Familarity

Walking down the wet, cold, street was always something I loved doing, even as a child. Businesses lining both sides, trees separating the road from the sidewalks; it was perfect. The middle of October was always the best time in this part of town. The biter chill on every part of my body reminded me I was human, and reminded me to take in this moment. The streets could be full, or empty, depending on the day. Today, they were empty, fitting as it was noon on a Wednesday. Still, it was beautiful. A certain breeze was in the air that reminded me of my childhood, walking down these same streets, looking into one of the many businesses that set up shop here. Feeling nostalgic, I decided to peek my head into one of these. As I walked into the “Luckytronics” store, I saw an array of shelves all with various electronic devices displayed. Ranging from phones, to tablets, to computers, this store had everything. Being no larger then one thousand square feet, the store was compact. The store had white walls with a short, brown, carpet on the floor. Windows on the wall, to display their products to the world and provide some natural lighting. A singular counter at the back of the store with a cash register showed where to make purchases. Strolling around the shelves, handling some of the products that peeked my curiosity, I found a set of walkies-talkies. Having no one to give them too, I put them down. Suddenly, the sole employee in the store walked up to me.

“Hey! Finding what you need?” asked the employee, clearly just doing his job.

“Hi, nah I’m just looking.”

“Let me know if you need any help finding something.”

“I will, thanks.”

After this interaction he walked back to behind the counter and continued doing his work. I continued my saunter around the store, grabbing items from the racks that I found interesting. I had a thought. That guy looked really familiar. I swear I know him from somewhere. I couldn’t get this thought out of my head. I have met lots of white people, but I had a hunch that I had met this guy before. Something about his nose and his hairline really looked shockingly familiar. I had to build up the courage to go talk to him, I couldn’t let this opportunity pass. I had to walk up to the white, plywood. counter and talk to him. Here goes nothing.

“Hey man.”“Hey! Find anything?”

“Nah, nothing that really peaked my interest. Hey, this is gonna sound really weird but have we met before?”

“Not that I can re-” he stopped mid sentence and narrowed his eyes to get a better look. “Wait, maybe we have?”

“When you went up to me earlier, I had a thought that you looked really familiar.”

“What high school did you go too?”

“Mountainridge. What about yourself?”“Seal Coast. You really do look shockingly familiar; I swear we’ve met before. Did you go to college?”

“Yea, University of Washington.”

“That could be it, I went to Seattle Central College.”

“Oh, I used get coffee at a shop pretty close.”

“Oh yea? What coffee shop?”

“Harbor Grind.”

“No way! I used to go there all the time!”

“That must be where we met. I can’t see any other way.”

“For sure. Hey,um, not to sound weird but, can I get your phone number?” I pulled out my iPhone, ready to type in the number.

" Yea, sure, you ready?”“Yep, go for it.”

“Alright, five, five, five.”“Got it.”" Seven, three, two.”

“Yep.”“Four, four, nine, six.”

“Got it, thanks! I’ll make sure to text you soon.”

“I’ll be waiting!”

I walked out of Luckytronics, feeling content having made a new friend. The streets were still cold, and wet, as they had been before. I had quite the journey to get back home; I had roughly five miles to walk. I had to start the trek now or I would’ve been late for dinner with my wife. Strolling down the path gave me a lot of time to think. I still couldn’t remember where I had met that man before. I decided to go back in and ask one last question before actually starting my walk back home. I popped my head into Luckytronics one last time.

“Hey, one more question.”“Yea man, wassup?”“What’s your name?”

“Daniel Foster,” my eyes widen as I realized who I had just met. I had to keep my composure.

“Oh alright, thanks, I’ll talk to you later!”

My occupation as a police officer had its drawbacks, one of those being that you never truly forget any of the cases you work. Daniel Foster was an extremely violent serial killer. It had been 25 years since I had seen his face; we almost had caught him. I still don’t know how he escaped us. I knew there had to have been a firearm under that counter, probably multiple.

I called my police chief.

“Hey chief. I got a situation here at “Luckytronics” on Washington street.”" What’s the situation?”“Daniel Foster.”

“That son of a bitch, how do you know it’s him?”“He looks exactly like him and I asked him his name.”

“And he answered truthfully?”“Yea, it doesn’t make much sense to me either.”

“OK, I’ll send a PTU.”

“Thanks, I’ll wait here.”

I knew that he wasn’t going to go down peacefully, so a Police Tactical Unit was a good idea.

“Hello, Walker,” I heard behind me. I felt a cold, round piece of metal touch my temple at the same time as my spine shiver. I put my hands up to show that I was unarmed. After waiting for a few seconds, I swung my arm by my ear, hitting the pistol he was holding, knocking it to the ground. At the same time, I pulled my 9 millimeter out of my conceal carry holster and pointed it directly at him.

“Get down on your knees and hands behind your head,” I said while kicking his gun behind me. I reached into the back pocket of my blue jeans to retrieve the handcuffs that I always kept on my person encase of moments like this. Putting the freezing, metal handcuffs around him I read him his Miranda rights. “You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to an attorney. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be provided for you.” He was silent, knowing he was caught and that his years and dozens of homicides were over.

At the same time, the PTU finally drove in. They parked, got out of their car in full tactical equipment.

“Seems like you got this all covered,” joked the “Yea, thanks for pulling up.”“Just doing our job. We’ll take him from here.”“Thanks. Oh! One last thing,” he turned around, Daniel turning around in sync.

“Daniel, I just figured out where we met!”