Thicker than Blood by Madeline Sheehan

said to reassure
her. “This is our chance, and you can do this, you have to.”
Gently, I pushed her toward the fence.
    Nodding halfheartedly, she reluctantly
climbed onto Jami’s back. Immediately he lifted her, allowing her
to reach higher so she could pull herself the rest of the way up.
She fumbled clumsily for her footing, finally finding it, then
heaved herself to the top. She soon straddled the wall and
scrambled awkwardly over the top, and just before she was about to
drop to the other side, she glanced down to give me a small,
nervous smile, and then she was gone.
    “Eve, you’re next,” Jami whispered.
    The alleyway was darker now, more oppressive,
the moon having hidden behind the clouds.
    “Jami?”
    “Yeah?” he asked, glancing back to the other
end of the alley.
    “Thank you for this. Words don’t seem enough.
I—”
    Jami looked at me, his cocky smile back in
place. “You can show me how grateful you are later, but for now, I
need you to get your ass over there.” Slapping my ass, he winked at
me.
    Suppressing a laugh, I grinned at him and
shook my head.
    After I climbed on top of Jami’s shoulders,
he lifted me with a grunt, and I found myself flailing for a moment
before finally managing to grip the fence. As I pulled myself up
and over, Jami’s hands gave me the final push I needed to scale the
remaining height. Just as I prepared to drop to the other side, I
glanced down at Jami, finding him smiling up at me.
    Freedom was so close, I could almost taste
it, palpable on my tongue. Suddenly I found myself smiling back at
Jami, grinning actually, my worry muted by the excitement I had for
the future. Freedom and Jami had come at a price, but it was a
price I was willing to pay, for both Leisel and myself.
    “You can do it, Eve,” he whispered, his eyes
shining brightly, reflecting his own excitement. He kissed his
palm, and then lifted it up to me.
    It was the first time Jami had ever shown
me that he cared, and it took me by surprise. He’d never kissed me
good-bye, never before shown me that I was worth something to him.
Fluttering in my chest, my heartbeat was erratic at this newfound
knowledge. My charming, cocky Jami had just shown me that he gave a
damn about me, something he’d sworn to never do again, not after
he’d lost everything. But he’d finally let someone in—me—and I felt
privileged and happy, trapped in a blissful bubble of hope for our
future.
    I was still smiling at him when my gaze
caught on something moving behind him, and then my world slammed to
a halt, everything suddenly moving in slow motion. The guards were
nearly upon us, their lanterns lighting the area all around Jami.
Men were yelling, running toward us with their guns drawn, shouting
for us to drop our weapons and stay where we were.
    And Jami, oh my God, my brave and cocky Jami,
he turned and raised his gun.
    “No!” I screamed. “Jami, no!”
    “Go!” he shouted back. “Go, Eve!”
    Jami didn’t look back at me as he let loose
the first bullet, and while I should have been dropping down to the
other side and scrambling for my own safety, I couldn’t move. I was
frozen, caught in this horrifying, devastating moment.
    Gunfire lit up the small space, small orange
explosions of bullets being expelled at inhuman speed, and then
suddenly, as if the wind had been knocked out of him, Jami dropped
to his knees. My following cry was lost to the sound of gunshots
and shouts, and still I could do little more than stare in horror
as Jami continued to fire his gun, even as they fired back,
riddling his body with bullets. He fired until his gun was empty,
though his finger continued to click the trigger in hopes of more
until his hand fell limply to his side, the gun falling from his
fingers. The gunfire stopped then, the small space seeming smaller
and darker than before.
    I didn’t even realize that I was still crying
out until my throat began to burn. Just as Jami slumped forward,
falling silent and still,