Selena walked the dim aisles her eyes wandering as she passed the assorted sports equipment that sat neatly scattered across the floor. She scanned each shelf as she passed looking for interesting or useful items. She found herself pocketing a compass and placing a two hundred and fifty dollar pair of binoculars around her neck. She also found a water filter in the camping section and a blowgun in the hunting aisle. She carried the larger items under her arm as she walked toward the door where she had seen the axe.
The closer she got the more she could feel the cool night air creeping into the cracked door and making its way down her spine. Before long she was there. The cinderblock still doing its job of holding the two halves of the sliding glass door open. To the right of the door was the cart return where carts were scattered and unorganized. To the left was the glass housing that bore the red fire-axe. She approached it slowly admiring the reflected gleam of light reflecting off of its red blade.
She stood in front of it staring at her reflection in the safety glass. She placed her water filter on the ground and tucked the plastic-protected blowgun in the band of her pants under her shirt. She looked around for a moment as if she would get in trouble before grabbing a small t-shirt from the shelf near the exit. She wrapped her hand tightly, before cocking back her elbow and thrusting her fist into the glass. As her fist collided with the glass she heard the glass shatter and trickle to the floor.
Followed closely was a loud bang from across the store. The boom was followed by a loud shriek and then a clanging sound as if something heavy had slammed onto the floor. She moved quickly grabbing the axe with no time for admiration. She began to sprint back toward Eden, leaving the water filter on the ground behind her.
She rushed pushing past the long boring aisles. She shoved over mannequins as if it would save her some time. She carried the axe in her firm grasp as if it were a part of her arm. She held it close to her and was prepared to attack. Once she made it back to the counter Eden stood behind it staring at their hands with tears in their eyes.
"What happened?" She asked, holding the axe above her head prepared to strike.
"The...gun," Eden replied softly, staring at a pile of splintered metal on the floor.
"What gun?" She asked, lowering her weapon.
"I...I found a pistol under the counter...but...it," Eden stumbled.
"Spit it out!" Selena shouted.
"When I pulled the trigger, it was like the bullet went backward. It exploded in the gun and burned me. Then I dropped it and it shattered like glass," They said, trembling and pointing at the metal on the floor. Selena peeked over the counter and stared down at the floor where the shattered metal still lay red hot and smoking slightly.
Eden stared down at their hands, seeing the yellow liquid-filled blisters beginning to form and the redness spreading to their fingertips. The adrenaline had worn off and the scorching pain shot through their hand faster than they could assess the situation. Their ears still rang from the bang of the gun and their arms trembled as tears washed down their face.
"Look, a first aid kit," Selena said, pointing to the wall behind them. She leaped over the counter and placed the axe down before reaching out and grabbing the red box from its hooks on the wall. She opened it and placed it on the counter before gently pulling Eden's arms down to the cold glass. She removed four red packets labeled burn cream and placed them on the side of the box. She then removed two of the bandage wraps and an anti-septic spray.
"Okay, this is going to hurt," She said, removing the plastic cap from the anti-septic spray bottle.
"Just do it," they said through their teeth, stiffening up in anticipation. Selena angled the spray toward the burn and pressed down twice spraying the clear mist onto the area. Eden tensed and cringed as the burn seemingly got worse.
"Okay, it's okay, this will help," she said, fumbling to rip the corner of one of the burn cream pouches. Swiftly she placed the torn end of the pouch over Eden's hands and squeezed dripping the white oily cream onto the burns and lightly rubbing it in. Eden's face loosened as the burn began to cool itself as if they had dunked their hand into a bath of cooling menthol.
"See, all better," Selena said, spitting the torn corner onto the ground. She then picked up the bandages and wrapped them tightly around their red blistered palms. Eden stared down at their nursed hands and chuckled.
"What?"
"Nothing, I just never thought the great Selena James was also a nurse," They said, smiling.
"Yeah well, don't get used to it, first times free. Anything after that'll cost ya," She said, grabbing her axe from the counter.
"Got it, I'll be sure to ask for a payment plan next time," They said, chuckling lightly. Selena chuckled and rolled her eyes.
"Do you think all guns are like that?" Eden asked, kicking the now-cooled metal shards on the floor.
"Only one way to find out," Selena replied driving the pointed edge of her axe through the window of the locked door. The glass ruptured as both of them covered their eyes. Selena snickered before reaching her arm in and unlocking the door. She gripped the cold doorknob and twisted it before pushing her way in. The heavy-set husk sat there his eyes were closed and his face almost looked at peace as he held a half-empty beer can in one hand and a now dwindled cigarette butt in the other.
"He seems...happy," Selena said, leaning down to his key ring and unhooking it from his waistband.
"Maybe death was better than whatever life he was living," Eden said, lightly scratching at their bandage.
"Even still, to die like that, and not have any look of fear or desperation, just seems...sad," She said, gripping the keys in her hand.
"Maybe, or maybe he just wanted to die but wasn't brave enough to do it himself...I know what that's like," Eden said softly. The room went quiet as Selena searched for the right thing to say. She fumbled in her head searching for the best response, but none came forward, she could only muster four words,
"Let's get those bullets," She said, dangling the keys in the air with a crooked smile plastered on her face. Eden smiled slightly before turning back to the counter. Selena followed close behind them with the keys in hand. She kept thinking about Eden's words, they echoed through her head getting louder with each rotation. Were they right? Is it easier to die than live a bullshit life? If so, is it still hard to end it yourself? She stared at Eden as they fondled their bandages with two fingers.
Are they still hurting? She thought. The idea of being in such pain mentally but not being able to do anything about it pained Selena. Her life wasn't great but it was easy to live it. Her family was relatively fine and loving enough. Her grades in school weren't awful and she even had a college fund with almost twenty thousand dollars in it. She wondered what Eden's life looked like from the other side.
Was their dad that awful? She had heard stories from Scott but, he wasn't really one to overshare, or share much at all, he shared what he felt was important then ended the conversation when it got too deep.
"How are we going to do this?" Eden asked, interrupting her thoughts.
"Huh? Oh, I say we load one round into another handgun and hook a string to the trigger to shoot it so we don't get burned," Selena replied caught off guard.
"Cool, how do we get it to stay up?" They asked, looking around.
"Maybe we can stick it in one of the mannequin hands," She said, pointing to the fisherman mannequin holding his fishing pole.
"Sounds like a plan, let's do it," They replied. Selena moved toward the counter and tried each key on the sliding glass door before finding the right one. A small golden key slid right into the hole with no resistance. She twisted it to the left and the case clicked before she slid it open. She reached in and grabbed a small silver stub-nose revolver and a box of bullets with a picture of a gun similar to the one she had grabbed.
She twisted the gun side to side searching for the cylinder release. On the left side near the trigger, she found a small thumb-shaped textured button. She pushed it in firmly and twisted the gun to the left. The cylinder dropped down from its housing and twisted slightly clicking as it did. She opened the box of bullets and placed one in each hole of the cylinder.
"Okay, we should be good to go," Selena said, pushing the cylinder back into its housing.
"Perfect let's go give Fishy over there something fun to play with," Eden replied pointing at the mannequin in the bucket hat and the fishing vest. They made their way to the mannequin and removed the fishing rod from his hand. Selena grabbed a small knife from the shelf next to it and cut a long piece of fishing line from a roll on the other side.
"This oughta do," She said, holding up the string as Eden placed the gun in the plastic man's hand.
"The gun's set," they replied, letting go and ensuring it was secure. Selena took one end of the string and tied it around the trigger firmly before pulling back the hammer. It clicked loudly as it reached the back of the gun. She then took the string loosely in her hand and walked toward the shelves behind them. The pair took cover behind a center aisle display case and peeked over the top to watch the outcome.
"Ready?" Selena asked gripping the string,"
"Let's do it," they replied, covering their ears. She counted down from three before giving the string a strong tug. The trigger pulled back and released the hammer, jamming the firing pin into the butt of the bullet. A loud pop sounded, muffled slightly by their hands which were cupped to the sides of their heads. They removed their hands slowly and peeked back over the counter. After making sure the gun had fired they inched their way over.
As they turned the corner they saw that the hand of the mannequin had been melted and what remained of the gun were small shattered pieces of red-hot metal smoking on the floor. They stared in silence not knowing what this meant. Were these faulty guns? Did they use the wrong bullets? Or was this the bomb? The answers seemed to dwindle the more questions they asked.
"What does this mean?" Eden asked, looking down at the fragmented revolver on the floor, that sat burning a hole in the dark carpet.
"I don't know,"