Sucker Punched

BULLET

[three years ago]

BANG. A shot was fired, and the bullet found its home in the flesh of a dark haired woman. The shell hit the ground at the same time as the body and the masked man stepped over the bleeding female to stand at the teller. "I'd like to make a withdrawal," Despite his shrouded face, the tone of his voice made his remorseless smile known to everyone in the bank.

.

Outside in a silver, four-door Lexus a thirteen year old sat waiting for a mother that would never come back to the car. She itched to get out of her dance clothes and finally get home for dinner. The smell of the takeout filled the car tempting her to risk the trouble she could get in for eating on the leather seats. They got the usual order from Jade Dragon: two orders of General Tao's chicken (one spicy the other regular), one order of orange chicken, three spring rolls, white rice, and steamed vegetables.

The only thing that distracted her from the moral debate between her stomach and brain about eating now was the line of police cars that came flooding the street. She expected them to just whizz past, but to her surprise they came to a stop in front of the BB&T.

The smiley faced plastic bag was disregarded as she peered out the window. The loud sirens didn't cease as the block was barricaded and policemen flooded the area.

Was something going on in the bank? Her mother was in there! What was happening. She fumbled to undo her seat belt, her hands unable to work correctly. When she was finally free, she opened the door of the car and stepped out, her ballet shoes doing nothing to cushion her feet from the rough road.

It was a good five minutes before any of the officers noticed her meandering around.  "Hey kid!" A large man stood in front of her, his badge reflecting the red and blue lights of the squad cars, "What the hell are you doing here?"

It took her a few moments to register him speaking to her.  "I'm waiting for my mom.  She's making a deposit in the bank.  I got tired of waiting in the car," She explained like it was an obvious fact.

"What's your name?"

"Paige."

"Look Paige," The police man bent his knees slightly to be on her level, "The bank is being robbed.  He has a gun-"

"What?" Paige cut him off with an uncharacteristic squeak, "My mom is in there!"

"I know, you said that."  He took off his hat and looked into the girls blue eyes that reflected fear, "I don't want to say this but someone was shot.  I'm sure it wasn't your mom.  We are doing everything we can right now okay."

Another officer appeared behind the first one and looked apologetically at Paige. "Sorry about Officer Ledger, he's new and I'm sure he doesn't mean to worry you."

The first police man shot a glare at the second "Im just trying to help," he huffed.

Paige's eyes darted between them as she struggled to piece together what was happening. For brief moment, she had thought everything was alright before the police man told her someone had been shot. Now Paige felt ill and woozy and on the edge of conciseness before collapsing to the ground in a leotard clad heap.

.

Swat forces flooded in, guns drawn but the thief simply wasn't there. In his wake, the only things that remained were an empty safe, terrified civilians, and one casualty. A peak at the drivers license identified her as Jameson, Alice, 39 years old.

.

Paige woke up in the back of a squad car, lights still flashing around her. Exiting the vehicle the first thing she saw was a body shrouded in a white sheet being wheeled out. One look at the shoes peaking out and Paige new it was her mother.

Her throat let out a guttural scream as she fell to her knees, not caring who saw her outburst. Her mom was dead. She had every right to scream.

....
This sucks. I'm sorry.