A Rookie's Tale

Prompt: Write a story or poem and use in it... a tree in the mist, a girl on a bike with broken lights and a police car.
Winning Entry: 02/06/06
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Logan’s Helm is a small town of roughly a thousand residents nestled somewhere between two big cities. Nothing exciting ever happens in this town. With its Cape Cod homes, well-mowed lawns and neat streets, you can even consider it picturesque at first glance. It’s not a bad place, don’t get me wrong, after all I was born and raised in Logan’s Helm, but I’ll be damned if every once in a while I didn’t want something exciting to happen.

The name’s David Bradshaw – Officer David Bradshaw. I’m twenty-three years old, still wet around the ears (according to some) and already primed to be the next sheriff of Logan’s Helm...someday. The town’s got only one police department which also serves as a fire station and the local court. There are six of us in there – Chief/Judge Crockett, his deputies - Officers Allen, Mitchell and Scalia - Officer Sharon McGready – a babe in her own right (she mans the phones and just general secretary stuff) and then there’s me. The rookie. Just joined the force three months come Monday.

I guess I’ve always wanted to be a cop. You know how you watch TV and get to see all the cool men in blue fighting the bad guys? Yeah, I was one of those boys and now here I am, years later and bored out of my skull. I knew I should have taken that entrance exam to some university in Portland.

I huddle within my jacket in the police car, trying to keep warm. I’m on patrol tonight and I tell you, it’s the worst time of the day to be doing anything. For starters, nightfall around these parts begin sometime after five in the evening. By seven o’clock, it’s pitch black outside and a light mist descends on the town giving it an eerie feel. No one goes out for anything. I mean, who would? It makes you feel as if you’re the only one left in the world.

The crime rate around these parts is pretty non-existent. The last major arrest we made was a few weeks ago when two drunk guys at the only pub in the town got into a fistfight. Since then, I’ve rescued a cat from a tree, helped several old ladies cross the street and collected funds from the neighbors in the annual Logan’s Helm fundraising event for –

What…the…?

I sit up quickly, eyes squinting to make sense of what suddenly fills my vision. For a second, the mist clears and I can see the outline of the large oak tree before the library where I’m parked, and sure enough, there seems to be someone riding a bicycle towards me. Damn. The person doesn’t even have his or her headlights on and it’s wobbling pretty badly. It’s a miracle he or she hasn’t fallen off the damn thing by now.

All right, Officer Bradshaw, looks like it’s time for you to get to work. Just give him or her a sharp warning, maybe a citation and then…

“Jesus Christ!”

I stumble back into my car, hands fumbling for the radio as the person – a girl apparently – crashes into my cruiser with a sickening thud. A grotesque display of blood forms on my window as she slides across it and then falls to the ground. My breath is stuck in my throat, my heart pounding and racing a mile a minute as I try to make sense of what’s going on. I’ve never used a gun in my life…well not in real life situations and now I’m forced to remember everything I have learned back in the police academy.

If I can only get the damn thing out of its clip, that is. My hands are shaking so badly I can hardly think straight! Great going, David Bradshaw. You have a possible homicide on your hands and you can’t even pull out a simple handgun. But wait! I’ve got to call for backup first, right? Yes, that’s it!

“Uh…help! No…not help…uh…this is Cruiser one calling McGready. Requesting backup on…on….” Oh God! Where the hell am I?

“Oh yeah, Peach Corners! I’m on Peach Corners beside the library. I have a dead body…at least I think its dead…but I need back up now!” But to my chagrin, all I hear is static and I realize that the more I sit here pondering where Sharon’s gone to, there’s a young girl dying right in front of me.

Swallowing tightly, I step out of the car and although it’s a cold night, I’m sweating like a stuck pig. I lick my lips and hold the gun before me, walking slowly towards the front of my car to see if the girl is all right. I come to a sudden stop, my mouth opening in a soundless scream, feeling my insides curdle with fear at the sight before me. There’s the bike lying on its side with its headlight broken, a dark pool of blood but…no girl.

“What the…?”

“AAAAAAAAAAARGH!!!”

Something cold and clammy falls on my shoulders and I honestly do believe I see all twenty-three years of my life flash in those precious few seconds. I fall to my knees and begin to scream helplessly; only to stop as raucous laughter soon breaks through my cloud of terror.

I remove my hands from my face and look up slowly, feeling my tear-stained cheeks grow hot with embarrassment as I see the three familiar faces before me. Officers Allen and Mitchell are keeled over in delight while the ‘dying girl’ is none other than my own girlfriend!

“They made me do it,” she’s saying, trying not to laugh as well while I try to regain some sort of dignity after my humiliating display.

Hardy har har. I’m glad they’re enjoying this moment at my expense since nothing exciting ever happens in Logan’s Helm. I guess we ought to get our kicks the best way we can. I just wish I hadn’t been the victim this time around.


Word Count: 997