Tires rolled out of the driveway. They belonged to a station wagon which belonged to a sandy haired police officer. A blue uniform. The calm feeling Erika always felt with him. Excitiment washed over both of them.
They were on a street in the middle of a neighborhood. Suddenly the calm was shatter. The windows burst like glass fireworks as bullets exploded through.
The officer told Erika to get in the back seat and duck. She did. Gunfire above her head made her flinch. She hit her head on the door and it swung wide open. She was exposed; the riffle pointing at her.
A flash of blue. The man fell. "Daddy!" She screamed.
Erika woke up and shrieked panting for breath. Frantically she searched her surroundings. Erika let out a shuttering breath when she realized that she was in her room in bed. She tried hard not to cry as she held her face in her hands.
This wasn't the first dream she'd had about her father's death and it probably wasn't the last. It was the same nightmare over and over again but it just seemed so real every time. It was as if she was living through the experience all over again. That had been the absolute worst day of Erika's life.
When she had the recurring nightmare she knew she wouldn't go back to sleep unless she knew everything was safe. Erika wasn't sure if it was her police instincts or her motherly instincts.
She slowly threw the covers off. Her hand absently punched the numbers on her gun box but she didn't grab the gun. She quietly walked out of her room and down the hall.
The first door was already open and she peeked inside. Max was asleep. The blankets were pulled up to his nose; a weird habit he had.
The next door on the same side of the hall was closed. Careful not to make any noise, Erika opened the door. She wasn't suprised when it was stopped short by dirty clothes.
John looked up in suprise from his sketchbook and removed his headphones. "John" she whispered "you need to try to get some sleep ok?" "Ok" he said. Erika could tell by his voice that he was obviously annoyed but she didn't scold. She was just happy she was alive to hear his attitude.
Both Max and John were adopted by Erika. Max was her cousin but he found himself in a very bad situation at home. John was her brother but after their father died things went downhill, especially in the financial section.
Erika yawned as she crawled back in bed. She carefully locked her gun box back up. They never caught the man that had killed her father and that person didn't mind reminding her of that every once and a while.
Guns had never been her favorite subject but now there was no way to avoid it. Ever since Erika was a little girl she wanted to be a police officer like her dad and tomorrow she was getting the chance. Tomorrow is when she would start helping, saving lives, and preventing what happened to her from ever happening again.
