My Short Story Compilation

Saul Cooper In: The Worst State of Grief

     It was dark.
     If it weren't for the cars passing by outside, it would happily consume me without consent. Their speeding lights flicker through the blinds every once in a while before leaving us in darkness again. Though the darkness helps to hide this mess we're in. Even if it was for only a second, it somehow gives me relief.

     Us? Yes, us.
     Lerone… His body lies dead in my office, face down and clutching a pendant which seems to be the source of trouble tonight. I have tried to reach for the pendant and end this nightmare but my sour luck has given me a second short of actually pulling it off. I don't know where he found it or even why he has it and it's starting to piss me off. He was supposed to be a good friend, someone I could trust but of course that was too good to be true.

     A second too short? Yes, a second.
     Here it comes. It's happening again. My body tenses up as I feel my fingers unclench while the gun itself rocked in my grasp. Lerone's body stood on its knees, the blood crawling up his shirt and back into the bullet hole before standing up again. The bullet that lodged itself on the hallway wall jumped from its perch, through the body and towards my gun. Lerone paces backwards, slowly pocketing the pendant into... somewhere in his left side. I couldn't tell properly because of how the door closes from my angle and Lerone's stupid decision to wear a 3-piece suit to this very occasion.

     Shattered? Yes, shattered glass.
     Pieces of glass on the floor began to assemble as well. Bits and pieces from both outside and inside fly to gather my window as the perpetrator swings back into my office. She walks backwards towards me while the window reforms. She leans against me and I put my right arm around her neck. She put her left hand on my gun and we summoned the bullet back inside the chamber. And to top it off, her right hand caresses my right arm, undoing the deep claw marks. By now, I am all too familiar with this dance and it did what it needed to do. The stage was set, now all it needs is for the actors to accomplish their roles.

     "Let go of my gun- Aaaagh!! My arm!"

     "You let go of me!"

     "Hey, Cooper, guess what I fou-!"

     BANG!

     "...what... Lerone... no...!"

     CRASH!

     "Wait! Get back here!"

     Time slows to a stop once again. Be it a blessing in disguise, it gave me time to think. We know how it goes down. We know who the characters are. But the “why”? We haven’t answered why each one of us would result in this situation, this never ending time loop. Starting with the lady.

     Based on how she was dressed for the evening- skin tight black suit that covers just too much skin- and how she was prepared to jump out of the window, I’d say she was just another textbook cat burglar in this grimy city. She was probably looking for something in my office looking at how she had pulled the drawers open and left the files alone. For what exactly? The pendant, the gosh darn pendant that Lerone brought with him.

     Lerone probably found the cursed jewelry and wanted to show it off to my face. This only led him to the wrong time, the wrong place, bleeding on my floor. Our lady friend here must have caught a whiff that he found the pendant and wanted to get a bite of it herself. She must have known that I was a good friend of his and so what better place to search than my very own office.

     And lastly, me. I fell asleep after what seems to be a good few hours or centuries of weaving a case together. I did send Lerone to tetrieve the evidence but I regret not counting for the fact that this is
Lerone we’re talking about and he sure loves to take his time. This supposedly half-hour nap turned into 6 hours which was fortunate for our little thief as it made it easier for her to break in. Unfortunately, I was not a heavy sleeper and I woke up after I heard her struggle with the leftmost cabinet which has its joints
rusting since I bought this god forsaken place. Though this doesn’t mean that my body would fully
cooperate so… I instinctively brought out my gun in case my fists weren’t enough. Needless to say, I was overdressed for the occasion.

     Chaos ensues.

     I looked out of the shattered window and down into the streets below. My groggy eyes instead
only saw the passing lights and my ears rang with a mixture of roaring engines and car horns. She’s gone. I have the pendant to close the case once and for all but at what cost?

      No, let’s go over it again. There has to be a way where it doesn’t end like this.

    I refuse to let it end like this.

     On cue, the cars clear out from the streets below, leaving us in darkness once more...