My FRIEND

「 Chapter One 」

It doesn't take me long to close and lock up the doors before I'm beelining it to my car. I swore I caught a glimpse of something in the dark, but it's probably nothing. I lock my doors once I'm in and relax against the seat. I start my car and before I know it, I'm home and lying on my bed with the lights out. I scrolled through a book on my phone until my eyes got heavy. I plug my phone in and close my eyes. I fall asleep rather quickly from the exhausting day.

I awoke with a sudden feeling of falling. My eyes open instantly and groggily I check the time on my alarm clock. Why was it only 3 a.m.? I groan and roll onto my other side. My eyes adjust to the dark room pretty quickly. I sigh as I can't seem to feel sleepy again. I swing my legs and place my feet on the floor. I unsteadily stand and kind of stumble a bit. When I finally straighten up, I walk out to the kitchen of my apartment and pour a glass of milk. I heat it up in the microwave and grab a couple of cookies from the cupboard. I sit down on the couch with the goods and silently stare into the dimly lit room. I grab the book off of the coffee table and start to read.

There's a sudden noise behind me that causes me to jump. I turn on the couch to face the window. I hear something again. I peek through the curtains through a tiny slit trying to see what was out there. Having a ground floor apartment sometimes had me jumping at shadows, but this sounded like a person.

There is indeed a person, and I resist the urge to scream. There's a woman crouched in the bushes that are adjacent to the ones beneath my windows. Probably about 15 feet away. I shudder and look away. Who the hell is crouching in the bushes at 3 a.m.?

I hear someone cry out in the distance, and the woman springs up and starts sprinting away. I squint my eyes and watch someone run by the window, presumably a man. Who had a freaking gun?! Nope. I drop the book onto the table and sprint for my bedroom, just as I hear a knock on the door. I've seen enough horror movies to know it would not be a good idea to answer it. I snatch my phone and dial 911. I've never done this before that's for sure.

The operator is asking me too many questions, but I try my best to answer them as the knocking persists. I hear some hushed whispers and next thing I know, the door is kicked open with force. I force the scream down my throat and hide by the side of my bed. I end the call with the operator and flick my sound off, flipping the phone screen side down. I hold my breath as the people step around in the living room and kitchen.

It doesn't take them long to make their way towards where my bedroom is. I shiver and look into the eyes of.... Is that the gray sweatshirt dude? He heaves a sigh of... relief? He lowers his gun that he had pointed at me, as his partner does the same. "Respectfully, what the f?" I ask, my voice shaking slightly.

Black jacket holsters his pistol. "Sorry for the intrusion senorita. Did you see anyone come through this area? We saw your lamp on out there," he said casually. As if this was a normal day for him. I shake my head vehemently. "No. Not in my house because it was LOCKED!" I shout. Sweatshirt holds out a hand I take it, standing up quickly. He let goes and steps back. "But you did see someone, no?" he asked.

"Yes. They went towards the left side."

A string of curses in Spanish escapes from black jacket. I'm just now noticing that they also had bulletproof vests, which feels suspicious. Black jacket dashes off after saying some things in Spanish to the other guy. After he's gone, this other guy sighs. He holsters his gun and says some Spanish into his radio.

"Are you going to just stand there?" I ask warily. He laughs lightly, crossing his arms across his chest. "Yes." He hesitates for a second. "Alejandro says to give you compensation?" I nod in understanding. He clearly knew English and spoke it well but seemed to lack confidence in himself. "Alejandro is your buddy that was with you right?" I ask, wanting clarification. He nods his head and replies, "Yes. My name is Rodolfo. We're Mexican Special Forces. We're trying to find someone. That person you saw has information we need."

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "Why are you on American soil then? Don't you guys have jurisdiction only in Mexico?" He looks confused. "Jurisction?"

"Sorry. Jurisdiction means you only have certain places you're allowed to be," I define. Rodolfo seems to have a lightbulb moment. "Ah, I see. We were given access to this area. This person is wanted in many places," he replies.

There's a part of my brain that wants to know a lot more, but logically I knew they couldn't tell me much of anything. But my curiosity peeked, and those crime podcasts I listened to often made me want to keep asking questions. Despite the fact they had knocked down my door just to find someone, I knew that Rodolfo was worthy of my trust.

"If you follow me, I can bring you to the station," he suddenly says. "You can give us what you know and we will help pay you for the door." He gestures towards the object that was slightly hanging off the hinges. I sigh and rub my eyes. There was no way I was going to be able to sleep anyway. The cool breeze had goosebumps running up and down my arms. The t-shirt and pajama pants were doing nothing to stop the cold.

I snatch a hoodie off of a hangar from my closet and pull it over my head. I slip on some socks and shoes and follow the stranger towards a blacked-out vehicle. I could feel the mud squishing under my shoes and I grimaced. Now normally I would never do this, but he was clearly part of some police force. Plus, I was curious.