Lexi stood in complete shock. All she could hear was cops yelling at each other commands that she wasn’t gathering meaning from. At the same time, other first responders were running past her, some bumping into her. Lexi was in the way, she knew that, but she couldn’t move. Her legs felt like they had somehow seeped into the concrete and it wouldn’t let her go. Her neighbors were everywhere, staring at her, whispering who knows what. She was aware of all this and yet she just couldn’t do or say anything. It’s as if she had been paralyzed with his last look.

Lexi was still clutching the gun. She held it so tightly next to her body, like a mother holding on to her baby for dear life. She didn’t want to believe what had just happened. This was her fault.

The love of her life lay 5 feet away from her on the pavement. His lifeless body twisted grotesquely. It was so different from the vibrant person her husband had been and his beautiful features were now marred and covered in blood. She had loved him, she still loved him. Why had this happened?

“Ma’am you need to sit down,” she heard someone say to her, a woman’s voice.

“Contain the site, make sure no one comes in and contaminates the scene,” I hear another voice say in the distance, a cop for sure.

“Please step back people, come on. Step back!” A third voice yells out on top of the other two voices.

There is so much going on, so much chaos. Her mind is in chaos. What is she going to do now? What will she do? Who will tell the kids? The kids? They will be devastated when she tells them. What time is it? It’s probably almost time to go pick them up? He was supposed to go pick them up today? All these thoughts begin to circulate through her mind all at once. She doesn’t know what to do, everything is too much, too fast, too… Then, it happens, the tears begin to flow out one by one. She just can’t handle it anymore and there is just a faint crack, before the dam breaks and she begins to sob uncontrollably.