“Hey Chris, there’s a package for you from Amazon at the desk.” Katie said to Chris as he carried groceries into their apartment. “Sweet, I wonder what I ordered.” Chris sprung from his seat on the dingy couch and hurried out of their apartment. He opted to take the stairs rather than the elevator as he was too excited to stand still. He flew down four flights stairs to his apartment’s receiving room. He rang the bell twice at the receiving room’s desk. The elderly overweight clerk lethargically sauntered to the desk. Before the clerk was even in a yard of the desk, Chris blurted out, “Chris O’Mally, apartment 515.” The clerk grunted, turned around, and wandered into another room.
Chris tapped his fingers on the desk awaiting his prize. The clerk appeared again out of the back room. Carrying in both hands, a rectangular box four inches in thickness. The box was dropped with a heavy thud on the counter before Chris. Chris, without taking his eyes of the box, signed somewhere on the paper the clerk was holding out to him. Ideas of what it could possibly be ran through his head as he raced to his apartment. He returned to his spot on his couch and set the box on the coffee table. Chris looked over it one last time, trying to calm himself down before he tore open the box.
He sucked in a breath and bit lip, then at last tore open one end of the boxed. He reach his arm and pulled out a gorgeously crafted hunting rifle. Katie came into the living room and joined him on a chair next to the couch. “A hunting rifle? But you’re not a hunter, Chris.” “Not yet, but it would appear I’ll be picking up a new hobby soon.” Chris said examining his remarkable firearm. … “So you’re going to be gone all day? Katie asked. “Yes dear, all day. From what I’ve read about hunting, you typically pick a spot and wait there all day for your game to come to you.” “Well, that doesn’t sound like much fun to me, but I suppose that’s why I didn’t order a hunting rifle.” “To be honest, it doesn’t sound like much an enjoyable experience to me either.” “I’m sure you’ll enjoy it! Why else would you order a rifle if deep down you didn’t want to be hunter?” Katie said as she helped him put on his jacket. “Now go out there and have a fun filled day!” She said ushering him out the door. … The sky was grey. The forest was in transition between fall and winter. Leafless trees surrounded Chris. His knees began to ache. He had been crouched behind a tree stump for two hours now. “It will be fun once you actually make the kill.” He told himself for the 20th time that morning. Just then, a buck wandered into the clearing ahead of him. “This is it.” he thought to himself, “This is what truly is.” He looked through the scope of his rifle and lined up his shot. He examined the creature who’s life he was about to take as he moved his finger of the trigger. It had deep black eyes, and brilliant amber coat. Bill sat there and watched it through his scope as it stoically wandered across the clearing and out his line of sight.
He sat there aiming at the last spot he saw the buck for a few moments. His finger still on trigger, he was wondering what could possibly have gone wrong. He obviously wanted to be a hunter because he ordered the hunting rifle, but he just did not have the nerve to kill a defenseless animal. He slowly lowered his rifle, and thought, “Maybe amazon was wrong. Maybe I’ll want to become a hunter sometime in the future.” But he knew he would not. He’d never heard of someone ordering something, and it turning out that they did not want the item they received. “There’s a first for everything, I suppose” he said to himself as he got back into his car. “I’m sure they have some kind of return policy.” Though no one he knew has ever felt the need to return something that they ordered.
… It was only one in the afternoon when Chris got back to his apartment. Upon reaching his apartment door, Chris could hear Katie’s voice speaking low and slowly on the other side. “I wonder who she would talk on the phone with like that.” Chris thought to himself. As soon as he turned the lock in the door there was only silence throughout the apartment. “Katie..” Chris called out. No answer. She was not in the living room or the kitchen. Her phone was lying on the floor of living room next to her clothes that she had been wearing when he left. On the couch there was another set of clothes that he did not recognize. Just then he heard his bed creak from down the hall. He walked very slowly down the hall, hoping what he suspected was not the case. That he would walk into his bedroom, and Katie would be there with a perfectly logical explanation for the mysterious articles of clothing on the couch. He turned the knob and opened the door. Before him, he saw Katie and another man lying in bed. Neither of them looked at him. He stared at Katie, and she out the window. Silence hung heavy in the room. Quietly, Katie spoke, “You weren’t supposed to be back until later.”
The emotions hit him like a wave.
“I wish I had come back later.”
He couldn’t stand to be there a moment longer. He walked out the apartment back to his car and he drove. … He pulled into a rest stop in Nebraska. The gas light was on. It was 4:32 AM according the clock in his car. Exhausted, Chris stepped out and lay down on the hard concrete in the parking lot. He lay there until he saw the sun crest over the horizon. Suddenly everything made sense to him. He opened his trunk, and removed the beautiful hunting rifle from within. He sat down on the hood of his car, and watched the sun rise with the rifle resting across his lap. He maneuvered the rifle behind him. Rested the back of his head on the barrel of the gun, and pulled the trigger.