Heart's Desire

prologue

Hiya, this is just a quick warning for the book. This book contains content describing violence, blood and drug use. I am not claiming to be an expert on the topics discussed, so if I make a mistake when writing, please let me know and I will do my best to fix my mistakes. This book may also include scenes of ab*se. 

edited september 8th 2024

In theory my night should probably have played out just fine, just like normal. For the most part, it did. Everything was running smoothly, just as normal, until the last run of the night. Gunshots were being fired, police sirens echoing through the streets alerting us to their presence. We couldn't get away quickly enough, though, they'd brought out the K-9 unit. All of this could have been avoided if our parents had all just let us do this run at a different time. 

Despite the dogs, I still ran, just like most of the others I knew did. That's what we were supposed to do if the cops came. Run, hide, don't get caught. 
That wasn't exactly in the cards after I was shot though, and I knew that I wasn't getting any further so I just took my chances hiding behind the bins at the back of a nearby store. It was dark and other than the gunshot wound I wasn't an easy person to spot. Whatever drugs I had on me, I'd slipped into somebody else's bag- there were too many dogs and too many cops for me to get to my normal hiding spot without being caught, and I knew better than to get caught with drugs on me. It hadn't happened to me before, but I knew other kids had been caught and they'd gone away for a while. My hiding spot had me safe for literally only five minutes, before cars swarmed the area, cops yelling at other kids and their dogs barking in my direction. Shit. 
  "This is your final chance to come out voluntarily with your hands up in the air and facing us. If you refuse, we will not hesitate to use the necessary force." A woman's voice said, speaking into the dark. I gave it a few seconds before peeking around the bin to see exactly what I was dealing with and if I could get away from it without being hurt or seen. There were too many police officers with their guns in hand, ready to shoot me again. Dogs were still out, and I wasn't going to get bitten. "I see him, thing's just a kid."

A few of them lowered their guns with hesitance, and I weighed my options again. They still had the guns, there were more of them than me, so I just scooted forward a little more, a pain shooting up my leg and proving to me I probably couldn't have gotten away anyway. 
The woman was just as tall and as bulky as her male colleagues, and it was easy to see she was in charge of them. I'd always been told that the police force was full of men who got off on power. I didn't doubt it was true, but I hadn't been expecting to see a woman there calling their shots. 
  "Come out with your hands up and you won't get hurt." she said, shining a torch my direction. 
  "I got shot. I can't get up." I just hoped that my voice was loud enough for her, and pushed my leg into sight the best I could. It looked gorier than it was, but it hurt like a bitch and the cop looked like she could tell. Whoever shot me though, I had problems with that asshole. Still, being shot wasn't nearly half as bad as what my parents would do it they knew that I'd lost everything I'd made tonight. "I've got nothing on me. No guns, no knives. Nothing. I don't carry. I won't fight. I just can't get up on my own."

The woman pushed her gun into the holster on her hip, followed by two other officers as she approached me. She helped me to my feet, and one of the guys put me in cuffs and read me the rights they always talked about. Either way I wasn't listening properly, spotting two people that I knew being arrested. One was only trying to feed his family by dealing, from what I knew. The other was another kid, just as much in the game as I was. Being arrested was better for him than his parents finding out about this. 
  "What's your name?" the woman asked, a little kinder than the guys and helping me to the police cars. Before I got in, she stopped me and looked at me. 
  "Xavier Friarh. I'm seventeen."
  "Okay, Xavier. Do you understand your rights? You can call one person, request a lawyer, your parents."
  "I know. I understood." she nods, and before long I was sitting in the back of her car.