Both front doors of
the police cruiser swung open, and two uniformed men jumped out of the car. One
of them hurried towards the still shocked woman, who was sitting with her back
leaning against the wall and breathing heavily.
Seeing the empty
clothes lying on the ground in an arrangement resembling that of a shape of a
person, the cop looked around in confusion. Seeing that no one apart from
Astrid was around, he finally asked the woman if she were alright, and seeing
her nod, helped her stand up to her feet.
“We’ve got a problem
here! There are male clothes lying on the pavement, but there is no trace of
the person anywhere!”
“Stay put!” The other
policeman approached Astrid. “Are you the one who reported the crime?” the tall
officer asked her, to which she replied by shaking her head. “Are you
hurt?”
“No…”
“I am officer Sam
Stanford.” He showed her his badge. “What is your name, miss?”
“A-astrid Young,” the
woman replied with a degree of uncertainty. Is that even my true name?
“May I see your ID?”
An ID?! She searched all her pockets frantically, but she had
nothing on her.
“I-I don’t have an
ID,” she said, more to herself than to anyone else.
The police officer
eyed her suspiciously.
“I will take this
lady to the car, she is far too shaken to be able to talk now,” announced the
other cop.
“Okay,” replied Sam,
and diverted his attention back to Astrid. “What were you doing here then, Miss
Young?” he asked. “Do you know what happened to the rapist?” he asked, pointing
towards the abandoned clothes.
“I-I…” she stuttered.
“Listen! This is serious! The rapist is a goner by now! My inner self, who has
manifested in a human form and basically looks exactly like me, shrunk him down
and swallowed him…” she choked on her own words as she saw the facial expression
of her interlocutor.
The policeman backed
off a little, and took his revolver out of the holster, aiming at her.
“Dave,” he called his
colleague.” I think we are dealing with a dangerous psychopath here. “Miss
Young, you are gonna have to come with us.”
“What?!” Astrid
cried. “She is out there, probably already executing pre-emptive justice on
some other criminals! You have to stop her, not me!”
“Easy now, just
please stay calm, and nothing bad is going to happen,” the officer asked
calmly, lowering his gun. “See? I trust you.”
“You don’t
understand! I am not fucking going anywhere with you-”
She felt a pair of
strong arms grab her from behind, and restrict her movements. Her arms were
brought to her back, and she could feel the steel shackles being put on her
body. It’s the other cop, he must have sneaked up on me from behind… What a
mess!
Resigned and angry at
herself for being so stupid as to say such nonsensical things right away, she
let them lead her to the back seat of the cruiser. The assaulted woman sat in
the front, while she and the other cop in the back. They don’t trust me at
all.
They departed shortly
after another cruiser had arrived, and Sam shared the information with them.
The new cops stayed
behind to secure the evidence, while Astrid was being taken into the police
office for safety detention…
…
So it did happen. I
am kept in confinement now. Not exactly as bad as being locked up in prison,
but I am still stuck just the same. Meanwhile my doppelganger is rampaging
through the city, indulging in her evil deeds… Yes. Of course justice is not
her objective… She must be doing this for pure pleasure. Was I like that too?
No matter. I fucked up big time. Astrid was sitting on a narrow bed, and her eyes were
inspecting the corridor before her.
Through the open door
a few feet away, she could see a desk and a police officer working behind it.
Just moments ago she was asked all sorts of bizarre questions which were
supposed to let him determine whether she was mentally ill or not. It was a
truly unsettling experience; to be tested like that, knowing that everything is
okay, but also realising that there is no escape should the examination prove
otherwise… Of course they did not tell her what the verdict was. It was a bad
sign.
The man lifted his
head up from the paper on his desk suddenly, and looked directly into Astrid’s
eyes. The woman dropped her gaze. She shifted on her bed so that she was facing
away from the door, and the man could not see her from behind the wall of her
cell either.
“How long are you
gonna be sitting here?” A sudden whisper into her ear startled Astrid.
It’s her?! How?! “How the hell did you get in here?” she whispered
back.
“You should know.
After all, we are one.”
“We are not,” Astrid
argued.
“If you use your
powers, you can easily escape here anytime. I can help you escape if you want-”
“I can’t. They think
that I am mentally ill for what I told them about you. If I escape now, that
will only prove their point!”
“Oh, you told them
about me?” the black eyed Astrid asked in disbelief. “You are a traitor!” she
quipped with a grin. Of course, she knew no one could believe in any of what
had happened, not until they saw it happen themselves some other time that is.
“Please, just leave
me alone…”
“As you wish! I’ve
got a lot of work to do,” Astrid’s inner self said. “A lot of criminals to take
care of,” she added, and Astrid could feel the warm air of her breath wash
against her cheek.
That breath… For
everyone else who feels its warmth, it means certain death… I wonder if she
could just shrink and kill me too… And then the world would be lost… Before Astrid turned to face her inner self, the woman
had already vanished. She sighed.
That damn police.
They are doing all of humanity a disservice… Had it not been for them, I
might have been able to do something. I thought they would work with me. The
truth is, alone I am powerless… I had to try! But… It did not work… It couldn't
have… I have to stop my inner self now, or else… “Please, I beg you! Let me out of here! There are
gonna be more disappearances-” she cried, her face between the metal bars.
“Yeah, yeah, your
inner self, right. Please, just relax Miss Young. I’ve got serious work to do
here.”
“The real problem is
out there, damn it! Preemptive justice is being executed, while you are sitting
here doing some shitty paper work!” Astrid finally broke.
That’s enough! How do
I get out? Maybe I could shrink myself, and walk between these metal bars? But
how? She tried to imagine
herself dwindling down to three inches tall, just like the criminal before, but
nothing happened. Damn. I feel like a total dumbass. This nonsense has
already lasted far too long to be a dream… If it’s the real world, then there
is no way I could be able to do these things! “Hey, be honest! Is this
really happening, or am I trapped in some fucking nightmare?!” she shouted to
the man behind the desk, desperate to finally learn the truth.
“Miss, please calm
down-”
“No! I don’t wanna
calm down!” she shouted in fury. “I am done with this fucking nonsense! Let me
out now!” she got hold of the bars, and started shaking the lattice, causing a
disturbingly loud noise to reverberate in the corridor.
“Miss Young, if you
don’t settle down immediately, I will be forced to-”
Before he could
finish his sentence, the lattice gave away, and Astrid fell forward along with
it. Confused by what had happened, she slowly stood up.
The police officer
was still standing behind his desk, his eyes opened wide with fear. His shaking
hand was already holding a gun.
Before he was able to
say anything, Astrid jumped to the right; a random direction, unfortunately
away from the entrance, but she was under too much stress to be able to realise
that. The most important thing was succeeding in getting out of the potential
line of fire, should he pull the trigger.
She hurried along the
corridor, and broke through the door at the end, sending it flying a couple of
feet. She entered a room full of uniformed men. Some were drinking coffee, the
others were playing cards, or simply talking with each other.
The moment she
entered the room everything broke into grave silence, however, the men quickly
managed to get the hang of themselves, and reached for their weapons. It was
then that the officer who had been chasing her cut her off from escaping back
into the corridor.
Astrid stood there
paralyzed with fear. There was no way she could escape these many bullets. All
her thoughts had taken the form of one continuous high-pitched scream of
terror, which never manifested itself through her mouth, nor her body movement,
and instead continued to dull her senses.
She closed her eyes,
and waited for death to come, her heart beats getting louder and louder, the
banging in her ears deafening her, the pulsating pain inside her skull almost
causing her to lose consciousness, the moment of which would be perfectly
synchronised with the bullets, making her death fast and painless.
It had been seconds.
Then a minute. Nothing was happening. Shouldn’t they at least try and
restrict me?
The turmoil inside
her brain finally ceased, and Astrid found the courage to open her eyes. The
room was empty. She looked around. Have I…? She dropped her gaze, and
noticed weapons scattered on the floor. Tiny policemen, much smaller than the
stocks of their own guns lay on the floor unconscious.
With her face
completely pale, she slowly backed off, leaving the room. With her hands
shaking, she picked up one of the revolvers lying on the ground just next to
the door, and turned around slowly, before finally breaking into a wild sprint,
the mixed flood of various emotions fueling her to escape as fast as possible.
Before I hurt
someone…