Missed The Shot

“Slingshot!” The word reverberates throughout the clouds as June watches her new friend begin to plummet down into the mist.

Year 2208

New Scotland

“Slingshot?” A young girl's voice beats off of the musky walls inside of the old foster home. “What can ya do with a bloody slingshot?”. A young June looks up at the older girl standing over her, watching her work on her secret projects at her secret workbench.

“You’re the older one, don’t you know what something like this can do if it's well-made?”. The older girl looks at what young June has just put together using various scraps, sticks, and loose pieces of junk she found lying around the town.

“So, you're telling me, this thing can really mess some stuff up if you can aim it well?” Young June looks up sheepishly. “Yea, I suppose so, but I’m not very good at makin’ em yet, this is my first one, I don’t even know if it shoots super good yet,”.

The older girl gets a look of slight excitement in her eyes and starts shaking the young June’s shoulders, “Well, guan yersel’ then June, make me one, we can go mess stuff up together. We can make that rank, auld bawbag, Mrs. Anderson all peely-wally if we break a couple of windows!”

A spark ignites in June's eyes as she looks up at the older girl encouraging her. The young June turns to face her workbench and moves her own slingshot to the side. A big smile takes shape on her face, as she shouts, “Alright, one slingshot for big sis Penny coming right up! Ahahaha!“.

Year 2208

Roughly One Week Later

“So June, how do I shoot this thing?” Penny awkwardly lifts up the slingshot and tries to shoot a pebble impatiently but it flops to the ground, unsuccessfully. The young June laughs, pulls back the shot, and aims at a tin can about 20 feet away from her.

So, I like to close one of my eyes to get a better look at where I’m looking, and then you pull back like this, take a breath, and then let go of the little pouch, like this.”. As young June pulls back the pouch, lifts up, and aims at the tin can, she takes a deep breath and then lets go, completely nailing the can with a rock.

Completely fascinated, Penny exclaims, “Woah, now I get why you always come out here to the woods, you got a whole shooting range to train your skills!”, her attention shifting as she tries to replicate it, pulling back, aiming, and taking a deep breath but completely missing her first shot.

Looking over at the young June after completely missing the can, Penny lets out “Man, that’s hard. You’re super talented, not only did you make that thing, but you’re really good at shooting with it too!”.

Clearly not used to compliments, June looks up at Penny and says, “Really? You think so?”. Penny looks dumbfounded at her. “You don’t agree? Yer off yer trolley June! This is super cool! If you’ll be the brains, I’ll always protect you with my muscles!” Penny confidently smirks as she smacks her arms as if to show off.

Starstruck, young June stares at Penny, looking at her with pure admiration. “Of course big sis, I’ll never leave your side, you’re always gunna be the coolest person I know, I trust you with my life!” Penny, a little closer to the target now, draws back and fires at the tin can, barely hitting it’s side, knocking it off of the tree stump.

“Ha! See that, I totally nailed it!” Penny grabs June and stares into her eyes. Through her intense stare alone, June knew exactly what Penny was thinking, “The amount of trouble we can cause with your brains and my brawn, June, you and me will take over the world!”.

Becoming intoxicated by Penny’s ambitions, June joins in “You’re wrong, we’ll take over the stars!”. The girl's dreams are followed by collective giggling and laughter, muffled by the woods around them.

Year 2210

Just before the New Year

Young June and Penny sit secretly on the other side of the wall listening in on their parents having a conversation. “On Hogmanay too? Those Rich bastards have zero heart! Why do they even have the right to parade their fat heads around our town, bully the poor people here, and rob us of our money.”.

The man’s gruff voice dampens through the walls of the old house. “Then they have the bloody gull to try and write it off as payment for ‘Gracesiously letting us live here’. Gracious my rank ass! Letting us live here is hell in these slums anyway!”

The woman's voice chimes in, clearly attempting to deescalate the man's bad mood. “Look Rich, what can we do? I hate the fact that you gotta work extra just to compensate for their greed, but if we don’t, you already know they don’t see us as human. They aren’t afraid to dispose of anyone who isn’t going to pay them. That same fact is why we gotta be on our best behavior towards them. If not, they will just dispose of us like damn pests!”

The sound of the man dropping his body weight into the cushions of the cheap couch squeaks throughout the house. “Think of the girls, For their sake darling. It’s only once a year.” A concerned tone shifts as the topic of the girls is brought up.

“Wilma, those girls are brats and you know it, I’m worried they’ll go cause trouble and get hurt, I can control my temper better than Penny, and well, the twerp follows Penny everywhere, so if she lashes out, then, well, I don’t wanna think about it.” As the girls listen, they exchange annoyed looks from their parent's remarks about them.

Wilma reassures her husband, “I’ll do my best to give them a heads up on the situation. In the past, we’ve managed to have them leave town with a distant relative but now the last one is in jail, so we can’t send them away for the couple days the wealthy bastards are here.” Her tone, clearly not completely filled with confidence. “But, I’ll do what I can, I promise.”

Year 2210

New Years Eve

“June, stay here. Do not follow me, understand? I can’t sit back and watch those rich pricks bully us! I’m athletic enough to secretly mess with them and get away, but June, your mind is strong, not your body. Let me handle this ok, so you don’t get hurt.” Tears drip from the young June's cheeks as she feels herself already worrying about her big sis.

“But, Mom said to let it happen. The rich guys are bad people but they go away eventually. Please stay!” June tugs on Penny’s shirt. To no avail, Penny turns and pats June on the head.

“I’ll be fine June, but I refuse to stand by and watch people get physically and mentally hurt just because some prick has a lot of money! Look, I’ll be back before you know it.” Penny then leaps down from the branches of the tree, off and out of the woods towards town.

Moments later, silence rings in June's ears. In a moment of distress, June decides to rebel against her sister's wishes. As she does so, June bolts after her. Instead of going by food, June decides to try and use her talents and watch from the tree tops.

Darting through branches and leaves, June makes it back to the outskirts of town. Watching from the trees, slingshot ready in hand, June sees a man in a fancy suit in a tie stand as two of his henchmen beat an old man with their fists.

“Where’s the cash pops? Today’s the due date.” The old man’s words seem to fall flat, as he can’t even fight back. June ready’s her slingshot up and gets ready to fire. Moments later, she hears “HEY RICH BASTARDS, CHASE ME BLOODY HEARTLESS PIGS!”.

Below her, young June watches her own masked sister dash through the courtyards, pelting rocks at the rich guys, injuring the one with a direct hit to the eye. The attention quickly turns towards Penny as the men pull out guns and begin to take aim.

In a panic, June readys her shot and goes to hit the gun out of both of the goons hands. The first shot makes direct contact, most likely breaking the man’s fingers upon impact.

As June goes to take the next shot, the anxiety takes over. She takes the shot but clips the tree in front of her instead. As June shoots the second shot, it rebounds back and smashes into the branch that she perched up onto.

Between the anxiety, and the extreme displacement of balance from the rock hitting her branch, June slips and plummets down to the ground, revealing exactly where she is to the rich men.

As June looks up, through blurry eyes, she sees all three men coming towards her, and way behind them, in the trees, Penny stands watching the whole situation unfold.

“Well, well, well, We needed a piece of trash to make an example out of, looks like we found one. Little bitch”. Barely able to understand what’s happening due to falling from the tree, June looks around her and loses sight of Penny.

From behind a house, one of the men is shot at by a rock but it misses. June opens her eyes again, seeing the men right above her. She begins to cry just as Penny dashes by and starts to throw glass bottles at the men.

“JUNE, GET OUT OF HERE NOW! GET UP AND RUN! I’LL FIND YOU WHEN I LOSE THESE GUYS!”. On instinct, June gets and darts, weaving in between the trees. When the shots stop coming at her, she hears one more go off a few seconds later. And for some reason, to young June in that moment, that shot seemed a lot louder than any of the ones that almost hit her just seconds before.

Later, the distraught, young June, waited and waited for her big sis to come find her. June waited for hours and hours. She waited an entire day, and Penny never came back, ever again.