• Veerin, holding a package in his arms, casually walked down the dark, wet, city streets, lit only by the dim glow of lamp posts; a pang of hesitation rushed over him as he passed a gap between buildings, a gap where anything could be hiding. The rain fell down even harder as he felt his heartbeat increase in speed as he started to increase his pace and soon that became a quick dart down the long road to his apartment complex that towered above the nearly scraping the smoggy, gray clouds. He knew he was in trouble. He knew that they were coming for him. Once they found him….. Veerin didn't even want to ponder what they'd do to him.
    Slosh.
    The young teenager ran through the wet, muddy puddles that covered the ground up to the one place that could give him some form of security-- his home, and even that felt to be but a fleeting sort of sanctity. Veerin struggled with finding and pulling his keys from his dark, green jacket, soaked from the pouring storm.
    Tick.
    The keys dropped to the floor. He began to panic as the thought that somehow they heard the small sound. Veerin was scared, but it was an unexplained terror; there was no way they could've heard the noise and it was ludicrous to react in such a exaggerated manner. He quickly laced the keys between his fingers and brought them back up to the door and a few attempts were made to unlock it before he managed to do the task in his paranoid state. With an extremely tough tug, one that was much stronger than necessary to open up the wooden door, Veerin smacked the door agape.
    Click.
    Contrary to the abrupt opening the entrance was shut and locked carefully, as if to erase his presence of being there. The teen slide down the door while shaking violently and clutching the package close to his torso. He shook and he shook. His grip got tighter and tighter.
    "Nh. Nhe, Nhaha! Ahahaha!"
    The maniacal laughter filled the silent apartment up to the brim and Veerin could not even control the cackles and giggling that were being expelled through his mouth. His grip on the package grew tighter as his laughter went on and on. Veerin had done it. He had what he wanted and he was safe now; nothing could get to him in this place. He used one hand to wipe the slobber from his mouth that had been spat out in a form of relief.
    Snap. Clang. Crash.
    Veerin felt his whole body jerk up to a standing position as the sound of eerie and skilled footsteps claimed the fire escape. His heartbeat and breathing quickened and got harsher and louder, nearly drowning out all the sounds of the storm with their intensity. They had found him. They were going to take her away again. No, not that, anything but that.
    Slide.
    The teen heard the window, that lead out, open and a feeling of being trapped like a rat took an aggressive hold on him. His eyes shot open wider than the highway as he saw three men now standing before him, all armed with a pistol. Veerin tried to scurry off to hide, no matter how futile the effort, but the attempt ended as a barrage of bullets shot towards him, knocking him down and killing him instantly.
    Bump.
    The package rolled open and a beam of morning sunlight broke through the remnants of a storm. The light rayed across the shiny, dead eyes of a young girls pale head.