I hold my
shoulders high and my
jacket close. The cold air burns my face, soothes my
lungs.
The
urban scene, typical. I
wander curiously through out the
city, in the dark cold hour of 7
PM.
Neon signs emit
luminance, as do
headlights and
clearance lights atop the large buildings. Sounds...the
cars, the
voices, the
music. I hear a rapid
scuffle to my
right. Down the alley I see the
glimpse of presence. Gone, quickly. I walk
slowly down the alley, my steps
echoing,
resonating through out the
quiet, yet
metropolitan gap between
structures. I sit on a small
crate and light a
cigarette with my
Zippo, shielding the flame with my hands. I hold my jacket
tightly. Minutes pass, relatively placid. I throw my cigarette on the ground. Beep, beep, beep. My
pager is going off.
I
unclip my pager and check the number. My friend from a few
blocks down who is expecting me soon must want me to come now, as he was the one interrupting my
calm moment. A
gutter drips on me from above, as I hear a door
slam. I stand up and start over to my friend's house. Up many flights of steps, and past the front desk, I enter. No one is inside other than him, all the lights out. He motions me over and speaks:
"We've gotta talk."
"Yeah?"
"I need you to do me a
favor..."
He pauses momentarily. I open my mouth, but he quickly
interrupts:
"Good money."
"Look, man, you know things have been
hot lately. Let's take it easy for a while."
"How long can we take it easy for? We're
running low on money, and you know how that goes."
"Dammit, why don't you understand?
It's not that simple!"
Footsteps of nearby
origin slowly
ascend up the
wooden staircase. He looks at me. I look at the door.
Silence inside the building. A car
horn grabs my
attention from outside. The
air is
tense. With an almost
expected crash, his door falls
inwards and
police officers flood the small
apartment. I stand up and jump out the window to the
fire escape stairs. I run
down, not stopping to
look back. I jump off the
third rung of the last
level and hit the ground, stopping only for a second, and then running into a nearby alley. The
silver shine catches my eye, and I stop. The unmistakable
reflection of two
badges. "
Fuck, cops" I think to myself.
One of the
officers
scorns, "
you people disgust me" I look behind me. No one there. Just me and these two
pigs, says my mind. I hear
screams from around the corner of the
alley and
seconds after, running and the sound of
steel being pounded upon. The police officers look at each other
briefly. I
grin as they ask me to
identify myself. "Sir, we are going to have to ask that you either identify yourself or we're going to have to
arrest you."
From above, the sound of
gunfire floods the
still air. The two police officers fall to the ground,
null of life, and splats of blood rain onto the
brick walls. The
shell casings jingle like
bells as they fall to the ground and atop the dead bodies. I stand motionless.
An older lady from above screams to us, "you people disgust me!" I
grin and light a
cigarette.
Nodeshell by
ShadowNode,
rescued.