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…