I study rainbows

Self-sufficient

{ Carlos POV}

I made a quick U-turn on Old Salem road , trying to get to the call as quickly as I could. The suspect has a gun, it's always high risk going into a call that includes guns. I got out of the car with my hand resting on my gun showing the man that I was armed as well. Sometimes that does the trick once they see they are outnumbered but he just laughed the laugh of a maniac. I try to keep my face as blank as possible, not giving how worried I actually was away.

I look at my partner nodding in her direction, I draw my gun and she does the same. I move forward yelling " You are outnumbered, put the weapon down or we will be forced to shoot." I see my partner out the corner of my eye directing some people back , her gun in her holster again. I turn back to the suspect holding my gun firmly in my hands, not wanting to shoot but expecting to anyway. I keep walking slowly towards him as he just stands in the same position as me , gun drawn. He smiles at me as I get closer, my gun was aimed at his chest while his was aimed at my head.

I stopped five feet away from him, lowering my gun to his knee. He follows suit, only lowering his stomach. I try to speak as quietly as I can to him, " listen to me , whatever you did we can help you fix it. There's no need to bring a weapon into this situation, you scared a few people. Is that what you want? To scare people? Does it make you feel in control? Make you feel like you're the king of the world? Bringing weapons into public establishments like this is illegal and you don't even look a month past 17. What do you say you give me the gun and I take you to the hospital to run some tests on your head, yes?" He slowly backs away from me. I didn't know his head was bleeding until I got this close to him, I turned to page my partner." Sandra , do you copy?"

"I'm here" she says like she is out of breath, I furrow my eyebrow wondering why.

"I need Michelle and the team ASAP , he's unstable with a gun." whispering all of this because he's close enough to hear me if I don't. I look back at the boy "I'm 17 as of yesterday , it seems you might be good at your job, at least a little bit." he says, smirking at me. Does he think this is a joke? Like a call of duty video game or something? I just shook my head at him.

" Are you okay? Is there something or someone who compelled you to do this, terrorize other people today?" I asked trying to get him to say the real reason he was out here and not his cool guy facade.

" No friends , 1 family member who disowned me today" he said calmly shrugging his shoulders, I stared at him in confusion. "Why did they disown you?" I asked gently, lowering my gun a little more telling him I wasn't going to shoot. He shrugged "I told my uncle I was gay, I mean I'm 17, I shouldn't be scared of a drunkered who "raised" me. I should have expected what he did, but somehow I thought it was going to be different now that he had stopped drinking, but the argument we had was worse than any of his episodes he threw while he was drunk." he said looking down. He raised his head and gun back up at the same time. "I'm not going to let anyone make me feel bad about who I am. I will never be ashamed of myself but I am ashamed of thinking a homphobic piece of shit would change. Like it would change his whole outlook on gay people because his nephew is one of them. Never again." he said passionately and I felt for him. I didn't come out officially until I was 19. I was on my own by then so I didn't have to worry about half as much as he did when he came out. I nodded my head as he spoke wanting him to feel like someone was in his corner. At this point I'm in no position to argue or disagree with him because he has a loaded weapon in his hands in the middle of a Buffalo Wild Wings parking lot.

"I didn't come out until I was 19 years old. It was still hard then , but I didn't have to go through half of what you did when I came out. I know how hard it is to even find the courage to tell the ones you love believe me. But this is not the way, making others submit to you with a gun is not the way. You have to find the strength within yourself to love yourself and say fuck what everyone else thinks. I still have trouble sometimes with my family accepting me , but I'm not going to force them too. If they love me they will, If they don't I won't blame them I just keep my distance." I tried to connect with him the only way I knew how and it looked like it was working.