Deathnote

Chapter 2 -- Safe Again

I slowly rose to consciousness and opened my eyes only to see the mayor's advisor standing in front of me. I tried to get up, finding my arms and legs tied to a chair. The advisor introduced himself as Jacque. He said that I am now a prisoner of the West Side Dippers. I grabbed my knife from the secret pocket in my shirt and cut the ties on my cuffs, freeing myself from the chair. I jumped up from the chair and swung my knife at Jacque, slashing him across the chest. I kicked him across the room and pinned him to the ground subduing him when he suddenly went limp and then threw himself up throwing me off of him. I landed on my back, and when I got up, I found him standing over me. He said that there is no point in running because I am trapped there. When the doorway suddenly blew up, and the SWAT team came running in, guns at the ready.

I went home after getting released by the police. The rest of the night I wasn't bothered. I woke up the next day and turned on the TV, and changed to the news channel, finding a report about what happened last night playing. The police captured four of the West Side Dippers members and killed two who tried to fight. All of them were citizens or high-ranking officials of the town. This raid brought the tally of captured or dead to ten members out of who knows how many. Everybody in town thought the gang was taken down, but I knew better. I needed to go to the store and buy more milk, so I grabbed my pistol and put my knife in its secret pocket, and left the safety of my house. I knew that leaving my house was a risk because, if they weren't, the West Side Dippers were now defiantly looking for me. I made it to the store and bought my milk. I was heading home when I saw a group of shady-looking men in an alleyway, and as I walked by, they broke up and left.

I looked at my phone, which I just got back from the police, and saw four voice messages from Clarissa. I quickly called her and told her an excuse that my phone died and I forgot to plug it in. She let me off the hook and wanted to meet later today at about 7:00 PM. I agreed and kept heading home. I entered my house only to be greeted by the metallic, crimson blood dripping from the ceiling. After a moment of indecision, I went up to open the attic. I wanted to find out what the source of the blood was, so I crept up the stairs only to find my roommate. He had been missing for a month and a half, lying lifeless in a pool of his blood peppered with bullet holes. Fear shot through me. I started to back down when the only window in the attic shattered, obliterated by a volley of bullets. I whirled around, bullets whizzing by me, as I started to run down the stairs when I felt a searing pain like fire in my left arm and saw a red mist as a bullet hit home. I fell down the stairs with the warm, sticky blood still flowing down my arm. As soon as I hit the floor, the windows shattered in a shower of glass. Like the attic window, they got destroyed by bullets. I dove behind the couch, grabbed my phone, and speed-dialed the police. They rushed over and a paramedic soon after. Though, by the time they got to my house, the shooters were already gone.

The paramedics temporarily patched me up. After the police interviewed me, they took me in an ambulance to the hospital. After the doctors performed surgery, they released me the following morning. My friend Billy drove me back to my house in the morning. I arrived only to see three black-clad men searching the house. I snuck down to the basement and grabbed my shotgun. Seeing two of the men together, I shot them, Injuring them badly. I waited for their partner, and when he came, I shot him too. I called the police again, and they came. The paramedics took the three men to the hospital. I decided right then and there that I would not be coming back to my house again any time soon. I went to my room and grabbed a few of my things, then quickly left. I checked into a cheap hotel that night, knowing I would have to get an apartment. I stayed the night there, and the next day I went down to get some breakfast. I was walking back upstairs when I saw someone go out the door of my room. The man was carrying my backpack! I took out my 9mm pistol, which I had grabbed as I left my house, and shot him in the leg. I took off his mask and immediately called the police. They came to the hotel and arrested the man, who turned out to be the police captain. I left the building and let the police figure out what to do. I got in my car and tried to start it when it started beeping. As I dived out of the car, leaving my suitcase with all my stuff in it behind, my car exploded, fire scorching my legs with second-degree burns. The police came running out of the hotel to put out the burning wreckage of my car. The paramedics were called, and they took me to the hospital.

I stayed in the hospital for a month while the burns on my legs healed. When I left the hospital, I had nothing except my destroyed house and the things in it. I went to the bank, withdrew $50,000 from emergency savings, and put $30,000 in other accounts. After renting an apartment, I went to a few different stores and bought some clothes, a car, and new guns. I drove to the apartment in my new Ford Ranger. Once getting there, I took all my new things up to my room. Soon, my life is rolling somewhat back to normal. My house had gotten fixed, and I'd moved back in. I continued to collect evidence that my boss was stalking me. It was hard to get into his office when he wasn't there, as that was where he spent most of his time. I was at home when I switched to the news channel and saw that the military general was finally getting released on bond after being imprisoned for a year. I knew that even though the West Side Dippers were lying low for a while, and nobody remembered them, that they would come after me relentlessly once he was out of prison.

I called Clarissa, who is now my girlfriend, and decided to go on a date that night. I went to the Dave Duck Restaurant and made a reservation for dinner. I walked home and played some games on my laptop for an hour. I got ready for our date and headed over to the meeting place. Clarissa came at 7:00 PM on the dot. We walked over to the restaurant and sat by the window. I looked out the window and saw my boss sitting on a bench outside the window looking at us. I told Clarissa to hold on a second, and I ran out after him. He ran away, but I caught up to him and pinned him down. I asked why he was taking photos of us, and he said that the West Side Dippers would have their revenge. I called the police, and they took him away for stalking me. I went back to my date, and we had a fun time. I knew I loved her and, in a few years, wanted to ask her to marry me. We finished up the dinner with a nice éclair. I paid the bill, and we said goodnight to each other, going our separate ways. I went home and, upon opening the door, found a cute little puppy tearing up my furniture! I ran inside and picked the squirmy puppy up, and put it in the sink. I then put my house in order and called my girlfriend, asking her if she had put a puppy in my house. She said no, and so I wished her a good night. I grabbed the puppy and put it in my old dog cage in the garage. I went back into the house and got in bed, turning on the TV. I watched an old movie cowboy movie, falling asleep quickly. I turned off the TV and went to sleep for the night.

I woke up in the morning, and I felt refreshed for the first time in months. I got out of bed and called my girlfriend to come to my house. She came over and rang the doorbell 5 minutes later. I showed her the puppy, and she wanted to take it to her house. I told her she was welcome to, but only if I could continue to see it. I took her and the puppy back to her house, as she had walked over. We went into her house and played with the puppy for a while. Though, I left soon after. I went to the store and bought some dog food. I took it back to Clarissa's house and then headed home.

I opened the door, and I saw my friend, Billy, sitting on a chair in my entryway. I asked him how he got in, and he pointed to the window, which was broken. We talked for a while about old times, when he suddenly pulled a knife out and held it at my throat. He told me that I am a wanted fugitive of the West Side Dippers, with a bounty of five thousand dollars on my head. He handcuffed me and took me outside, where cops were racing down the road to my house. He asked me how I called them when I had never used the phone. I just replied that I had my ways. The police then came and arrested him.

I went to the police station and gave a statement to the new police captain. I told them everything that happened at my house. The police captain left the room to talk to his officers. He came back a few minutes later, telling us that they were taking me, my girlfriend, and our puppy to a safe house. They took me back to my house and told me to pack up what I wanted to bring. I put all my clothes in my suitcase along with my pistol and shotgun. I took some dog toys, a few other things and headed out front. A squad car was waiting there with Clarissa and our puppy in it. I put my suitcase in the back of the car and got in the backseat with them. The squad car immediately pulled away from the curb and raced away. A black sedan pulled out from an alleyway and started tailing us. I told Clarissa what was happening and why we were getting relocated.

The police got away from the tail and took us to the safe house that is a one-bedroom, one-bathroom house. Cops are guarding the whole house, and one will be living with us on the couch. We took our stuff in and met our housemate cop. We went into the bedroom to find a queen-sized bed and a walk-in closet. After a few minutes, we had decided on the living arrangements. We went out to the kitchen and fixed dinner together. We ate and decided to turn in for the night. We got in bed together and fell asleep.