"What're you doing! You heard her, we need to leave. Now, Jeremy!" Claire exclaimed in utter confusion of her brother not following the policewoman's orders. ******************************************************This Novel is written in Third Person (Omni) Writing Style
April 14, 2016. That was the day no one would forget. It was the day the clocks stopped ticking.
"Something's off." Jeremy Waters said to his sister, Claire, on his way home from school on this crisp Friday night. Jeremy had just finished his baseball practice, he played for the local high school team, Mondale Memorial High.
'It's as if the air is trying to tell us something' he thought. This whole day had been somewhat bizarre, everything seemed to be the opposite of average, which was a large change in his life. Everything about his life felt average, although, Jeremy almost preferred it that way. He lived in a mid-sized house, went to an average school, and did everything that normal 17 year old boys do. Jeremy gently tapped on the breaks, as if a car in front of him had slowed down, but they were the only car on the lonely hillside road.
"What're you doing Jer'? The speed limit is 45, not 30." Claire said with a strong scent of sarcasm. Claire was everything her brother was not, she was the exact opposite of normal. Jeremy always thought her parents prefered Claire to him. She was very attractive, every guy in school wanted to go with her to all the dances. She also was a talented musician and artist.
"Hold up. I saw a person, in the woods. It almost looked like he was limping." He said more to himself than his sister.
"C'mon Jer, I'm gonna go to the mall at 7. Stop fooling around." She responded.
On they drove home to their suburban house in Southern Minnesota. They just got into their neighborhood when he saw his neighbor, Mr. Jenkins getting shot at by police. A policemen stopped their car, Jeremy hit the breaks.
"Get outta' here kids. Trust me, you don't want to be in the radius when this shit happens." The woman told them in a strong, almost venomous voice. They could tell she wasn't joking, they needed to leave. Jeremy backed up the car until he was off the street where cop cars were blockading, and parked right on the outside of the entrance.
"One sec', jus' wanna see what this is all about. Knew I saw something in the woods. Just wait here, Claire. " He said, as he slowly got out of the car. He didn't shut the door to the blue Tahoe, afraid it would make too much noise. He crept quietly over a fence, landing on a mushy pile of mud. He passed three houses, sulking through the backyards. He needed to get a good view of Mr. Jenkins. There, he knew he had found a great opening to see the fiasco, without being found. He hid behind a cluster of bushes by the 5th house on the left of the street. He saw Mr. Jenkins, now getting off of the ground. Cops were holding him at gunpoint, at least 12 Glock-22's held up at the man. It was odd, as if Mr. Jenkins didn't even care, like he didn't even see the guns at all!
"Freeze! Hands behind your head." The chief officer said, holding up a megaphone. "We will shoot. Drop to the ground." But once again, Jenkins showed no sign of fear as he kept limping over near the police, no further than 15 yards away. Jeremy immediately remembered what he had seen in the woods, the elderly man limping, the same type of physical ailment seen across Mr. Jenkins body currently. Jenkins kept approaching the cop car, it looked as if he was staring right through them, or like he wasn't seeing anything at all. Jeremy was so taken-aback by this whole experience, he just wished he could be at home with his parents. The female cop shot at him, and hit Jenkins directly in the chest. Jeremy's head started to pound, he couldn't stand to look back at the lifeless body of his old neighbor. But suddenly, there was yet another shot. Jeremy turned back and saw Mr. J still standing, and still walking towards the car. The cop that spoke on the megaphone now shot at Jenkins. He hit him in the head and Jenkins immediately fell to the ground.
Claire had no idea what his brother was up to. They needed to either leave, as the cop had asked, or get to their home to see their mom and dad. Most of all they needed to find out what was going on. She hopped out of the car, anxious to get out of there, feeling goosebumps every time a car passed by. She looked across the street, opposite of where she assumed Jeremy was. There was an old farmhouse, with a few people just walking around outside. Weird, she thought, watching them for five minutes and it is like they are walking aimlessly, no sense of direction.
Jeremy was now walking back to the car. He was having trouble putting together what had transpired. "Jenkins was clearly shot in the chest. He should've died." He said aloud. He puzzled it in his mind all the way back to the car, his door opened just how he left it. A sense of ease fell over him. "Alright, let's get outta here, huh?" He said to his sister. But there was no response. He looked at the passenger side of the car. She was gone, and nowhere to be seen.
