Protect & Serve(110)

They all exploded in laughter when I gave them my ‘cat-that-ate-the-canary’ grin.

“Sorry boys,” I said. “It’s all business now.”

After a few more hoots and hollers the room calmed and I was able to settle into my routine.





7





Bria





It sounded like a giant was banging on my front door. I had to practically pry my eyes open to see the clock. 9:30 AM. Whoops. I guess I overslept.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

“Hang on, I’m coming,” I yelled.

Bang! Bang! Bang! It was more frantic this time.

“I said I’ll be there in a second!”

As soon as I turned the lock my door flew open and Kaitlyn wrapped me up in a giant hug.

“Oh my God, Bria, what the hell!?”

“I… What?” I said, as I tried to shake the disorienting feeling of being awakened from a dead sleep.

Kaitlyn threw her arms out in exasperation.

“Uh, hello? You were supposed to text me when you got home!”

“Oh, sorry,” I said. “I had a really rough…”

“And then I called your work and they said you never came in this morning. I thought you were dead!” She was practically shrieking at this point.

“Okay, I’m sorry, but something did happen.” She quieted when she saw the look on my face.

“What? What happened?” she asked, now in a more reserved whisper.

“Someone attacked me when I was walking home. He tried to rape me…”

“Oh my God, are you okay? Oh no, oh no, oh no, I knew I shouldn’t have left you alone. I’m the worst friend in the world!” Tears were already streaming down her face.

“It’s okay Kaitlyn, I’m fine. Someone saved me.” I placed my hands on her shoulders and looked her in the eye so she would know I was okay.

“It was a really close call but this guy, he came out of nowhere, and rescued me. I guess I was just so freaked out by the whole thing I passed out.” All of my senses were now beginning to return.

“Did you call the police?!?”

“I called them… But there isn’t much they can do. He’s a big white guy in an old Buick… And I didn’t get a look at the other guy…”

“There were TWO of them?” Kaitlyn shouted.

“It’s ok. They didn’t hurt me… Who did you talk to at my job? Did they sound mad?”

“No, I think your fine,” said Kaitlyn. “I talked to the receptionist or whatever and she said they were concerned though. She said it’s not like you to not show up without giving someone a call.”

“Okay, good,” I said, collapsing back onto the couch. “I’ll call them in a minute.”

“So, wait,” said Kaitlyn. “You said somebody saved you. Like some random guy, or what?”

I fiddled with the tv remote control while I tried to remember everything that had happened the previous night. It came to me in flashes like I was trying to remember the details of a dream.

“I was just walking home. I mean, there was this guy in line behind me at the gas station who gave me the creeps. It was weird too because I never even looked at him in there. He was just kind of off, you know?”

Kaitlyn nodded her head. It wasn’t often she stayed silent. She was hanging on my words like they were the difference between life and death. In a sense they were.

“Then,” I continued, “I tried to brush it off like it was my imagination getting the better of me. I convinced myself he was just some drunk in there to buy cigarettes.”

Kaitlyn’s brow furrowed. She could tell what was coming.

“Anyway, I started to walk home. I was thinking about things, kind of in my own world, you know? It was stupid but I wasn’t even paying that much attention to anything around me.”

“Dude,” Kaitlyn interrupted, “you always should pay attention when you’re out alone. Even I know that.”

Thanks for the great tip. I thought, sarcastically.

“Yeah, well, it was my bad, like I said.” The words came out with a bit more of an edge than I would have liked but she understood.

“So I was about halfway home when the psycho started chasing after me.”

“The guy from the store?” she asked.

“Yeah, I told you I didn’t look back but I could just feel it was him.”

“Oh my God!” she exclaimed in a low whisper.

“I ran and ran as fast as I could. He kept gaining on me. He caught up to me when I reached the corner at my street and tackled me.” Telling the story to her was more draining than I would have imagined. My stomach was starting to churn just thinking about it.

“He dragged me to his car and took me over to the other side of town. I didn’t even really recognize the area. There were a lot of empty office buildings and factories and stuff, but mostly I just remember it being really dark.”