Ganama

Day 19.

The room was dark and silent. The soft blue light of the clock blended with the light from the EXIT sign, and lit up the wall and brushed metal door. It was about 3:18 in the morning and the man in front of me had fallen asleep. Somehow with my tired mind, I had idea that this was the perfect time to take a walk and stretch my legs. The single metal door was unlocked and effortlessly moved open. The door closed just as silently, and I could already feel the relief of being out of the room, even if I just wanted to be out for a little while.

There was no one else in the station besides a security guard. The glare of his flashlight was visible several rooms away in a closed office. He had his torch on and facing forward so no one could see him in the dark background, though after a few seconds of focusing I could make the spectacle. With one hand, he was closely watching his phone, and in return the screen dimly lit his face. His hair was short and black, and his face gave the look that he was fit, healthy, and sweaty. He had earbuds in and was breathing out his mouth heavily, while also shaking profusely.

I made my way down the hall towards the front door, hoping to get a breath of fresh air before returning back to the concrete room. I got to the door and slowly opened it, making as little noise as possible. The inside of the building was far darker than outside, and light rushed in.

"Is someone there?..." I heard a voice call from inside as I continued to slide out

"...HEY WHO'S THERE?!"

I was almost out of the stale police station, and into the breezy fresh nightly air when a hand grabbed the back of my shirt and held me in my place.

He slowly pushed me further out the door to get a better look at me, while still keeping a firm grasp on my shirt. He looked almost identical to the man sleeping in the concrete room, except he had long dark hair that went down to his shoulders. I watched him reach out his other arm to get a better hold of me. Then slowly moving into the light from behind the man, I watched Andon's face gradually appear. In the silence of the soft breeze in the warm night, the man's chest began to quickly turn red. He looked down with terror at his bloody shredded stomach, and fell to the ground with a loud thud accompanied by the sound of his head cracking against the cement steps.

Andon stood in front of me in the doorway. Like Meg, his body had characteristics that portrayed his cause of death, and his skin had become sickeningly white. He held the gun that killed him in his right hand, and kept it completely still the entire time, adjacent to where the man's chest had been blitzed. There was a large fresh would in his stomach, with blood flowing out and onto the dead man like a weak tap. His face had blood running from his nose and mouth, and he kept the same smile he had on his face when I left him.

He then reached out past me, towards the door, and slowly closed it, all while maintaining eye contact with his lifeless grin. I knew I could never go back, no one was ready to believe that a dead man killed an officer. I almost tripped as I started to run away from the station, feeling my hand meet the ground as my feet moved underneath me to keep me going.

I already knew I didn't really have anywhere I could stay. My house was the only place I could go, but I couldn't stay there long and risk being found. I moved by moon struck shadows along my path, worrying of what, or who could be behind me. At one point I hoped Andon could buy me time, and at another I cursed myself for thinking such thing. Making my way back to my house, I could see all the blood on my clothes as I walked under the streetlights, and hear the slosh of my wet shoes.

I got to my house still long before sunrise. My keys were gone, but I wouldn't care if I had to break a window, which I did. A rock from my lawn served its purpose well as I threw it through the window from a safe distance. With another rock I pushed the glass away from the bottom, so I could prevent myself from being cut while entering. Inside the house I quickly started striping off my clothes while making my way to my room. I arrived at my room feeling my way around completely nude, finding the light switch to deeply exhale in the calming yellow glow of the bulb. In the corner of my room I foraged a black longsleeve shirt, and some jeans after that. Then some brown boots and a dark green heavy jacket. Quickly searching around I found an old grey and brown backpack and started stuffing in food and tools that I could use long term.