“I don’t know why. I just couldn’t help myself.”

My arms remained shakily outstretched, as if I was attempting to calm down a rampant stallion who had just bucked me into the dirt. Arthur's gaze never strayed from mine, his eyes looking through me, cold and dead.

"Arthur. It's okay buddy. We can still fix this." My voice trembled uncontrollably, I knew what had just happened was unfixable, and so did he. But I needed to get his gun out of my face.

"I just couldn't help myself Hank. I just couldn't." He clicked the hammer of his still smoking revolver down, all while continuing to look through with the same dead stare.

My body went from gently shaking the violently vibrating as I backed myself into the wall. I could hear the light squelch of the blood drenched boards beneath my feet with every hesitant step.

"It doesn't need to be this way Arthur! We ca-"

"Couldn't help myself."