17: GUNSHOTS
When Brian said that he was going to take Sammy clothes shopping, Sammy was slightly disappointed. He had hoped that his first whole day with Brian would be filled with something more interesting. He remembered going shopping with his mother, mainly the boredom and the way she’d yelled when he’d moaned.
18: NIGHTMARE Sammy didn’t tell Brian about the mysterious hand. It had probably been a lady mistaking him for her own child…
Still, he was determined to make the best of every day with Brian and smiled when Brian asked if it was okay with him.
After breakfast, Brian drove them both to the city centre. Sammy looked about the shopping centre they were in curiously. He had never been in a place like this before. His mother had always gone to the dingy shops a few blocks away from their apartment. He kept a tight hold on Brian’s hand. Even though it was early, there were still a lot of people about and Sammy was terrified of getting lost in such a huge place.
Brian led Sammy into a brightly-lit shop full of children’s clothes. “Okay, what colours do you like?” he asked.
Sammy was surprised. He had never been able to choose his own clothes before and now Brian was letting him pick what he wanted. Maybe it wouldn’t be so boring after all…
Sammy spotted a shelf full of bright jerseys. He liked bright colours. Brian saw him staring in that direction.
“Let’s have a look over there then, shall we?” Brian said.
Sammy picked up a blue jersey. It had a brown dog on the front, just like Rocky. “I like this one,” he said.
“Yeah, that’s cool,” Brian said. He held it up in front of Sammy. “It’ll fit nicely, too. You want the blue one or do you want a different colour?”
“I like blue better,” Sammy said, looking at the stack of yellow, red and green jerseys.
“All right, we’ll take this one then. Hey, there’s a cute one here with teddies on. What do you think?”
Brian made Sammy try on several jerseys and let him choose the ones he wanted. Next, they moved onto trainers, but these were far less interesting than the bright jerseys with their pictures on them. The shelves of trainers all looked the same. Brian picked out the most colourful ones for Sammy to try on but none of them seemed to fit.
While Brian located more trainers, Sammy wondered over to a shelf full of slippers. They all looked much better than boring old trainers. Carefully, he picked a pair of soft, puppy shaped slippers up.
“Hey kid,” a rough voice said.
Sammy turned around to see a dark haired, grubby man leering down at him. He was smiling but something about the smile sent shivers of fear down Sammy’s back. He put the slippers back and began to edge away.
“There’s some better ones round here. Want me to show you?” he asked.
Sammy stared up into the man’s stubble filled face and then turned and fled back to Brian.
“What’s wrong?” Brian asked, looking down to see Sammy clutching his legs.
“Scary man,” Sammy replied. “Over there.” He pointed over to the shelves of slippers. The man was still there. As soon as he saw Brian turn to look at him, he shuffled away.
Brian frowned. “I don’t think he meant any harm,” he said. He watched the man go. “Don’t wonder away again, okay Sammy?”
“Okay,” Sammy said.
“Do you like these?” Brian asked, holding out a pair of white and blue trainers.
Sammy nodded. They actually looked the same as every other pair but he wanted to leave this shop as soon as possible. The man had scared him.
The trainers fit fine and Brian put them back into the shoebox the assistant had given to him. He looked across at the slippers. “Did you want a pair of those as well? You could do with some slippers.”
Sammy’s eyes lit up and he immediately rushed over to show Brian the puppy dog slippers. Brian rummaged through them until he had found the right size. After Sammy had tried them on, Brian paid for everything. Sammy stayed close to him, watching about anxiously in case any other scary men were looking at him.
They stopped in a café for a small break afterwards. Brian bought them both chocolate milkshakes but Sammy was more interested in blowing bubbled through the straw than drinking it. He felt much better after having a drink and the incident with the stranger began to fade from his mind.
The next clothes shop was on a quiet street. It was darker than the last one but much more crowded. Brian began to look for some jeans for Sammy. Sammy stood obediently still whilst Brian held various sizes up to him to check the length.
“Mr. Littrell?” a voice asked, politely.
Sammy turned around to see a blond haired man looking at him. He vaguely remembered him from somewhere.
“Harsen?” Brian asked, frowning slightly as he tried to remember the man standing before them.
Harsen smiled. “I thought it was you two. I heard about you fostering Sammy.”
Sammy was still confused.
“Sammy, do you remember Harsen? He’s one of the police officers you spoke to,” Brian said.
“Oh,” Sammy said, remembering all of the difficult questions he’d been asked. “Hello.”
Suddenly, a loud bang echoed throughout the shop. There was a smashing of a window and screams filled the shop, Sammy’s among them.
Brian pulled him into his arms and pulled him down onto the floor as there was another bang and the sound of a second window tinkling. Sammy fearfully buried his head in Brian’s coat. He could feel Brian trembling beside them. He suddenly recognised the noise from T.V. Gunshots.
He kept his head pressed against Brian’s chest. All around them people were on the floor screaming but no more gunshots filled the air. Customers began to stand about looking scared and confused. Many began to run out of the shop.
Harsen stood up and tried to take order but the terrified shoppers paid him no attention as they rushed towards the nearest exit. Brian still clutched Sammy in his arms as people’s boots thundered past them.
Harsen peered around the shelves where a small group of people was standing. Sammy turned his head a way as he caught a glimpse of some red liquid on the floor.
“Mr. Littrell, take Sammy home,” Harsen said, before pulling a mobile phone out of his pocket and dialling a number.
“Come on, Sammy,” Brian said, his face pale. He took Sammy’s hand and Sammy held it tightly in his own. He could feel the sickness of fear in his stomach.
Brian led him through the terrified people, all desperate to get out in case anymore bullets were fired. Sammy held onto Brian’s hand, but he suddenly realised that someone else had grabbed his other hand and was trying to pull him away from Brian. He gave a small whimper of fear but, with all of the screaming and shouting, Brian didn’t hear him.
Sammy struggled to pull his hand away from the unknown person. Terrified, he looked around to see who it was but then a huge woman in a pink coat pushed past him and Sammy felt the stranger’s hand torn from his own as she shoved her way to the doors. He didn’t see who it was who had grabbed his hand.
He stayed close to Brian until they were safely away.
When they returned home, Sammy tried to push the gunshots out of his head by occupying himself with playing with his new clothes. He rubbed the soft jerseys against his skin and played with Rocky in them before Brian helped him to put them all neatly away in the cupboard.
Sammy played by himself for a while but there was an odd feeling within him that seemed to stop him from concentrating on any games with Rocky. Eventually he wandered downstairs and found Brian reading a book and lounging on the couch.
“You okay?” Brian asked, putting an arm around Sammy and pulling him onto the couch.
“Yes,” Sammy lied.
“Harsen called to check up on us. He says that they’re not sure why someone was shooting at the shop. It might’ve been a drunk or someone like that.”
“Was anybody hurt?” Sammy asked. “I – I saw blood on the floor.”
Brian’s face fell and he held Sammy close. “It’s okay. One of the shopkeepers fell over and hit her head in the rush to get out. She’s all right, though.”
Sammy pressed closer to Brian. The day’s events still echoed in his mind and he couldn’t shake the feeling of the rough, strange hand which had tried to tug him away from Brian.
“I guess I won’t be taking you shopping again for a while,” Brian said, gently.
Sammy nodded. He would feel safer if they stayed in for the next couple of days. At home, no one could hurt them.
“Nick and Howie are coming to see you tomorrow,” Brian said, changing the subject.
“Really?” Sammy asked, brightening up.
“Yep. You can show off your new little dogs!” Brian poked the noses of the slippers on Sammy’s feet. Sammy giggled as Brian made the dogs growl and bark at each other. Brian ruffled Sammy’s hair. “I’m gonna start your dinner now, okay?”
“Okay,” Sammy said, feeling a little happier.
“You go play then,” Brian said. “The Playstation’s there if you want it.”
Sammy flicked through the T.V channels until he found some cartoons. However, he turned the channel over when he saw a gun on the screen.
****************************
“Mommy? Don’t leave me, please!”
But she didn’t listen. She just got into her car and drove away.
“Mommy! Mommy!”
He saw the car as it rounded the corner, then he heard his mother screaming.
He began to run along the road. He had to find her. The ground suddenly began to shake. He turned and was almost blinded with the bright lights that came from the white van. Figures began to come towards him.
“Bri!” My mommy needs help!” he said, running over to the nearest figure. But it wasn’t Brian. It was a man with a face full of stubble.
“He can’t help her. He can’t help you,” a harsh voice said.
He turned and saw Brian lying motionless on the floor. His eyes were closed. There was blood everywhere. Brian’s clothes were soaked with it.
“NO! NO! BRI!”
A hand reached out to grab him.
“NO! BRIAN!”
Sammy woke up screaming and sobbing.
“BRIAN! BRIAN!”
He heard the rush of footsteps and his door was thrown open as Brian ran into the room. He turned the light on and rushed over to Sammy.
“Sammy, what’s wrong?” he asked, the fear and concern evident in his voice.
Sammy couldn’t speak. He could only sob and hold his arms out for Brian. He needed to feel him close. He needed to feel that Brian was alive and well.
Brian bundled him up into his arms. “What happened?” he asked, anxiously.
But Sammy couldn’t tell him. He couldn’t tell him that he had just seen Brian dead. “B – bad dream,” Sammy stammered, tears all over his face.
“What about?” Brian asked, cradling Sammy in his arms.
“My mommy,” Sammy said. He didn’t mention the rest of the dream.
Brian kissed him on the head and rocked him comfortingly. “It’s okay. It’s just a dream,” he murmured.
Sammy nodded, but it had felt so real… He clutched Brian close and felt the reassuring beat of his heart. He was terrified of the image he had seen of Brian dead. He could still see it clearly in his head. He could still hear his mother’s death screams. The harsh voice lingered in his mind. It had been the same voice of the man that had spoken to him in the shop.
“Do you want a drink?” Brian asked.
Sammy nodded. Brian kissed him again and then left the room. Sammy heard the tap running as Brian filled a cup with water. When he brought it back, Sammy sipped it while Brian tried to wipe away his tears.
“Can I stay with you tonight?” Sammy begged, not wanting to be alone in case he had another nightmare. He wanted to stay close to Brian to make sure the dream didn’t come true.
“Sure you can,” Brian whispered.
He scooped Sammy up and picked Rocky up of the floor, where he had fallen. Then, he carried them along the landing to his own room. Carefully, he tucked Sammy safely into his own bed.
“Feeling better?” he asked.
Sammy nodded and pulled the quilt close to him. Brian gave him another kiss and then turned the light off and got into bed himself.
Sammy kept his eyes open in the darkness. Every time he closed them, all he could see was the blood. The blood that had leaked out of Brian, taking his life with it. He turned over to look at his gentle friend. His mother had left him and he dreaded that something might happen to Brian that would leave Sammy alone again. He was the one person who loved him and Sammy loved him back in return.
Now though, he was frightened of something awful happening to him.