"Haah..." I let out a heavy sigh as I walked down the sidewalk with this deep sense of gloom casting over me. The school year is about to end and I am about to enter college. Everyone in my batch couldn't also help but be restless because it is going to be the turning point of their lives. Some were excited, confident, and some were sad that their high school life was going to end. As for me, I couldn't care less. My life has always been steady; it could even be said that I have a higher chance to succeed in life. Or... so they say.

The reason why I feel gloomy today, it was because today is the death anniversary of my childhood friend. Every year I always visit her grave but for some odd reason, I always feel gloomy.

As I was about to turn to a corner, I felt a presence walking up to me. The person's footsteps were quite hurried as it seemed he/she was catching up to me so it might be someone I knew. I stopped my footsteps to turn to the individual who was heading towards me until I felt a sudden jolt of pain hitting the back of my head.

"Agh!" I yelped in pain as I held the back of my head and quickly shifted my gaze towards the assailant. It was a girl who was of the same age and class in school. It really was someone I knew as it was someone that has been annoying me ever since.

"I finally caught up to you! Do you think you could get away from cleaning duty?! I had to clean the classroom by myself! Do you have any valid reason to ditch a girl like me just like that?!" She let out an angry yet cute voice.

Damn... I think there's a hump growing at the spot she hit. Rubbing the back of my head, I gathered myself together and began to think about what valid alibi I should give her. For starters to who and what she looked like, she has a pretty face and short blonde hair reaching until her shoulders. Her name is Lisa Pierce, she came from a middle-class family and I met her during my freshman year. I kinda helped her in the past since she was new to this city at that time, so she became something like a leech that would stick to me every time.

Currently, her cute face was completely red from anger but at the same time, her eyes had an expression of guilt. I had quite a habit to observe people's face so I somewhat know what she felt and thought at the moment. I know it was my fault but I couldn't care about such things right now since it was an important day for me.

"Oh... sorry about that. I forgot that it was cleaning duty," I said trying my best to speak sincerely but it turned out to be rather bland.

"Forgot!?" She exclaimed as if she heard something unbelievable.

"You can fool others but you can't fool me. You can pretend that you are just an average high schooler but you are the most gifted person on the entire campus! I am not the brightest but I would never forget about your flawless mind that could even remember the tiniest and most trivial details, you can even think of a solution to a difficult problem in a short time!" she said with huff as she kept her piercing gaze towards me waiting for me to give her an actual and truthful reply. But... what she just said wasn't an exaggeration. Though, it was quite embarrassing to hear it from someone who almost plummeted her grades and failed.

As for my "gift", it is something about my brain being able to remember every single thing that my eyes saw and my thought process works faster than a normal person— people call it hyperthymesia, but it is a bit different. This made me pass all of my subjects like a breeze but of course, I'm not someone who aims for the top so I only kept myself around the top ten in the school rankings. I treated it as a gift at first but, it was also a curse since it never allows me to forget things that I wanted to forget. Though, before I even realized my gift, I was diagnosed with Dyslexia when I was a kid so it kinda took me a couple of years of my childhood to properly read and find it out. This was my secret that only my family and those who were close to me knew. Well... Lisa could be said to be someone close to me since she always kept sticking to me. She only found out about my gift just right after we finished our freshman year when she lost her wallet in a mall.

"So...?" She placed both of her hands on her hips with an investigative look on her face.

The truth is... it was the death anniversary of someone important to me. That's what I wanted to say but it would make Lisa feel bad and her approach to me for the next few weeks will surely be a little careful and awkward.

During my childhood days, my childhood friend was the very first one who found out about my gift. But she got caught in an accident before I could even properly speak. She was the only one who always looked out for me at that time so even if I don't have this so-called gift, I would never forget about her. She was even the first person I ever admired... just thinking about it makes my heart ache so I gotta try my best to move it to the corner of my brain and pay attention to the dumb fellow in front of me.

"It is something personal so to make it up to you, I'll treat you some ice cream. If you don't raise a question about what my personal business is or complain to me why I was not in cleaning duty, then I will treat you ice cream after class for three days," I said whilst raising my hand and held three fingers to tell that I'm serious. I know her favorite is ice cream so this is enough to shut her up about the matter. God, why does it sound like I'm dealing with a kid? Actually... her IQ is the same as a kid so I think I really am.

Upon hearing my words, her red face began to return to its normal luster and made an expression of an obedient puppy. "A-alright. I won't pursue the matter anymore. But can you at least tell me why?" She asked with clear worry and concern in her eyes. Oh, I forgot that I was letting out a gloomy atmosphere than usual. Sigh, if only she had a slightly higher IQ I would've asked her out already. This kind of feeling I had for her is genuine but my future will be in real danger if I let my emotions take over. Also, if things didn't work out for us, our relationship will be ruined and we wouldn't be that close anymore. But things might change, who knows?

"Sorry but it really is personal. So be a good girl and you'll get your ice cream," I said patting her head making an expression as if she was my five-year-old nephew.

"Yes- wait! Don't treat me like a kid!" She became flustered upon the realization of what I was doing and quickly removed my hand from her head and began to briskly walk towards the nearest convenience store.

Seeing her change in different reactions and expressions in a short time is something that I liked about her the most. Because she is so real to her emotions and to herself. I let out a small chuckle and caught up to her.

We finally arrived at our destination. I began to think about whether I should find myself a drink or something to eat, Lisa, on the other hand, went straight for the freezer where her favorite ice cream was. As I was walking by the shelves, I suddenly remembered something, when it comes to food Lisa becomes smarter than Einstein! Agh, I have a gifted brain but it couldn't even remember the thing it had to remember the most! I quickly went after her but she already was on the counter and something that I feared finally happened, two large containers of ice cream were now inside the plastic bags.

"Your payment miss?" The clerk asked while he raised his brow seemingly suspicious as to why she hasn't paid yet.

"Uhm..." she began to look around with a troubled look on her face and when her gaze stopped at me, she let out a sly grin. "He's going to pay it," she said pointing her finger at me with an innocent look on her face.

Oh, you've gotta be kidding me. I take back what I said, her quickly changing her reactions and expressions is now something I detest the most.

"Haah..." I let out another heavy sigh and gave up any thoughts to retaliate and brought out my wallet. "H-How much?" I suddenly stuttered because thinking about how big the containers were, it was going to be something that will make my wallet as light as a feather.

Just when the clerk was about to reply, a man with a face mask rushed towards the counter and pointed a gun towards us and the clerk.

"Don't move! I'm not gonna hurt any of you if you listen to my orders. But if you don't, my hand tends to get itchy so I would recommend you do as I say," A rough and deep voice was heard from the crook as his gaze and gun shifted from us and the clerk. We were all stunned and couldn't believe what was happening right in front of us. It was my- no, our first time in our lives to have a gun pointed at us. Cold sweat began to drench my back and the fear of possible death that I never felt before made me stiff and unable to move. I suddenly felt something soft but cold in my hand and when I looked to my side, I saw Lisa with her hand on mine, clearly scared but she had her brows knitted. This meant that she was thinking about what to do with our current situation. I'm sure it was something like "How can I stop this old man from robbing us?" or stuff like that. I couldn't help but praise her but all we could do now was to give everything we have to preserve our lives. Thinking about losing someone again made me unconsciously hold her hand tighter with the intention to stop her from whatever she had on mind and also calm myself to think of a solution to how to get past this.

A wave of information and possibilities began to fill my mind as I look up to them one by one. Is he alone or does he have a friend with him? Have I seen him before? I began to look up to my memories to see if I have any information about him. Judging by his physique, he was around fifty years old. His height was five feet and eleven inches almost the same height as me. He reeks of alcohol and the whites of his eyes were red and were constantly trembling, meaning he's someone who frequently uses drugs. He had a round face and... huh? I look at my memory three days ago and that was the time I was looking up the news. There was a report of a recent robbery incident near the area. The gun he used was a 9mm pistol, it is the same gun as the crook in front of us was using. Also, based on the report, he killed the three people who were the same people he just robbed. Sh*t... this guy's trouble.

"You, the guy on the counter. I want you to put all of the money in a plastic bag and give to me. Also, do it where I could see your hands. If you're a second slower then I'll send you on your way to heaven!" The crook said with an intimidating tone of voice and expression as he went a step closer to the counter.

He then turned to us and pointed the gun at the same time looking at us from top to bottom to see if we have anything of value. "I want you to put both of your phones and wallets on the counter. I don't have time messing with brats so you better hurry your asses or you'll be buried six feet under for the next few weeks!" He said with the same tone as he did with the clerk. I felt a chill up to my spine when he said that since I know he would literally do what he just said based on his personality and the drugs' influence. But despite that, I kept my calm since we couldn't do anything in this situation right now.

I let go of Lisa's hand and with a sigh, I placed my wallet and phone on the counter. It was just a material thing so losing it is better than our lives. As I came back to Lisa's side, I noticed she hasn't moved and had her looking downwards with her fists clenched tight.

"Hey, you girl with a pretty face. Aren't you going to move? Don't push your luck and say you don't have your phone and wallet 'cuz I've heard about it many times and the people who said it didn't end well," he then moved his gaze downwards and I could see within his eyes that lust began to build in him. After hearing no response, he seemed to have grinned under his mask, "If you're actually scared to lose those then, why not let me cop a feel?" He said as he began to walk closer towards her.

First robbery, murder, then sexual harassment. This dude will really die a bad death! But... this already got way out of hand. I thought he would just rob us, but to think that Lisa still kept her unyielding attitude. I gritted my teeth and just when I was about to speak, what I was expecting finally happened.

"So, what do you- oof!" Out of nowhere, Lisa kneed him right in the balls without holding herself back causing the crook to limp in pain as he fell on the floor curling. I was shocked to think that Lisa actually pulled such a savage move to him. It was even caught by the CCTV, she would surely get popular on the internet and it would boost her standing in school. Though, before I should think about trivial stuff, I need to get that gun out of his hands.

"Y-you... bitch!" He shouted with clear signs of being in pain as he pointed the gun at her. I gathered all of my courage and strength that I could and dove right at him with my hands swiftly holding onto the gun on his hand, stopping him from pulling the trigger. I was confident with my strength earlier but I didn't expect that he was actually this strong! I struggled with him as we both rolled on the floor as we kept both of our hands on the gun with all our strength. This... is the first fight for my life. Whoever gets the gun first will be able to secure his life and the one who loses it could potentially lose his life.

"Tsk! Let go you brat!" He said whilst struggling to get a proper hold of the gun. The pain of being kneed in the crotch was still there but it acted as a stimulant to actually overpower me.

Feeling that he had the upper hand, he quickly let go of his other hand from the gun as he balled it into a fist and attempted to punch me in the face. With me being so close to him and we both are on the floor, if it was a professional MMA fighter, I would've been knocked away and lost my grip of the gun. Fortunately, he wasn't. We are currently laying on our sides with the gun between us. This meant we could use our other arm which wasn't on the floor to make an attempt to punch each other. Just when I thought of when he would take the initiative to punch, he let his other hand go from the gun and threw his fist right at my face. I raised my elbow to block his punch with both of my hands still on the gun protecting myself. It kinda hurt but the adrenaline made me ignored it, making me use this opportunity to bite his hand that held the gun even though the chances of him losing his- nevermind! He actually lost his grip. I snatched the gun away and kicked him in the chest to put some distance between us. I was still on the floor but I had the gun pointing right at him. I gasped for some breath and I felt my whole body drenched in sweat. It was very tiring to struggle for your life!

With me having the upper hand now, I felt the adrenaline in my body began to subside as well as the heavy feeling as if someone or something heavy was laying on top of me.

"Check... mate..." I said as I kept on gasping for breath and kept the gun pointed at him whilst standing up. If he made one small movement, I would shoot him. Of course, it would be either on his arm or thigh, but I kept it pointed to his thigh for him to lose the capability to stand up. The feeling of the cold metal of a gun on your hand was like holding someone's life. This is the first time I held an actual gun. Holy f*cking sh*t! I don't know but I will really shoot him in the thigh if he really does something. But... It doesn't feel strange to actually hold a gun or was it because I've been playing too much video games?

I shifted my gaze towards the clerk and saw that he had a hand under the table. This meant that he already alarmed the cops. Phew, I really wanted him to help me back there but seeing his face and pants, I couldn't blame him. I then shifted at Lisa and she wore a face worse than the clerk. She was just there with her eyes wide open and was already shivering. I don't know but, I hope she wasn't traumatized at this very moment.

I returned my gaze at the crook and tightened my grip on the gun as my hands were slightly trembling but I kept a steady expression and asked in a stern voice, "Do you have anyone else with you? Answer me!" I looked at him and his eyes to see any changes but then I noticed that they were smiling and was looking behind me. Behind me was the store's entrance then that means...

Bang!

"W... what the..." I can't even finish my sentence as I let out a mouthful of blood and all of my strength suddenly disappeared. I fell on my chest whilst dropping the gun. I can't breathe, my lung got hit. What the hell. Getting shot hurts like hell. I miscalculated and thought he didn't have a friend with him. I'm sure he noticed the commotion inside and went to check.

My vision began to blur as I looked behind me and saw my murderer. He wore a wide grin on his face but it froze as the sound of sirens approaching was heard. I can only pray that you guys get a death sentence so I can kick your asses on the other side... if there really is another side that is.

I turned to Lisa with her hands covering her mouth and tears began to roll down her cheeks. Seemingly sensing my impending death, she rushed towards me and bawled like a child, pressing on the wound on my back. It was useless though since I can feel that it wasn't just my lung that was pierced. Even breathing a bit hurts! I can hear her say things like "hold on" but I can't hear her properly as every sound I hear became distorted. I tried my best to speak but, I couldn't as all I did was puke out blood.

Damn it. It's all your fault. You should've bought the small ones so we could've left earlier. Promise me, you will survive and live this through. With your IQ I'm sure you will forget about this. Hopefully. I just hope this doesn't drag you down in your entire life and finally move on.

I didn't expect that I was the one who got checked.

Damn... I'm actually going to die...

I can feel the pain fading away but...

I... feel... cold...

So this is what incoming death feels like...

I don't know why but... I don't feel anything...

But there was one thing I felt. It was regret. Regret not being able to properly protect Lisa and my life, and regret not being able to keep my promise to her, which was to live my life to the fullest.

My vision finally became black as I breathe my last.