Hamartia

"Who are you to say that love is dead?
This has always been about the heart
I have told so many lies protecting the drowning bride
You can't steal my thoughts anymore"

-"Hamartia", Novembers Doom (2017)

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6 January, 2017- 12:50 PM

The day was the sixth of January, 2017. The place was the airport in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Mika Frost and Julian Kuhr walked through the airport with the former going to Berlin, Germany to see her family. She was always the more cheery one, and was excited to see her family. The air itself was not cold in the terms of temperature, but rather there was a chill of anxiety. Something felt amiss. Mika originally dismissed it as simply already missing Julian, but he couldn't deny that something was about to go wrong. The two went up to the screens to check the time that her flight was about to take off. Her flight was to leave at 1:30 PM. The two sat on a bench at the baggage claim of Terminal 2. Julian looked over to his right to see a man who was looking back at him.

"Hey." The man said.

"Hey." Julian replied. "What's your name?"

"Esteban. And yours?" Esteban asked.

"Julian." Julian replied.

Julian had jet-black hair, darker than Esteban's. Mika, on the other hand, had light blonde hair.

"Is she your girlfriend?" Esteban asked.

"No, but sometimes it certainly feels that way." He replied, and the two shared a laugh.

"I get it... You two are just close friends then?" Esteban asked.

"Yes, just close friends then." Julian chuckled.

Mika looked over and smiled.

"Making friends so that you won't be lonely when I'm gone?" Mika asked.

"Something like that." Julian responded with a smile.

"I can tell you two have something special... Makes me feel bad for acting out." Esteban said, however the two friends didn't realize until after the event that it wasn't past tense.

"What do you mean?" Mika asked.

Esteban didn't respond to the question, instead getting up and going over to his bag. Mika looked over at Julian, then back at Esteban. He appeared to look in his bag, then he closed it. He walked back to the two.

"I'll be back in a second. It was nice talking to you two while it lasted." Esteban said with a smile on his face, as if he were grateful.

They didn't understand it, but it was gratitude at having a friend for the last few moments before a tragedy. Esteban walked into the bathroom, and the two stood up.

"It's getting close." Julian said.

"Yeah... Hey, can I ask you something?" Mika asked.

"Anything." Julian replied with a smile.

Before she could ask her question, Esteban came back out holding a pistol in his hand. It was a Walther PPS nine-millimeter semi-automatic pistol, to be exact. He seemed to be completely changed from the man they met mere minutes ago, firing upon a crowd of people. He fired in the direction of Mika and Julian, mouthing the words "I'm sorry." He then laid on the ground after running out of ammunition for it. Esteban was arrested without incident or any shots fired by law enforcement. The damage was done however, and Julian looked down to see Mika with a gunshot wound in the right side of her chest. He immediately called 911 and asked for paramedics, frantically explaining what occurred. Mika was taken to the nearest hospital, like many others. Julian followed the ambulance not long afterwards.