One Step

Part One- The Man in the Water

Chapter 1

It all started when I saw the body. It was just floating in the water as if it had every right in the world to be there. But me being me, I had to change that.
We were driving down the road, my parents and me, on our way to the sunny and artistic city of Portland, Maine for a weekend trip. We were passing through the town of Springfield, Massachusetts for a bathroom break when my dad stopped at a red light. I was in the back seat, listening to music on my phone, when I looked out the window and saw something floating in the murky river that ran along side the road. At first I thought it was a log, but after a second I realized that it was a man, laying face down in the water. I instantly dropped my phone, pushed open the door and ran across the hot tar barefoot, my shoes still sitting on the floor of the car. Some of the other drivers gave me funny looks as I sprinted across the road, but those questioning looks turned to looks of fear when they turned their gazes to the stream, seeing what I saw. I laughed silently to myself as I half sprinted, half fell into the shallow river; it was only knee deep but about fifteen feet wide, and the body was on the other side stuck on a rock. The currant was stronger than it looked and I nearly fell over at least five times. By the time I had made it to the other side I was out of breath, and curse words. When I reached the man in the water I flipped him over so that he was face up, I felt his neck for a pulse.
“He is still alive!” I yelled over my shoulder, not looking to see if anyone had followed me, as I began to drag the man to the shore. I looked up when I reached the rocky land and saw a couple of people crossing the river on some rocks about ten feet up stream. By the time they had reached me I had already begun CPR on the man.
“I called the cops, they should be here any minute,” one guy with a really deep voice said, putting quite a bit of emphasize on I. I gave him a thumb’s up, not saying anything, concentrating on what I was doing.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” asked Mr. Deep-Voice. “You look a little young to know what you’re doing.” He said it in a matter of fact voice that really annoyed me.
“Just shut the hell up and let me work,” I muttered, pushing down on the dieing man’s chest in attempt to get air into his lungs. A few moments later I felt a hand on my shoulder, I turned, ready to tell off deep-voice again, and saw a man wearing EMS clothing.
“We’ll take it from here,” he said as the rest of his team swooped in.
Everything happened so quickly after that, whenever I think about it it’s like remembering a movie I saw long ago. Things came back to me in little snippets, like scenes cut from the big picture.
There were flashing red and blue lights and a bunch of people running around who were all dressed alike. One of the look-alikes helped me up off the ground. When I looked up to thank him the bright afternoon sun that was hovering in the sky overhead blinded me. The man began escorting me back across the river to a black and white car that said something on the side of it. We stepped onto the shore and were attacked by people holding big cameras and little boxes with lights on them. They came up to me, shoving the little boxes in my face and shouting questions so quickly that I couldn’t hear them. One man in particular was attempting to put his own face directly in front of mine to get my attention, so to get him to stop I punched him square in the nose. As blood began flowing out of his nose, staining his bright white shirt, the other people around me started quickly backing away.
“Well that’s one way to handle the press,” laughed my escort. I stopped suddenly when I remembered my parents, still in the car and probably wondering why the hell they didn’t tie me down.
“I need to talk with my mom and dad,” I remember demanding of the officer. He said something into the radio that was strapped to his shoulder and nodded before looking back at me.
“They were taken back to the precinct. You can see them after you get checked out at the hospital. I agree grudgingly and climbed into the cop car, leaving the scene behind us as we drove down the now closed road.
My eyes flicked over to the mirror on the side of the car and I watched as the flashing lights disappeared into the distance. When I could no longer see the lights I laid my head back and closed my eyes. Next thing I knew the cop was telling me to get out of the car. I climbed out and followed the man into the building we were parked in front of. We walked inside and were greeted with the lame excuse of a hospital waiting room. The cop told me to sit and then disappeared down the hall. I never saw the man again.
I sat down in one of the chairs, they were surprisingly comfy for waiting room chairs, and waited. I looked around, taking in my surroundings. The waiting room was decorated like any waiting room I have ever been in; shelves of flowers and stuffed animals that you could buy in the over priced gift shop, and tables with old magazines that people have torn apart. I looked over to the reception desk where an old lady with grey hair and big glasses was sitting, pecking at the computer keyboard with her wrinkly fingers.
Quickly getting bored I reached for my phone so I could play a game. It wasn’t in the pocket that I usually keep it in, so I frantically began patting all of my pockets searching for it. It didn’t help that I was wearing cargo pants. I stood up to search my back pockets when I remembered that I dropped my phone on the floor of the car when I first saw the man in the water. Disappointed and annoyed I fell back into the cushy chair. I got up again moments later and walked over to the magazine table. I shuffled through them for a second, and, finding only home décor with pages torn out and scribbled on coloring books, I spun around and slumped back into the chair. I looked at my watch and saw that I had only been here for about five minutes.
I sighed, trying to think of something to do. I reached over and grabbed one of the coloring books off the table. I opened to a random page and tore it out. The old lady didn’t even look up as I folded the paper into an origami crane. By the time I heard foot steps in hallway I had about thirty paper animals scattered around the table. I dropped the frog I was folding and got ready to stand just as a man wearing a long, black trench coat rounded the corner and entered the waiting room. I exhaled, disappointed that I had to continue waiting. I picked up the half finished frog just as the man pulled what looked like a short, black flute out of one of his pockets. I picked up the knife I had been using to cut the paper and flicked the blade out. There was a small click then a sound like someone shooting a blow dart, and then blood dripped down the old lady’s face and onto her blouse. Without hesitating I threw the knife at the man, hitting him just below and to the right of his left shoulder. He slowly turned around as if nothing had happed. I dove behind the table as he fired the gun again before he hit the ground. I felt the bullet as it grazed the side of my right arm. Warm blood drip down my arm as I lay behind the table.
“Shit,” I muttered under my breath as I watched from behind the cage of my arms the man fell to his knees, and then onto his face. The guy had one hell of a shot for a dying man. If I hadn’t move that bullet would have just about gone directly through my heart. I grabbed the cylindrical glass flower vase off of the table, dumping out the flowers as I sidestepped over to the man, ignoring the searing pain in my arm. I bent over and felt his neck for a pulse. I felt it flutter and then stop all together as his heart ceased beating. Just then a nurse followed by two security guards came running around the corner. They stopped dead when they saw me standing over the dead man with blood running down my arm.
“What happened?” panted the shorter, and fatter, of the two guards. “The nurse called saying she found a dead cop in one of the storage closets.”
“Is that the killer?” asked the other guard, nodding to the man on the ground. He was a tall man, a good head taller than the nurse next to him. He looked strong too, like a weight lifter. I got the odd feeling that he was a nerd in high school.
“Yeah,” I answered. “He just walked around the corner, pulled out a gun and shot Glasses over there. That was when I threw the knife. He some how managed to get off another shot as he died. Have to give him credit though, he nearly got me too.” I looked down at my bloody arm, then reached over and grabbed some tissues off the reception desk, attempting to dampen the blood flow.
“Where’d you get the knife?’ asked the short guard.
“My pocket,” I responded as I bent down and pulled the knife out of the dead man’s back. What little color was left drained from the guards’ faces as I held up the bloody knife.
“Where is the bathroom?” I asked. “Blood stains and these pants are already dirty enough.” Now all three of them had a look of fear and astonishment painted on their face. Between the fact that I had run through a river and just got shot at, I probable looked like a total wreck.
“It’s just around the corner on the right,” said the nurse, indicating with her hand what she was saying. “Joe, can you call the police and tell them what happened. Gram, I want you to stay with…”
“Kasey,” I filled in.
“Stay with Kasey until they get here.” The taller one, Joe, started walking to the desk to use the phone.
“Tell them to bring whatever they need to get a bullet out of the wall,” I said nodding to the hole in the wall behind where I had been standing. He nodded his head, showing he understood, though he looked like he would rather throw up then do what the nurse had told him to do.
Fear was still very clear on all of their faces.