My hand tightened around the back of his head, and for a brief mont, I held him there as his body trembled. Not in resistance but in the realization that he had already lost.
Then I slamd his head into the concrete with full force. The impact echoed through the parking lot. When I let go, his body collapsed and twitched once before going still.
What followed was silence as if the entire space had frozen for a second.
Only one remained.
I turned toward him slowly, and this ti there was no arrogance left in his face, no trace of the confidence he had earlier.
He was just standing there, staring at the bodies on the ground, his expression cracking apart as reality finally settled in. Fear replaced everything else.
He took a step back, then another, his movents unsteady.
"Wait... we can talk about this..."
I walked toward him without stopping, my steps calm and even, each one making his breathing grow louder and more uneven.
"Talk?" I said, my voice low but clear. "About what?"
I stopped a few steps away from him and looked straight at him.
"You heard her screaming."
He flinched imdiately, his eyes darting away as if avoiding my gaze would sohow change what had already happened.
"You heard all of them," I continued, my tone steady. "You knew exactly what you were doing."
"I... we didn’t an..." he tried to speak, but the words fell apart before they could form properly.
I shook my head slightly.
"Don’t lie now. At least not to yourself."
He froze, his lips trembling, but no sound ca out.
"You had ti to stop," I said, taking another step forward. "You had ti to walk away. Nothing was forcing you to do this."
His back hit a car behind him, and he looked around for a way out, but there was none left.
"But you didn’t stop, because you thought you could get away with it."
That was the truth. Simple and ugly.
"I didn’t..."
"You did."
His legs gave out, and he dropped to the ground, scrambling backward, his hands dragging uselessly across the concrete.
"Please... I won’t do it again..."
I stepped forward and brought my foot down on his back, pinning him in place as a broken gasp escaped his mouth. His body shook under the pressure, panic completely taking over now.
"You’re not sorry because it was wrong. You’re sorry because you got caught."
He said nothing. He couldn’t.
"If I hadn’t co, you would still be doing the sa thing."
I lifted my foot slightly. For a brief second, hope appeared in his eyes.
CRACK!
Then I ended it. The sound echoed once, then disappeared into silence.
I exhaled slowly and turned away. The won were still there.
Curled into themselves, shaking, their breathing uneven and fragile. One of them flinched the mont I moved, her body tensing instinctively. While another simply stared ahead, her eyes unfocused, like she hadn’t fully co back yet.
The third one, the one lying further back, moved slightly, letting out a weak sound that was barely audible.
I stopped at a distance, careful not to approach too quickly.
"It’s over. They’re gone."
For a few seconds, there was no response.
Then one of them let out a shaky breath, almost like a sob she had been holding back for too long. Her shoulders trembled, and she pulled herself closer together, as if trying to make herself smaller.
"R-really...?"
Her voice was weak, uncertain, like she didn’t quite believe it yet.
I nodded once.
"They’re not getting up."
The words were blunt, but that was what they needed right now. Sothing clear and certain.
The girl closest to slowly lifted her head, her movents hesitant, as if she expected everything to collapse the mont she moved. Her eyes t mine for a second before quickly looking away again.
"T-thank you..."
The words ca out broken and uneven, but they were real.
Another girl started crying properly now, her voice shaking as everything she had been holding in finally spilled out. She covered her face with her hands, her entire body trembling as the reality of what almost happened caught up to her.
"I thought... I thought..." she couldn’t even finish the sentence. I didn’t interrupt.
There was nothing useful I could say to that.
The third one, the one who had been lying down, slowly pushed herself up with trembling arms. She winced slightly, her movents stiff, but she was conscious. That alone was enough.
She looked at for a long mont, her eyes clearer than the others, though still filled with lingering fear.
"You... you saved us," she said quietly.
It wasn’t a question.
I shook my head slightly.
"You survived," I replied. "I just got here."
She stared at for a second, then lowered her gaze, her grip tightening slightly on her own arm.
"...Still," she said after a pause. "If you didn’t..."
Her voice trailed off, but the aning was clear.
I glanced around briefly before walking toward one of the abandoned cars and pulling off a loose jacket from the backseat. It was dusty, but clean enough. I brought it over and placed it gently within their reach instead of directly handing it to them.
"Use that," I said.
They hesitated for a second before slowly taking it, their movents still cautious, but a little less fearful than before.
"Thank you..."
I nodded slightly and stepped back, giving them space.
They stayed close to each other now, instinctively forming a small group, as if being near soone else made things feel a little safer. One of them was still crying quietly, another trying to calm her down despite her own shaking hands.
I watched them for a mont, then looked away.
This was the part people didn’t talk about. Not the fight. Not the mont of violence.
It was the aftermath. The way people tried to piece themselves back together after sothing like that.
There was no clean ending to it. No satisfying closure. Just survival... and everything that ca after.
After a few minutes, one of them spoke again, her voice still soft but more stable now.
"W-what... what should we do now?"
I glanced toward the deeper end of the parking lot, then back at them.
"For now, stay together," I said. "Don’t move around alone."
They nodded quickly, holding onto that instruction like it was sothing solid in a world that had suddenly beco unstable.
"And... you?" she asked hesitantly.
I turned away slightly.
"I have things to do."
That was enough of an answer. They didn’t try to stop .
But as I started walking away, one of them called out again, her voice still shaking but louder than before.
"Thank you!"
I didn’t turn back.
I just raised a hand slightly in acknowledgnt and kept walking.
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