[Gabe was only eighteen...months. He was eighteen months and he looks on the cusp of eighteen years as he stalks around the edges of the memory, watching the scene play out. He won't pretend he understands half of what transpires. Some sort of...exchange? Something important. Something mutual. Like a deal. The specifics escape him, but the kid catches his eye. Most kids do.]
[Normal. Normal. Normal.]
[What about this is normal?]
[He jumps at the crack of a gunshot, despite himself, flinching just enough to make it obvious that he's never seen something like this shake out before. And despite the way his gut pinches when he looks at the cratered, cherry-pit red incident where an eye used to be, he can't seem to look away.]
[Fifteen. Fifteen, and he was shooting people.]
You killed him. [It's a whisper: half-stunned, half-admiring.] You killed him in one shot.
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[Gabe was only eighteen...months. He was eighteen months and he looks on the cusp of eighteen years as he stalks around the edges of the memory, watching the scene play out. He won't pretend he understands half of what transpires. Some sort of...exchange? Something important. Something mutual. Like a deal. The specifics escape him, but the kid catches his eye. Most kids do.]
[Normal. Normal. Normal.]
[What about this is normal?]
[He jumps at the crack of a gunshot, despite himself, flinching just enough to make it obvious that he's never seen something like this shake out before. And despite the way his gut pinches when he looks at the cratered, cherry-pit red incident where an eye used to be, he can't seem to look away.]
[Fifteen. Fifteen, and he was shooting people.]
You killed him. [It's a whisper: half-stunned, half-admiring.] You killed him in one shot.