drunk voicemails ➟ ethma

3.4

thirty-four | fruit bowl

ETHAN
MONDAY | ZERO DRINKS

"Okay, I'll do it," Emma says, her voice quivering.

Grayson looks over at her with wide eyes, unable to fathom the situation taking place. His brother is held at gunpoint while Emma agrees to trade places with him. Emma obviously wasn't going to go alone, but she just needed Ryan to believe that.

"Grayson, can I have your car keys?" She asks with a blank face.

"Is that really a good idea?" He questions, hesitantly handing them to her.

"Grayson you'll come with me. Emma will take your car and I'll call for backup. He needs to think she's alone but we'll be watching from afar and engage when the time calls," Officer Chamberlain explains and proceeds to lean down into his radio, "We have a hostage situation, 907 is needed."

"Be safe," He tells his daughter, giving her a tight hug before ushering Grayson out of the café and into his car.

As a kid, Emma was brought into her father's work plenty of times. She has a good understanding of the laws, but nothing like her dad knows. He also had her take self defense classes a few years back so she doesn't feel as scared going in. She takes a few deep breathes as she drives, knowing it's crucial to keep a clear mind.

Her dad won't let anything happen to her, although he's not too happy his daughter is being put in this position.

As Emma parks in the visitor parking lot of her complex, two police cars take a back road and pull into the resident parking lot on the backside of the building. The window in her apartment gives a clear shot of the visitor parking lot so Ryan is quick to notice her arrival.

[ X ]

"Well it appears that she's come alone," Ryan states to Ethan.

For the last twenty minutes, Ryan has had a steady watch on Ethan, monitoring his every action. Ethan sat in silence as Ryan made provocative comments to deliberately anger him. There was a loud ringing noise in Ethan's ears so it luckily drowned out most of them. In the beginning, he felt numb and everything felt hard to process, but as the minutes ticked by, his fear had grown tremendously.

The door clicks open quietly and Emma walks in cautiously.

"The woman of the hour!" Ryan announces, "So glad you could make it!"

Emma doesn't react, "We have our deal, let Ethan go."

"Now where's the fun in that?" He questions rhetorically, waving his gun in the air.

Emma eyes Ethan sitting on the couch. He looks calm, but she knows better than to believe that. She can't imagine how it feels to be hostage in a room with the person that caused him so much misery and to be so abruptly placed in a life threatening situation.

"Look, I know all you care about is staying out of jail and I promise that you won't go back. We're not a threat to you, Ryan," Emma says.

"Do you really think I'm that fucking gullible? You think after hearing that I'm just gonna say 'alright!' and walk out? Neither of you are leaving," He speaks, holding a stern tone.

Emma blinks twice at Ethan and he gives her a curt nod in acknowledgment.

"Remember in sophomore year when you taped all of our algebra teacher's belongings onto the ceiling? Then in the middle of her lesson the stapler fell on her head and she passed out?" Ethan mentions promptly.

Ryan turns to face him as he speaks, seemingly confused on why he's bringing that memory up.

"Or, or, what about the time when you created a slip n slide in the hallway and when class ended, I swear to god everyone fell onto the ground and the principal was scrambling to chase you as you slid in your socks—"

While Ryan is distracted as he listens to Ethan retell old high school stories, Emma creeps into the kitchen and carefully grabs the giant, glass fruit bowl lying on her counter. Ethan continues to speak and Emma is amazed with his acting abilities. Ethan laughs boisterously as he talks and actually looks like he's actively engaged in rambling on about the details.

As Ethan lets out a loud laugh, contagious enough for Ryan to join in, Emma takes a few steps behind him and slams the bowl over his head. Shards of the glass shatter among him and he falls to the ground, allowing Ethan to slide the gun across the floor to Emma after it falls from his grasp.

"You bitch!" He screams.

Emma swiftly picks it up and Ethan whips back around to the couch, grabbing the knife he hid in the couch cushions. The two of them tower above him with their weapons pointed at him as he tries to stand up.

At the same time, Emma's father and three other officers bombard the space. Ryan tries to knock Emma over by hitting her knees from his position on the ground, but he fails when she jumps to avoid it.

"Stay on the ground! Don't move!" One of the officers yell, rushing over to him to put a foot on his back to keep him in place, "Put your hands behind your back."

Ryan doesn't attempt to struggle as he follows the officer's orders. He knows there's no use since he's surrounded by four armed officers and his gun is now being held by Emma.

"You're under arrest for attempted assault," The officer states as she puts him in handcuffs, proceeding to read the Miranda warning to him.

As he's being escorted out of the apartment by the officer, he walks past them with a harsh glare.

"Fuck both of you," He spits.

"Yea, yea, buddy. Keep moving," Officer Chamberlain comments.

Once he's left, Emma sets down the gun and runs to Ethan who appears to be frozen in shock. She immediately places his arms around his neck and holds onto him tight.

"Holy shit," He breathes.

—

fun fact, my dad is a retired police officer and he helped me write some of this, legit pulled out his big ass binder from academy to look up police codes for me