Distance

Ghosts

"Hailey, jay, you're on patrol duty until we get a case." Hank barked the order at them. The partners nodded, grabbed their jackets and radios, then left. "We better get a call or I'll die of boredom" jay joked as he put the car into gear. Hailey laughed at his humour as he drove to a parking space downtown in Chicago, "it's so quiet" hailey said shocked at the loneliness of the city. Jay nodded in agreement and they sat sipping their coffees.
They had been sat waiting for their radios to sound for about half an hour, they were talking away until the static ringing buzzed through jays radio. "Gunshots fired at 2400 west on division" the dispatch caller calmly said. Jay looked at hailey who nodded back at him, "copy that, we're three blocks out" jay said before speeding off to the location. It was a short drive, they pulled up to the abandoned warehouse and jumped out before they ran over to the door and heard another gunshot from inside. "Requesting backup, plain clothes officers on the scene" hailey said into her radio before putting it back on her leg strap.
They both shared a ready look as jay kicked down the door, the were immediately greeted with a dark staircase, jay crept up the stairs first while hailey followed in his tracks. When they reached the top of the stairs they could hear loud footsteps running away from them in another room ahead. "Chicago pd" hailey shouted as she kicked down the wooden door, there was nothing in the first room but as they edged their way to a larger room with a dirty piece of fabric covering the doorway, they could hear people crying and an older man. Jay gestured that they should enter with his hands and hailey agreed, on a count of three they both pushed through the curtain. They could see the man getting away but before they could dart towards him, jay bumped into a young girl with quite some force knocking them both to the floor. "Jay you good?" hailey said while pointing her gun at the door the man just ran through. Jay squinted and replied, "yeah I'm good, you go I got her" he said while grabbing the young girl he just knocked to the floor.
"Hey hey hey, you're okay. You're okay I got you" he said while checking her for injuries. He scanned his surroundings to see two other kids around 5 and 6 years old. He focused his attention back on the girl who was trying to get up and out of his grasp, she didn't look any older than 12. Her face was pale in fear as she stared at him, "hey you're okay, what's your name?" He said while kneeling at her level. She didn't say anything, she only scooted backwards towards the two other kids behind her. They two kids were crying and she turned away from jay in fear to comfort them, "hey jay you good..." hailey said while running back into the room, she went to finish her sentence but looked at the three children who were huddled up by a wall. Jay shot her a worried and confused look, "who are they?" She said hoping he had talked to them. He shrugged his shoulders and looked at hailey then back to the kids.
It wasn't long until the rest of the unit joined them in the room, "what've we got?" Hank said while walking over to the partners. Jay didn't answer, instead he just pointed to the kids who were cradling each other in a blanket. Hank nodded his head and walked over to them, he crouched down to talk to the oldest girl but she pulled the younger children tighter to her and looked at him in fear. Hank got back up knowing that talking to her was only going to make her worse, "how'd you find them?" He said to jay while looking at the kids still. Jay started to explain, "we were chasing the gunshots, we ran up here to find the offender but I bumped into her and I took her down to the floor with me...". The unit nodded in unison and they made their way back outside, they managed to get the kids out of the dirty warehouse and into an ambulance but they still wouldn't talk.
The oldest girl was in her own ambo and the two younger children were in another, jay and hailey appeared at the oldest girls ambulance door. They paused for a minute hoping that she would see them there and she would talk first, but she didn't. She was in her own little daze, in her own world, her face was expressionless. "Her face is full of ghosts" hailey whispered to jay a bit concerned. Jay agreed and he stepped up into the ambulance to sit opposite her, she still didn't budge. Jay quietly spoke out to try and gain her attention, "hey..." he ushered in a calm tone. She snapped back into reality and raised her arms at jay with her hands curled into fists, she flinched in fear at jays voice. Jay carefully blocked her instinct and pushed her arms down slowly, he looked at hailey knowing something was wrong. "Hey it's okay, I'm detective jay and this is my partner hailey. Could you tell us your name?" He started to enquire. She looked at him like her world has just ended, her eyes were blank, not even a tear formed. "Bella..." she whispered back while not breaking her and jays eye contact. Jay looked at her with worry, she was terrified. "That's a cool name Bella, can you tell us why you were in that building?" He asked carefully. Bella diverted her gaze towards hailey, she grew even more scared and tensed up, she shook her head vigorously as she was clearly keeping it a secret.
"Bella? It's okay, you're safe..." hailey said while stepping into the ambulance to sit next to jay. Bella calmed down a little but she still didn't talk, she just backed up away from them. Jay and hailey noticed her fear so they jumped out to go tell Hank. "Hey sarge she's not gonna talk. Whatever they were doing in there, they weren't there on their own accord, she's pretty shook up..." jay explained with confusion. Hank nodded and finished, "alright let them go to med, jay and hailey follow they ambo and meet them there. The rest of you, head back to the unit and try and find out anything, anything at all" they all approved and left as they were ordered to.