Prom

Halt

The voice sounded wrong. When Amy thought “police” she thought of heavy, middle aged men with five o’ clock shadow and leering eyes. But this was the shrill voice of a woman. And maybe a young one. Amy’s back was hidden under the tarp, but she paused to listen.

She heard the scrape of Andrew’s feet as he turned around. Then he spoke, and his voice sounded confused. “What the hell?”

“Are you confused, loser?” said the woman. She sounded very young.

“Well, yeah,” said Andrew. “What’s going on?”

“We’re here for Amy.” Amy felt a strong jab of fear now. She had to be very, very careful. She spread the bushes in front of her apart, making sure none of the branches cracked, and inched forward.

“She just left,” said Andrew. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll show you.”

Amy took another careful step forward. Just one more and she’d be out of the bushes and she could run away without making a sound. She took the step, and then heard a tremendous bang. She felt a jolt in her stomach and her hands flew up protectively to her ears.

She twisted around, branches scraping her face, to see a ragged hole about the size of her fist in the wood of the fence. Through it, a girl of Amy’s own age was smirking at her.

“Come say hi, Amy,” said the girl. Her voice sugary sweet. Amy hesitated. Just a few more inches and she could be gone. Her eyes flicked back ahead of her. “Or I could just shoot you,” said the girl.

“Whoah,” said Andrew. “You definitely cannot do that.”

The girl never shifted her gaze. “Shut up,” she said. “I’ve got one for you too.”

Amy wanted with every fiber of her being to run but something told her that testing this girl would be a bad idea. With a deep sense of resignation, humiliation, and fear, she slowly turned back around towards the fence. The girl’s smile broadened. “That’s right,” she said.

Amy pushed aside the tarp and got to her feet next to Andrew. Now she understood why he had been so confused. Facing them was a girl who must have been around Amy’s age, with fine white-blonde hair and light blue eyes in a pale, delicate face. She was wearing a police hat, but in lieu of the rest of the uniform she wore black leggings and a puffy, baby blue sweater. But that wasn’t the most surprising thing. Isn’t she on the field hockey team? thought Amy. 

The girl held a chunky black handgun in a two-handed grip, and it was pointed right at Amy. “Lie down on the ground,” she said. “Both of you.”

Amy felt deep despair. This was it. They had gotten her. She didn’t know how, and she didn’t know why it was happening like this, but it was over. All of her worst fears had come to fruition. She would never see daylight again. She sank to her knees and looked over at Andrew. The confusion on his face was turning to frank disbelief.

“Hold on,” he said. “Let me see a badge.”

The girl laughed. It was a high, clear laugh. “A badge?” she asked.

“Yes,” said Andrew. There was ice in his voice.

And then a window blew out of the back of Andrew’s building and a body fell to earth among shards of bloody glass.