That’s what these stories are about, right? Everyone comes here, looking for the next cool twist. 500 words, do your best to make it scary, I hope there’s a twist. That’s human nature, though isn’t it? We crave that twist, we crave that surprise that terrifies us. We eat it up. Did you know in 1974, a moped driver in Bermuda was killed by a taxi? One year later, the dude’s brother was killed on his own moped, on the same street, by the same taxi driver, carrying the same passenger. What a fucking twist, right?

25 years old, love of my life. Never thought I’d meet someone who made me feel so whole, so alive. She made me a better person. It was cliché as hell, but she was my other half, full stop. I loved her. She loved me. That was it, that was supposed to be the end of the story. That was supposed to be the end.

I don’t know what woke me up that night. Thinking back, she may have screamed as the echo lingered when my eyes shot open. Something was wrong. Groggy and suddenly shaken, I felt the side of the bed Jen would normally be hogging all to herself but there was no one there. 2:11 in the morning, she wasn’t one to stay up late, usually to my chagrin. I grabbed the bat next to my bed and stood up, what can I say, I was paranoid and worried and as my eyes landed on the blood spot on the floor down the hall, illuminated by the kitchen light that shouldn’t be on, I knew I was right to be.

“Jen?” I called out. No response. I slowly walked out of the room. The trail of blood continued. Had she been hurt? Fuck, were those scratches on the wall? Please be okay, Jen. What was that bang? I slowly turned the corner into the kitchen, worried about what I might find.

There she was, on the kitchen floor. “Jen? Oh my God, Jen are you alright?” I yelled, but less than a second later there was a crack and everything went black. I came to who knows how many minutes later, my face inches away from Jen’s. Inches away from her lifeless eyes. From the pain in my head, from the realization that the love of my life was so close and I couldn’t help her, tears began flowing and I started screaming.

“Hey, we grabbed enough, shut that guy the fuck up.” That was all I could hear. This was a robbery? She’s dead for a fucking robbery? I couldn’t move my neck, but I heard the footsteps close in and I knew what was coming. As the gunshot rang out, the last thought running in my mind was that sometimes there is no twist. Sometimes it’s just so simple.

What a fucking twist, right?