Damaged

He stared at the barrel of her gun as he fell to his knees. "You don't have to do this."

Tears stung her eyes. She breathed deeply, aiming the rifle at his skull. "I wish that were true. They told me I had to kill you or they will kill me instead." She placed her hand on the trigger and cried: "I cannot die!"

"No one has to die. We can solve this," he tried reasoning with her, but the fear had already mantled her poor soul.

She shook her head in disapproval. Her sad laugh sounded as if she was tortured. Irony made it so that being tortured was exactly how she would have described her state of mind. "You don't want to understand. They've been watching me and they know."

Something clicked for him. He had to stall her for as long as he could. He needed time to figure out what was the best solution to get out of his situation unharmed. He knew she didn't ask for this, he knew that she cared for him, that she didn't want to see him laying on the floor dead, in a puddle of his own blood. But deep down, he knew she was able to do anything in order to stay alive. "What do they know?"

She looked around as if she feared she was being watched at that exact moment. "The truth about me," she whispered, rushing to check her surroundings once again.

He looked around just the same, in search for a mean that would assure his survival. He knew what he had to do, even if it felt riskier than jumping from the edge of a cliff without a parachute or a rope that would help him climb back up. In that case, he might have had the luck to fall into water. But now, he could only see blood in front of him. He couldn't play it safe, as there was no such thing as safety in the situation. She wasn't just his everyday lover. She became a cold-blood killer, with whom he could not reason anymore.

"Are they here now?" he spoke, trying to mimic her fear as good as it was humanly possible, as her features began to look almost ghostly.

The question blew her mind. She started feeling her hands shaking, being unable to control the gun properly. She thought it was as obvious for everyone else as it was for her. "They are always watching."

He took advantage of the fact that she wasn't focused on him anymore. She only heard his voice as she made sure to keep her distance from her followers. "Can you see them?" he asked, trying to move closer to her without making any sounds.

She simply nodded, too scared to speak another word. They saw anyway, but she still wanted to prove herself to be someone who can be trusted both towards them as well as in front of her loved one. She knew she didn't have much time left until they would become angry with her, until they would snap at her and threaten to kill her once more. She needed to act fast, but her heart was stopping her each time she tried to pull the damned trigger.

"Are they armed?" his voice resonated in the room. Nothing else but their heavy breathing could be heard at that moment.

She smiled somehow apologizing for what she was going to say next. It sounded unbelievable, but for her it was the only reality she had, the reality she found herself dragged into. "They don't need to."

Confusion struck him, but he regained his composure almost immediately. He had to follow the plan. He had to do it. He knew her in these moments. He knew the influence he had over her. They were present indeed, but he was too. And he knew his voice was more powerful. His voice was real. "Is the rifle full?"

"Yes."

"Then kill them!" And with that she started shooting aimlessly, as if she was in a trance. His delightful voice brought her to this state of absolute madness little by little. She couldn't control the gun anymore. It started controlling her, bullet after bullet, herself becoming dependent of the piece of metal in her hands.

Soon enough her gun was empty, her cries being now heard instead of the penetrating sound of the bullets in contact with walls, windows, furniture, everything surrounding her. Everything except her lover.

She fell on her knees, trying to hide away the pain. She covered her ears, in a failed attempt of not hearing the voices anymore. The voices that wanted to kill her.

He rushed next to her, embracing her now that she finally became harmless. As the time started to pass, she also started to calm down. She couldn't comprehend the immensity of what had just happened, but she didn't have to. She had him to take care of her once again.

As he felt her fall asleep in his arms, finding a moment of serenity, he whispered: "My love, why don't you want to understand? You need to take your medicine everyday."