Participants:
| Scene Title | Doing Something Good |
|---|---|
| Synopsis | It starts as an rather ordinary evening.. |
| Date | July 25, 2009 |
It's late Saturday night and the city is alive with party goers and shananigans and plenty of trouble tonight, but not for one Rebecca Nakano who just finished a long shift and is heading for home.
Unknowingly to her, she has a follower.
The man follows her as she gets onto public transportation, the city bus that will take her at least to her next stop where she'll transfer to another bus, then another before she's actually deposited only a short distance to her apartment. The man who follows has watched her leave the precinct, so he knows she's a cop. All he really knows is that she needs to die today. She doesn't look like much, so he doesn't expect any trouble. He has no idea how someone like her could ever make it as a cop. The price was right, so he's not complaining.
Rebecca greets the bus driver as she gets on, depositing her fare and moving only a few seats back to take a seat. After a long day at work, she's really looking forward to just going home, drawing a bath and reading the next few chapters of her book.
A bus. One thing that Tallie can't stand is public transportation. She prefers her trusty bike that lets her navigate the city streets freely, but she has a flat tire. It's late, and she doesn't want to walk the rest of the way home, wheeling her bike along with her. When the bus stops, she puts her bike on the rack at the front, climbs on and throws some coins into the fare box. She heads toward the back of the bus as well, slipping into a seat one in front of Rebecca. She leans her head of blond curls against the cool, dark window.
Rebecca doesn't notice the blond that sits in front of her, nor the figure that seems to be following her every movement. Rebecca's mind is on the multitude of cases that sit on her desk, a stack of folders, or a hefty inbox that requires her 'immediate' attention. She's trying to get through them all as best she can, but it's hard when you keep getting trumped by higher up with something 'more important'. So she stayed a little later than she planned, and as she rides the bus, being jostled around as the large vehicle moves down the street.
Behind Rebecca, the man holds a knife in his hand, the blade still tucked into the handle until he's ready to use it. He twirls the item around with his fingers, nerves starting to get the better of him. But, he needs this cash. Unfortunately for him, the next two seats behind Rebecca were taken, so he keeps an eye on her from afar.
Lulled by the motion of the bus, Tallie's head nods once as she begins to dose. She instantly straightens up — it's not safe to fall asleep on a NYC bus this late at night. Or ever, really. She pulls out her cell phone, texting a message off and then beginning a game of Bejeweled to keep her mind entertained. Even so, her eyes glance up now and then, always aware of her surroundings. She glances up to the windows toward the front of the bus rather than turn to see what's behind her.
The bus comes to a stop and Rebecca stands and begins to disembark, stepping off the bus. To her dismay, the bus she has to catch across the street is just pulling out. Such has been her day.
Her tagalong comes out behind her and starts to head the opposite direction as Rebecca stalls for a moment trying to decides which might be the best way to go. Another bus would come along in half an hour, so she crosses the street to the other side.
Tallie exits the bus as well, pulling off her bike from the rack and heading across the street — not to catch the bus but to begin the two block walk to her apartment. She glances at Rebecca's stalker, not that either of them know that he's a stalker. Something about him seems off to her, but that's just intuition. He doesn't seem to be causing anyone any problems at the moment, so she continues to cross the street. It's a desolate bus stop — no one but Rebecca apparently waiting for the next stop.
Everyone at that stop had just gotten on the bus, so Rebecca takes a seat as she waits for the next bus that comes along in half an hour. The man who has been following her crosses the street as well, only down to the next pedestrian crossing, then back up towards the stop.
Things couldn't have worked out any more perfectly for him. He has her at a deserted bus stop with no one around of any consequence. The blade comes out now as he begins to approach her. From Tallie's position across the street, she may see a reflection from the streetlight flicker off the blade of his knife.
The tiny blonde, no one of consequence of course, does notice the man return — she's been trained for the past few months to be alert and observant, and she knows this man means no good. "Hey!" Tallie yells, to alert Rebecca and to let the man know she's seen him. She dumps her bike and pulls out her cell phone, pressing the buttons for 9-1-1. "Get out of there!" she calls — to either of them, Rebecca or the knife man. Either will work, or both as long as they go in different directions.
"Shit." the man mutters under his breath as he moves in on Rebecca. The graffiti-laden bus stop partially obstructs Rebecca's veiw of her attacker, but as she hears Tallie's screaming from across the street, Rebecca is already dialing 9-1-1 as well. She begins to run, but he's already on top of her as he pushes her down, her phone skidding across the sidewalk and into the street as she lands with a thud on the ground.
He has her legs as he crawls up on her. It's only then that Rebecca sees the knife. It fell from his grip as he knocked her down and he's reaching for it now, so she begins to kick her feet at him. She'd scream, but the only one around that would even care is already screaming from across the street.
"Shit," mutters Tallie as well — she's torn between running and helping, but in the end, she can't just let the girl die. As she runs toward the two, she takes off her courier bag and chucks it at the man, hoping to hit his head and maybe give Rebecca a chance to scurry away, but it just bounces off his shoulder. As she nears, she reaches out for the man's arm, hoping to steal his energy, knock him unconscious so both women can get away.
The knife comes into Rebecca's view now as she begins to kick with a bit more earnest, knowing that somehow that knife is meant for her and also with a gut feeling that this isn't a random encounter. The bag that's tossed by Tallie misses, though the thug has to duck to avoid it. As he brings the knife up to take a swipe at Rebecca, Tallie's arm catches his and he lets out another curse as he loosens his grip on Rebecca as he tries to tug his arm free. Rebecca scrambles out from underneath him backing, using her arms to pull back. Her eyes begin to scan closeby for a weapon of her own as she eyes her phone in the street and her purse on the bench.
Tallie still has the phone on, and an operator finally answers. "Knife attack, bus stop on 14th and 6th…" Tallie murmurs, out of breath, her fingers already beginning to drain the man of his energy. Unfortunately, her hand is small and he is strong, and he manages to break free before he likely even feels the slightest bit tired. She tries to grab his wrist again, intent on finishing the job.
Rebecca is already screaming when she seems the man drive the tip of the knife towards Tallie. She scrambles to her feet and charges forward. Sirens are faintly heard from a distance. "No!" she screams as she lunges forward, almost like a ball player sliding into home plate.
It's too late… Tallie's hand only makes contact on the man's wrist for an instance before that knife point pierces her skin, sliding between her ribs and finally ramming itself within the young woman's heart. Her hand goes limp and slides off his wrist, her heart beating a tiny bit quicker with the energy she's stolen from him, but then slowing as the blood pours out of her.
Another scream from Rebecca, one she didn't even know she had, pours out of her as she reaches the guys face just a little too late. Her fingernails, what little there is, digs into his eyes as he squirms away from the pair. The sirens are already getting louder as the man decides this isn't his night and flees, with blood soaking his sweatshirt. Immediately, Rebecca is next to Tallie. Tallie's phone is nearby and there is someone squawking. Tears run down the detective's face as she rolls the woman over and holds her hand over the girl's heart, the knife having been jerked out by the man who fled. Maybe if she can stop the bleeding. "Are you still with me?" she asks the woman, then as if struck hard, she realizes she's met this woman before. At the market in the last few weeks. The day she lost her wallet.
Tallie's face is pale, eyes dilating before they flutter closed… she's still breathing, but she feels cold, her lips are growing blue as her heart attempts to pump blood to her body but instead only pumps it out, through Rebecca's fingers. Somewhere, in the back of her mind, as everything seems to grow dark, Tallie thinks to herself, "At least I died doing something good." The phone is still connected to 9-1-1, the voice of the dispatcher tinny and unintelligible as it comes through tiny speakers.
The phone is forgotten, both of them in fact as Rebecca, continues to weep. "No, no, no." she murmurs as she tries to stop the bleeding. "Don't die. Don't." she repeats as if she could forbid the woman from dying. She can already see the life draining from her and there's nothing she can do to stop it, so she resorts to begging. "Please.." she whispers. The sirens are nearly upon them. So close. Yet, so far.
The tiny blonde looks all the smaller, almost like a child, crumpled on the sidewalk with the blossoming stain of blood on her t-shirt. Her lips part and her head falls to the side. She was no one of consequence, but she seemed to have changed at least one person's fate this night by being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Her last breath crackles through her body, and then all is still.
The emergency vehicles pull in, an ambulance, a fire truck, and a squad car. The emergency crew takes over looking over Tallie, but she's gone. Rebecca steps back, the red and blue flashing causing her headache to return. Something catches her eye as she turns and sees the bag that was thrown on the sidewalk. Slowly she walks over to it and sees that some stuff has spilled out. Rebecca brushes tears from her eyes, her blouse and hands covered in blood. She drops to her knees and begins to put the items back into the bag whens he spots something familar. As she picks it up, tears come back to her again as she begins to weep. Her wallet. Her stolen wallet. As she glances up towards the gurney as it's loaded into the ambulance, Rebecca murmurs under her breath. "Thank you."