Chance

Cold, steel cylinder pressed to my head
Watch as the horror play on their faces
My hands shake, I close my eyes
Wait for fate to take its course, so quickly I became so cold
No warmth left in my hollow bones
Hear the beating of my heart banging in my ears
Feel the pulse of my blood raging in my fingertips
Listen as the man demands his ransoms
As all feeling leaves my body numb
I hear a shout, I hear a scream
Shortly after follows a metallic ring
Time slowed, seconds felt like hours
The cold ring disappears, the gun slaps the floor
The grip at my neck relaxes and falls away
He hits the floor with a deadening sound
Ever so slowly I open my eyes
Watch as the family’s cry, relief coating their faces
I turn to face our captor
And I come to face a child no older than I
One bullet hole placed in his chest, one life so lost and alone
Faced with challenges unknown, forced to this for an unspoken reason
They didn’t even give him a chance; they didn’t even care to understand why
But now he’s gone, never to exercise his second chance