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They walked in to the store and around the isles. The isles were stuffed with tempting items. Candy, soda, energy drinks, ice cream, anything that you could thing of. The girls walked around the candy isle, pondering over what they could buy with the five dollar bill they had received for good behavior.
Only on of the girls had actually gotten the money. The other was simply having a sleep over with her friend. They had gotten money and decided to get a few candy bars and some soda for the night.
Rose, the shorter of the two and also the host of the sleep over, grabbed a couple sodas and handed one to her friend. Rose brushed her long blond hair out of her face. She looked around with her piercing blue eyes.
The clerk quickly looked down when their eyes met. She chuckled and turned back to her friend. She walked down the isle to where Jane stood, looking at some of the ice cream.
"Almost ready?" Rose asked Jane and put a hand on her shoulder. Jane turned to her and eyed the sodas. She thought over the prices, trying to figure out how much they would have left over.
When she had figured out they would have about three and a half dollars after the sodas she opened the freezer and grabbed an ice cream cone wrapped in plastic.
Rose reached down and grabbed a cone for herself and closed the freezer. They each carried a can of soda and ice cream cone. They walked up to the clerk who was reading a magazine.
He looked at Rose but quickly looked to Jane. Rose suppressed a laugh. He looked like he had parents that were born in Africa. His hair was black, of course, but he had dyed it to have white streaks in it.
They put the stuff on the counter and looked around as he scanned the items. The store seemed kinda empty. There were a few people on the other side of the counter, getting some sodas in large cups.
A few people were in the back of the store, looking at six packs of soda. There was probably a person or two in the back of the room. Rose looked out the window and noticed the sun quickly retreating behind the mountains.
"We have to hurry to get to my house before it gets too dark." Rose said to Jane. Jane nodded and the clerk turned to them.
"That will be four dollars and sixty seven cents," He said in a bored tone. Rose dug around in her pocket until she found the five dollar bill. She was about to put it on the counter when a strange man burst through the front door, carrying a mini machine gun.
"Everybody down!" He yelled. The girls stared at him, frozen in shock. The man wore a large trench coat and black cap. He had on sunglasses to cover his eyes.
He was american, and had a small mustache. His face was covered in acne and zits. He was tall but looked a little thin. He had strands of long black hair sticking out of the cap.
"I said get down!" The man yelled at the girls. They were frozen for a second before getting down on their bellies. They tried to slide away as the man approached the counter.
They had crawled in to the isle and looked at the door, trying to plan an escape. They decided to just try and crawl around the man. When they got to the man they split up a few feet from each other. Rose wanted to make sure Jane was out first.
The man heard Jane trying to open the door and quickly turned around. He pointed the gun at her on the ground. "Get up!" He yelled at her. Jane stared at his in horror but obeyed.
She stood up and the man raised his gun, always making sure it was pointed at her heart. "Your gonna be the example of what happens when you try and run away," He said and aimed the gun again.
Rose had stood up and started running toward Jane, even though they were only about five feet away. The man got ready to shoot when Rose came running from the isle.
The man fired the gun just when Rose jumped in front of Jane. The gunshot could be heard throughout the store. It bounced off the walls, filling the small building with the earsplitting crack.
Jane screamed and Rose landed on the ground, her head hitting the floor with a smack. Both the man and Jane stood there, frozen in place. It was just enough time for the clerk to reach below the counter and pull out a small, handheld pistol he had hidden there.
The clerk put the gun up to the man's head and calmly said, "Drop the gun," and turned to the customers. "Someone call the police and get an ambulance here as fast as possible." He ordered.
Someone quickly flipped open their cellphone and started dialing. The clerk carefully came over the counter, making sure the gun was always touching his head.
Jane dropped to the floor where Rose had landed. She pulled her body in to her lap and started to cry. Rose's eyes flickered, coming in and out of the black. "I'm sorry Rose! I'm sorry!" Jane cried to her friend.
Jane looked at Rose's chest, only to see a large bloody hole in her abdomen when the bullet had hit. It had dug deep. Rose was gasping for breath, unable to do anything else.
Jane lifted Rose's head up slightly and looked in to her piercing blue eyes. But Rose's eyes were filled with, not pain, relief. "You're safe, thats all I needed." Rose said weakly.
Jane looked at Rose in disbelief. "Thats all I wanted and needed out of life, to save another. And out of all people I was able to be able to save you're life." Rose said weakly.
"Why couldn't it have been me to die?" Jane asked pitifully. The tears flowed freely down her checks on to Rose's blood soaked shirt. "Never say that, you have so much ahead of you." Rose said.
"You will live a full and healthy life, find a guy, and have kids of your own. You'll get to go to college, get a career, and everything else that comes with it. My only regret is that I wont be able to be your friend anymore." Rose said.
Jane cried harder and uncontrollably. Rose used all of her remaining strength to reach up and stroke her friend's tears away. "Don't be sad, you get to live. There is only one thing I ask of you when I am gone," Rose asked. Jane quickly nodded.
"Don't let my memory fade from your mind. Remember me in spirit and I shall always be with you," Rose said. Jane nodded, trying to speak.
"I promise. You will never leave my mind. I will think of you every day and your memory will live on forever as it is passed on from generation to generation." Jane promised.
And with that, Rose let go and faded in to the black. The last thing she heard was Jane's sobbing over her body. Rose wanted dearly to comfort her friend and tell her it would be ok, but her time was up.
Jane cried over her friends lifeless body. When the paramedics arrived and tried to take Rose's body away Jane clung to it with all her strength. When her parents came then comforted her and made her let Rose go.

At the funeral all of Rose's friend wept over her body. Only Jane didn't cry. She stared at the casket until her family buried it. When she finally went back to school.
She had to catch up on a few weeks worth of schoolwork but she got it all done. She remembered what Rose had said to her. Rose wanted her to live life, get in to a good college, live a full life.
Just as she hadn't been able to. So every night she did her homework and went to bed early. It took Jane a few months to get use to hanging out with her friends.
When Jane was around they never talked about Rose. Some had thought that she didn't even remember what happened. But Jane would never forget what happened that day.

She promised.