Security

One

June 15th, 2012

MASON

I grabbed my coat as I left the police station from another shift with the LA Police Department. Since I had moved to California, I enjoyed my job, but ever since my brother, Collin, passed as a teenager, some people had not taken very kindly to my recent position as police chief in-training.

The rotten bastard that murdered him when he was just thirteen had been sentenced to life in prison already for killing at least two other victims, but my brother's murder would have been the one to give him the death penalty, so because of the lack of evidence, he refused to admit to my brother's killing, hoping he wouldn't be sentenced to death. In response, many people began to accuse me as the killer. Why? I don't fucking know.

"Wells." My partner, Corey, called me by my last name like most other officers did as he followed after me. "You heading out?"
"Yeah, I think so. Is everything finished?"
"Looks like it to me." He shrugged, giving me a friendly grin.
"Great. See you next week?" I smiled, walking past him, but stopping and turning back around to face him when he didn't answer me.
"Wells? Uh..."
He pointed uneasily toward the parking lot and I followed his gaze to the act of vandalism that used to be my pickup truck. The white exterior was covered with a nasty red spray paint that dripped like blood and spelled out the word 'murderer' on every side. I remembered easily then that it was the anniversary of the day Collin first went missing.
"My fucking car!" I managed, my eyes wide in disbelief as I ran over to it.
Corey remained in his previous place as our boss, David, known to us as Officer Armel even though he usually insisted that we call him by his first name, approached us from inside the building.

"Fuck those idiots!" I grunted, kicking the empty can of spray paint that was lying by one of my tires across the parking lot. I angrily banged my fist against the hood as Corey and Officer Armel jogged the short distance to my car from across the parking lot.
By then, I had dropped to my knees in front of my truck, face to face with its ruined paint job as hot tears of vexation pricked at my eyes.
"Hey, Mason, calm down-" Corey tried, resting his hand on my shoulder before Officer Armel cut him off.
"Why don't you get home, Officer Lang?" He nodded toward Corey, signaling that he wanted to talk to me alone. Corey nodded reluctantly in reply, but complied.
"Uh, yeah, okay... I-uh, bye Mason. I'm sorry about your car." He stammered out.
"Don't worry about it." I mumbled, burying my face in my hands exhaustedly.
I heard his footsteps on the gravel trail off into silence before Officer Armel's voice called my name, making me glance up wearily. He reached out his hand which I sighed and took as he pulled me up from the ground.
"How about we go inside to talk for a bit, Officer Wells?"

He didn't give me much time to answer as he turned and began to walk back in the direction of the building and I had to pick up my pace to keep up with him.

"Sit down, Mason."
I gave him another look of confusion, but nodded and took a seat in the chair on the other side of his desk. I was just glad that he had stopped calling me Officer Wells.
"Look, if this is about my brother-" I began, shutting my eyes tiredly and shaking my head.
He held up his hand quickly to silence me.
"It is about your brother," He decided. "But more specifically about you."
"Not to be disrespectful, Officer Armel, but what in hell is that supposed to mean?"
"You know you can just call me David, right?"
"Can I? That's a hell of a lot easier." I breathed.
"Listen, Mason. I can tell that you've been struggling with dealing with the loss of your brother, especially with the negative attention coming from so many ignorant people, and I'm thinking that maybe it would be best if you went on leave for a while."
I laughed dryly and squinted my eyes at him.
"Wait, what? Are you firing me?"
"Of course not. I'm just asking you to take a break."
"But-"
"Look, I get it, okay? When my wife passed away in a car accident, I was beyond fucking devastated. I contemplated suicide several times. Talking to a therapist didn't feel like much help, so I tried to work as a way to distract my mind. And though that wasn't necessarily a bad thing, it kept me from finally sorting out the issues inside of me that I had been avoiding. Once I took some time for myself to just process things a bit, I found that it helped me a lot. Wells, you're one of the best officers in the LAPD. I know that and so does everyone else working here. Trust me. I wouldn't be asking you to take time off if I didn't think you really needed it." He slid a blue paper toward me and I snatched it off the desk, skimming over what must have been some kind of form for going on leave. "You know, other officers have taken time off for personal reasons on several occasions. It's nothing to be ashamed of."
I remained silent for a few seconds, my hands clasped together as I leaned my elbows on his desk.
"How long?"
"What?"
I glanced up at him.
"How long do you want me to take off?"
"However long you need. At least a month or two."
"That long?!" I almost shouted in shock, leaning back in my chair. "What am I supposed to do for all that time? If you haven't noticed, I don't exactly have a ton of friends and nearly all of my family still lives in Philadelphia."
"I don't know, Mason. Maybe try getting another job?"
"You're shitting me, right? This is the only thing I went to college for. You think I can just get another job that's not minimum wage? I can barely even pay my rent on time as it is."
"Listen, I have a friend who works a second job as a security guard for public events. She eventually went on to be a security guard for a local jazz band when they went on tour. You'd be surprised how many job openings there are for a security guard in the music industry. I can always give you her number and I almost guarantee she could get you a job."
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" I muttered, picking up the form again and giving it a wary glance.
"I think surrounding yourself with new people and traveling with them could maybe give you some time to think and take a break from the craziness going on here. Just give it a try, Wells. I know this is hard for you, but I know what it feels like, and in the end, the only way we can compensate for loss is by trying to improve our own lives while we still have them."