The heavy sky loomed over the dark figure, as it stood alone in the street. The moonlight cast long shadows along the frightened boy’s face. He heard footsteps coming from behind him. He turned, clutching tightly to the package he held.

            “Did you bring it, boy?” a man asked him, his accent thick with a Brooklyn twang. The youth nodded, staring down at his feet as he folded away the layers of packaging to reveal a gun.

            The man nodded and pulled out his phone. “Bring them in,” he told someone down the phone. The young boy looked up at the tall man. He held out the gun.

            “Keep it, you’re gonna need it,” the man said smiling. A car pulled around the corner and a man and woman were dragged out onto the street. Their wrists were bound together with cable ties and each had a gag in their mouth.

            The boy looked up horror swept across his innocent face. In front of him stood his mother and father, defenseless against their kidnappers. “What do you want from me?” the boy said weakly. He looked to his mother, the woman who had raised him, who had protected him from harm. She was the one who tucked him in at night. She was the one who had held him close when he woke up screaming from dark nightmares when he was little. A single tear rolled down her cheek as she peered searchingly into her son’s blank eyes.

            “Kill them,” the man said, nonchalantly. The boy looked up at him. The man smiled, his gold teeth shimmering against the streetlights. “If you don’t, I will. Then I’ll kill you.”

            The child looked at his father, his hero. He had always wanted to be like his father. They played outside together, they laughed together when they thought his mother was being silly. His father coughed. The boss’ lackey who had brought them in the car kicked him in the stomach, causing the boy’s father to double over with a groan. He spit the gag out.

            “Do it Jacob,” he said indignantly, “get it over with.” The boy raised the gun up and pointed it at his mother’s head. He placed his shaking finger on the trigger and looked at the man who was causing him to perform this devastating action.

            He whispered to his mother, “Forgive me,” and fired off the first bullet. A body fell to the ground with a haunting thump as Jacob reloaded the gun. His father howled, tears pouring down his face like wax down a candle. The man smirked, chuckling to himself as he poked the limp body with his toes. Two men dragged the body away, as Jacob lined up his next shot.

BANG. His father’s body tumbled to his feet as the boy began to weep. What had he done? He looked at the man and the man nodded at him. 

As the man turned around to talk to his skivvy, the boy pointed the barrel to his own chin. Teardrops dripped to the floor as he pulled the trigger a final time, ending his suffering so he could be reunited perpetually with his parents.