When he finally stopped screaming he saw the gun. We stood across from each other. His left hand was covering his left eye; trying to keep the eyeball and nerves from hanging. His one good eye tried to burn a hole through to the back of my head. That didn’t bother me at all. I just pushed the gun a little further into his gut; my fingers were a little slick with the goop from his eyeball, but the grip was firm. It didn’t change the intensity of his stare but it took some of the edge out of his body. Maybe the thought of a bullet exploding through his intestines made him decide to calm down. Good.
“What do you want?” He spat out the question. As he spoke spittle, blood and eye goop sprayed from off his lips.
“See that’s the thing. I just wanted to be left alone. But I guess it’s too late for that.” I was calm. No need for me to speak above a whisper.
“Let me walk away.” There was a little less confidence in his tone.
“The time for that has passed.” I walked him backwards, slowly, step by step towards the edge of the cliff. Some of that angry spark left his eye then. Reality was setting in. Good.
“Please…” Sweat beaded under his nose and threatened to roll into the bush of his mustache that lay at the crevice of his lips. Begging was a good sign. I had a bone to pick with this man. He was a thief; a liar and a swindler but that wasn’t a good reason for me to kill him. My bone of contention with him was over the murder of my ex-girlfriend and my dog. I still cared about Lena but I really loved that dog.
“Rock or metal?” I couldn’t decide which it would be.
“What?” The bead of sweat rolled through his mustache and disappeared.
“Rock or metal?” I nodded to the cliff and then nudged him with the gun. His eyes widened as he understood what I meant.
He started to plead. I stopped him.
“Rock? Or Metal? I’m not going to ask again.”
I saw his eye twitch just before he…lunged. I shot him and the blast threw him over the edge of the cliff. He screamed on the way down; his arms flailed as his guts and his eyeball free floated in the air trailing after him as he went. I watched as he hit. His flesh splattered, his bones splintered and my feelings of contention dissipated. Good.