An End (44 page)

“If I don’t—”

“Do it.” She took a step closer to the tip of the weapon. “End it now.”

He closed his eyes, saw the image of her face burned into that perfect darkness.

“End it.”

he is knowing...
and this heart
i contain
for You
i have come again to
zam zam?
rupture rend rive split cleave
please don’t let it—

is it too late?
he knew what she couldn’t believe.

she knew very little, but she knew beyond a doubt that she loved chocolate milk.

it was a beautiful hand.

my lips remember the echoes of that night

and in these final moments, in this final terror, I find stillness.

“I win.”

Hunter Windham placed the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Paul Evan Hughes is the seven-time Independent Publisher Book Award-winning writer and editor of Silverthought Press. His work includes the novels
Enemy
,
An End
, and
Broken: A Plague Journal
and the short fiction collection
Certain Devastations
. He lives in Evans Mills, NY with his wife and sons.