The Suitors

The gunman fired indiscriminately into the crowd with reckless abandon. Bodies fell to the ground, some of them never to rise again. Screams of terror filled the moonless night, as lead flew everywhere. One mother cowered over, trying to shield her daughter, hoping that her body was enough to stop the raining bullets. A heavily built man next to them, who a few moments ago was trying to flirt with her, dropped like a sack of potatoes. She watched in shock as his knees gave in to the weight of his body and buckled. The bullet had whizzed right through the back of his neck and out of the front, definitely severing the jugular. In the dim light of the ice cream stand that was close to them, she saw his eyes suddenly lose their shine and roll back into his head. He fell forward and on his face with a loud thud. Soon after, a pool of blood collected around him. The mother was shaken to the core, instinctively she shrieked, her scream piercing the night air that was already filled with chaos. If she made it through the horror, she would surely have a sore throat for the entire month. Her four-year-old daughter whimpered under her mother's embrace. "Terror at Cherry Park," Charles read out the title of the movie cover on the DVD he held in his hand. Sophie had buried her head in his chest to shield her eyes and mind from the gory scenes on the TV. She wasn't at all into movies with so much blood every other minute. Charles chuckled as he stroked her hair.