That Few Minutes Mislaid

Gracie wakes up and doesn't remember a thing of the last few minutes, the most important minutes of her life

Gracie opened her eyes. She was on the ground. That was new. It was dark. Also new. She felt around her. Pavement, broken glass, something wet. Please let it be water, she thought. She sat up carefully. The only thing wrong she could ascertain was that she was cold and she had an awful bump on her head, covered in dried blood. Oh God, she thought desperately. What happened?

She stood up, her eyes now becoming used to the dark. She was on a city street, she could tell that much. Why she had been unconscious in the middle of the road evaded her. Why there were no streetlights or cars baffled her too. She found her way to the curb and sat down, her elbows on her knees and her face in her hands, resting her aching head. The last thing she remembered was looking at books. The sun was setting and it kept getting in her eyes while she looked at the shelves.

She had been with her boyfriend, David, she remembered that too. A sudden chill went down her spine. Where was he? She looked up again and remembered the something wet on the ground. Oh please no. Oh please please please no. She stood up shakily and felt sick, but she choked it down and fished her cell phone out of her pocket. Holding it in front of her with the LED shining down, she walked back to where she had been lying. One step. Two steps. Three steps. Something red and shiny. Four steps. An arm soaked in blood. Five steps. David with a bullet in his head.

Gracie dropped her phone and went down on her knees crying. Broken glass was ground into her knees, but she hardly noticed. She cradled David in her arms and sobbed over his body. His brown eyes stared unseeing into the night and she gently closed them, then kissed his forehead right below the bullet wound. She couldn't remember a damn thing, but she felt it was her fault. Knew it was her fault. She couldn't remember. She couldn't think. She could hardly breathe. She laid down next to David and looked at the sky. It started to rain, first sprinkling, then downright pouring. No stars were out and the moon, peeking through the clouds, seemed to shed a tear.

Author's Note

Lay down? Laid down? I have no idea.

Reviews

[alesuriko]

Very emotional. I love the use of fragmented sentences at the beginning of the story when the narrator's memory is also fragmented. Explicitly vivid. This is a very emotional piece, thoroughly disturbing and depressing. Also, laid down is the proper way to say it in this tense, so well done on using it correctly! Great piece, I enjoyed reading it.

[Rain]

you had me hooked onto the story! Good details and description, and you sparked interest in me on how David was killed.
Now i'm very curious to how this would end. If you're thinking of continueing the story, please do!