Modern Day Folktales (2/?)
Thanks to all who reviewed the first chapter!
Now onto PC Andy Davidson.
He hated the graveyard shift. He hated it even more when it was raining which inevitably it usually was.
The night could go one of two ways, either nothing at all would happen and the night would go slower than a granny in the fast lane of the motorway at peak hour, or it would be so busy he would barely have time to scratch himself.
Tonight was shaping up to be the former, out on patrol he and his new partner had responded to one domestic that turned out to be quite the opposite once they arrived judging by the naked, red faced bloke who answered the door after they had heard them shouting not so much in anger, but in the throes of passion.
He glanced at his new partner who had been talking non-stop for the last 20 minutes about, well anything he could think of.
PC Andy Davidson wasn’t taking any of it in, in fact his brain was screaming inside his head for this guy to shut the hell up while outwardly he nodded and grunted in verbal agreement feigning interested. It as a trick he had seen Gwen employ when the roles had been reversed, before she had rushed off to join Torchwood.
Yes, Andy was not oblivious to his own ramblings and inane chatter but……Gwen made him nervous. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever known, caring, passionate and sadly taken.
He sighed as his partner kept talking, never drawing breath it seemed. It was times like this he prayed for a call out……hell he would settle for having to rescue a cat out of a tree at this point.
As the shift wore on it appeared that nothing was going to get any better. Even as they walked on foot patrol in a busy nightclub hotspot it appeared to be dead, not even anyone pissed. Thankfully the shift did eventually end to what felt like to Andy about 72 hours after it started.
Walking out of the station he bid his co-worker goodbye as he made his way across the car park to his car. It had stopped raining and now the steam was making its way up from the road to swirl in patterns around his feet as he walked across the car park. The night was still, the air thick with that after rain smell that always reminded him of being a kid.
As he reached his car he pressed the button on his key ring to unlock the door.
As he reached out to lift the handle he heard the unmistakable scream of a woman, it was faint, but the terrified edge it had to it still came through thick and fast. The hairs of the back of his neck stood on edge as he carefully but very quickly reached for the police issue baton and capsicum spray he had in his kit. He ran in the direction of the sound, it seemed to be coming from the far end of the car park into a little off-shoot street. It was poorly lit, a place where all sorts of things could play on your imagination on the horrors of the night.
Andy paused, his heart hammering wildly in his chest as he strained his ears for the source of the screams.
“Please, no….take my money, you can have anything but please….not that, please…..”
The voice was desperate, pleading, and he followed it to an alley off shoot from the small road.
His heart hammered in his chest as he gripped his baton tighter and rounded into the alleyway.
He had no idea what he was walking into, how many he would have to deal with, what the hell he would have to deal with.
He saw in silhouette a broad figure crouching over a prone body, he saw the woman as she struggled, he watched as the figure pulled its hand back to strike the woman, Andy flinched, but to give away his position now would be to compromise any hope he had of an upper hand on this thug.
The woman’s screams where a good cover for his footsteps as he approached close enough within striking distance he yelled., “Oi you! You’re under arrest.”
The figure sprung up as if struck by electricity, Andy could see it was a man, a bloody tall man and he had a knife.
“Hey plod, think you can take on me?”
He waived the knife dangerously in front of Andy, the young PC watched the blade as it swung back and forward like a snake looking for a place to strike.
Sounding braver than he felt Andy replied with his toughest inner city cop voice, “Oh I think I can manage a little thing like you.”
What the fuck was he thinking….he should have waited, should have called for back-up. But then what would have happened to the woman. The glint in the other man’s eyes and the size of the blade he held in his hand suggested she was running out of time.
He anticipated the lunge the man made at him with the knife in his hand and sidestepped while placing a hit to his kidneys with his baton, the man groaned in pain and sunk to his knees as Andy spun around and repeated the hit in the same place. For good measure he gave the man a hit of capsicum spray in his eyes as he went down groaning in pain before jumping on him and getting his hands behind his back to place the cuffs on him. He made sure he secured the weapon before turning his attention to the woman who was still laid on the ground. Her eyes where open in alarm, her body slightly shaking as she went into shock.
“It’s ok now love, you’re safe.”
He took off his jacket and covered her with it before pulling his mobile out to call for backup and an ambulance.
Suddenly the woman started to talk.
“You saved me……you saved me….”
“Shhhh its ok, you’re safe now, what’s your name?”
“A….Anna Lacey.”
“It’s ok Anna, my names Andy and you’re going to be ok”
It didn’t take long for his backup to arrive followed by the ambulance. Andy left the young woman in their hands before joining his fellow officers who were bundling the perpetrator into a van for transport back to the cells. He watched as the ambulance took her away before he was led back to the station to make his statement.
“So who was he?”
“Linus Forster, we’ve been tracking this guy for a while. Killed his landlord two weeks ago and is wanted on six charges of assault. You did a hell of a thing Andy, stupid git could have got yourself killed.”
Andy let out a faint, nervous laugh as he walked out of the station and followed the same path he had taken only two hours before.
He climbed into his car and sat behind the wheel, noticing now how much his hands were shaking. He let his head rest on the steering wheel as he let the tremors take its course. When he felt stronger he fired up the engine and started driving, except it wasn’t home he was headed, he found himself at the A&E. Buying a bunch of flowers at the kiosk he marched to the reception desk and asked for Anna Lacey. The receptionist took one look at his police uniform and directed him to the ward.
Carefully he stuck his head into the ward and immediately spotted a bruised woman sitting up in bed.
“Hiya……..I’m…”
She smiled, a half smile as the corner of her mouth was bruised.
“Andy?”
He nodded.
She continued to smile at him as she motioned him to sit down.
He took her lead and placed the flowers on her bedside table.
She reached for his hand and grabbed his fiercely.
“Thank you……..my hero!”
“I’m no hero, just doing my job ma’am.”
“You are a hero to me, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter Three
Now onto PC Andy Davidson.
He hated the graveyard shift. He hated it even more when it was raining which inevitably it usually was.
The night could go one of two ways, either nothing at all would happen and the night would go slower than a granny in the fast lane of the motorway at peak hour, or it would be so busy he would barely have time to scratch himself.
Tonight was shaping up to be the former, out on patrol he and his new partner had responded to one domestic that turned out to be quite the opposite once they arrived judging by the naked, red faced bloke who answered the door after they had heard them shouting not so much in anger, but in the throes of passion.
He glanced at his new partner who had been talking non-stop for the last 20 minutes about, well anything he could think of.
PC Andy Davidson wasn’t taking any of it in, in fact his brain was screaming inside his head for this guy to shut the hell up while outwardly he nodded and grunted in verbal agreement feigning interested. It as a trick he had seen Gwen employ when the roles had been reversed, before she had rushed off to join Torchwood.
Yes, Andy was not oblivious to his own ramblings and inane chatter but……Gwen made him nervous. She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever known, caring, passionate and sadly taken.
He sighed as his partner kept talking, never drawing breath it seemed. It was times like this he prayed for a call out……hell he would settle for having to rescue a cat out of a tree at this point.
As the shift wore on it appeared that nothing was going to get any better. Even as they walked on foot patrol in a busy nightclub hotspot it appeared to be dead, not even anyone pissed. Thankfully the shift did eventually end to what felt like to Andy about 72 hours after it started.
Walking out of the station he bid his co-worker goodbye as he made his way across the car park to his car. It had stopped raining and now the steam was making its way up from the road to swirl in patterns around his feet as he walked across the car park. The night was still, the air thick with that after rain smell that always reminded him of being a kid.
As he reached his car he pressed the button on his key ring to unlock the door.
As he reached out to lift the handle he heard the unmistakable scream of a woman, it was faint, but the terrified edge it had to it still came through thick and fast. The hairs of the back of his neck stood on edge as he carefully but very quickly reached for the police issue baton and capsicum spray he had in his kit. He ran in the direction of the sound, it seemed to be coming from the far end of the car park into a little off-shoot street. It was poorly lit, a place where all sorts of things could play on your imagination on the horrors of the night.
Andy paused, his heart hammering wildly in his chest as he strained his ears for the source of the screams.
“Please, no….take my money, you can have anything but please….not that, please…..”
The voice was desperate, pleading, and he followed it to an alley off shoot from the small road.
His heart hammered in his chest as he gripped his baton tighter and rounded into the alleyway.
He had no idea what he was walking into, how many he would have to deal with, what the hell he would have to deal with.
He saw in silhouette a broad figure crouching over a prone body, he saw the woman as she struggled, he watched as the figure pulled its hand back to strike the woman, Andy flinched, but to give away his position now would be to compromise any hope he had of an upper hand on this thug.
The woman’s screams where a good cover for his footsteps as he approached close enough within striking distance he yelled., “Oi you! You’re under arrest.”
The figure sprung up as if struck by electricity, Andy could see it was a man, a bloody tall man and he had a knife.
“Hey plod, think you can take on me?”
He waived the knife dangerously in front of Andy, the young PC watched the blade as it swung back and forward like a snake looking for a place to strike.
Sounding braver than he felt Andy replied with his toughest inner city cop voice, “Oh I think I can manage a little thing like you.”
What the fuck was he thinking….he should have waited, should have called for back-up. But then what would have happened to the woman. The glint in the other man’s eyes and the size of the blade he held in his hand suggested she was running out of time.
He anticipated the lunge the man made at him with the knife in his hand and sidestepped while placing a hit to his kidneys with his baton, the man groaned in pain and sunk to his knees as Andy spun around and repeated the hit in the same place. For good measure he gave the man a hit of capsicum spray in his eyes as he went down groaning in pain before jumping on him and getting his hands behind his back to place the cuffs on him. He made sure he secured the weapon before turning his attention to the woman who was still laid on the ground. Her eyes where open in alarm, her body slightly shaking as she went into shock.
“It’s ok now love, you’re safe.”
He took off his jacket and covered her with it before pulling his mobile out to call for backup and an ambulance.
Suddenly the woman started to talk.
“You saved me……you saved me….”
“Shhhh its ok, you’re safe now, what’s your name?”
“A….Anna Lacey.”
“It’s ok Anna, my names Andy and you’re going to be ok”
It didn’t take long for his backup to arrive followed by the ambulance. Andy left the young woman in their hands before joining his fellow officers who were bundling the perpetrator into a van for transport back to the cells. He watched as the ambulance took her away before he was led back to the station to make his statement.
“So who was he?”
“Linus Forster, we’ve been tracking this guy for a while. Killed his landlord two weeks ago and is wanted on six charges of assault. You did a hell of a thing Andy, stupid git could have got yourself killed.”
Andy let out a faint, nervous laugh as he walked out of the station and followed the same path he had taken only two hours before.
He climbed into his car and sat behind the wheel, noticing now how much his hands were shaking. He let his head rest on the steering wheel as he let the tremors take its course. When he felt stronger he fired up the engine and started driving, except it wasn’t home he was headed, he found himself at the A&E. Buying a bunch of flowers at the kiosk he marched to the reception desk and asked for Anna Lacey. The receptionist took one look at his police uniform and directed him to the ward.
Carefully he stuck his head into the ward and immediately spotted a bruised woman sitting up in bed.
“Hiya……..I’m…”
She smiled, a half smile as the corner of her mouth was bruised.
“Andy?”
He nodded.
She continued to smile at him as she motioned him to sit down.
He took her lead and placed the flowers on her bedside table.
She reached for his hand and grabbed his fiercely.
“Thank you……..my hero!”
“I’m no hero, just doing my job ma’am.”
“You are a hero to me, thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
Chapter Three