Stop the Bullet

Derek thought he was there for a simple lunch with his daughter....He didn't know he was in the middle of a war.

                Derek sat inside of his car in front of the café.  He was tired.  This week had seen a lot of late shifts including one double thanks to several shootings that had occurred in the surrounding area.  Gang violence had been growing, communities were split down the middle in regards to trusting police or not, and police were split down the middle in regards of how to respond to the communities. 

                “Hey, are you sure you don’t want to join us at Charlie’s,” his partner said.  “I’m sure everyone would be happy if Abbey came, too. We all love that girl.  Plus, I need to convince her to come babysit my kids for me again.”

                “Those monsters that you call kids,” Derek laughed, “need more than a babysitter.  They need shock collars.”

                “I tried to tell that to my wife, but she said something about that not being what a good father suggests or something like that.  I told her that the shock collar is a better idea than the Taser.”

                “Well, I’m sure Abbey would love to help.  I need her to focus more on her studies and less on boys; so if you can guarantee that your kids will help with that, then you can have her.”

                “My kids will chase any boys away.”  They both laughed.

                “I really just want to have a good old fashion dad/daughter lunch date today.  I’ll bring her to Charlie’s another day.”

                At that moment, Derek saw his daughter walking down the sidewalk to the café.  He stepped out of the squad car, and she saw him right away.

                “Hey, honey.  How are you?”  Derek gave her a hug. 

                “Oh, you know.  Half day at school because of a teacher’s conference or whatever seems like a waste of time.  Why not just give us the whole day off?”

                “Obviously, they want you to learn as much you possibly can.”  Abbey snorted in response.  Derek turned to his partner and gave a nod; signaling him to leave.  “How about we get some lunch and some good old fashioned milkshakes.”

                “Sounds good, and then we can talk about whatever you feel like you need to get off your chest.”  Derek raised his eyebrows.

                “Perceptive.  You need to apply this to your schoolwork.”

                “Dad, you didn’t expect me to believe that you asked me to have lunch with you, and that you didn’t have an agenda?” Abbey smiled.  At least, she was okay with knowing that. 

                They both walked into The Buffalo.  A hostess and waitress were talking as they walked up. 

                “I’m just saying that we need better examples out there for our kids to look up to,” the waitress was saying.  “I have nothing against cops, but they…”

                “Trina, hush,” the hostess said noticing Derek and Abbey.  She put on a big, bright smile.  “How are you doing today?  Welcome to the Buffalo.  Do you just need a table for two?”

                “Yes,” Derek said.  He noticed that the waitress had a flushed look on her face.  She knew that he had heard her, and he didn’t want that to be uncomfortable for her.  He flashed a smile. “And I think you’re right.  The police can’t always be the heroes needed.  We need help. It takes everybody to make our communities and cities safe.”

                The waitress perked up. 

                “Exactly.  I mean, what would you do if you found out that you could stop the violence and hate; stop the bullets and guns?  We all can do it.”

                Abbey shook her head when they were seated.  Derek frowned.

                “What’s wrong?”
                “I don’t want you to take this the wrong way, but I get a lot of crap at school and from friends because you’re�"a cop. And I am proud of you for that.  I’m proud of you for everything you do and have done in the past, but,” Abbey sighed.  “What the waitress and you were talking about just doesn’t seem like it’s gonna happen.”

                “What do you mean, honey?” 

                “Like I don’t think that we’re going to see things change just because people have good intentions and try to make things change.  We actually need a hero. We actually need someone who can save us from this.  Did you know that one of the shootings a few days ago was the cousin of one of my classmates?  He was there when it happened, and he couldn’t do anything to stop it.”

                “That’s rough.” Derek saw his daughter sigh. 

                “I just look at the kids I babysit, and I want them to know that they don’t have to be afraid.  That’s all that people want; not to be afraid.”

                “I agree honey, and I….” The waitress from the entrance stopped at their table.

                “My name is Trina, and I will be your waitress today.” She looked at Derek.  “Officer, I do want to apologize if I offended you back there.”

                “You didn’t. Trust, me.”  She seemed to accept that.

                “Can I get ya’ll anything to drink?” Abbey ordered water; Derek, coffee.  When she had disappeared, Derek felt a sudden chill.  A young black man followed the hostess past him to another table.  It was a split second, but Derek happened to look down as the man walked by with his arms swinging slightly.  The tattoo of a green skull on his forearm was a symbol for a local gang that just had a shooting occur involving them.  Derek then saw the gun stuck into the side of his pants.  Before he could react, the man slid into the booth next to Abbey, wrapped his arm around her shoulder, and faced Derek with a look of hate.

                “Officer, before you do anything. I have a gun jammed into your daughter’s rib cage.  I will bust a cap in her and blow her guts all over this table if you do anything to make me angrier than I am.”

                Derek felt his heart start to beat faster, and he gave a quick re-assuring glance to Abbey.  She kept her eyes on him and gave a nod.

                “What can I do for you, young man?” 

                “You can tell all of these people in the restaurant to leave.”  Derek nodded.  The hostess was heading back to their table as she just now noticed that the young man wasn’t following her anymore. 

                “Excuse me,” Derek leaned to her.  She smiled obliviously.  “I need you to do me a favor.  I need to you to get everyone out of this building as quickly and calmly as possible.”

                “I�"um,” the hostess looked confused. “You want me to tell people to leave?”

                “Yes,” Derek said trying to remain calm but also trying to stress urgency.  She wasn’t getting it. 

                “Why?” Derek mentally smacked her.  The man across from him on the other hand quickly brought the gun up to Abbey’s head. 

                “Because if you don’t, I’m going to blow her head off and then yours.” 

                The hostess screamed and ran; which alerted the customers and staff behind the counter to the situation.  Derek watched the young man as customers and staff ran out of the building.

                “Stop!” the young man yelled as their waitress ran past.  She froze; whimpering and shaking.  “You stay right there.  Don’t you move.”

                When everyone had exited, the young man sneered at Derek.  He directed his next words to the waitress. 

                “Lock the front door, and then get this cop what he ordered.  I want him to know that though I’m about to kill this girl, I’m not a complete jerk.”

                The waitress moved quickly.  For the next few moments, Derek stared at the young man. He stared right back.  This kid had some hurt in him.  Derek could sense it.  He just needed to be patient and calm with the situation and pray that Abbey would be able to do the same thing.   

                The waitress returned with a water and a coffee.  Her hands trembled.

                “You can set the coffee and water down there.”  The waitress steadied the coffee mug as liquid spilled a little over the top. Once the mug touched the table, she released it quickly and moved away from the table; taking shelter behind the counter. Ben stared intently into the young man’s gaze across from him. “Sure you don’t want anything?”
                “You think this is a joke, don’t you?” The sneer on the man’s lips caused his upper lip to curl up as his teeth clenched together so hard that his body trembled. Derek shook his head.
                 “I don’t think this is a joke,” he said calmly. The truth was that three things were occurring right now. Derek was trying to keep himself calm and cool even though he felt a complete panic, he was trying to keep the man in front of him from reacting in a way that could make this situation worse, and the barrel of the gun in the young man’s hand moved ever so slightly down his seventeen-year-old daughter’s cheek and stopped just under the quickening pulse on her neck. She stared directly into her father’s eyes and took quick shallow breathes through her nostrils. Derek picked up his coffee mug and took a sip. “What’s your name?”
                 “Oh, I get it. You wanna get personal.”  The gun pushed deeper into Abbey’s neck, and Derek saw her tense up. “You can call me T.J.”
                 “Alright, T.J. I understand that you may be thinking that something is going on here that really isn’t. My daughter and I are just having lunch.”
                 “Man, you think I’m a stupid n***a or something?” The sneer on his face returned. “You know why I’m here.”  Derek knew. Two nights ago, there was a shooting during a drug raid in this area behind a drug store. Two teenage African America boys had been shot. One was a gang member.  The other one was a young man working at the drug store who got caught in the line of fire. With the uproar in the country about racial injustice, Derek knew that there would be some negative feedback even though both teens were now out of critical condition. T.J. nodded to Derek’s uniform, and Derek nodded.
                “Yes, I’m a cop, and I’m guessing that you’re upset about what happened to the boys that were shot earlier this week.”
                 “Upset? You think I’m upset? One boy was my brother! Cops shot him. Pigs shot him.” He turned to Abbey and spit in her face. She whimpered as the saliva slid down her face. “How do you feel, cop! I just spit on your little girl.” Derek was furious, but for now, Abbey was okay.
                 “I’m sorry, T.J. I can’t imagine what you’re going through; you or your family. But this isn’t the way.”
                 “This�"this is war!” The gun left Abbey’s neck for a moment as T.J. pointed to the doorway with it. “Out there is a war zone! Black people getting shot by the cops! Cops getting off free! I ain’t got a pops taking me out to lunch cause he’s in jail! My brother gets shot because the only way he can help me and mom is work at a drug store at night! He wasn’t even involved in the drug deal, and you shot him. So, no! This is war!”
                 The sound of sirens faded in from the distance, and Derek assumed that one of the ten people who had gotten out of the café when the gunman had announced himself had immediately phoned the situation in to the authorities. He had already noticed the news vans outside. Now, it was just him, his daughter, the waitress behind the counter, and T.J. Derek pushed the coffee cup away.
                 “I know war, T.J.  My daughter was almost ready to be born when I was first deployed. In fact, I remember the first real skirmish I was in because I had gotten the call earlier that day that my wife was in labor,” Derek leaned forward slowly as to not startle the boy. “My closest friend over there was a small African American guy named Bernard, but everyone called him PacMan. He was the hardest working soldier I ever saw, and he would always say to us, “Fellas, I never saw a war that couldn’t be won without guns and weapons, and I never saw a war that could be one without peace”. So, my first skirmish, I found myself under heavy fire in an abandoned house. We thought the whole village had been abandoned, but we were taken by surprise and didn’t have a prayer of escaping. All of a sudden, the door bursts open, and I’m face to face with an enemy soldier. Both of our guns drawn, and I’m thinking that I’ll never meet my daughter. We’re at a standoff. He’s shouting at me. I’m shouting at him. Then PacMan walks into the house with his hands up. He slowly approaches the man and reaches into the pocket in his fatigues and pulls out a picture. It’s a picture of his son. He holds it out to the man and the solider looks at it with his gun still pointed at me. Then with one free hand, he also pulls out a picture of his little boy. After a moment, he backs out of the door without a single word. T.J. I know there’s a war out there. But that war isn’t going to be won with that gun in your hand, son. And I don’t have a picture to show you. You’ve got my daughter right there.”
                 Derek held up a hand and reached down to his side. T.J. watched the cop’s gun being placed on the table. Abbey whimpered again.
                 “There you go, T.J.” Derek held his hands up. “If this is war, the fight is now in your hands. What are you going to do?”

                T.J. made quick glances from the gun to the cop in front of him.  His grip on his gun and the girl didn’t ease. Derek knew that he was making a decision.  There was a lot of noise coming from outside.   He could guess what was happening.  Several cars were outside, SWAT had probably been called, the news had already talked to the witnesses, and none of this was going to make Derek’s decision easier. 

                “Derek, what’s your decision going to be?” 

                In response, T.J. reached for Derek’s gun on the table.  He leaned forward and whispered in Abbey’s ear.

                “I’m going to make the decision yours.” Abbey’s eyes widened.  “You decide how this is all going to end, okay?” 

                Derek looked at Abbey.  He could see the fear in her eyes as she processed what the gunman was asking her to do; what he wanted her to choose.  She swallowed as she started to speak.

                “I-I don’t know what you want.”  T.J. jabbed the gun harder into her neck.

                “I want you to whether or not I should shoot you and let your daddy now what it feels like to lose someone he loves.”  Abbey shook. 

                “I�"I think that if you don’t shoot me, you will be showing others and the community that you really want to change and stop the cycle of hate going on,” Abbey spoke quickly. “You’ll show that to your brother, too.”

                Derek felt his jaw tighten.  She was so brave.  T.J. let that marinate for a moment. 

                “You think that will change the cycle of hate?  You think that will change things?”   Abbey slowly nodded.

                “I�"I think�"that�"it just takes one person to make a difference if that person will be the hero that is needed.”

                T.J. nodded and looked at Derek. 

                “You got a brave girl here,” he said.  “You also have a dead one.”

                The gun went off.  A loud crack echoed in the restaurant, and Derek closed his eyes. His chest felt like it was going to erupt.  His ears rung and took a few seconds to go away.  When it did, Derek opened his eyes.  T.J. still had the gun pointed to Abbey’s head.  A wisp of smoke exited from a small crack between the barrel of the gun and her skull.  The look on T.J.’s face must have been the same one on Derek’s.  Abbey kept her eyes on her dad.  They were wide, and her jaw dropped as all she could do was gasp.  T.J. pulled the gun away from her head.  The bullet fell, hit the seat, and rolled onto the floor.  Derek looked at his daughter.  Not a mark on her.

                T.J.  pulled the trigger again.  Abbey’s body jerked, but again, nothing happened to her.  T.J. looked at Derek, and without hesitation, ran from the table dropping the gun on the floor.  Derek didn’t move even when he heard the commotion going on outside when T.J. ran from the building He could believe what he just saw.  Abbey slowly put her hand to her head and gasped when she didn’t feel anything. 

                “Dad,” she croaked.  “What just happened?”

 

 

 

Author's Note

This is for a writing project that someone ordered