Stay Inside

22. Hannah

He didn't kill me.

For a moment, I thought he would. I saw Lothryn blinded with anger. He torqued my bruised and bloodied wristed until my knees buckled and I sank to the floor. I had forgotten how strong he was. He pulled me through the hall and forced me back into his bedroom.

I continued to scream. I needed the police to know I was there. Lothryn shoved me to the floor and clamped a shackle around my ankle. But I wasn't fully restrained. He left me there and slammed the door behind me.

For a moment, it was like nothing had changed. I was back in my prison with all the progress I had made with my captor undone. but in moments, I heard the front door crack open and the police officers enter with heavy footfalls.

"Come out! Hands where I can see them!" I heard a man shout.

Then, there was quiet, a whispered communication between the officers. Officer Clemmons took point and moved carefully down the hall with his pistol drawn, the same way he had many times before. But he couldn't anticipate Lothryn, who had been trained by his father to survive. He didn't expect a cornered killer wielding an ornamental pike from a renaissance faire.

I heard two gunshots. The first was cacophonous. The second was even louder. In the moment, I didn't know what happened. I had grown up wary of police officers. They would frequent the areas I lived in to break up celebrations on account of noise violations. Occasionally, they arrested neighborhood boys for suspected gang activity. I saw them as invincible with every weapon at their disposal and bulletproof vests. So I assumed Lothryn was dead. I couldn't believe a boy, no matter how strong, would win against a cop.

But then, I heard Detective Jarvis speak into her radio. Her voice was panicked, shaken by whatever she had just seen.

"HQ, we've got an officer down. Requesting immediate backup. Suspect is armed and dangerous."

"Hold position, Detective," the radio crackled back at her. "Back-up will be arriving shortly."

My heart sank. Lothryn had killed one of my potential saviors. And it occurred to me, all too suddenly, that a police presence did not mean a guaranteed rescue. Officer Clemmons and Detective Jarvis were just regular people. Clemmons was taken by surprise and murdered. Jarvis was succumbing to anxiety. I realized I still might need to save myself.

"I have a hostage here," said Jarvis.

"I have two units within six minutes of you," replied HQ.

Six minutes? A lot could happen in six minutes. Lothryn could kill the detective and me in less time than that.

"Six minutes," Jarvis echoed my thoughts. She sighed loudly. "Copy."

I heard her turn on her heel and walk down the hall. She knew, just as well as me that she had to neutralize the threat on her own.

"Hello Sir? My name is Detective Lynn Jarvis." She spoke with forced bravado. I could hear her uncertainty and her fear. "I'm with the Los Angeles Police Department. You have killed a police officer and kidnapped a woman. In less than six minutes this place will be swarming with LA's finest. You may either surrender peacefully to me now, or surrender your fucking life!"

I heard a creak of the wooden floorboards in front of my door. For a moment, I wondered if she would enter my room. I worried that she would and that Lothryn would shoot her in the back of her head. But she didn't. Instead there was another moment of silence.

Then a thump. Then a gunshot.

"Got you, you fuck!" I heard Jarvis say.

I thought that meant Lothryn was dead, but Jarvis continued.