I couldn’t believe it. He was dead. I had killed him. Some poor kid's father was now a cold, lifeless corpse lying in a puddle of his own crimson blood. The six inch knife he had tried to stab me with lay next to him, reflecting the sun off its spotless blade.
I continue to stare, my hands shaking. My gun was still pointing at the man as if he would get back up any second. My breath came in short gasps and my vision went fuzzy. My legs turned to jello and I fell backward.
“There we go. Back up,” Preston, my partner, said as he caught me. He stood me back up and gripped my shoulders, turning me around. “Now you listen to me Nakia. You’re gonna get in that car, and I’m gonna drive you back to the station. Someone else is coming right now to deal with—this. Okay?”
I nodded slightly. I heard sirens in the distance, and they were getting closer. I walked to the car, but something made me pause. Looking back at the man, I saw a young boy run over to him. He knelt down next to the man and wailed, throwing his head to the heavens. He cried and hugged the man, running his hand through the dirty blond hair. The boy looked at me, pure hatred etched across his face. He stuck out his index finger and slowly ran it across his own neck. I got the message.
He wanted me dead.
Making sure Preston couldn’t see me, I made eye contact with the boy and mouthed, “I’ll be back. Soon.” The boy’s green eyes shot daggers back at me and his red hair seemed to be on fire. He shook his head and repeated the message he had given me earlier.
“Nakia,” Preston yelled, making me jump. “Get in this damn car, now!”
I couldn’t delay any longer. I had to get back to the station, file the report, live with the fact that I had killed some man I didn't even know. I don't care if he was trying to kill me, it still didn't seem right. I climbed into the cop car and sat in silence, thinking about what I had gotten myself into.
It was my third year out of college. I had a bachelors degree in medical science and what did I do with it? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. I decided to go to the police academy and become a police officer.
My first week on the job, I didn’t do anything. I simply sat in a ugly blue chair, in a conference room, listening to some guy tell me what my job was all about. It was a good time to sleep. But those times when I got caught sleeping, I picked the fruit wallpaper off the lime green walls. The room looked like it was out taken out of someones kitchen.
After my training (as they called it) was over, I finally got to go to out to accidents. Let me tell you, accidents are a police officer’s nightmare. Trust me, it’s not fun. We are on the scene for at least on hour, no matter how bad the accident is. And all we really do is fill out paperwork. How fun does that sound? It doesn’t.
But after about a month and stacks of paperwork, I was finally able to do other police business. Like the drug dealer we had just hunted down.
Preston has been my partner, as all new officers have a partner they ride around with. He’s a tough man who doesn’t take shit from anyone. His long black hair is always pulled back in a ponytail. His black eyes were menacing. I know that some people say they can look into your eyes and see straight to your soul, but if that’s true, Preston doesn’t have a soul. I can't see anything in those eyes.
“Hey, Nakia,” he says, pulling me out of my thoughts. “How’d it feel to kill your first citizen?”
“Why are you making this a fucking joke, Preston?” I yelled at him. I felt kind of bad about the sudden outburst, but he wasn’t being too sympathetic about this whole thing.
“Calm down sweet heart, it’s not that big of a deal. This happens all the time. It’s just police business.”
“What? You guys go out there thinking you’re going to kill someone?” I kept glancing from him to the road signs, trying to remember how to get back there. I was going back. I had to explain to the poor kid why his father was dead. No that he would understand, but I was going to try.
“No, but it’s all part of our job, Nakia.” Preston said. We rode in silence for a couple minutes before I spoke up.
“I’m going back there. Tonight.”
“No,” Preston said firmly.
“And why not?”
“’Cause I said so. And as your partner, you need to listen to me,” he said. “You’re just gonna make this thing a lot worse if you go back. Just stay at the station, got it?”
I sighed and cross my arms. Turning away from my partner, I looked out the window, glaring at the scenery as it flew by. I didn’t care what Preston said. I was going back. I felt sorry for what I did and the man’s son needed to know why his father was dead. I don’t care if the guy was a drug addict or not. No one deserves to lose their father.
No one.
Spoiler
So I was debating whether to write about the conversation with Preston or Nakia going back to see the boy. Which do you think would be/is more interesting? Let me know!
Oh and yeah, I think you should write the scene where he goes back to talk to the boy.