Retrospect

Eight

The officers' scanners blared as soon as they were pointed at me and I took off running. Everything was a blur. I could hear shouts behind me but they were muffled. My legs pounded on the concrete, heart thumping as my hood blew down, revealing my blue wig. The alley was growing closer and soon, I had run into the familiar darkness of it. There was a turn so I took it, sprinting by trash bags and fire escapes while loud thuds of boots followed me closely.

Just as I was coming back out of the alley on a different street, I was yanked back aggressively by my arm. Screaming I spun around and was met with the mask of an officer. I flicked the pocket knife up and shoved it at them. They flinched a little and loosened their grip on my arm, which I took advantage of. I tugged, breaking away from the officer's grasp and immediately darting out from the alley. The sea of people swallowed me up and I used the crowds to hide, just like I had at the celebration.

As I was pushing past everyone, a siren sounded from somewhere on the building in front of me and all the people scattered, revealing little old me with no cover. I began sprinting again as soon as the civilians had parted. The only thing I could think of doing to escape was climb a fire escape, but I didn't know exactly what I would do once I was at the top. I went ahead anyway and jumped up on a garbage can. From there, I launched myself onto the stairs hanging above me, knocking over the can as I did.

Swinging from the bottom step, I mustered all my strength and pulled up. The officers below had just missed my foot. I crawled up the first set of stairs before I could get to my feet, then ran up the rest. My sneakers clanged on the metal and the whole fire escape vibrated with my every step. I looked down and saw that an officer was on the first landing that I had just been on a second ago. They sure were fast.

I ran up all of the stairs without any officers catching me, but once I stumbled onto the roof, I saw no way down. Hearing the sound of feet behind me was a reminder that I had to move quickly. There was no time for hesitation. Squeezing my hands into fists in frustration, I glanced around the rooftop. All of the buildings were tightly packed in our city, yet this building just had to be a little spaced out from the ones around it. There were large gaps that made it close to impossible to jump over them.

I breathed in as I bolted over to the edge of the roof and peered down. If I fell, it was likely I would break a bone or two. A sharp voice cut the temporary silence. "Stop right there!" I wasn't facing them but I could already imagine the dilating eyeholes of the officers' masks and the guns they held with bullets as sharp as my pocket knife.

I heard one of the officers say something about calling in an aircraft just in case. This made my legs feel like jelly, but I knew I had to stay strong, no matter how panicky I was right now. "Drop your weapon!" I heard. Gulping, I let the knife clatter to the roof. The only thing that made me feel safe. "Put your hands up and turn around! Slowly!" The officer demanded.

Raising up both of my hands like they wanted, I hesitated to reveal my face. "Now!" The officer barked. My breaths grew ragged as I realized this was it. I would get arrested and taken to prison and killed. Closing my eyes, I spun slowly as if I were on display, facing the officers.

I opened up my eyes again and took in six figures dressed in black with all types of devices hanging off their belts. I heard one of them gasp at the sight of me. Guess they weren't expecting it to actually be who they were searching for. "Remove your wig!" One of the officers ordered and I obeyed. I let the blue hair drop next to the pocket knife. "Now stay right there!" They approached me in a line, giving me no space to escape through. The middle officer was holding out a tracker, creeping closer and closer, ready to snap it on my arm and take me away.

I tried to come up with a last minute trick I could pull, something that would distract the officers. I knew giving up felt terrible and I definitely didn't want to do it so easily. The officers weren't stopping. I scanned around the city and then the rooftop. The pocket knife was laying near my feet, not far away.