” He chuckled, but his voice sounded faint.

Clara smiled. “I don’t need the lights anyway.”

“Fair point,” he said lightly.

He pushed open the car door, the hinge creaking as it always did. Clara heard his footsteps crunch across the gravel toward the small convenience store attached to the pumps. She could hear the buzz of the lights, the faint hum of the cooler inside, and somewhere in the distance, the low whistle of the wind passing through trees.

She waited for him, her fingers brushing the edge of her seat as she replayed the fair in her mind... The games he guided her through, the silly prizes he pretended were trophies, the warm cider he handed her with a careful “It’s hot, hold the cup like this.” She remembered the moment he confessed how he felt, how he had said it almost shyly, and how her own words surprised her.

Even now, her cheeks felt warm just remembering it.

But a moment later, the night shifted.

A shout erupted from inside the station.

Then another.

Clara stiffened. She turned her head toward the store though she couldn’t see anything.

“Ethan?” she whispered.

Another shout rang out. It was sharper this time, panicked. Something heavy slammed against a counter or shelf inside. The sound was unmistakable: fear.

Clara’s breath quickened. She reached for her seatbelt, unfastened it, and leaned forward as though it would somehow help her see. “Ethan?” she called louder, her voice already trembling. “Ethan, what’s happening?”

Inside the station, Ethan had entered expecting nothing unusual. There was a half-asleep cashier and the smell of microwaved burritos. Instead, he froze the second the door shut behind him.

A man in a dark jacket stood at the counter, pointing a gun at a young cashier who was pressed against the wall behind the register. The cashier looked no older than twenty, his hands shaking so badly they slapped against the shelves behind him.

Ethan didn’t think... He just moved.

“Hey, hey, calm down,” Ethan said, raising his hands slightly. “Just relax. Nobody has to get hurt.”

The robber spun toward him instantly, the gun sweeping in his direction.

Outside, Clara’s heart hammered against her ribs. She reached for the door handle, disoriented, trying to decide if she should get out or stay put. Her hands shook uncontrollably.

“Ethan! Ethan, answer me!” she cried. Her voice cracked in panic.

Ethan heard her voice faintly through the closed door, and the sound made his chest tighten. “It’s okay,” he said loudly, hoping she heard. “Clara, stay in the car.”

But the robber didn’t like anyone talking. He stepped closer, his breath ragged. “Shut up! Both of you!” he barked.

“Alright,” Ethan said, trying to sound calm though adrenaline pulsed through him. “Look, man, you don’t want to do this. Just take what you need and leave. No one’s going to stop you.”

“I said shut up!” the robber yelled.

The cashier whimpered.

Ethan saw the robber’s hand trembling. That scared him more than the gun. A nervous man with a weapon was unpredictable, dangerous.

“Okay,” Ethan said softly. “Okay. I’m quiet. See? I’m not doing anything.”

Clara couldn’t hear the words, only the muffled tension. She grabbed her phone and fumbled with it, her fingers slipping across the screen. She tried to dial emergency services, but her hands shook so much she kept hitting the wrong numbers.

And then she heard the sound she would never forget.

A gunshot.

It was sharp, loud, slicing through the night like metal tearing cloth.

Clara screamed, a raw and terrified cry as she covered her ears. “Ethan!” Her voice ruptured, cracking into pieces. She stumbled out of the car, falling to her hands and knees on the gravel. She didn’t feel the sharp stones cutting her palms as she only feels fear.

Inside, Ethan stumbled backward as the shot hit him. He didn’t even understand where at first. His body jolted, then everything slowed around him. The shelves blurred, the lights flickered in long streaks, and the robber’s shape twisted like a shadow.

He fell to the floor, the air punched out of his lungs.

The cashier screamed.

The robber cursed and bolted out the back door, disappearing into the woods behind the station.

Ethan’s hearing faded as he tried to push himself up. He didn’t succeed. His hands slipped, and he collapsed again. His head hit the cold linoleum floor.

Everything dimmed.

Outside, Clara clawed her way forward, trying to stand, trying to find him, but her legs buckled beneath her. Her ears rang violently, drowning out the world.

“Ethan… Ethan…” She whispered his name again and again, as though saying it could pull him back.

Her body shook, panic tightening around her chest like a vise. She couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t think. She reached out blindly, hands trembling uncontrollably as she tried to locate where the door was.

But her world was collapsing around her.

Someone yelled in the distance, maybe a driver passing by, maybe a neighbor at the edge of the woods. She wasn’t sure. It all felt far away, muffled, fading.

Her heart pounded once, twice, then everything inside her went hollow.

Clara’s mind couldn’t take the shock when she heard Ethan’s scream, the gunshot, the unknown. Her vision, though forever dark, flickered with blotches of white as her body reacted to panic and fear.

“Ethan…” she whispered one last time.

Then everything went black.

Clara collapsed onto the gravel, unconscious.

Inside, Ethan lay unmoving on the cold floor as the lights above him buzzed and flickered. His blood pooled slowly beneath him. The cashier cried as he pressed a shaky hand against Ethan’s shoulder, trying to shake him awake, words tumbling out through sobs, “Please don’t die. Someone help us! ”

The sirens wouldn’t come for several minutes.

By then, both Ethan and Clara had already slipped into the darkness.