• Quick intro. I like comments... So please, if you're going to take the time to vote, take the time to comment too? It's how I learn how I can fix my work.
    Also, there's curse words. And blood. And sap. Not tree-sap. People sap. Sappy gooey sap.
    Now, onto the show.

    "Jeff, he's been here," Gemini's voice was low, whispered and rushed, every syllable laced with fear. "The place is a mess."

    "Richard? He's been there?" My own voice dropped to a whisper as well. "You're sure?"

    "Who else would it be? The entire apartment is in shambles, Jeff."

    "Alright, calm down, baby," I whispered.

    "Jeff, the whole place is-" Her voice cut off a moment. She fell silent. After a few moments, she spoke up again, voice lower. "Jeff, he's here. I can hear him. I think he just came back."

    "Gemini, find a place to hide right now and I'll be there in less than five minutes. I promise."

    Gemini let out a squeaking, "Okay," and hung up. I sped-dialed 911 immediately even as I slammed the GT around in an illegal U-turn back for Gemini's building. The operator answered quickly and I gave her the details, Gem's address, my title with the police department. Sometimes, it pays to be a licensed private detective.

    I kept seeing her face. Gemini. My Gem. I could feel my heart racing in fear and leaping to my throat at the horrid possibilities. ********. I could lose her if I wasn't fast enough. That kiss we'd shared at the restaurant before we went our separate ways could very well have been our last kiss. I might never have felt her fingers dance along my arms and stomach, clutched her as close as we'd come to know each other. I would never taste that sweet shock of her mouthwash as I kissed her lips. It would all be gone.

    I pulled up to her building and leaped out of the car almost before I'd killed the engine. In the door, up the stairs two at a time. Gemini's door is three down from the stairwell, left side of the hall. Paul, her best friend, lives in the door two down from the stairwell, left side. I slammed my fist against his door as I passed and barely paused as I kicked in Gemini's door.

    The apartment was dark, but I had a flashlight and my gun. I went in quick. Checked my weak spots. Just inside the doorway, behind the door itself. The room was clear. I slipped to the wall and moved for the kitchen. That room was empty. I then turned down the hall and headed for the den. We'd spent our first day together in that room. On the couch. I made my way into the room and checked the area.

    There was a sharp stabbing pain in my face suddenly. Right side, like something metal had connected there and dug in for a second. I was flung back and out of the room. My flashlight went flying. I gasped for air and reached my right hand up to my face. I could feel the blood trickling down through my fingers. That was gonna sting like a b***h in the morning. I could feel the gash. It worked its way down my face from just above the eye, through the corner of my mouth and to my chin. It crossed the old scar from when I was a kid.

    "You should have taken the case, Jeffrey," Richard's voice floated out to me from the direction of the den. I gasped for air again, wincing and bringing my gun hand back up. Thank God I hadn't dropped it. "I wouldn't be here today if you'd just taken the God damn case."

    "Richard," I croaked. s**t. It is not good when your voice leaves you mid fighting for your life. "That's bullshit, and you know it."

    "Jeff?" Paul came in then, stepping up to my right side, my now-blind side. But I knew his voice. The guy's dating my best friend. Has been dating him since Gemini and I started dating. Hell, we're probably gonna pull a double wedding when we all get hitched. I'd better damn well recognize his voice. "What's going on?"

    "Paul, go find Gemini. Richard's in the den. Go get Gem out of here."

    Paul squeezed my shoulder and slipped past me for the bedroom. That makes sense. A lot of sense. The back of the apartment would be a good place to go and hide when someone's coming in through the front of the place.

    "Come on out of there Richard. Fight like a man."

    "Fight like a man?" Richard laughed. "Says the man with a gun for an advantage. No, the crowbar stays in my hands until I get what I want."

    "And what's that, Richard?" I asked lowly, bringing myself up and bracing my back against the wall. s**t did my face hurt.

    There was no answer for some time. A slight shuffling noise indicated that he'd moved, but I could see nothing without my flashlight. It had busted when it hit the floor too. The room was pitch. A big mistake.

    There was suddenly metal against my throat. Richard was in front of me, pressing against the metal, working to strangle me. "You. Dead." His answer chilled my spine even as I brought my left hand back around, slamming the gun into the side of his head. He reeled and struck out with the crowbar. The pointed end stuck into my left calf, digging into the muscle there. I could do nothing but collapse as he stumbled over me, losing his grip on the crowbar.

    I yanked the metal out of my leg and clutched the crowbar to my chest with my right hand. Left hand, still clutching the gun, was raised and aimed in the general direction of... where I thought Richard should be... Except I couldn't focus anymore. My breath was catching in my chest and what little vision I had was blurring. I crawled my way along in the direction of the bedroom.

    I could hear Richard struggle to his feet and move in the same direction. He was faster. He had the advantage of his feet. He bent over me and yanked the crowbar free of my grasp. I hid the gun under my body. He didn't seem to notice it anyway. As he left for the bedroom, I pulled myself to my feet, bracing myself against the wall. I had to move. I had to get back there. I had to stop Richard.

    I heard a scream. Paul. Oh God. He got to Paul. s**t. s**t. s**t!

    I hauled myself up and made for the bedroom, gun raised. It hurt like a b***h to walk. But I kept going. Paul was spitting curses at Richard. I could hear them struggling with each other and then there was a slapping sound and another scream. Paul was down. I threw myself into the room and slapped my hand over the lightswitch. The light flickered on. Oh, thank God.

    The room was illuminated and I could clearly see Richard. He was hovering over Paul, whose face was bleeding pretty badly. I can't imagine I looked any better myself though.

    "Paul? You okay?" He didn't answer. He was clutching his mouth. Alright, he was hurt. I raised the gun and aimed at Richard. "Get back, Richard."

    He turned and looked at me, grinning wide. He raised the crowbar and slammed it into a door in the room. I heard a squeak from inside. Gemini. So that's where she was. Richard turned to the door and pulled it open. There she was. Gem was huddled in the corner of a small closet. I watched as Richard raised that damned crowbar again.

    And I fired. The bullet ripped through Richard's back and through his chest. I'd hit the heart. I could tell by the way he completely locked up as he tumbled to the floor. I ran forward and kicked the crowbar away from him, kneeling down to make sure he was dead. That determined, I turned to Gemini. She looked scared, a little bloody, but no horribly worse for the wear.

    "You okay?" I asked. I still needed the verbal.

    She nodded slowly. "I'm okay... Are you?"

    I nodded dumbly. I wasn't okay, but I couldn't exactly form the words. My mouth was full of blood from that damn gash on my face. It hurt like a b***h. I moved to stand, reaching out for Gemini. And that's when it all went black.

    There's flashes of memory. A brief moment when I was conscious, lying on a stretcher. They'd dragged me out of the building and out to the ambulance. I was shaking with cold and blood loss. And all I remember in my vision was Gemini's face. That very same face that had filled my head as I drove to her apartment. I blinked. Rapidly. I remember that much. And she'd asked me if I could hear her. I nodded. And I spoke, for just a few moments, barely audible.

    "I'll be up and better again in no time," I'd said. "A week tops. Promise." And then it fades again.

    But I kept that promise. Much to my doctor's chagrin. I walked out of that hospital on a crutch one week later. Aggravated the Hell out of my condition, but I guess I made it somehow... For her. Thank God for her.