Where it all began ("Bend or Break" Book 1)

Chapter 21

"Andrea Davis," a tall blond-haired, green-eyed, young, male policeman said in a gruff voice. I looked anxiously at Andrea who had gone momentaneously pale. I could feel, her thin, frigid hand tremble.  

"You are under arrest for the murder of Charlotte Micheals and Ray Jackson," the cop continued in a monotone voice.  He reached his hands behind the back of his belt and pulled out metal handcuffs.  I had never seen real handcuffs before, much less seen a loved one being handcuffed.    

Then a middle-aged, short, stocky policeman with small dark, beady eyes, and disheveled ash brown hair walked in front of me, obscuring my view of a distressed Andrea.  He glared at me, his eyes seemed to gleam with malice.   "Alisa Clarke," he said in a grating tone "You're under arrest for being an accomplice of Andrea Davis, in the murder of Charlotte Micheals and Ray Jackson".

At that moment I didn't have the strength to react and just sat stock still on the bench. I blocked out the policeman's voice, Chris's voice and even Andrea's voice.  I then felt the short, stocky policeman grabbed me violently by the arm and handcuff my hands together. A sharp pain spiraled through my entire as the metal handcuffs pressed against the deep slits on my wrists.  

"Officers, are you that idiotic?! You know these two teenage girls couldn't possibly be murderers!"  I heard Chris yell out behind me "I know you know that".  I couldn't turn to face Chris, but I could tilt my head to the side, just enough to catch a glimpse of Chris's arched black eyebrows, narrowed blue eyes and clenched jaw.  I knew that expression far too well. He would lash out and burst into anger any moment now.  He would act solely on impulse, and that meant inevitably doing something utterly stupid.  He always did when it came to protecting me. 

"Sir, you have no right to use that aggressive tone towards an officer" tall blond-haired, green-eyed, young, male policeman

"You idiots are arresting my innocent sister!" he bellowed, grating his teeth in fury  

"I'm arresting mass murders," the policeman corrected, scrunching up his face in sheer hatred and disgust as he slowly pronounced that sentence.  

Chris scoffed, narrowing his eyes and clenching his jaw. He shook his head violently and slowly approached the blond policeman.  I could see from the corner of my eye that his right fist was clenched.  

"No" I mouthed to Chris, shaking my head helplessly. He didn't even notice my warning, as he had his gaze set on the policeman standing rigidly in front of him. Then the scene I had feared would happen, unfolded suddenly in front of me.   

Chris potently swung his right fist at the policeman's jaw, who collapsed on the marble floor with a loud thump that directed all eyes on us, if there weren't enough already. 

 Then two young policemen, one red-headed and one bald,  grabbed Chris forcefully by the arms and hauled him out of the mall, while he lunged at the blond policeman, who had now risen to his feet again and wiped blood that gushed out of his nose, with a paper napkin. 

"Common," the officer who held my arms painfully behind my back,  snarled while I struggled to break free 

The two men led us outside into the warm summer afternoon air, the sun was setting and the sky was of an orangy- pinkish beautiful color. The sky was so beautiful and serene, so were the birds and the squirrel, yet here we were,  in the tight grasp of two policemen and being hurled to jail. 

The policemen then led us to the two police cars that blocked the mall entrance and shoved a petrified  Andrea into one me in another. 

I was cramped in the back of a cigarette and coffee smelling small, low- ceiling police car. The seat was stiff and uncomfortable and fluff was coming out of tares in the seat. I felt light headed and the cuffs made my hands ache and soar. "Take on the world", "Take on the world," I thought over and over to myself. The ride was long but I couldn't manage to rest our sleep for a while - I was a wreck of nerves. We were heading to jail! I took days to prepare and handle this moment, I had even tried to visualize it, but now, actually living the moment felt so different, and much scarier than I had visualized. I couldn't help to imagine how Andrea was feeling right now. If she had managed to fall asleep or was a wreck of nerves just like me. She was probably handling the situation better than I was - she was strong and optimistic, she was fine right?. It made me sick to imagine Andrea in a policeman, much like the one I was in, trembling, her wrists sour and hurting and panicked.