"Sooo...are you nervous?" Claire asked as she played with the buttons on my shirt.

I laughed and shook my head. "Ehhhh, maybe a little bit. Never been on a hot air balloon before."

She gave a little chuckle and looked up at me. "We never talked about if you were scared of heights...are you scared of heights?"

I shook my head again. "Naw, I'm not scared about heights. What about you?"

Claire shook her head again. "Nope. Ironically enough that's one of the things that I'm not scared of."

I smiled and gently kissed her. "I think the thing that scares me more is the fact that this is just some dude's private hot air balloon." I scanned over the deflated hot air balloon on the large patch of grass in front of us.

"I mean I found it on Groupon. I figured it would be reliable." Claire replied with a shrug.

Claire and I had been dating for a couple of months, and this was our first "unique" date. I was excited to do something that wasn't dinner, or a romantic night in. Was I scared that it was some random guy on Groupon?

A little.

A beat-up Honda Civic pulled up and parked next to my Prius, and out came a scrawny middle-aged man, he had unkempt brown hair and a pair of wire glasses that sat on a large nose. He wore a faded gray windbreaker and a pair of jeans that had seen better days.

"Didn't know The Riddler was going to be our instructor." I said quietly.

Claire let out a giggle that she suppressed with her hand and elbowed me in the rib. "Be nice." She snapped through clenched teeth.

Riddler gave us a nervous smile, his glasses sliding down the bridge of his nose. He nervously pushed them up and made his way toward us.

"You two must be Claire and Chris." His voice was frail and low. I didn't quite make out what he said but I pieced it together.

I nodded my head. "That's us, and you must be..."

"Sebastian. And I'll be your instructor for the hot air balloon tour over the Shadowbrook Forest."

"Pleasure to meet you, Sebastian." I said, I held out my hand and he hesitantly took it for a very frail handshake. It was like shaking the hand of an old woman.

"You two relax while I get everything up and running. Shouldn't take more than a few minutes. We'll be up in the air before you know it."

With that, Sebastian made his way across the patch of grass to the hot air balloon. He even moved like an old woman.

"What a strange little man." I said, more to myself.

"Chris." Claire snapped, this got me another elbow jab to the gut.

Sebastian was a quick and diligent worker. He kept to himself the entire time and mumbled what sounded like directions to himself. We were up in the air in just over thirty minutes.

It was a truly beautiful experience. Claire had booked our slot for right at sunset and seeing that above the Shadowbrook Forest was nothing short of mesmerizing. I'd seen countless sunsets, but I never actually watched one, let alone watch one from so high up in the air.

Sebastian gave me a strange vibe when I first saw him, but he kept to himself. Checking the mechanics of the hot air balloon and addressing whatever concerns that came with managing a hot air balloon.

I wrapped my arms around Claire and kissed her gently on the neck once, moved up, and kissed her on the cheek. When I went in for a third her lips met mine and everything felt perfect. I felt her body tremble as we kissed, and it caused me to tighten my grip around her waist. I was crazy about this girl. She leaned her head against my shoulder, and the two of us just watched the sun as it lowered behind the trees of Shadowbrook.

"This is beautiful." I said to her. "Good job with the planning."

Claire rubbed my forearms around her waist and kissed me again. "I thought you'd like it."

"I love it."

It felt as though we were the only two people in that hot air balloon, and I wanted it to last forever, just Claire and I floating listlessly through the sky. For a moment I'd even forgotten that Sebastian was up there with us.

And then I heard him talking to himself. At first, I thought he was just mumbling things to himself, as he did when he was setting up the hot air balloon, earlier in the day. But some of the words stood out to me.

I felt Claire's body tense up, her eyes met mine and in those eyes, I saw a glimmer of worry. I let go of Claire and slowly turned towards Sebastian. His back was to us, his arms rigid as he grabbed onto the side of the wicker basket. His whispers sounded as though they were coming through clenched teeth.

He seemed uncomfortably tense.

Claire took one step toward him and I stopped her. I made my way towards Sebastian, I considered putting my hand on his back but decided against it. I didn't know this man's boundaries, and I needed to respect that.

"Sebastian...is everything..."

There was a gun in his waistband. Sebastian lowered his right hand and placed it on the handle. I could feel the air get thin, I could feel my legs grow weak beneath me. Sebastian pulled the gun from his waistband and aimed it at my forehead.

I heard Claire scream from off to my side. Sebastian jumped and directed the gun towards her. I immediately moved in front of her, unsure of what to expect, clueless to the notion that moving in front of her could have been the last move of my life.

"Whoa, Sebastian." I was at a loss for words, my mind was racing with what to say but I couldn't form a proper sentence other than: "Lower the gun."

His lips curled into a smile, but there was no emotion in his eyes. His brown hair draped over his glasses, his eyes darting frantically between myself and Claire. From behind me, I could feel Claire grip my shirt, so tight that I thought she'd tear it off.

My mouth felt like sandpaper, I could feel my throat closing in on itself, my heart thudded rapidly in my chest. "Do you want money? I can get you money Sebastian."

Sebastian shook his head. "I don't need money. Claire already paid me." His voice was flat, emotionless. "We don't need money where we're going, Christopher."

I narrowed my eyes. "And where are we going, Sebastian?"

"We're dying today Christopher. You, myself, and Claire. We're going to extinguish all the propane from the tank and see how far we can go. Then we're going to crash land at 3000 feet."

Claire let out a whimper from behind me. She wrapped her arms around my left arm and tucked her head into my shoulder.

I cautiously held both hands out in front of me. "Can we talk about this Sebastian? Can you lower the gun...please?" I nudged Claire away from me as I cautiously took a step forward.

And then Sebastian pulled the trigger. I felt a searing hot pain as it cut through my lower abdomen. The pain violently radiated throughout my entire body, causing my legs to give out beneath me. I collapsed to the floor of the wicker basket as my vision became impaired. Everything around me became blurry and smeared like an oil painting. I could hear Claire scream from behind me, but she sounded distant as if she were at the end of a long and empty tunnel. She dropped down below me, and through my blurred vision, I could see tears welt up in her eyes. Sebastian said something but he sounded as though he were miles away.

My eyes stayed on Claire, I could see her but I couldn't hear her, and maybe that was for the best. I could see Sebastian standing behind her, the gun aimed at the back of her head.

And then my world faded to black.

To Be Continued…