Short stories

This is for my brother.

He turned pale and broke into a cold sweat. Splatters of crimson red blood covering his clothes and body; the blood that belonged to his own brother. A limp body, now a corpse, laid flat on the cold ground in a dark and eerie alley. No tears, no feelings at all. He felt numb and couldn't even process the reality of what was happening in front of him. He actually felt sick. His vision started spotting, his head started spinning and eventually his legs couldn't hold up his weight anymore and gave in, making him fall down, his head hitting the hard ground. The culprit, a man in all black, with a pistol in hand, a face showing no emotion or remorse for what he had just done was the last thing he saw before darkness consumed him and he passed out.

However, the so-called culprit, didn't take the decision to leave him there until eventually he woke up. After all, there was a reason that he had committed the homicide and he could use the now passed out and vulnerable man as ransom or any other way he could think of. You see, the man that was killed broke omerta and so death by the leader was his only destiny. There was no other choice as to how it would end for him, especially in a society full of gangs and mafias, who would go to hell and back to have more power and recognition in the country.

The culprit, also known as Jeremy, stared down at the passed-out man, Elliot, who looked as pale as a ghost, covered in his own dead brother's blood, shock still stamped on his face although unconscious. He put his gun away and ordered his men to pick him up and drag him into the car. Jeremy still didn't know exactly what he was going to do with him as he didn't know if he had any relatives or friends that would pay for him to get him back, but either way, he couldn't just leave him there. He was a witness.

Elliot was taken into one of the gang's warehouses, where he was left standing with his hands tied up to chains hanging from the ceiling, until he would eventually wake up or be woken up.

Surprisingly, Elliot woke up by himself after a few hours, to a throbbing headache and extremely sore arms. The memories of what had happened a few hours before flooding back into his mind, making the realisation hit. He was never going to see his brother again. He had been shot numerous times and fell dead right in front of him and as proof of this, his blood was now dried up over him.

Tears streamed down his face, as he sobbed and remembered all the memories with his brother and how he would never be able to make a new one with him. How he should have spent more time with him when he was alive. After grieving for a couple of minutes, helping the shock that he had gone through just a couple of hours before to wear off, he realised that he couldn't exactly move. His hands were bound, and he was in an unfamiliar place. As any human being would do, he started screaming and shouting for help, his voice becoming hoarse with time.

As his voice started giving in and quieting down, footsteps were heard echoing throughout the warehouse. Jeremy along with four men standing behind him stopped right in front of him. "YOU BRUTE! YOU WERE THE ONE THAT KILLED MY BROTHER! WHAT DID HE EVER DO TO YOU?!" yelled Elliot before spitting on Jeremy's face. Jeremy wasn't happy with the lack of respect from Elliot. He grabbed a cloth and calmly wiped away the saliva from his face.

"I was going to make you a proposal, but it seems as though you are as disrespectful as your brother was. You had to remember your place and the kind of situation you were in, if survival was what you were trying to achieve," Jeremy said in an annoyed and furious tone. Jeremy put his hand in the form of a fist and punched and punched Elliot directly across his face, making it swing to the side and drawing blood. Elliot spit the blood from his mouth on the ground before Jeremy started repeatedly punching him in his gut, face and groin area. Elliot winced in pain; the chains rustled because of the constant movement from Elliot as he tried to avoid Jeremy's punches but had to unwillingly take. Splatters of crimson blood covered the floor.

Once Jeremy felt satisfied enough and released all his anger his anger, he stopped, grabbed a piece of cloth, wiped his knuckles from Elliot's blood and left chuckling. Elliot was left all blood-soaked, barely conscious, head bowed down and wincing in pain.

Two of the men that had come in with Jeremy remained inside the warehouse with Elliot instead of going with Jeremy. Both men grabbed their pistol from the pocket of their black pants, removed the safety, cocked the guns making a satisfying click, aimed their pistol at Elliot and shot him twice each. The bangs of the pistols echoing throughout the whole warehouse was the only thing that could be heard.

The sound of whimpering from Elliot was no longer present. He no longer slightly moved or swinged from side to side because of how tired and weak he felt. His body was now lifeless. No movement, or sounds came from him. The only thing left was the amount of blood still coming out of his wounds and dripping from his face.

The men's faces showed no signs of regret or remorse for killing the innocent man. Their faces remained as cold as stone; no signs of any emotion at all. One of the men held Elliot up, whilst the other unbound his hands from the cold, dull and rusty chains. Elliot fell sloppily on the man that was holding him up, as he laid his now limp body onto the ground.

The men left his corpse there, still bleeding, creating a puddle of still war, crimson blood around him.

After a few minutes in came Jeremy, he crouched down near the lifeless body and just stared at him. "You could have been one of us. You had the potential" Jeremy uttered. He fingered one of his bullet wounds with two fingers, digging deep underneath his skin. Jeremy took his now warm and red fingers out of the bullet wound and inspected it.

Elliot's eyes shot open; it was and if he had woken up from the dead but the question is, was he actually dead in the first place? As Jeremy was distracted Elliot had enough time to grab the gun that he had inside his jacket. He quickly got up, trying to stay on his feet, cocked the gun and aimed it at Jeremy's head. "Go to Hell you sadistic monster. This is for my brother." Elliot said as he held him at gun point, a sinister smirk appearing on his face as he pulled the trigger without a second thought.