Chapter 1: Petty Theft
What are you doing Madison, I thought to myself as I stood inside a crappy little tourist shop? What little of the walls that were visible were painted a sickeningly shade of green. T-shirts with stupid designs and beach towels hung from just about every single inch of the store. It was one of those shops that people visited for a souvenir of their "beach vacation." At the moment only a few people were picking through the crap that this place sold though. It was mostly old people that I could only assume were here, along the gulf coast, to gamble away what they had saved for retirement. Old people and parents with miserable looking kids were about all you expected to see passing through this tourist trap coastal Mississippi city.
I smoothed my red hair down in an attempt to cover my face as much as possible. It was probably not the smartest thing to do as things like that, if seen, tend to look suspicious to people. Especially grumpy old people who already tend to not like the younger generation. Add the fact that I was currently wearing a shirt with the logo of a metal band and jeans that I had purposely torn around the knees. I could feel the judgement radiating off of them.
"Assholes," I whispered to myself. I unzipped my messenger bag and looked around to make sure that no wandering eyes were on me and roughly shoved two sweatshirts inside before zipping it back up.
I don't know why I was stealing those things. I knew that I would never wear them. It wasn't the first time I had stolen either. I often stole and never really cared about the risk. It wasn't like I had anyone who truly gave a shit about me. My parents died in an accident when I was 2 years old and sense then I had bounced from group home to group home. I was 17 now, just a month away from being 18. Not that turning 18 would change anything in my life. As much as I wanted out of this place, I had nowhere else to go and very little money to get there. I'd probably find myself living on the streets after my birthday.
I tightened the strap on my bag and started to make my way towards the front doors of the shop when something caught my eye. It was a cheaply made necklace with a small shiny green stone hanging from it. Nothing more than costume jewelry and certainly nothing that I would ever wear, but the girl that I share a room with in my current group home was only 7 years old and green was her absolute favorite color. I knew it was stupid. The necklace was too close to the cash register and even closer to an old man and his even older wife who were standing mere feet away from the rack of necklaces and earrings. I shouldn't do it, I was already home free with the two sweatshirts that I was only taking for the adrenaline rush as it was. I was honestly probably just going to give them to the nice homeless woman who stayed near me so she could have something warm for the coming winter.
I smiled at the old judgmental couple that was eyeing me with suspicion and they turned away from me. Probably they thought I was some kind of criminal, and they would be right. I quickly spun the rack that contained the necklaces, pretending to examine them, before I quickly slipped one of the green stoned ones off of the peg and quickly pocketed it.
Quickly I glanced at the man working the cash register. He looked young, college age most likely, and was probably only working here to put himself through school. He looked bored as he scrolled through whatever he was looking at on his phone.
As I reached the door I glanced over and saw the old man that had been eyeing me whispering something to the cashier and knew exactly what he was saying. I had been careless with the necklace. I should have just left well enough alone and and taken the shirts I had put in my bag, but no, all because I liked that little orphan girl that I shared a room with, I had to take something for her as well.
"Ma'am," the worker said quickly walking over to me and my heart started to race harder. I turned to face him and almost felt bad for him. His face clearly said that he wasn't getting paid enough to deal with this. The old man had a phone out and was talking to someone while his wife stood next to him scowling in my direction. "I'm going to have to ask that you come with me." He gestured to a door on the far end of the shop, a door that I could only assume led to a room where security monitors were housed.
I glanced to my direct left and he must have known what I was thinking. "Look, don't do it," he said. "The police have already been called. Don't make this any harder or worse."
"Fuck me," I whispered, taking a single step towards the sliding doors that led outside and he grabbed me by the wrist hard. My vision went slightly red as I turned around screaming. "Get the hell off of me!" I shoved him with my free arm, not hard enough to knock him to the ground, but hard enough that he let go of me in shock and I took off sprinting through the doors.
He didn't chase after me as I started up the sidewalk, but I knew what was coming. Both he and the elderly couple had gotten a great look at me. They would be able to give the cops a picture perfect description of me. I had to find somewhere to hide quick. Unzipping my bag I pulled out a dark purple beanie and pulled it on my head, making sure to tuck all of my hair inside of it. Aside from being almost completely down my back, my red hair was too easily noticeable.
I glanced to my right across the busy highway as I continued walking. Autumn was slowly creeping into the air, but the beach was still full of people lounging out in the sand or splashing around in the shallows of the gulf. Wispy clouds dotted the bright blue sky on what would have been a beautiful day if I wasn't trying to avoid cops. Turning my attention back ahead of me, I kept walking, doing my best to keep a brisk pace without looking to suspicious to the other people out for a stroll. I knew there was a mall about a half of a mile away and couldn't help but think that if I could just make it there without any cops seeing me, I could probably get lost in the crowds.
The people on the street ignored me for the most part. Like always I drew a few glances because of how I dressed. The beanie probably didn't help with that as it was nowhere near cool enough for a hat like that. I stopped walking just long enough to put my earbuds in and start some music on my phone if for no other reason than to drown out the noise of the cars flying by me.
I made it three blocks down the road and the giant sign for the mall was in view. It would only take me another few minutes to get there at the brisk pace that I was walking. If I could just get there I could hide out in the numerous shops until closing time.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw a white and blue car slow to a stop, much to the aggravation of the drivers behind the car. My heart skipped a beat as the red and blue lights flashed to life and a loud siren sound cut through the music playing in my ears. I stopped for a brief moment and looked to my right. A slightly overweight cop was stepping out of the car while his partner stayed in the passenger seat, looking like she was calling something in. I knew I should have just stayed where I was, that it would be pointless to run, but I didn't feel like making it easy on them. So I started running. I ran as fast as my legs would carry me, my bag slapping hard against my hip as the cop yelled something behind me and his partner jumped out of the car and took off after me.
Making it to the mall was little more than a pipe dream for me now. The sign might be in sight, but it was still more than a quarter of a mile away from me and I knew that I couldn't run that far non stop without exhausting myself. I risked a quick glance behind me and saw that I was outpacing the female cop chasing me. Her partner was nowhere in sight. I imagined that he was calling for backup.
I cut down a side road and by the time that the cop and cut down the same road I was ducking into a small back alley between buildings. The only thing in the alley was a dumpster that had started to overflow. The smell of old rotting food hovered thick in the air and I was fighting not to vomit from the smell. I watched from behind the dumpster as the cop ran straight past the alley, unsure if she had seen it or not. Not wanting to be there any longer than I had to be, I only waited a couple of minutes before dashing down the rest of the alley and onto another back road. Taking a moment to breath in some air that did not stink of moldy food, I glanced around my surroundings. I wasn't that far from home. If I could just get back to the main road it would only be about a 15 minute walk.
I only managed to take a few steps down the road before I heard footsteps coming up behind me. Turning around I saw that it was the cop that had been chasing me. She must have circled the block and just happened to see me.
"Don't move," she warned me loudly drawing something from her belt. I could only assume that it was a taser.
I heard her swear loudly as I turned around and made a mad dash down the road headed towards the main highway. I was only twenty feet away when I skidded to a stop. Two more cops had turned the corner and stood facing me, both had tasers drawn and pointed at me.
"Damn it," I muttered to myself trying to see a way out of this situation. I really didn't want to go to jail over two sweatshirts and a crappy fake necklace. The main road was out as there was no way around the two cops standing on the corner. I didn't know what to do.
"Hands up now!" One of the two cops blocking my way back to the main road shouted taking a couple of steps towards me and I took a step back.
I put my hands up slowly, trying to weigh my options. They were very few. The cop was yelling something about my bag, but I wasn't really paying attention. I took another step backwards as the two in front of me advanced. Taking a quick glance behind me I saw my opening and knew what I needed to do. I had to rush past the one female cop. If I could get past her I knew I could escape. I was faster than her. It was one of the most risky and stupid things I could attempt given my current situation and the fact that I had three tasers pointed at me. I had never been tased before, but I can't imagine it being a pleasant experience.
I looked at the two cops in front of me and gestured towards my bag. "May I set this down?" I asked them, doing my best to keep the panic out of my voice.
They looked at each other and nodded. "Slowly," one of them said. "Don't make any sudden movements and get on the ground."
I nodded and slid the bag over my head and off of my shoulder. Holding it out in front of me, I crouched down as if I were going to set the bag down in front of me. I saw one of the cops relax and let out a big sigh and that was when I made my move. I flung my bag at the two of them and before they could react I turned and sprinted towards the female cop behind me. I could see the look of shock on her face as she fumbled with her taser as I quickly got closer. I shoved her out the way as hard as I could, hoping it would knock her to the ground and give me more time to get out of sight.
She was tougher than she looked though and barely moved from my push. It was still enough for me to get by her though, but not enough for me to make it very far. I made it less than five feet past her before I felt a sharp prick in my back and every muscle in my body seized up. It was a pain that I couldn't describe and it felt like I was falling in slow motion. I couldn't even get my hands out in front of me to break the fall. My face smashed against the cement ground and I tasted blood instantly. It felt like my nose was broken and a moment later I had three cops pinning me to the ground, the heaviest of the three had his knee pinning me down by the small of my back to prevent me from getting up. It's not like I could get up anyway, my muscles still didn't want to work.
They were yelling in my ears, telling me not to resist as if I could resist. The lady cop handed one of the others her handcuffs and he clamped them a little tighter than necessary on my wrists before yanking me up to my knees.
"That was stupid!" The cop that had pulled me up yelled in my face, giving my arm another yank causing me to wince in pain.
All I could do is look at the ground. I knew that I was fucked this time. It was not the first time that I had been caught for petty theft, but I had probably made it a lot worse by shoving a cop. They were probably going to charge me with assault. The cops yanked me roughly to my feet hurting my arms and shoulders even more and slowly started walking me back to the main road where I could only assume a car was parked.
The sun was blinding off of the back road with no buildings to block its glare. Several people were gathering around to see what all of the commotion was about and a few whispered about the state of my face. I hadn't had a chance to see the damage yet, but based on the expressions of the onlookers, it couldn't be good. I was shoved roughly against the cop car and patted down by the female who found the stolen necklace while the other two rummaged through my bag. They pulled out the sweatshirts and found my ID tucked into a side pocket.
"Madison Gratton," he read aloud squinting at the name and date of birth. "17 years old." He took another look at me. "Do you have any idea how much trouble you are in little girl? Why would you throw your life away like this? I mean, petty theft is one thing, but you assaulted a police officer." When I didn't answer he just sighed in disgust. "Get her out of her."
One of the cops opened the back door to the cruiser and the other shoved me in roughly causing me to fall down sideways on the seat before I was yanked upright hard by my arm and strapped in with the seatbelt. The door slammed shut and I saw one of the cops yelling at the now growing crowd to disperse while the woman and her heavyset partner climbed into the front and pulled off taking me to jail.
Authors Notes:
I feel like it's every story that I post is one that I have been sitting on for way too long before I finally decide to put it to paper…or text document as it were. Well this is another one that I've been sitting on for way to long. What I have decided to do at the end of each chapter this time is to leave my album of the chapter. It will be the main artist and album that I listened to when I started said chapter. What I hope to do is to maybe introduce my readers that I adore so much to some music that they may not know, so here it is.
Chapter 1 album: Killswitch Engage. As Daylight Dies (Special Edition) 2006