your body is a weapon → brad simpson | ✓

eighteen

I tug my jacket tighter over my body as I get off of the bus, thanking the driver in the process. It was colder now that it was half six, and it was also dark outside. The only source of light being the lampposts across the streets and the shops that were still open.

My dad hadn't answered my calls so he couldn't pick me up from town, which means I have to endure a twenty five minute bus ride to my estate that I wasn't happy about. First, I had to walk through town and find my bus stop.

Every time I breathe out, the air would turn white at the condensation and I would smile childishly. Not many people walk down the street, considering it's a Monday night and most people were exhausted and sleeping in bed.

I look to my left and my right before crossing the road. The busses were the only vehicles filling up the road. I consider sending Brad a text to come and pick me up but I feel like he won't appreciate me messaging him so late. He'll probably be in bed watching a film or something.

As I walk down the road, I hear shouting down an alleyway that I'm approaching. My footsteps slow down cautiously, scared of what's around the corner. Reaching it, I peep my head around it to see a man being held up against the wall by a hooded figure who had a knife to the man's throat. I tense, noticing two other hooded people behind them.

"Please don't hurt me," the man begs, and I flinch as he gets slammed harder against the wall. He was crying, I could tell through his voice. "I didn't mean to hurt her! I swear!"

I felt guilty standing there and watching the scene unfold but I knew the three hooded figures would hurt me too, and that they would be able to beat me in a fight. I fumble through my pockets for my phone, pressing the three digits into it. My thumb hovered over the button.

"You're a worthless piece of shit," I faintly hear the hooded figure say. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't hurt you like you hurt her, huh?"

"I—," the man stutters over his words and the hooded figure presses the knife into his skin. My heart was racing. The man was going to get murdered and I hadn't called the authorities yet.

I move my head from around the corner, clicking the call button and pressing my phone to my ear quickly, waiting for the police to answer. When they do, I turn my head back around the corner to see the hooded figure conversing with the man again. I couldn't hear what they were saying.

"999, what's your emergency?" The voice rings through my phone and my heart rate elevated even higher.

"Th-there's a man being cornered on an alleyway in Sutton Coldfield town," I say, stuttering out my words nervously and quietly.

"Okay, ma'am, how many attackers are there and do they have weapons?" The woman asks on the other side of the phone.

"Yes, a knife and something else. There's three of them."

"Are you safe? Where are you right now?" I answer both of her questions quickly and she assured me that someone is coming. I stay on the phone to her and tell her what's happening.

When the people hear the sirens in the background, the one holding the man stabs him in the stomach and lets him drop down to the floor, bleeding everywhere.

The one at the front looks my way and I swear I catch a glimpse of their face before they run in the opposite direction. I must've been crazy because I swear it looked like they had curly hair.

It's not Brad, I tell myself before I begin jumping to conclusions. Brad is at home, safe. He wouldn't hurt someone.

Once the hooded figures are gone, I move down the alleyway and set my phone on the floor, helping the man sit up. He was bleeding everywhere and the blood was covering my hands as I assure him that he's going to be fine.

"There's police and an ambulance on their way," I tell him but he was losing focus. I felt awful for the man, but I had to focus on keeping him awake.

A police car pulls up by the alleyway, an ambulance behind it and soon medics are rushing down with a stretcher to get the man. A policeman helps me up and I grab my phone, only now seeing my hands visibly shaking so bad.

"Are you okay, Miss?" The policemen asks, and I know there's a paramedic behind him. "Did you see anything?"

I'm too shaken up by what's happened to speak and I just hold the phone in my shaking hands. I just saw a man get stabbed. I could've prevented it from happening if I had acted sooner. He wouldn't be almost dead in an ambulance that's driving across Birmingham right now.

"Can we take you to the station, ma'am?" The policemen asks and I nod, clutching my backpack tightly as I follow him into his police car.

+

"Thank you for co-operating," the policeman smiles. It was almost nine and my dad was sat in the waiting room for me, since I asked them to call him. I answered all their questions, telling them everything that I saw.

I get guided out into the waiting room and my dad holds me in his embrace for a few moments. The police station was clean, modern yet full of petty thieves and robbers that had been caught. I felt out of place here and I just wanted to leave.

"Let's get you home," my dad says, his hand on my back as he takes me out of the police station and I climb into his car. I just wanted to get home and rest. "Are you alright?"

"I'm just a bit shaken," I reply. "They told me that the man died on the way to the hospital. I saw someone get killed today."

My dad puts his hand on my knee reassuringly, "I'm so sorry, I should've picked you up. You shouldn't have seen that, sweetheart."

"It's fine," I sniffle, not realising that I was crying. I didn't know the man personally, I was being selfish and crying because what I saw today was something so scary. People had the strength to take another person's life away?

When I'm home, I shower and change into my pyjamas. My dad had made me a mug of hot chocolate and left it on my bedside table for me. I smile to myself, before climbing into bed and sipping on the warm drink.

I ponder on what the man would've done to get himself into that situation. The hooded man said that he had hurt a girl, what did he do? Did he hurt the girl before he got cornered? Did the three men know the girl personally?

I'm pulled out of my thoughts when my phone pings. I look down at it and see that Brad had messaged me. I quickly pick up my phone and read over the message.

I heard what happened tonight in town. I hope you're okay.

I sigh, looking down at the phone. I was certain that it's a coincidence that the hooded man and Brad both had similar hair. The more I thought about it, the more my mind tried to convince me that Brad was wearing the hood.

But I know Brad, he wouldn't hurt someone like that, leave them for dead. He put up a stoic front but he's so caring and funny and nice when he's with his friends. I knew that first hand.

But I also knew first hand how he could be aggressive and horrible, and maybe the man caught him on a bad day and his ADHD had kicked in or something.

Nope, Brad did not leave a guy for dead in an alleyway. I refuse to believe it.

I sigh and look back down at the text before typing out a quick response back. I set my phone on the side and finish my drink before laying down on my bed.

I go to sleep with the possible though that Brad could've killed someone tonight.

edited.