He looks at the metal monster sitting on the table in front of him. He doesn’t want to touch it or even go near it lest he do something stupid. Taking a deep, trembling breath, he continues to stare at it.

It sneers at him, daring him to do it. This piece of rust wants to take his life and the terrifying thing is he almost wants it to.

The sweat beads on his forehead as he leans forward to touch the freezing plating. As he runs a hand along the tube at the end, he remembers what she said before she left him.

“Now don’t do anything stupid, Jake.” She warned him, eyes mistrusting. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Then why are you leaving me?” He remembered his voice cracking on the last word.

She avoided his eyes. “It’s best for both of us, Trust me.”

And he did trust her, even after all this time. With tears streaming down his face he flipped the table over and stalked from the room.

The gun lying forgotten on the floor.