Abby And Whistler

“Down on your knees, Abby Sinclair!”

Rain poured from the freezing night sky as Abby ran down the empty ally.  Red and blue lights of the police cars flashed off the darkened abandoned buildings around her.  They were going to catch her, she knew it!  They were going to hurt her, do bad things to her, horribly bad things to her… they were…

Three more police cars pulled into the mouth of the alley in front of her – blocking her off, trapping her in! – lights flashing, sirens going!  They were so noisy!  These guys jumped out of their cars, pointing their guns at her, hiding behind their doors! 

Skidding to halt, she spun and saw one cop from behind her running towards her, shouting and order.  He wasn’t armed.  She doesn’t know how she knew this, she just did; but he wasn’t going to hurt her.  There was something about him that made him somehow safe – he was going to help her.  Abby knew he wasn’t going to make it to her in time and panic welled in her gut as time seemed to slow down.  She heard a series of pops – gunshots – from the other lot of armed cops.  His eyes widened as he dropped to the flooded ground to watch her die.

Abby turned as the good cop dropped.  She felt her heart beat slow down and her blood pumping in her ears as her left hand rose in front of her – open palmed – breathing out through her mouth, she watched as every bullet fired smacked into an invisible wall and dropped to the ground in a tinkling of bells as the rain fell with them.  She looked at the spent bullets briefly before casting a benign look at the armed cops in front of her.  Some of them lowered their fire arms, while others wanted to shoot, but didn’t.

Whistler stayed on the ground staring, he couldn’t believe it.  He had been told of her powers, but until he saw her use it, he hadn’t believed it, “Holy mother of God.” He whispered pushing himself to his feet, “Exactly what I’m going to do with her I’m not sure.”

She turned to him, “You tried to protect me.  Why?”

“You have a power which is valuable to me.” He said, then glance at the other end of the alley where the armed cops were, “But you scare the crap out of the public.”

“So, you’re going to lock me up?”

“No.  We’re going to utilise it.” He smiled, “You’re useful, but you have to learn to control your power better without almost killing yourself.” He reached out to touch her shoulder, but stopped himself.  He had heard stories that she could break bones without touching people, “Want to learn?”

“And if you’re lying to me?” Abby asked.

“You can kill me here right now, and they’ll kill you in some way.” He gestured to the cops at the end of the alley.

She looked over at them, “They were a test?”

“No, mixed orders.”

Abby nodded, “Let’s go.  But first, what’s your name?”

He smiled, “Whistler.  I’ve got powers too, but nothing like yours.”

They drove to a large house on the outskirts of the city where the two stayed for a couple of days.  Whistler needed to get some history about Abby first before he took her to the right agency who’d work with her.  He hated being a scout and he really wanted to work closely with these kids.  She was the oldest one he’d found, but he wanted to make sure she was going to be safe.

“You killed a dog when you were eight?” he almost choked on his coffee.

“Yeah.” She bowed her head, “Its owner set it on me because he hated me hanging out with his son at school.  So, while I ran – while I was terrified – I wished it was dead, and threw my school port over my shoulder further, but…”

“That move also threw the dog too.” He sighed.

“It was a big dog as well.” She looked up at him, “I didn’t mean to kill it… I just wanted to get away.”

He nodded, “It’s okay… you were little and you were scared.”

“The guy tried to sue, but that was when Dad realised I wasn’t normal; and we moved.” She sniffed, “Every time I did something weird, we moved… must have cost my folks a fortune before they just dumped me at a church one day with all my stuff and drove off.”

He reached across the table and touched her hand, “You’re wanted now.”

“I’ve stopped wondering where they are.”

“Did you get adopted?”

“No.  Well, kinda… the parents saw me and liked me, but once I did something like I did out there in the city, what you saw, they sent me back.” She sighed, “Nobody wanted a child with special powers.  It’s not like kill anyone, I’m not violent.”

“So, you do have control?”

“Yes… it’s hard, but I can do it.” She nodded, “Okay, the sugar bowl on the table, I can put it on the counter over there.”

He glanced behind himself, “Okay.”

She opened her right hand, cupping it as though she held the bowl, and moved the bowl to the counter.  But just before it reached the edge, loud gun shots were heard and she concentration broke suddenly!  It was the authorities!

Men barged in quickly!  Whistler couldn’t react fast enough, and Abby couldn’t stop the bullets as they were fired from a Police Special.  Her guards went up too slow; and instead of stopping the bullets, she threw the cops back hard against the floor and walls, injuring them.

“Oh, no!  I’m sorry, are they okay?” she stood from the table only to be slammed down next to Whistler’s body.  Her hands wrenched behind her back and her rights read to her.  Closing her eyes, she worked the locks on the cuffs, but couldn’t work them fast enough.

“They’re not the ones you’re used to, Miss Sinclair.  These are magnetically locked.” The cop said, “And you’re off to a government facility.”

“But Whistler…” Tears fell from her eyes and stained her grubby cheeks.

The arresting officer looked at him, “Oh, don’t worry about him.  He can’t die.  By the time he comes around, you’ll be long gone.”