Framed

          Andy, in extreme pain, managed to make a low, almost whisper-like grunt.  “What was that?” the girl asked, with noticeable trembling in her voice.  “No idea,” her boyfriend said carelessly, “Forget it.”  The girl sighed as she pushed away from him.  “Come on!” he belted out in annoyance.  She quietly stepped through the dark alleyway towards Andy.  Then, her foot barely nudged Andy in the face.  She screamed, her eyes furiously searching for this figure she bumped into.  “Throw me your lighter!” she screamed, so as he could hear her through the pouring rain pounding the fire escape above their head.  He tossed the lighter blindly into the air. “Wow, and you're a quarterback?” She began looking for the tiny object in the blinding darkness. 

         Andy felt a thud against his thigh.  Mustering up a tremendous amount of energy for what seemed to be a petty task, but was daunting to him, he caught a grip on the miniscule object.  Once he felt around a bit, he knew it was a lighter.  That's convenient Andy thought to himself.  Cupping his hand over the lighter, he flicked the switch, sparking a tiny flame, which danced, fighting to stay alive.

         “Good Lord, what is that?” the boy exclaimed in fear of the flame suddenly appearing before him, “Angela, get over here!” Angela scrambled from the ground, rushing to see what he had found. “Oh my,” she said as the flame flickered away, and the lighter fell to the pavement, creating a metallic thud.  “I can't believe this!”

         “Are you okay?” Angela shouted over the roaring rain.  Andy nodded no, but he knew they couldn't see it.  Lightning flashed in the sky suddenly and, for a brief second, saw a girl, a beautiful girl, with flowing auburn hair, and remarkably perfect blue eyes.  The lightning flashed again, startling Andy and bringing him back to reality.  He looked at her again, and the once exquisite blue eyes were now stricken with fear and horror.

         Lightning struck somewhere nearby violently.  It lit up the sky momentarily, and, for a mere second, Angela saw the somber scene.  The boy was bleeding profusely; he had a severe gash below his ribcage.  “Freddie, we need to get this guy out of here, he's literally bleeding out right in front of my eyes!”  Freddie sighed once again.  “Okay, we have no idea who this person is, and I want no part of it.”  Freddie began to walk away.  “Why can't you act like a decent human being for once?” Angela asked the inanimate objects around her.  “I'll take care of you honey,” she told the barely conscious Andy as she wrapped her jacket around him, "I promise."

         Andy slipped back into consciousness in a much warmer spot than before.  He looked around and observed his surroundings.  The entire room had a dreary feel to it.  Everything was white, even his clothes.  The monochromatic room consisted of a two small beds, a chair, and a window.  It seemed similar to a hospital room, considering the person sleeping in the bed next to him, and the sterile nature of the room.  Andy closed his eyes, struggling to remember why he was here.  He remembered taking his jacket off and leaving it in an alleyway, but that's it.  He felt a sudden pain below his chest.  He went to pull up his shirt, to find the source of the pain, but his arm ceased to move.  He looked over at his right arm.  It was then that he realized he was bound to bed; by handcuffs.

         The two men stepped into the alleyway for a brief rest.  “Man, it's cold,” said one of the men, breathing heavily.  “Let me wear your jacket for a while.”  “Just grab that jacket over there, I'm cold too!” exclaimed the other man.  He picked up the jacket.  It was wet, exceedingly so.  There was also a little blood here and there, but a coat is a coat!  “Can you believe we made off with all that money?” he said as he slipped on the purple jacket, noticing but ignoring the word “Royals” on the back.  “What I can't believe is how easy it was to lose those-” He halted his speech at the sight of two police officers entering the alleyway.  “Freeze!” one said as he flashed his standard issue revolver at the suspects.  Without warning, both men began to run away; the cops were stunned by how fast they were moving.  They sped down the narrow alleyway, vaulting over trashcans tipped on their sides.  As they approached a fence, they began to climb.  The officers noticed that one man's jacket had him stuck; he couldn't move.  They began firing off rounds towards him. The man separated himself from the jacket and scurried over the fence as bullets whizzed by his head, all narrowly missing him.  He sprinted down the alleyway and cut the corner, and hopped into a dumpster to hide. The jacket was left dangling on the fence.

         “Thompson,” said Officer McTavish, smiling, “Get over here, you need to check this out.”  “He left his jacket!” said the Sergeant Joseph Thompson as he chuckled, “I almost feel sympathy for the guy.  Lets get this back to the station.”  “You take care of that,” said the other officer, bravely, “I'll go search for 'em.”  They exchanged nods, and a cruiser whisked away McTavish's partner as he wandered down the ominous alleyway, scaled the fence, and headed in the suspect's direction. 

         Jerry heard footsteps. “You hear that Joe?” he whispered to his partner-in-crime, who was sitting quietly in the dumpster next to his.  “Yeah, that pig's coming this way.” said Joe.  “What do we do Jerry?”  Joe heard a gun being loaded.  “You gonna kill him?” asked Joe.  “Got to, can't have some chubby guy with a stick ruining our fun.”  Jerry slowly slid back the chamber of the silenced weapon.  The cop approached the dumpster slowly, and bent over it, glancing in.  Joe heard a muffled bang, and looked out.  He was dead. “Let's get out of here.”

         Andy woke up to see multiple figures shadowing above him.  “You've been discharged, Andy, you can leave now,” said a doctor, with a slight grin.  Andy stood up.  He was dizzy for a moment, before he realized he was no longer handcuffed to the bed.  He stumbled out of the room as the people in the room followed close behind. Why were they following him?  As he walked down the hallway, he could see the exit.  The lights dangling above were unusually bright.  The sliding doors slid open as he approached them.  Before he knew what was going on, several police officers grabbed him and put him in handcuffs.  “Andy Stevens?” one of them said.  “Yes?” said Andy, very surprised at his voice's sudden return.  “You have the right to remain silent; anything you say or do can and will be held against you in the court of law.  You have the right to an attorney-” the officer continued to read Andy his rights, as he was shoved into a police cruiser.  “Armed robbery and murder?”one officer said, surprised, “You're gonna be in for a long time, kid.”  Andy had no idea what was going on.  But if the officer was right, he knew one thing was certain.  He would never see Laura again.  And now, he wished he would've died; wished he would've been left on the sidewalk bleeding.