Marley

"Ten minutes!" Amy pranced happily around the small shop we had been working in for the past year, swirling her broom around as if it were a handsome dance partner.

I glanced up at the clock above the register to see that she was right. Only ten minutes to closing, then it was time for us to lock up and drive to one of the biggest New Year's parties to ever be hosted, the 2013 Bash.

I guess that was one of the advantages to working with your best friend. You had a good time no matter what and you always found ways to pass the time through some sort of entertainment. Plus, it was a big chunk of your life, so your plans really always revolved around each other. And when you’re best friends, that’s perfect.

"You think I should buy one of the Silly String cans and bring it?" Amy called from one of the aisles, before popping her head out at me, bright orange hair flying.

"Sure, I guess," I said, only half listening as I counted up the money from the registers. "We are a party supply store, why not? People are probably counting on us to bring something fun."

Amy made a clucking noise with her tongue before nodding, seemingly satisfied with the can in her hand. "I think I will," she said, walking towards me until we were only separated by the counter. "I've been itching to get Billy back after he threw that egg at my car. He’s still such an arse for that."

I chuckled and began sliding the register closed again, seeing that the count was exact and there were only five more minutes left.

Amy opened her mouth to say something else when she froze, and her face seemed to drain of all color. To my right, just out of my peripheral vision, I heard a thud and heavy footsteps, telling me that someone else had entered the store.

"Don't move," a deep voice said, floating over to me and creeping up the back of my neck like an insect with malicious intent. It sounded scratchy and gruff, like it belonged to someone who has barely seen daylight or spoken in ages.

My blood ran cold as I watch Amy, still facing the door, and saw her shaking. It was a barely visible movement, but I could see it, the tremble of her lip and the nervous quiver in her legs.

"Drop what you have and put your hands up. Both of you." The man commanded. When neither of us moved, both frozen in fear, he only seemed to get more aggravated. "Now!"

My heart thudded loudly in my chest as I cautiously raised my arms up, and I realized that I was shaking as well. I bit my lip and squeezed my eyes shut for a moment, hoping that it was all just a bad dream, praying that it was.

I heard the thud of the Silly String can drop, and the voice growled again. "You, behind the register. Turn around slowly. Try anything and you'll have a bullet in your head."
My heart pounded even harder in my chest as I did as commanded. As I did, a man dressed in dark clothes and a ski mask moved slowly into my vision. He was a rather large person, but with muscle more than anything, and that fact did nothing to reassure me in the moment. And the worst part: he was holding a gun that flickered back and forth between Amy and I.

"What do you want?" I asked, trying to keep my fear from showing through my voice.

"Give me the money in the register," he said. "Try anything else and I'll kill you and your friend."
I should've known. Of course he was after money, he definitely wouldn't be robbing a party store for its balloons.

Keeping an eye on the gun pointed at me, I slowly lowered my arms to the register and keyed in the code. The drawer slid open with a loud ding that almost echoed in the eerie quiet, revealing all the money we've made in the past week.

"Good," the man cooed like a parent praising a child, though this was mocking, and the sound sent chills up my spine all over again.

“Marley!” Amy sounded absolutely aghast, as I slowly held up the stacks of bills and coins in my shaking hands, like an offering in a prayer. “You can’t do that!” Before I could even react, she snatched most of the money from my hands and held it protectively away from the robber.

He growled in response, his gun training on her without a moment’s hesitation. “Girl, just set the money down on the counter and I’ll be on my way. You’re making this much harder for you and your friend than it needs to be.”

Amy frantically shook her head, her eyes darting from me to the man.

I looked again and noticed the fact that just one step to the right and I’d be blocking this man’s shot at her, I could be what stood between her and him.

I wasn't (and still aren’t) a courageous person; and there’d never been a point in my life where I thought myself to be one at all, not for a second. But something in that moment changed everything, and I soon found myself taking that single step to the right, the step that would turn everything around.

“Don’t hurt her,” I said, facing the man head on.

He laughed. A deep, throaty laugh that sounded more like a crazed hyena than anything. “I have the gun girl,” he said when he stopped shaking with his laughter. “And I don’t mind killing you both if I have to.”

My heart jumped to my throat and I heard Amy whimper slightly behind me. “Just-“

“I’ll tell you what,” the man interrupted, stepping closer. Even under the ski mask I could tell he was smiling in that moment, but it was anything but friendly. “I’ll give you another chance, a choice. You can either move right now and save your own life, or you can stay where you are and die with your friend.” His tone was overly cheerful, and it made me feel absolutely sick to my stomach. “Think of it as a game show, and the prize is your life.”

He was giving me a choice? This crazed man was giving me the choice to either die with my friend or live knowing that she died right in front of me? This man wasn’t just an ordinary robber, he was a psychopath.

I felt Amy’s eyes on my back as well, and my body began to shake again. He couldn’t do this; he couldn’t be making me choose life and death for not only myself, but Amy as well. The terrible part though, was that he could… and he was.

“You have to the count of three, and then I will let the bullet fly. It’s up to you who it hits.” His voice lost the humorous tone, completely serious. He took another couple steps closer, gripping the gun more firmly. “One.”

I turned and fully looked at Amy, seeing her looking more scared than I’d ever seen her in my life. She was my best friend, how could I let her die? Either way he claimed she would, but with the first option, I at least had the chance of somehow stopping him.

“Two.”

I turned and faced the man again, seeing bright blue eyes shining through the holes in the mask, now that he was closer. Those eyes were so cold though, so heartless, it’s as if he wasn’t even capable of human emotion. He couldn’t be to be doing something like this.

“Three.”

He pulled the trigger and the gun fired. Just as I saw his arm muscles flex as he shot, I made the decision that would change everything about my life. Everything in that moment changed how I live, how others see me, how I see myself.

Though I didn’t know it then, I made the wrong choice. The way I live now, I might be better off dead.

Because I chose to take the prize for myself.

I chose to step aside.

Notes

This is NOT my story, it's from wattpad and I really love the message incorporated in the story. We really do need to realize that One Direction and all celebrities are just human beings like ourselves that will always make mistakes. Nobody deserves to get judged.I hope everyone enjoys the story as much as I did.