Broken Record

Aftermath

I woke up the next morning feeling better than ever. I had finally faced my fear. No more sleepless nights. No more nightmares. My dreams of Codi were over. Would I finally be able to heal? Would I finally be able to return to work? I switched on the television in the living room, and grabbed a peanut butter granola bar for my breakfast. I'd give it a day, a day to make sure that I truly was alright. I flipped through the channels on the television, past the cooking show with Gordon Ramsay, the news that was babbling on about some attempted murder, and even past the Simpsons, until I finally decided to put in my favorite sappy romantic, The Vow. I proceeded to curl up on the couch with a fluffy, white blanket and my peanut butter granola bar, the wind from the open window in my bedroom sent goosebumps rising against my bare flesh. Halfway through my granola bar, and sobbing to the romantics of The Vow, there was a strong knock on my apartment door. I paused and held my breath

With a lump in my chest, I opened the door to a fat cop, like one you would see pulled over on the side of the road in his car eating doughnuts. Before I could comprehend what was going on, I was being handcuffed, read my rights, and escorted from my apartment. It wasn't until I was being walked to the backseat of the cop car that I realized what I had done. Last night hadn't been a dream. Codi hadn't been a dream. My window, the shove and the blackness hadn't been a dream.

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The fat cop leaned down to open the door to the backseat of his car, one hand gripped lightly around the upper part of my arm. Seeing my one and only opportunity, I ripped my arm out of his grasp, and kicked him straight in the behind, sending him bashing his head forward into the car door. He stumbled backwards till he tripped and fell to his cushion of a butt. Without a second glance or a bit of hesitation, I tore the keys off the cop's belt and hurriedly struggled to unlock my handcuffs while Mr. Fat Cop tried to gather his bearings. I then sprinted to the other side of the car and hopped into the driver's seat. I fumbled with each key until I found one that started the cop car, just in time, since Fatty had jumped to his feet. Without thinking, I threw the car into drive, but as I began to spin my way out of the driveway, the dazed cop had opened the back door and tumbled his way inside. I took off out of the apartment parking lot, sending the back door slamming closed.

"S-stop!" Stammered the cop, but it was too late. I raced away from the apartment and flew onto the backroads behind it that lead into the forest. The road was rough, sending rocks flying up and clanking against the metal of the cop car.

"Stop, now, while you can!" Insisted the cop as he bounced around in the backseat, "You already have attempted murder on your hands, do you want theft and eluding, too?" I ignored the cop's words, hearing them as white noise. "There's no way out for you!" He yelled angrily, "This car has a surveillance camera! Backup WILL find you!" About half a mile up the gravel road I saw a pier looking out over a lake engrossed by trees.

"Wanna bet?" I asked, as I swerved the car towards the pier. I threw open my door and tucked and rolled myself out with just enough time to look up and see the cop car fly straight off the pier and into the lake. Without waiting to see the car sink to the bottom, I sprinted into the woods. I ran for miles into the wilderness, imagining my high school track coach yelling from behind me every time I got tired and wanted to stop. Just like my feet, my mind was racing with all of the events that had just occurred in the last 24 hours. What had I done? What had I just done? I shook my head as I ran further away into the woods and downhill towards a stream. There's no going back now. But...where am I going to go? Where am I going to hide? What if I get caught? I'll have a life sentence! Suddenly, my foot caught underneath a tree's root, sending me tumbling face forwards towards the ground. I toppled head first down the veiny wrist of the hill, ramping off each exposed root I encountered. Reaching the bottom of the hill, I fell forward in front of a stream and coughed, creating ripples before me. That...sucked. I began to push myself up, palms sinking into the mud and rocks, but a sharp pain in my left leg sent my body giving out beneath me. My body trembled as I craned my neck to look behind me at my leg. My leg was twisted sideways, blood seeping down it with the hint of a bone peeking through my mid-shin region. My breathing quickened as I ran my hand through my tangled hair. I looked, panicking, around me at the blurry world, but my vision abruptly faded to black.

I awoke to the soft buzz of a television and a reoccurring beeping noise next to my left ear. Opening my eyes, I was blinded by white walls and sunshine seeping in through window curtains. Looking around, I soon realized I was in a hospital room, my leg laid out and bandaged before me. The mention of a familiar name on the television caught my attention. I looked up to see Codi sitting through an interview and talking about a heart wrenching story where his true love not only broke his body, but also his heart by shoving him out her apartment window and out of her life forever. I stared baffled up at the man on the screen who I thought was dead, who I thought I killed and who I thought I knew. He was a twisted man, one who was only concerned with his own glory. It was then that I knew I was truly over him. I really had faced my fear, and it made me stronger in the process.

I didn't argue when the cops came to talk to me at the hospital. I didn't fight. I didn't struggle. I didn't plan or try to escape, because I already knew my life was over. I knew I wouldn't be able to run anyways, not with the condition my leg was in. I knew it was over with my one peaceful step I took out the seventh story hospital window.