Leave or Die

Leave or Die by Jusalanne Matulac

"Don't tell anyone you saw it," he warned me with his death-glaring eyes, scowling at me as he minded his own business.

I am a woman who stands for justice and never for imprudence. I'm not as ignorant as anyone is. I can't shut my mouth if an innocent life were put into harm. If not me, no one else would stand up for the life that was lost.

Running was never my best skill but, today, I have to get away from the bad guy. I kept running until I reached my destination – the police station. "I witnessed a crime in the street!" I outrageously reported to the police the moment I got in. "It happened near my house five blocks away!" I added. They seemed surprised. I was left confused. Was it new for them to hear a report?

They escorted me to a private room. My hands couldn't stop fidgeting but I tried to calm myself even though the horror of seeing someone held at gunpoint kept flashing before my eyes; the image of the dead body, the guy with the gun – everything. "What happened?" he calmly asked while chewing his gum and sticking it out his tongue. I know that I panicked but he was too calm as he crossed his feet below the desk during my interrogation, somehow guessing that I was going to report an attempted murder.

I told him the details of what exactly happened. I was out from my house to buy some groceries at the nearby store. It was about 10 o'clock in the evening. The streets were narrow. Children were playing under the dim lights with their neighborhood friends. It wasn't new to me because they are there every night; that's a thing of being a child.

When I was heading back to my house, the street went cold, empty. And the loud noises of the kids were gone. At first, I thought it was just nothing. They were kids who simply get tired after playing but not until I heard someone raise his voice.

"Why are you still out in the street?!" he shouted. I never wanted to intrude but the voice of the child asking for help got me into it. It wasn't that far from my house, so it was easy to sneak out to the corner of the block. I can't clearly see his face but I almost caught him strangling the child with his own hands. "What are you doing?!" he shouted again.

"I'm so-sorry, sir. I will just go... home," the kid said shakily. "Go home?! You aren't going anywhere, kiddo. I just caught you," he let go of the child and threw him to the wall. I thought it was over but he sat down near the child and grabbed something in the boy's pocket. "What is this?" he asked and held a sachet of plastic with white powder.

"I don't know," the boy said, shaking his head as he tried to argue that it wasn't his. But the guy didn't even bother to listen. He slowly pulled a gun from his holster. Though I was nervous and unsure, I interfered. "Stop!" I shouted. The child's face glimmered with hope as he saw my face; he saw hope from his fears.

"Stay away from this, lady," he threatened me with the gun, freezing me to where I stood. "G-g-get away from the child!" I commanded. But he only smirked.

"Shoot. Shoot," the gun went. Then one last shot echoed in the small corner where we stood. "The kid's a user," he uttered. I cannot move. I felt scared and confused. I was dumbfounded. It took three bullets to take a life.

"Don't tell anyone. Leave or die," he ordered as he grabbed the kid's head and began pulling the body to the corner. I ran. That's the only thing that I can do to save my life. That is why I ended up here at the station.

"Ah, so, are you okay, lady? What's your name again?" the officer asked, still calm while pretending to sketch something and write the details I just told. "Cath," I answered.

"Miss Cath, maybe you're a little ill. Just forget what you saw. Maybe it was just a misunderstanding. Maybe that kid was caught using something illegal. That's it for a punishment," he dismissed and put his pen on the desk. "What? The child died and you'll just say that it was punishment?! For what?!" I lost myself on how he easily dismissed me. He stood up and walked around the office, caressing the edges of the table. He started to come close to me, now, caressing my hair and he whispered, "Didn't he warn you to keep quiet?" I studied him for a while and remembered something – those details –that holster... blood stain. "You should've stayed at home. Your beautiful face will be a waste if you die too soon."