As She Dropped the Gun and Staggered Backwards...

This was originally written as a entry in a contest held by Writer's Journal magazine. They provided the first line, from there you were on your own. Would you have gone in another direction? No, mine did not win or even place, but I had so much fun writting it the I thought I would share it  here.

As she dropped the gun and staggered backwards, Anne stared in shocked dismay at the shattered kitchen window.       "What the hell have you done now?" Frank yelled as he came running in from the living room. "I told you not to be messing with this thing!" He bent down and scooped up the pistol.       "I just wanted to look at it.  Anne stammered, tears welled up in her eyes. "I thought the safety was on."       "Well you thought wrong didn't you!" Frank snarled as he pulled the clip out. "Lucky you didn't shoot yourself."       "Please Frank, don't be angry," Anne pleaded tearfully, I told you it was an accident."       "It's always an accident. You can't touch anything without breaking something, or nearly burning the house down.That time you thought you should learn to drive, you put the car right through the back of the garage!"       Frank walked over to the window, pulled back the flowered curtain and began to inspect the damage. "Damn," he said, looking out through the broken glass. "It's going to rain." Anne followed his gaze out to a dark threatening sky.    "You get something to put over this in case it starts in before I get back. I’ll call Dave and see if he can keep the hardware store open till I get there.”       Frank walked to the closet, getting out his coat, "Look Honey, I'm sorry I yelled at you, I know you didn’t mean for this to happen, but guns are dangerous. I wouldn't have one in the house at all, but for all those stories in the paper, about how folk's homes are robbed out here in the country. I just don't feel safe any more. He kissed her gently and shut the door behind him.        Anne stood at the front window, watching as his old car shimmied down the long dirt drive, to the gravel road, disappearing into a great rooster tail of dust and gravel.       From the basement she brought up the shower curtain that she had been planning to throw away. She trimmed it to the size of the window and taped it over the broken pain from the outside. She finished just as the first peal of thunder sounded and the fat cold rain drops pelted down around her. She quickly scurried back into the house.       Sitting down to read the paper, Anne understood why Frank did not feel safe. There had been another robbery the night before. this time the thieves had taken everything and even shot the family dog. She was turning to the comics, hoping that reading something funny would cheer her up, when a great flash of lighting filled the room followed instantly by a deafening clap of thunder. The room went dark. A quick check of the phone found it was dead.        Anne felt her way to the kitchen counter, she ran her hand across the front of the cabinet, until she came to the drawer she was looking for. She pulled it open and felt inside for the candles and matches. The first match nearly burnt her fingers, then sputtered out but she was able to get the candle lit with the second. The room took on an odd look in the flicking light of the candle flame.       The storm was in full force now. The thunder sounded almost without a break. The wind whipped the rain across the yard, and in one of the many lightning flashes Anne saw that the trees, which she and Frank had planted the year they were married, were nearly bent double.       The gun lay gleaming darkly on the kitchen table. Surely Frank had not meant to leave it there. He must have forgotten it in his hurry over the storm. She picked it up and turned it over in her hand.       Suddenly the door flew open, Anne screamed, shut her eyes and squeezed the trigger, aiming in the general direction of the shadowy figure which filled the doorway. The shot was deafening.       "Annie!" Frank screamed at her as the bullet slammed into the door over his head. "It's me for God's sake don't shoot." She stood there squeezing the trigger again and again. The hammer clicking on the empty chamber.                                    *****      They sat together in a spreading pool of rain water, on the kitchen floor. Frank ran his fingers through Anne’s hair, rocking her slowly as she sobbed in his arms.       ”It’s okay,” he assured her, “I’m alright.”        ”It wasn’t loaded!” Anne’s voice caught, “I saw you take the clip out!”        ”There must have been one left in chamber, honey. I ‘m sorry, I didn’t make sure it was empty.”        ”Your sorry?” incredulous Anne cried out, “I could have killed you!”       ”Let’s just be glad that you didn’t.” he told her kissing her forehead. “I'll show you how the gun works. Maybe I'll take you out on the range with me and you can try shooting at targets, they don't cost as much as windows."       ”And are easier to replace,” Anne thought, “than some one you love.”