No Innocent Love

The Moon

"Hurry up girls!" Mommy yells, "Or we'll leave without you."

Hearing that, Sarah and I rushed to put on our raincoat and boots. We are going to the store with mommy and daddy to get groceries. Mommy said if we are good She'll also get us a treat. I'm really happy.

When daddy opened the door I felt the cool wind on my face. I love the wind, how it caresses you, how it blows around you and how you still feel its coolness even after its gone. I love the night, how it holds the stars and the moon, and how the dark contrast the light from them. This time is perfect. It's so beautiful.

Mommy wanted us to go out as a family today since daddy had the day off tomorrow, but since daddy works at night, he fell asleep right after breakfast and just woke up for dinner so mommy said we will just go out for a walk before bed.

This is a nice walk, there is a lot of silence but being together was enough. The soft cricket noises were calming. I looked up at mommy and she smiled down at me. I kept looking up, looking at mommy and daddy, they looked so happy.

I heard a click and mom and dad stopped where there were and looked to the side. I don't understand, what's going on? What are they looking at? I follow their eyes to a man standing in a catwalk. The man was wearing all black, a black hoodie black baggy pants and something shiny and silver is in his hands.

"Get over here." His voice was stern but quiet and shaky. I think he's scared, he probably needs our help. "Now!" His yell was sudden, I saw mommy jump and I felt daddy's hand squeeze mine. We walk into the catwalk, away from the possibility of prying eyes. Mommy and daddy are scared too. Is the guy holding a... Gun?!

"Do you need help, sir?" The man points the gun at me.

"Keep her quiet!" Daddy puts his hand over my mouth and whispers into my ear, telling me it'll be okay. The man then points the gun at mommy. I hear daddy's heart start to beat faster. The man isn't going to hurt mommy, right? "Give me your purse!" The man's hands start to shake. I can hear the gun rattle against his ring. It's on his ring finger on his left hand. Daddy told me that means he has someone he loves and belongs to. I wonder what kind of person she is.

"Please don't do this, these are my children with me, we just have enough for food an-"

"Do I look like I care about your story? I have my own problems!" He cuts mommy off and takes one hand off of the gun and reaches out towards her. "Now give me your purse." The gun is now less stable being in only one hand. Mommy pulls the purse off her shoulder, it reminded me of the time she pulled the bread out of a grocery bag to feed a hungry dog, she did it slowly not to startle the creature in front of her. The man, he's so scary. I look over at Sarah and she isn't even looking at him. She is looking past me. I turn my head to see what she is looking at. I see a black cat with beautiful eyes. The left eye was blue while the right was green. The cat looked like it had one of mommy's eyes and one of daddy's. What a pretty kitty.

That's when everything overlaps, everything happens at once. I feel dad let go of my hand and take a quiet step at the man. Though he was silent, the sudden movement scared the cat and it ran across the road. A passing car honks at the cat. Startled with the loud noise, the man tenses, and fires the gun.

Then everything went black. I'm scared. The car horn and the bang of the gun overlap, they echo for what feels like a long time. My eyes are closed. I should keep them closed. I'm scared, scared to see what was the aftereffect of the bang.

"MOM!" Sarah is screaming. No, what happened to mom? With that thought, my eyes opened. Daddy is in the same spot, frozen. Mommy is on the ground, Sarah leaning over her. "MOM!" Sarah repeats her screams in the same volume, the same pitch. They echo with the horn and the bang in my head. There's so much noise. It's so loud, so loud that I didn't even notice that I was screaming too.

Next thing I knew I was next to Sarah, over mommy. I don't think me and Sarah were screaming anymore, but I still heard the echoes. I look around, I don't see the man. He hurt mommy. He ran away. I look over at daddy. He is staring at the silver gun. The man must have dropped it.

Daddy ran, he ran fast. He picked up the gun and continued to run until I couldn't see him. There was so much echo. The bang, the horn, Sarah's screams. Then there was another bang. No, no more. The second bang echoed. So much noise. So sudden. It won't stop.

"Look at the moon girls..." Mommy's voice makes everything go quiet. I do as she says. It's a full moon. It looks ugly. It's not beautiful. It was, but not anymore.