It was June 25 2008, the night was cold, it was not dark yet but the moon was out. This was like those nights that people would come out to see the stars. Eric Johnson, a retiree who worked in the army, was out tonight with his son David Johnson, teaching him how to shoot a gun behind their house. David was thirteen.
So odd that Eric would teach his son how to use a gun at this young age. This was not the first time, it has been going on for months.
Eric knew that this was a cruel world and to survive you had to know how to protect yourself and the people you love, and the way he knew how to do that was with a gun. David had gotten good and so Eric wanted to see how he does in the evening.
Both of them were kneeling down behind a wooden box, David was holding the gun and his father was right next to him. To challenge David, Eric placed the targets which where bottles at a far distance.
David aimed at the targets, he had a strong grip on the gun, and his hands were cold, maybe because of the cool night.
Confident that he was going to hit the targets, he took a deep breath and as he was about to pull the trigger, he looked at his father and finally asked a question that he has been holding in for a while. "Why do you teach me how to use a gun dad?''
Eric has been waiting for the question for a long time and finally it had come so he looked back at David, smiled and answered, "Because one day you will need to protect yourself, this world is cruel and so unpredictable, you need to be able to protect yourself and the people you love and care about."
David looked back at the targets and started to shoot. He shot all the targets without missing a single bottle and what was more impressive was the speed he used to shoot them.
Eric smiled and tapped him on his shoulder, "That's my boy, c'mon let's go inside. It's getting really dark, tomorrow we will continue." They both stood up and walked back into the house.
August 6th 2010, David was now fifteen and today he was at the back of his house practicing his shooting with Jeremy his best friend. David's parents were out to get some things from the market.
David met Jeremy at school when he was nine, since then they have been close, and even their parents were close. Jeremy is a soft boy and David is quite different from him, despite their big difference, they were still close.
David was holding the gun and shooting the targets while Jeremy sat on a chair watching him from a distance.
"You know you are really good at that." Jeremy said leaning back.
David continued to shoot, "Thanks, I learnt from the best."
Jeremy stood up and walked to David. "Who?" He said smiling.
David could sense the sarcasm in the question.
He stopped shooting to take a break. He put the gun down and picked up the bottle of water he kept on the floor.
Jeremy does not join him to shoot because he was not good at it and he did not like holding guns, so he just watched David practice. David opened the bottle of water and started to drink it slowing. While he was drinking, Jeremy walked in front of him and asked, "I keep on wondering, why you keep practicing how to use a gun?"
David waited until he finished the water and when he did, he closed the bottle and looked at Jeremy.
"My dad told me that one day I will need it to protect myself and the people I love and I have been holding on that."
"Well I don't know what that means but I am just going to play along."
David dropped the bottle of water, picked up the gun and continued to shoot.
Jeremy went back to his chair, sat down and watched David. Jeremy was not absorbed watching David but that was what he did most of the time. Jeremy got bored easily, and as he was watching, he started to feel sleepy. His eyes were almost closed and David looked at him. "You know you can join me if you want?"
Jeremy on hearing David immediately opened his eyes and sat down properly, "Nah, I'm good, you can have all the fun."
Suddenly Jeremy's mother walked into the house calling out Jeremy and David. From her voice, she sounded sad and it seemed like she was in a hurry to get to the boys. David and Jeremy heard her voice from the back of the house, they noticed how she sounded but it did not bother them because she always sounded like that.
"Looks like your mother is here to get you." David said to Jeremy.
"She is not supposed to be here now, it's too early." Jeremy said with a confused face.
"Maybe it's important." David said.
She kept on calling David and Jeremy's names as she walked to the back of the house to find them. Both of them walked towards the house to meet her. They were about to open the door but then it was her who opened it first. She looked distressed and that made the boys worried.
"What happened mom?" Jeremy asked.
She looked at David and tears started to drop from her eyes, she tried to say something but she could not.
"What's wrong mom?" Jeremy asked worriedly.
She finally managed to say something as she went close to David and held his arms. "It's your parents." She murmured.
David was scared, trying to understand what she was trying to say but he knew that it was not going to be good, "What happened to my parents?" He asked her with concern and a little tears coming from his eyes.
She could not hold herself anymore as she burst out in tears, she gave him a him a hug and said, "They were involved in a terrible accident and they did not survive." After saying that, David burst out in tears.
"That can't be possible, that's not true, they will come back home, they will come home to me." He was fazed.
"You have to be strong my boy, everything is going to be alright, you have to be strong." She held him tightly while trying to console him.
It was a sad moment for David. It was as if everything in his life just stopped.
The burial of his parents took place immediately. The event was filled with grief, sadness, everyone close to his parent came, and there were a lot who came because his parents had many friends.
David's uncle came, his father's older brother to be exact. After the burial, David had to go with his uncle back to his city because his uncle was to take care of him. Coincidentally Jeremy and his family moved to the same city as David because of his father's business.