Sajdaa Taha

"No!" I screamed, pulling Malik's body to rest on my lap. "What's wrong with you? You say you love him and then you do this crap?"

"Get away from him!" Audrey shrieks, holding her knife. 

Glaring at her, I hold onto Malik's shoulder tighter. My eyes quickly scan him for any injuries. A constant pain dulled into my mind, my wounds momentarily forgotten. Covered in my own blood, I tried my best not to look at the gnashes and cuts decorating my once smooth skin like macabre ornaments. 

Wait, if Malik's here-

"Come along nicely and he won't get hurt," she threatened. "Your life for his."

I scoffed. "You're going to kill the man you claim to love so deeply? I'm not a moron."

"Sajdaa," she seethed, "come here. Now."

Malik's gun was right under him. If I could just manage to get it without her attention, then I would have a form of defense. My shot would probably suck since the world spun around me as a massive headache began to surface, but that wasn't stopping me. I wasn't throwing away my opportunity to live. 

"Why don't you just kill me here?" I questioned her, my hands slowly reaching under Malik's unconscious figure. He was just knocked out and would be fine. If my suspicions were correct, Malik brought reinforcements. "He's all yours if you just kill me, right? So, just do it. I won't stop you."

She looked perplexed, wondering why I was giving in so easily to her after all the restraint I showed her before. 

"You've taken so many lives all because of me, ruined so many people because of me, terrorized innocents because of me. Ending my life would end all that suffering that everyone else had to endure because of yours and William's hatred. Will you stop if my life were to end?" 

"Yes," she said, walking closer until she was a foot away, "their suffering ends with your life. I swear it."

Liar. 

The dark gleam in her eyes, the constant shaking, and her cruel smile were all I needed to know. She was a liar. Audrey relished the haunting screams and gruesome murders. Each death, as Officer Nathan had said before, was getting sloppier. Murdering would never stop because Audrey needed the bloodshed to survive. 

In the beginning her kills were to get closer to Malik, and William blindly followed after, wishing that her love would be directed to him. Audrey had slowly lost her mind, piece by piece, each falling from the portrait of a perfect fling, a girl with a broken heart, but with a pretty face to disguise it. She lost her sanity the day Malik sent her away. 

Audrey was driven to madness, and that would never cease. Even after she killed me, she was too used to the torture she inflicted on others and she reveled at their screams. My death would not end that pleasure. 

I gripped the gun underneath, slowly unsheathing it from its holster. "Killers don't make promises," I hissed, whipping the gun out. 

Audrey gasped, brown eyes widening from my trickery. "You... how..." she stammered.

"Drop your knife," I commanded. 

Recovering from her shock, she smirked, lowering her knife. Denim skinny jeans were splattered with my blood, her top matching the horror. Audrey tilted her head, red lips twisting upwards and to anyone else it would have seemed innocent or playful, but I knew what that smile meant. I knew what she was capable of. 

"Step away from Malik or else I'll shoot," I threatened, although my voice quivered. Come on, Sajdaa. Hold the gun just like Malik said. I have to do this. 

Audrey threw her head back and laughed. "You're going to shoot me? You don't have the heart to take a life," she sneered. 

As much as I hated to admit it, she was right. Taking a life, even out of self-defense, wasn't an easy sin to shake off.  However, killing Audrey wouldn't be a sin. My life, along with Malik's, was being threatened by the knife of a short life, and I couldn't let more people die because of me. 

My hesitation withered away, jaw clenching, and my fingers slid down to the trigger. The safety lock was off. Audrey's lips were still twisted in her cruel smirk, taunting me, for she believed that I wouldn't. The pounding in my skull continued, slamming against my concentration, and leaving a trail of fatigue in its place. 

Audrey rolled her eyes, grabbing her knife. "I knew you couldn't do it," she said as she stalked closer to me. "Now, I'm going to finish the job." 

I pressed the trigger, hearing Audrey's loud shriek as she fell, her gaze moving from her leg and me. A lone wound began to flood with blood on her thigh, dripping in dark streaks of crimson red. Audrey hissed as the gunshot echoed an ongoing pain that was not nearly as bad as mine. 

"Don't test me," I whispered, my headache forgotten. Adrenaline pumped my veins and I wasn't about to make all that stop. I stood up, taking cautious steps towards her. "You've taken my uncle from me, my classmates, my older brother almost died, my younger brother was kidnapped, and you've broken two faithful officers' heart. Nathan, Malik, and Cole got hurt because of you and your demented mind!"

"So what?" she snarled. "Are you going to kill me just to spite my actions?"

I lowered my gun. "I'm no murderer."

Just before I could move, my arms were pulled behind my back, a hand twisting my wrist in a painful hold, and a knife pressed to my throat. "But we are," he rasped against my ear. 

William. 

I held my breath, knowing the slightest movement would kill me. Allah, I prayed, please let me live through some miracle. I can't take them on my own. I need help, Allah. I need You. 

"Drop your gun, Sajdaa."

I did. 

"Good girl," he purred. "You've caused a lot of trouble today. Come with us nicely and everyone here will be spared."

"Let her go, Dad."

All eyes turned to the end of the corridor. Officer Nathan pointed his gun at William, and slowly everything began to piece itself together. The sons that he tried to hide the murder from were Officer Nathan and his brother. Beside Officer Nathan was Ridwan, holding a metal bat, along with my baby brother, Hamza. 

"Well well, if it isn't the failure of a cop named Nathan," chuckled William. "I wasn't aware that you wanted the same fate as Jay."

Jay was the other son.

"I knew you killed Mom. I would have persecuted you then if I had evidence," glared Officer Nathan.

"Well, you're too late now. One more move and I slit her throat. She hurt Audrey."

Ridwan scoffed. "Like you didn't torture her too. Get away from my sister, you bastard."

The tension in the room grew. Either way someone was going to die, either me and William or one of us. Audrey wouldn't die yet since I only shot her leg to keep her immobile. I glanced over at Malik's body. We could avoid the bloody ending if he woke up. 

Allah, please let him gain his consciousness. 

Malik twitched and I held back my smile. He was awake. As the thick air between the two groups grew, both sides holding their weapons, and a tension so strong and turbulent that it threatened to pull me over, Malik regained his senses. I purposely dropped his gun near his hand. All he had to do was grab it. 

To my delight he did. Officer Nathan got sight of Malik's movements, and turned his attention to Audrey, grabbing her and pressing the head of his gun to her temple. "Release Sajdaa, and Audrey lives. One more bullet will kill her," said Officer Nathan, voice void of any emotions. 

I felt William tense behind me, the blade pricking my skin, but I held back my gasp. I mentally urged Malik to get up. Ridwan stood protectively in front of Hamza, both slowly inching their way toward me. 

Then, without any warning, Officer Nathan changed the direction of his aim and shot William, the bullet flying as time seemed to freeze. William dropped my body, falling to the ground himself with his eyes rolled back. The bullet had pierced right through his forehead, a perfect target, and the small hole began to fill with his blood. 

Ridwan and Hamza raced towards me. 

Audrey screamed, raising her knife to stab Officer Nathan repeatedly. He hissed in pain, trying to push her frame off, but she continued. 

"Nathan!" I screamed. 

Malik got to his feet, shooting three bullets her way just as Officer Nathan dodged the impact of the bullets, pressing his hand on the giant wound on his side. His pale hands became stained in red. 

Audrey shakily held the wall. "Malik, y-you shot me," she stuttered, gasping for breath. "W-Why?"

"I'm done with you and your games," he replied, turning his back to her. "You deserved this."

Within minutes, both William and Audrey were pronounced dead. 

Assalaamualaikum guys!

One more chapter left. Sorry it took awhile this week has been horrible to me and filled with bad news. On a happy note, this book got to #34 on the Hot List :D

Anyway, do you guys want an epilogue for this book or just to stop at the next chapter?

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