Trouble At Home

Poe

"Commander, Commander! We've got the building surrounded. Give us the signal and we'll begin entry," I reported, leaning my head sideways and raising my shoulder to talk better into the walkie-talkie. I felt a rush of adrenaline as I did so. All throughout my childhood, I had wanted to be like this, an officer, a hero defending innocent civilians. Nothing felt better than knowing that a hardened criminal was in the cross-hairs of the BCPD. "You're a go," my walkie-talkie spat. I motioned silently towards the unit, pointing inwards. Moving cautiously, I pushed open the door into the alleged apartment of crime boss Naria White. My squad fanned out behind me and we searched through the penthouse. I heard a rustling noise near the balcony, and I hurried towards it, my gun at the ready. Sliding open the balcony door, I just found a pot of ferns whistling harmlessly in the wind. The moon shone, a full milky white sphere, onto my face, but White was nowhere to be found. Frustrated, I led my squad through another sweep but she had somehow disappeared, falling through my clutch like a slippery eel. As we drove back to Headquarters, I could almost sense a shadowy figure trailing along the rooftops. I ducked my head out of the passenger seat to look, but nothing except the flickering yellow streetlights stared back.

Butch

I waited for Poe to give the signal. I followed him closely, the flashlight above my gun piercing into the darkness of the apartment. Poe was stupid and heady, but I couldn't let my guard down just because he'd once legitimately said that chocolate milk had come from brown cows. Despite his intellectual shortcomings, he could shoot straighter than every other man at the precinct. Still, his accuracy with a 50-foot target was nothing compared to my accuracy with a pistol pressed against his forehead. I couldn't let him find Naria, sweet Naria. As the squad entered the apartment, I could make out its familiar walls and quietly inhaled her citrus and lilac scent. It was everywhere in the penthouse, and I headed for the bedroom first, acting careful as if I didn't already know every floorboard of the hallway.

Naria and I had been together for two years now, but I'd never expected to have to hunt her down with an order to kill on sight. Of course, I had no plans to do whatever Poe commanded, and if he found her, well, it was going to be night-night Poe and hello Naria. Tom followed me to the bedroom and after doing a quick sweep, I shook my head at him. Tom seemed a bit on edge lately. Backing out of the bedroom, I flashed my light towards a home office. Forcing myself not to smile, I recalled a particularly delightful memory that Naria and I had shared a few months ago. Tom nudged me. "You gonna look, man?" Startled, I realized that I had just been standing in the doorway for a few seconds. I shot him a disdainful look over my shoulder.

"Hey, chill, man. There's no way out of this room. If she's here, she's still gonna be here." I retorted. I scanned the room slowly, taking my time, knowing that there was behind the wall, there was a secret panel. I stepped gingerly on the carpet, sweeping my flashlight over the dusty bookshelf. "Heh. Looks like White didn't do much reading, yeah?" I called back at Tom.

He snorted. "Leave it to you to take that away from here."

I laughed and elbowed him playfully. "Hey, just relax. What's up with you lately?" I asked, playing genuine concern in my tone.

"It's just --," he sighed. "Trouble at home, man."

I clicked my tongue. "Sorry bout that. Kids giving you a rough time?"

He shook his head. "Ah, it seems like everyone's out to make my life horrible."

I nodded sympathetically. "Don't worry, Tommy. Let's go get drinks after this whole White business, eh?"

He gave me a halfhearted smile. "Thanks, Butch. I think I'm gonna have to pass on the offer though. If I don't get back home, more stuff might just hit the fan."

I sighed and clapped his back. "Just keep on truckin, Tommy."

We walked out of the room and reported back to Poe. "Nothing, Captain, sorry."

He nodded calmly, but I could see the veins popping out of his neck and temples in frustration. He burst into the balcony, but nothing except the wind blew through. Poe gathered the squad back into the two armored trucks, and I hopped into the driver's seat. We drove silently through the night under the cracked lamplights of Bartem City. Suddenly, a chill crept down my spine and I fought not to stiffen. A quick glance in my periphery confirmed my suspicions. Naria was running alongside the truck along the rooftops, periodically disappearing in the blocks of metal and tile. I wanted to yell at her to stay away, but I just gritted my teeth inaudibly and continued driving. I could tell Poe sensed something too, and he poked his head out the window to look. I quickly swerved left a bit, causing him to slightly lose his balance, and he ducked back inside, sparing me an irritated glance. I looked back. "Sorry, Cap'n, just a little slip." I apologized. He nodded, hardly paying me any attention, and I continued on towards Headquarters.

Unexpectedly, a crash resounded in the back. The truck skidded to the right and it felt like something had bumped into the van. I slowed down a bit but before I could ask what had happened, a huge black object slammed into my head and everything went black.

Tom

Distracted, I entered the apartment. Naria's lilac and citrus scent hit me like a truck, and I nearly reeled backwards. The pain and heartache that followed anything associated to her was nearly overwhelming. Just being on the squad in this case had hurt me in ways more painful than I could have imagined. It seemed only a week ago that she'd slammed the very door we just walked through in my face, spat the harshest words in my devastated face, and slapped her ring into my trembling hand. And it was literally only a day ago when she had... when she had... I tried to force it out of my mind. I swallowed loudly and continued to walk on into her apartment. Not much had changed since I'd walked into it for the first time two years ago. She had changed my world and I had loved every second of it. Then, when it had ended, she changed my world again... and now I hated every second of it.

I wiped the sweat off my brow and continued forward into the house. I followed Butch into a wooden hallway, and the floorboards seemed to groan with the pain in my heart. I couldn't put it aside. Naria had been everything in my life, all my reasons to live passionately, and in leaving, she had left a dark void. At home, I reached for a hand that wasn't there, wanted a touch on the shoulder that would never come, and longed for a chair that she would never fill again. Her death had struck me like a lightning bolt hurled from the gods.

Butch entered the home office. Oh, god, the home office. I remembered twirling carelessly on the swivel chair, looping her into my sturdy arms, holding her close while we hummed to a song playing over the speakers. We had so many favorite songs that we'd just sway to, not knowing the words but feeling the melody within our souls. Butch seemed to pause in the doorway, and despite my bleeding heart, I thought it odd.

""You gonna look, man?" I nudged him. Burdened with pain, it came out unnecessarily harsh, and Butch felt it too.

"Hey, chill, man. There's no way out of this room. If she's here, she's still gonna be here." Butch shot me a wayward glance. I gulped again and continued to sweep over the room, pretending like I didn't know every nook and cranny to this place. I would never forget everything about Naria. Butch passed over the secret panel, hardly shining his light over it for more than a second. He paused when he reached the bookshelf. Naria's favorite books were lined up there, including her three copies of "Alice in Wonderland." She and I had read that book seven times, murmuring its chapters to each other on sunshine-filled picnics, in steaming hot tubs, and while riding bikes along the beach.

"Heh. Looks like White didn't do much reading, yeah?" Butch remarked, turning around. I gave a false smile and agreed. Naria had loved reading. Loved books down to the smell of their pages and the dark ink of their words. But of course, I couldn't correct him. My heart longed to, ached to. Naria had only been dead for a day. I wasn't ready for it. She couldn't leave me like this, so frozen and seized by grief over her that I couldn't even focus on scanning her godforsaken library.

Butch, noticing my discomfort, asked me if I was okay. I gave him some excuse or another about difficulties at home. That was always an excuse that would get you some vague explanation. After all, everything happened 'at home.' Everything, even Naria's death. Oh, God, I really couldn't stop thinking about her. I knew this search was futile, and I was sweating just envisioning about her pale, lifeless face pressed against my worn kitchen table, eyes still wide open like she was surprised at some fact I'd just told her.

Butch shook me out of my trance. "Wanna get drinks after this White business?" he asked, a congenial inquiry. I shook my head and murmured some more random filler about problems, problems, problems. It seemed like an eternity before we were called back. After reporting to Poe, I took my seat in the back of the van, staring hard at the floor and the combat boots of whoever was sitting across from me. The tires rattled over the lumpy asphalt road and we were jolted every time the pavement wanted to remind us of how uneven it was. Our gear only shook slightly, the majority of our weapons being strapped to our sides, but I hardly noticed. I was too busy trying to keep Naria out of my head.

Suddenly, something crashed and the combat boots in front of me keeled over. Something had made a huge dent in the van, knocking out the three men in front of me. I looked up in alarm. Me and two other men were left, not counting Poe and Butch in the front compartment. Glass splintered loudly, and the van began turning wildly. Butch and Poe must have been hit. I stood up, gun at the ready, swinging it around to hopefully target the attacker if they struck again. Abruptly, the back doors of the van flew open. As the truck plummeted down a hill, I lost my balance and fell down towards Butch and Poe. My vision blurred and all I heard were several punches, a few painful-sounding cracks, and a quickly silenced groan. I raised my head with difficulty, trying to look at the assailant. Arms carried me out of the speeding van, and I found myself slumped against a graffiti-ed warehouse, a woman's face floating in front of me. "Naria?" I whispered, delirious. "Naria?"