My Living Nightmare (REWRITTEN)

Taking Back My Strength

**Two weeks later**

Ria was gone, because of Kristina. It had been nearly two weeks since then. Kristina was also gone, because of me. It was the first time I had killed someone. Somehow, it was hard for me to process any of it. Especially Ria's death.

Whenever I would walk into the kitchen, I expected Ria to be sitting in one of the stools beside Bill. But she wasn't there, obviously. Ria was gone. It was just Bill sitting there. Or when I woke up in the morning, I would check my phone to see if Ria had texted me. Sometimes, I would wonder why I haven't gotten a text from her yet. Ria always texted me at least once a day about her crazy shenanigans. Then the realization would set in again; she was gone, Taylor. She will never come back. Get that through your head. Yet, I would still expect her to be there, as if she was just having another girls night out somewhere that I refused to go to. We were childhood friends, spending time together nearly everyday. Now, all those moments of us are just memories only I can recall. Even my eyes played tricks on me. Out of the corner of my eye, I would think Ria was there. When I would actually fully turn to that corner, nothing. I would look away, my heart feeling heavy once more. I would even get nightmares about that day; hearing the gunshots of Kiyomi whistling behind me as I ran towards Ria, only to have my best friend disappear again when I extended my arm out towards her.

Then that second week rolled around, and I began to blame myself for nearly everything I did that horrible day. Maybe if I hadn't kicked Kristina out of nowhere, making her lose balance and shoot that gun, Ria would still be alive. Maybe if I was more experienced with combat, I would have protected Ria successfully and she would still be alive. After a while of this back and forth, I knew I couldn't change what had happened that day.

However, my future could always be altered.

A burning determination sparked in me to be better. I wanted to be better at protecting the people I cared about. Something like this doesn't ever have to happen again.

I didn't want it to happen again.

I decided to take karate lessons that week. I went every morning, even with just a couple lessons I already felt stronger. I still had a lot to learn, but it was a start.

I took a gun safety class as well, since Tom had invited me to go to a gun range with him today. He told me that he wanted to help me gain more experience so that I could protect myself in the future, since so many people seem to be targeting us now.

Tom held the door open for me to the building. As I walked in, the inside of this place seemed fancy looking for a gun range. The walls were a deep burgundy color and had some black accents here and there. Maybe once I learn how to use a bunch of different gun types, it'll help me protect Tom one day too. Anything to be better instead of being useless like I was the day that I lost Ria.

As I glanced around, right away I noticed a glass display of guns laid out throughout a wall. In front of it, there was a firearm cashier going through some paperwork. While my eyes studied all the weapons encased in that display, my heart pounded a bit. It reminded me of the collection Kristina had showed me in her home before shoving Kiyomi to my head. Just the mere reminiscence of it sent shivers down my spine.

Tom's voice broke through my thoughts "Taylor"

I looked over at him.

"You alright?" He studied my facial expression with worried eyes and held my hand.

"Yeah, I'm ready" I quickly let go of the hand that held mine and shook the dreadful memory away from consuming any more of my thoughts.

I needed Tom to teach me, even though he royally pissed me off. I was upset with the way he treated me the night Kristina invited me to that wretched party. He acted like trash that day, just throwing the keys at me and walking up to his bedroom with her. I should not have been treated that way. Even if Tom was a player and had numerous girls fawning over him 24/7, I didn't deserve that.