Young Writers Society

“Normally I don’t take walk-ins but I’ll make an exception for you.” The man shrugged as he walked towards the younger person there. “I will say the last one was quite fun.”
“That’s what you are calling it? Fun?”
“Is that anger I hear, little detective?” The man smiled at him, “Sorry I forgot to invite you.” The detective took a step forward and met the man’s green gaze. His eyes swirled with emotion, his anger like flames flickering in them only contrasted by the dark color under his eyes.
“I wish you would have,” The detective snarled, “I would have-”
“You have what? Hurt me sooner?” The detective opened his mouth to say something only for the man to continue. “Why else would you be here? Besides being upset about your family troubles-”
“You. You killed her,” the detective paced back and forth as he thought out loud. “Yet you hold no emotion about what you did. Not a single loss...leaving zero effect on you.” The man was silent as the detective paused as his thoughts receded. The man watched him, curious, as the detective spoke again. “Why?”
“Why-What now?”
“Just how can you do something like that and be perfectly fine. Unbothered. Uneffected.”
“I’ve seen enough and have done enough; it doesn’t effect me,” He answered, simply, still shocked by the question. With ease he moved his hands into his pockets, still keeping an eye on the wild-haired detective. He watched as something changed in the detective’s eyes as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a gun and the man sighed. He raised the weapon at the man as his hands started to shake. They stood there for a few moments, the man just simply bored and the detective trembling at the thought of what he wanted to do.
“Lucky for you,” The detective finally said before he put on the safety and he let the gun rest by his side. “I couldn’t live with myself knowing what I had done.”
“Being a murderer?”
“No,” The detective whispered. “Being like you.” The man smiled, amused, before he finally spoke.
“If you are going to arrest me, go ahead,” He paused as he took his hands out of his pockets and revealed them to the detective. “I’ll let you.” The detective tilted his head like a confused puppy and the man held back a laugh. “Or is that too much for the little detective to handle?” The detective clenched his jaw at the jab and walked over to the man. His feet touched the ground softly, barely making a sound, and the man rolled his eyes. The detective reached for the man’s wrist as he planned to cuff him but the man grabbed the detective’s with a quick movement.
“Hey-” The detective yelped as the man twisted his wrist back almost to the point of breaking and he held it there. He kicked out his leg and knocked the detective down in the process. The gun fell from the detective’s hand in the moment and was knocked towards the man. A small gasp of pain escaped the detective as he reached for his ankle, slightly dazed from being knocked clear down.
“You are acting like that hurt,” The man commented as he watched the detective’s movements. The detective ignored the man as he rubbed his ankle and it finally clicked in the man’s head that his foot was actually hurt. He reached down and grabbed the detective’s gun and dusted it off for looks.
“You know..I admire you, little detective,” He looked up from ‘dusting’ the weapon. “I really do.” The detective noticed the weapon in the man’s hand and he started to shuffle away from him. He kept going until his back hit the brick wall behind him. “You actually have the talent to be amazing at the detective craft but..but you decided to come after me.”
“Maybe if you didn’t go after my family I wouldn’t be here.”
He sighed. “And I still don’t regret it.” He pointed the gun at the detective and fear flashed in the detective’s eyes. “Yet, I’m sorry it had to end this way. You should feel proud, little detective. No one has gotten this far with me, not even your sister.”
“You don’t have to do this,” The detective stuck out a hand towards the man as alarm coursed through him. “There are other ways to solve this.”
“I’m not some petty thief you can trick with your games,” The man sneered as he moved closer to the detective. “I have an empire that is so much deeper than your kind would ever think.” He took a few breaths to calm himself before he continued on. “That’s the problem with you, detective..You are just too careless, too confident for your own good,” The man gestured around him with his open hand, “Look where it has led you! Straight into the lion's den, straight where you shouldn’t be...where you don’t belong.”
“Funny how much stress I’m putting you under then-”
“That’s exactly what I mean. You don’t know when to just stop,” The detective moved back a little more, “You don’t know when to be afraid, little detective. But that doesn’t matter now, does it? You solved your first and last case. Although you are still just learning, not even a real detective yet.” He flicked the safety off and the detective closed his eyes, wincing as a small tremble coursed through him. “There it is. Stay afraid, little detective. Stay afraid.” He was about to shoot when he heard the sound of trash cans being knocked over. “What the-”
“You better choose your next move carefully.” A young-looking cop said, flustered, as he stood next to the detective, pulling his gun from his holster with unsteady hands. The detective opened his odd-colored eyes and looked at him with a shocked look before a small pitiful noise left his mouth.
“I already did.” The man answered, his gaze shifting between the two. “Now I have two people to kill and I just had this suit dry cleaned and I don’t really feel like doing it again.” The detective, defeated already, curled in on himself more at the words that left the man’s mouth.
“It would be wise if you don’t,” The young cop said as he took a step towards the man. “Not with the backup I have on the way.”
“You have backup coming?”
“Oh ya, helicopters the whole nine yards,” The cop said with a beaming smile. The man met the cop’s gaze with a nervous look, the upper hand leaving him.
“Would you look at the time,” He hummed, “I totally forgot about the pot roast I had in the oven.” He threw the gun at the pair before he walked away, quickening his pace until he got to a slow run. The cop watched him go before he knelt down besides the detective.
“Did he hurt you?” The detective was silent. He tried to get up, trying to go after the man who was slowly disappearing down the alley. The cop pushed him back down, and he finally stopped when his ankle bent just right and pain shot through him. “Did he hurt you? Please just answer me I’m-”
“Just m-my ankle when I fell,” He finally answered as the man disappeared from sight. The cop gave him a friendly nod before he moved to look at the detective’s ankle. The detective let out a hiss of pain when the cop moved the ankle slightly to the left.
“You definitely sprained it but at least it’s not broken. Just keep your weight off it for a couple of days and it will be good as new.” He said as he made eye contact with the detective. A look in the detective’s eyes made him ask the age-old question, “What?”
“Why didn’t you go after him? He was right there and you could have caught him.”
“You were my main worry at the time. The actual detectives will find him again, I promise.” He said simply as he gave the ‘detective’ a boyish grin.
“Why? I’m perfectly fine you said so yourself so why not-”
“Your ankle is sprained but keep on complaining-”
“...What if he doubles back? He comes from behind and gets us both, huh? What good did being the ‘good’ cop and helping me do then?” The ‘detective’ finished up not hearing what the cop had said during his speech.
“He’s not going to. And I helped you because we are friends and that’s what friends do. They help each other.” A surprised expression crossed the features of the other person.
“Y-You’re my friend?” He whispered, his tone questioning.
“Of course,” The cop exclaimed, “Plus what would I do if the only other interesting person near my age died on me this early.” He smiled again as he pushed the detective’s shoulder with one hand.
“I’m three years older than you so I don’t see how the classifies as close to-”
“I don’t want to hear it,” He laughed before he stood up and stuck out his hand. “We better get heading back to the precinct. They might get to wondering where we are.” The ‘detective’ grabbed his hand and leaned against the cop as they started walking out of the alley.
“Oh god, we are going to get chewed out aren’t we.”
“I wouldn’t doubt it,” They laughed together as they walked out of the alley. The ‘detective’ still thought about what the man had said about him. I just need to find him again...I found him once so it shouldn’t be that hard again right?