A pair of dark brown eyes winced as another yelping scream seared through the air. A set of hands gripped the railing of the bed tightly, so tightly that all the knuckles drained their color and were a ghastly white hue. The eyes closed and the shimmering of sympathetic tears glistened in the corners of the closed globes.
"You're hurting him," a soft, quavering voice declared finally. The eyes reopened, dilated with agony.
"We're doing the best we can," another voice explained calmly.
The dark eyes flickered for a moment. "You're hurting him!"
A gentle hand pressed softly down on his shoulder. Another masculine voice entered the atmosphere. "Calm down, Jim. He's fine."
The brown eyes whirled around, meeting a pair of gentle blue eyes hidden beneath glass shields. The blue eyes seemed to shiver. Jim growled lowly, "You don't feel it like I do. You don't know it like I do." His eyes misted over as they glanced back towards the bed. "You weren't there."
"Accidents happen, Jim."
The words trailed off into eternity. Accidents happen...
Accidents...
Laughter echoed through the caverns of the volcano, taunting Jim with the depths of its cruelness. Mocking him with the iciness of its temperature. But the young man stood resilient, his brown eyes unwavering as they stared down the source of the laughter -- a nasty and selfish man who sought to infiltrate the volcano's depths for the treasures hidden within.
In his grasp, he held Jim's younger brother. The younger boy was the perfect size for crawling into the dangerous space that held the treasure the man was seeking... but the boy wouldn't oblige. And he found himself with fingers plunged deep in his throat, strangling him... yet those same dastardly fingers were the only things keeping him alive. His frail body dangled helplessly above a great chasm that plummeted a hundred feet into a cauldron of magma. The young boy remained deathly still, the only thing moving were his gentle green eyes.
Staring down Jim -- pleading and screaming for help.
In Jim's right hand was his trusted shotgun. Over the years, Jim had become quite the gifted shot with this rifle. He had practiced with it daily until he knew its every quirk and every trait. And while he had deadly accuracy, the boy had never turned the rifle's power on another living object. Countless cans and bottles had met their demise at the hand of Jim and his rifle... but never a living, breathing, pulsing object. He lifted it up and placed the butt of it against his shoulder, beginning to take his aim.
"Let my brother go," he warned, his soft and growling voice echoing off the walls of the volcano's core, "or you'll leave me no choice."
The man's awful laughter bounced off the walls. "You think you frighten me? A little boy with his toy gun? I seem to think that you are forgetting one minor detail, son..." He turned himself slightly, revealing the quivering teenager in his grasp. "If you shoot me, your brother falls down this pit."
Jim swallowed, staring into his brother's terrified eyes.
"Just shoot him, Jim," the brother whimpered. He choked as the fingers dug deeper into his throat, strangling the shivering breath out of him.
Jim's index finger slowly slid into its position against the trigger. One of his dark eyes closed, the other staring unblinking at its target -- the man's chest, directly at the heart. It happened in a split second -- the cracking explosion, the slight recoiling backwards. Jim closed his other eyes as his body jerked backwards, an electric pulse seeming to rip through his body. His eyes reopened and he watched as the bullet sailed through the air towards its victim.
Time slowed even more. Jim's eyes dilated in terror and he reached forward with one hand, dropping his trusted shotgun to the ground. The man, in slow motion, whirled himself around and threw the imprisoned younger brother into the path of the shot. Jim's eyes flinched as the shot plunged itself into the younger boy's left arm. His stomach grew sick as he heard the tearing of the skin and the shouting from his brother's throat. The younger boy's body quivered with the force of the entering shot, and Jim could see the shockwaves pulse through the boy's arm.
His first ever shot at another living thing... and instead of hitting the target, he hit his precious brother.
The rest of the incident happened in a flash -- he bent down and picked up his shotgun, firing off the rest of the shots without so much as pausing to aim or taking the time to think. Five shots penetrated the body of the older man and he released his grip on the brother before tumbling backwards and falling to his death in the pit below.
Jim again had dropped his gun, catching his brother before the gun ever hit the ground. He wrapped his arms tight around his dear brother, quivering with guilt and fright.
"Daniel," he called. "Daniel, I'm so sorry..."
Daniel managed a trembling smile at his older brother, wincing through the pain shooting through his wound. "It's okay." He inhaled through his teeth, gripping at his arm gingerly. "I promise."
The older boy fought back his tears as he picked his brother up, cradling him ever cautiously in his arms. "We'll get you help, Daniel. I promise..."
Jim's body quaked. My first ever shot at another living thing, and I hit my own brother. My little brother! He trusted his life and safety to me in that moment, and I shot him. I shot him! Now he'll always be afraid of me... Even if he says he's not, I know he will be. He swallowed hard and brought a hand to one of his dark eyes. Oh Daniel... please forgive me one day...
Another screaming yelp pierced Jim's range of hearing, and his eyes snapped open. He watched in guilty misery as the doctors continued their assault on his brother's wounded arm. Never one to be queasy, he found himself strangely nauseated by the sight of the bloody bullet as they finally dislodged it from Daniel's arm. Daniel's voice emitted another awful cry -- another shot that launched itself straight into Jim's heart. He suddenly found himself being ushered out of the room. Before he left, he ruffled his hand softly through his brother's hair.
"I'll be right outside, I promise," he offered softly.
Daniel merely nodded his head, but the fear was evident in his eyes.
"Jim? Are you okay?" The other male voice finally entered the air after a few minutes. "You've been staring at the door since they closed it."
"I shot him, Jared."
"Accidents happen," Jared offered again.
Jim began pacing frantically. "He'll never trust me again! He'll be afraid of me! I shot him, Jared! I didn't mean to, but I did and now I'll never be trustworthy again!"
Jared blinked sympathetically. "Jim..."
"I hurt the closest person to me... I can never be forgiven."
"Jim." Jared grabbed his cousin by the shoulders and forced him to be still. "Daniel knows you didn't mean to hurt him. He knows it was an accident. He knows you were looking out for him and that you were trying to protect him. He knows, Jim."
"You didn't see the look in his eyes--"
"What I saw was someone who was very relieved to see you there, Jim."
Jim was silent.
"He'll forgive you -- in fact, he probably was never upset at you to begin with. He's still going to trust you and he's still going to be your best friend. Nothing's changed, Jim. I promise you that."
Jim's body quivered.
"Daniel's going to be fine... and so are you."
Jim nodded once, halfway, and crumbled slowly into a chair with his hands up at his face. Jared quietly sat down at his cousin's side and put a comforting arm around him. Jim closed his eyes tightly beneath the shielding of his hands and allowed his emotions to run free down his face as he tried to make himself forget the repercussions of his accidental last decision.
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