“I said FREEZE,” the officer yelled.
Michael ran as fast as his legs could carry him. Along the sidewalk, he passed numerous shops with everyone sticking their heads out to see what the commotion was. Hearing the police chasing someone was not out of the ordinary for people around here, but seeing them chasing down a small, ten-year-old kid was one for the books.
The good news was that the two officers trailed behind him far enough that Michael thought he could lose them if he could make it to the alleyway, the one behind the butchery. Michael tried to quicken his pace. His heart already pounded in his chest, but he willed his legs to strive faster. He had to get away. He could not let them catch him.
“Stop that kid!” one of the officers shouted.
No one did, of course. But that did not feel any better, as they wouldn’t help either. No one was going to risk their own neck for some random kid. Michael lived in a poor little town, where grownups like to say it is the perfect place to stay ‘just until they get back on their feet’, but then years go by, and no one ever leaves. It’s the type of place where no one longer believes in innocence until proven guilty. And a place where the only thing deciding which side of the law you land on was a shiny, blue and silver badge.
“Don’t make me shoot!”
Michael quickly rounded the corner, saw the butchery, and started booking it down the sidewalk. Hopefully, he could duck into the alleyway without the officers spotting him. He’d finally be able to rest. But as he tried to quickly turn into the alleyway, he tripped and fell forward into the metal trash cans.
Michael quickly tried to get back up on his feet. There was a fence at the back of the alleyway. The other side led to the main street. If he could just get over the fence, he could buy himself some time to get further away from the officers as the next closest turn was a few blocks down. He managed to make it to the fence and was about to start climbing when he heard something behind him.
“Stop right there.”
Michael kept going, ignoring the two, and hopped over the fence, landing hard on the other side. He lost his footing a bit and stumbled forward, rolling to his side on the ground. Now, staring up, he saw the two angry officers behind him, blocked by the metal fence. It jingled with each time they shook the fence.
“We just wanna talk, kid.”
“No one just wants to talk with guns.”
And with that, Michael took off running again, even though his legs felt like they were going to give out. He only had a few more blocks left until he reached the school. But he suddenly heard the sound of sirens in the distance.
“You’ve got to be kidding me.”
He ran further down main street, until he spotted the fire station. A well of mixed emotions swirled within him but right now he did not have many other options. He just hoped someone would be able to help him this time.
He ran up to the door of the fire station and began banging.
“Help! Open up, please!” he yelled.
But there was no response.
The sirens blared louder, getting closer. He thought about whether he should continue trying to get into the fire station or just keep running. The overhead glass doors showed it to be dark inside, and the trucks were gone. But someone was always supposed to be inside, just in case. They were supposed to be there to help when people needed it.
Michael started to grit his teeth in anger. The memories of that night started flooding back. His eyes stung. He banged louder, rang the doorbell multiple times, and yelled up towards the upstairs windows, hoping anyone would hear him.
“Hey! Anyone home? Please, let me in.”
No response. The fire station remained silent and abandoned. The sound of sirens filled the air and were closer now. Michael gave up on the door and took off running again. He thought about the day his dad had brought him to the fire station. He remembered seeing everyone dressed in their fire gear. He thought they looked like superheroes. They promised to always be there for him. He dreamed of one day becoming just like his dad. But that was so long ago. And since then, his dad had long broken their promise.
“You’re all liars. And I hate you all! You hear me?” he yelled as he turned to continue running downhill.
He tried to get far away enough so that the sirens would fade out. He thought about how his school was not too far now. Only some blocks away. But he soon found himself crashing into another problem.
Michael slammed into someone on the sidewalk, causing him to fall back. But just as fast, his arms were caught and restrained. And someone was standing in front of him.
“Well, well, well. Looks like we caught a little shrimp.”
Michael looked up at the two guys holding on to him. The first one was a heavyset guy with a long trench coat. The second was a lean looking guy, and wore an oversized t-shirt. shorter than the first one but both still towered over Michael.
“Whatcha doing on this side of town, kid?” said the t-shirt guy.
Michael gritted his teeth against each other. It was crazy how much he had gone through this morning. He didn’t even like school, but it was better than dealing with the ins and outs of this town.
“Let me go!” Michael yelled, “I’m just trying to get to school.”
“Ah, schoolboy, huh? Sure, sure,” said the trench coat guy.
He took off Michael’s backpack while still restraining him.
“HEY! Give it back! That’s mine.”
“Just gonna make sure, Shrimp.”
With one hand, he emptied the insides of Michael’s backpack on the ground.
Nothing but some school supplies, a few pencils, notebooks, and some loose paper.
“Aww, there is nothing good in there.”
“See! I told you it was nothing. Are you going to let me go now?” Michael said.
“Not so fast, you seem to have brought cops onto our turf,” someone else said. “Whadd’a think we oughta do with him, King?”
Another guy stepped out with an unlit cigarette in his mouth. All three of the guys looked no older than high school age, but this guy seemed to look a bit more mature than the other two. He even had a bit of facial hair.
“Let him go. He can lead the cops away from here.”
King pulled his shirt up. Other than what appeared to be a lack of muscle tone, something hung on the hip of his jeans. King pulled it out to reveal a small black gun. He pointed it towards Michael, cracking a smile.
Michael felt scared, but there was no way he was going to let show it to these guys.
“Just be on your merry little way, kid. And lead those cops away. And we won’t have any more problems.”
The T-shirt guy tossed his backpack and pushed back out onto the sidewalk. The sirens were still sounding from somewhere nearby. Michael grabbed it and ran downhill, hoping to make it to the school before the bell.
Michael could only speedwalk now, his legs threatening to give out at any moment. But he could see the sign of the middle school, Camden Promise. Michael could hear the bell ringing for everyone to have already been seated in their homerooms. He was officially late, again. The principal was going to give him an earful once he was inside.
He slowed down to a walking pace, realizing there was no use in running as he was already going to be punished. He gasped for air, trying to slow down his pounding heart.
“Gocha!”
Michael jumped from the sudden hand grabbing his shoulder. Turning his head, he realized the two officers had finally caught him. The two officers each took hold of one of his arms.
“You’ll be coming with us.”
Michael thrashed with as much energy as he could muster, but it was not a lot since he felt entirely drained from his morning run across town.
“Let me go, you pigs! I didn’t do anything!” he screamed.
“Resorting to name calling?”
“That’s quite enough!” a voice shouted.
The two officers looked confused, but Michael recognized that voice. And he was thankful someone on his side was finally there.
“Ms. Mendoza!”
The woman walks over briskly, her white heels clacking against the pavement. She had her arms crossed tightly as she strolled towards the officers and Michael.
“Pardon our intrusion ma’am, we’ll be on our way just as soon as-”
“Excuse me, officers,” she interrupted, “but I will need you to immediately produce your arrest warrant if you plan on removing my student from the premises.”
Ms. Mendoza came to a stop in front of the two officers, her hand extended, waiting for them to present their legal reasoning for abusing and roughing up a ten-year-old child. Michael saw the officers looking shocked but also knew they did not have a warrant. They had just started chasing him. But they still did not loosen their grip.
“This doesn’t concern y—”
“The arrest warrant, please,” she interrupted, hand still waiting.
“He’s under investigation for—”
“As of this moment, the only thing I see is a registered child of Camden Promise currently standing on school grounds. This child is our responsibility and resides under our supervision. As such, if you wish to forcibly remove him from the premises, please produce the arrest warrant.”
Michael could feel the officer’s grip his arms tighter.
“Ow, you’re hurting me,” he said.
Ms. Mendoza steps closer, her eyes full of quiet rage.
“Listen, lady, we are just doing our jobs.”
“We are just trying to find the thief who stole from the café, and the kid was running from the same direction. We just wanted to ask him a few questions.”
“Irrelevant. Warrant. If you do not possess the required documentation, then I must demand that you release my student at once. Unless you would prefer that I contact the proper authorities to do your job for you.”
In just a second, Michael felt himself being pulled away from the cops. He found himself standing next to Ms. Mendoza, her hand gently hugging his shoulder as she continued her tirade against the officers.
“Now, officers, I must ask that you exit the school grounds immediately.”
“He’s still a suspect.” One of the officers started before both turned around and walked back uptown.
“I missed the bus. So I had to run to school.”
“What about one of your foster parents? Why didn’t one of them bring you to school?”
Michael imagined that his foster parents were still asleep. They didn’t wake up when Michael tried to tell them that he had missed the school bus. They probably would not even notice that he was not in the house until he came back from school.
“They didn’t want to wake up. I thought I could make it on time without them.”
“You know, you don’t have to do everything on your own, Michael.” She said softly.
“That’s what all the grownups say,” Michael said.
But for Michael, who else was he going to rely on? His parents were gone, and his foster parents were incompetent. The people who were supposed to protect everyone were absent or corrupted. So how could he believe anything she was saying?
Ms. Mendoza looked conflicted but sighed and simply motioned towards the school.
“On to class then. We will speak more on the matter after school.”
And with that, Michael walked through the doors to his first day at Camden Promise Middle School.
