Hero Wanted| ✔

Chapter Three: The Criminal

You know how when you're little, and you've always wanted to ride in the back of a police car? You think it's cool and want to show off to kids at school, or just to experience it. I'm sorry to break it to you, but it's not fun, at least if you're in my situation. There were plenty of looks that shot through the glass window as the car rolled down the streets toward the police station.

There was even this elderly woman with big curly dirty white hair, who took one look at the car and saw us inside. She turned on her heel, rolled her eyes, and walked up the three stairs into the bright orange candy shop. Her dog, which was somehow more interested in us rather than the candy, tried escaping but was ultimately dragged away and up the stairs.

It made me feel terrible, rolling down the streets in a police car and getting looks of disappointment from the citizens walking on the street. Most of the townspeople knew me, and I usually knew them. Tonaco was a small town, with only about a thousand people living in it. Everyone says that it's bound to get populated by the year nineteen eighty, which kind of scares me.

I had my fingers crossed that the officer wasn't going to arrest me, or even Johnny. We would have to sit in a cold cell, probably with not much food, and think about what we did wrong. I'm sure it wouldn't be like being put in a corner because you hit someone, but similar in the sense that it would teach you your lesson. I didn't deserve to go in jail. the only reason I fought back against Johnny was for self-defense.

"So, boys, we're almost to the station," The second officer explained, turning back to face us. The officer had the same dark-blue, almost black suit was a cap the same shade to match. His hair was a mix of brown and charcoal-black. But unlike the first officer, his skin was a caramel-brown, which complimented his suit. He was also much younger.

"We don't plan on arresting you boys." He asserted us, rummaging through the glove compartment and pulling out a pack of Bazooka bubblegum. "Here's some gum. Heard it relieves stress or something, and you two boys seem pretty stressed right about now, you know?"

"We are?" I asked, completely oblivious from the fact that I was sweating bullets. There were little goosebumps covering every inch of my flesh, and my hair stood up on end. My breathing had become jagged, and my clothes stuck roughly to my skin. I hadn't noticed any of that before just now.

"You just got out of a brawl, so I expect you would be," The officer answered with a shrug. The car took a suddenly sharp turn, resulting in the lights beginning to blare. Red and blue lights filled the dark alleyways of Tonaco. "Go on, take the gum. My name is David, by the way."

"Far out." I replied, catching my breath and holding my hands out for the officer to drop the gum into. Once I had it, I slumped back in the black leather seat. I took a chance to glance at Johnny, who was looking just as bad as I was. His skin had bumps on every inch, too, and his forehead was covered in a layer of sweat. The bottom of his jeans had been torn by only god knows what, and his breathing slowly returned to normal.

"Do you want some?" I whispered under my breath, turning to Johnny and holding out the back of Bazooka gum. His eyes slowly turned to look at me, shooting daggers at me. His skin was covered in goosebumps, too, and his hair stood up on end, with his face covered in sweat. He crossed his hand and took a sharp breath. I wasn't expecting a reply.

"I guess so." He muttered under his breath, stretching out his hand. I dropped the pack into his hand, and he slowly opened it and pulled out three pieces of gum. He coughed as he removed the gum from the wrapping. "Why are you being nice to me?"

"What do you mean?" I asked as I tapped my foot on the floor of the cop car.

"It was less than six minutes ago that I wanted to kill you." Johnny sighed, his voice getting closer to a whisper. "Six minutes ago, we tackled each other to the ground in hopes of getting ourselves out of something."