Chapter 8: chapter 8
The air had a friction to it, it demanded to be noticed, to announce its importance at this very moment. The same type of air that surrounded and clung to her when she knew the basketball was going into the hoop before it even left her hand; like the world at that moment already had a script written and she was just an actress playing her part. Officer Janko just couldn't shake that feeling, she felt like she could have lived her life a thousand different ways and would still end up here, at this piece of shit motel, at this very moment in time. "Somethings off," Officer Reagan said more to himself than anyone else, while resting his hand gently on the grip of his holstered gun. They both stood at the bottom of the stairs that lead to the second floor where room 152 is located, hesitation rippled through their bodies. They knew they couldn't turn back, but they weren't sure if they wanted to know what was up there. Officer Reagan took the first step onto the stairs breaking the spell that still rooted Officer Janko in place. Reagan looked over his shoulder behind him, making eye contact with his partner, silently asking if she was ready. Officer Janko nodded as her black boot stepped onto the first stair, a phrase fluttered into her mind and she couldn't help but mutter it out loud, "abandon all hope ye who enter here."
Empty cups from different fast food chains littered the edges of the stairs, each step from the officers were filled with caution as they slowly made it to the upper landing. The motel room numbers created a numerical pathway to their destination as they continued their trek. They could hear muffled words that sounded far away, but with every step closer the voice became louder and clearer, and as the voice became louder and more clear their steps moved quicker, creating a loop of activities and they were soon running down the hall. The friction in the air began to scream at them, yelling that their speed wasn't fast enough, shouting that they were going to fail someone again for the second time today. Their boots crashed against the ground as the metal rail guard vibrated and the motel doors and windows rattled as they passed, their footsteps creating a symphony that rang in their ears, reminding them that they still weren't there yet. "Where's the phone?" The voice they chased after shrieked through the motel hallway as they rushed to meet it.
Officer Reagan stood in front of the motel door pumping as much strength as he could muster into his heel as his boot impacted against the door. The cream colored door exploded open, slamming against the wall next to the entrance, splinters from the door and its frame showered onto the clothes and garbage that littered the motel floor. Officer Jamie and Reagan stormed into the room with their guns drawn as the smell of the room crawled and clawed its way into their nose. The shock overwhelmed their gag reflex as they connected the voice they chased to the face it came from. The woman's mouth was stretched open like a snake devouring its prey as she yelled inches from the child's ear. Her palm smothered the child's face as she palmed his head like a ball, her fingers gripping into his temple and skull with such ferocity that her knuckles flared white. "Freeze" Officer Janko yelled, trying to make her voice heard over the mothers. The women ignored or perhaps never even heard the orders of the officer as she was so focused on the object of her rage. "Where is my fucking phone." She shrieked again into the child's ear, as her free hand moved through the air, trying to convey the same message that spewed from her mouth. "Ma'am, put the child do-" Officer Reagan tried to reason before they watched the mother slam the child's head into the wall.
The plasterboard of the wall crunched as it gave into the back of the child's skull, the sound etching itself into the minds of the two officers, only to be heard again in their darkest dreams. Officer Janko fired her gun, the bullet erupted from the gun's barrel as it rotated, drilling into the mother's shoulder. The mother released her grip on the child's head that was still indented into the wall, as the force of the bullet pushed her shoulder back, making her upper body spin. Officer Reagan's boots slammed into the disgusting motel floor as he propelled himself into the air, tackling the mother into the ground. It took every ounce of her will for Officer Janko to holster her gun, and not squeeze her trigger finger again and again into the mother's face. The child's body was sliding down the wall inch by inch as gravity yanked on the child, pulling him free from the wall as he descended towards the ground. Officer Janko raced towards the child's body that was falling towards the floor, her hands outstretched, but she was too late. The child pummeled into the ground, his joints folded in whatever way they landed, his body piled together like a distorted Tetris piece.
Officer Janko crouched next to the body of the boy, her right hand stabilizing his neck, as her left hand reached across her chest to grab the radio on her shoulder. The radio groaned from the pressure as she squeezed the button to communicate, "young boy, unresponsive at the scene, need ambulance asap," Officer Janko screamed into the radio. After hearing the confirmation that an ambulance was en route, she dropped the radio as it hung off her shoulder. She slowly and with as much care as possible began to straighten out the boy's body without moving his neck. She could hear her partner wrestling with the mother for control, but if he couldn't win against a junkie shot in the shoulder by himself then he no longer needed to put on the uniform ever again. Officer Janko heard the click of the handcuffs as they wrapped around the mother's wrists, and her partner's steps as he checked the rest of the motel room for anyone else. "Were clear," Officer Reagan said to his partner as he crouched next to her.
The officers looked over the child's body, a body that was the closest thing to a living corpse either had ever seen. A slight wheeze escaping from the boy's lips being the only thing breaking the illusion of a dead body. "My god" Officer Janko said as she began looking at all the abuse that scarred the boy's body. Broken fingers, cheekbone, and thumbs; the smooth white skin smeared with feces, week-old food, and insect bites. "How did you survive this?" Officer Janko mutters as she begins taking in more than just the body but the home he lived in. Pieces of the child's life started to fit together like a puzzle made for the criminally insane, as each piece connected to another, Janko's chest started to burn. Her heartbeat accelerated, growing louder and faster until it was the only thing she could hear. The beating grew so loud, that it silenced the whimpering of the mother, her partner's reassuring words of hope to the child, and the sirens of the ambulance now blaring in the motel parking lot. Her heart pounded in her ear, the constant thudding becoming an ultimate distraction, as she subconsciously stood up and in four large strides hovered above the mother. Her heartbeat rang like thunder, she didn't hear the mother's pleas of mercy as Janko grabbed her by the shoulders lifting her to her feet; she couldn't hear the mothers cry of pain as Janko slammed her into the wall. "Why? Why would you do this to your son?" Janko's screamed, trying to talk over the noise of her beating heart, as the last word left her mouth the world seemed to deafen and would remain so until her question was answered. The mother looked Officer Janko in the eye and muttered, "because I'm a scorpion, and it's just my nature."
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
Mlkanjesus1
Mlkanjesus1 Hey,
So first off, thanks for reading my story. I moved to a different state last month and that was why the release schedule was so funky. Most importantly, I am giving you a heads up. If this novel doesn't pick up viewership in the next ten chapters, I will probably drop it for something new.
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