Shit Abby thought as she looked at her watch, 3:12 AM was displayed on her bright glowing screen. She looked at herself in the bathroom mirror, she took a deep breathe in and shook her head she could not believe it was 2 hours past the time she said she would go home. There in the club bathroom Abby was standing, she felt as though the room was spinning around her. Water she thought, water to sober up. The music grew louder as the bathroom door opened, as she stepped out, she was blinded by the colored lights flashing circling over her. On her way back to the table where her friends Heather and Crystal were, she felt as though her feet were losing circulation with every step she took. Crystal, in a violet satin dress placed her drink down “Finally, you took forever in that bathroom.” “Where’s Jordan?” Abby asked. “Bar” Heather slurred pointing towards the bar. Abby tried to spot Jordan through the crowd of people, but all she saw were blurred faces. “I’ll be right back” Abby told them, but Crystal and Heather were too busy observing the club looking for their next boy toy.

Making her way closer to the bar, she winced with every step.  “Water please” she told the bartender as she leaned over the bar stool for support. “Water” the bartender said placing the bottle of water down in front of her. She spotted him, signaling the bartender for another beer. “Hey, it’s late, I should start heading back home, big day tomorrow.” Abby said, tapping him on the shoulder. “Thanks for tonight, the party continues in Las Vegas” she added leaning in for a hug “Yeah, of course. I should be headed out too. Want a ride?” Jordan offered. Abby did not take long in deciding to accept Jordan’s offer it was almost 4am on a weekend, and she needed to get some sleep before her flight tomorrow at noon. “Let me just finish this one” Jordan said as he raised the beer in his hand. Abby turned her back towards the bar, she saw Crystal and Heather giggling near an older and strange man. “Ready?” Jordan asked, she nodded. A gust of cold wind blew through Abby’s hair as Jordan opened the door to the outside, she could smell and feel the cold fresh air.

As the door closed behind them the music playing from the club was silenced “The car is around the corner, you mind walking?”  “No, it’s too cold to stand and wait anyways” Abby replied, walking forward. The night seemed dead, 3:59 “Are you going to get enough sleep for tomorrow? What time is your flight?” Jordan asked “Let’s hope I don’t oversleep” Abby said with a slight chuckle “the flight is at noon, why you wanna give me a ride” she added jokingly as she pulled the passenger seat open from Jordan’s car. Suddenly, a dark blue van pulled up to the side of the car, two men wearing black hoodies approached Jordan’s window. “Jordan?” Abby called in a quivering tone, something about the way the two men were approaching the window made her feel uneasy. Jordan silent, looked at Abby he shook his head and before he could get words out his mouth bullets were attacking Jordan’s four door sedan. Within an instant Abby ducked and fell as low as she could get in the car, she was frozen. The ricochet of the bullets ceased, and the sound of car doors slamming, and screeching tires signaled the two hooded men were gone. “Jordan?” Abby yelled, but there was no response the tears in her eyes were on the verge of expelling. It was silent, and Abby dreaded the thought that was going through her head.

 Still crouched she checked her surroundings, no sign of Jordan. Abby stepped out of the damaged car she was shocked to notice the many bullet holes that left their mark on the vehicle. She slowly circled over to the opposite side, she noticed streams of blood, they all started at the same site, Jordan. Tears ran down Abby’s cheeks as she saw Jordan lying on the ground. She felt her heart sink, the horrid image of Jordan’s deformed faced was an image she could not unsee. Sobbing hysterically she dialed 911, There on the ground of the cold dark sidewalk Abby, just hours away from a flight, scrabbled to find the words to tell a phone operator that her friend was just shot and killed.