All you could hear were gunshots and maniacal laughter. Shadows seemed to come alive as my friend and I trekked through the long treacherous hallways, blue illuminating the ground in front of us. “Austin!” My friend Sheldon exclaimed, rushing to my side. “We have 2 guys flanking us”. Looking to the side I realized he was right. Glancing back I realized we only had one option to avoid being detected, run back the way we came. Sprinting back, we ran until we found a set of stairs. As we made our way up we noticed something. We weren’t alone.
A boy of about 15 was crouched there, looking the other way. What alarmed us though, was the red light he was emitting from his vest, which meant one thing. He was the enemy. Pointing my gun in his direction, I took a breath… and fired. “Pssshhhheeeewww!” Upon hearing the noise he turned. “It was going to happen sooner or later”, he huffed walking away. As I twisted around to voice my accomplishment, I see my friend sprawled out on the ground. Rushing to his side I knelt and noticed a bruise that was already forming along his jawline.

Hearing a light scraping noise, I looked up to see a behemoth of a man running away from us. Putting two and two together, I realized that this man hurt my friend. Seeing red, I went to get up and chase the aggressor. At least I was, until my friend’s father came barreling into the room. Leaning down next to him, he started to talk in almost a whisper. “Are you hurt?”

As Sheldon shakily got up, he started to speak. “It’s Okay, I’m not hurt too bad.” Upon hearing his son was okay, I watched as he started to head down the way the man was headed towards. Shouldering my gun, I decided to follow. “Where are we headed sir?” I asked curiously. “To get that pathetic snake back”, he replied almost menacingly. I stopped in my tracks, and waited while he turned the corner. Seconds passed as I started to sweat in anticipation. That’s when I heard it, a shot. Aiming my gun at the corner I watched as the same man who hit my friend, walked with his head held low, almost in shame. Letting out a holler, I screamed. “WE WON!!!!” Propping my friend’s arms over my shoulder, we walked out of the dark room, his father trailing us. When our eyes adjusted to the light, we saw his mother standing there, holding a cake, a look of surprise sketched on her face. “Cake time”, Sheldon chuckled as we walked by.

That day I learned, that when you hurt someone, there is always a price. Whether it be losing, getting hurt yourself, or just feeling remorse, it will always be there. Always ready to collect.