Rudy Ruins Lives, Not Me

As dusk rests over the city, his eyes gleam louder. He stares at me as the police smash his head down on the car. What he's going in for? I can't say, what hasn't he done. Did someone snitch or did someone confess? Is it for that time they kidnapped the mayor's girl or for the time Rudy sold to middle schoolers? Whatever it is, someone finally decided he should be held accountable. I watch from the park bench, with my legs crossed and coffee dripping over my knuckles. The police showed suddenly, quickly scooping Rudy into their dangerous arms. One officer looked me up and down funny, but didn't do nothing. They weren't here to scratch up innocent black kids, they were just here for one, Rudy.

"Ma'am?" A younger officer, maybe 19, comes up to me with a nervous face.

"Yes?" I say, turning my head slightly, still keeping my eye on Rudy and the cops smashing his face in.

"They want to take you in for questioning, but I convinced them to just let me question you here. Are you okay with that?" I flash him a smile, showing my gold canine.

"Of course, officer. What are your questions?" Keeping up a polite appearance is my best asset. That's why Rudy always sent me in as a distraction, people like looking at me, talking with me, experiencing me.

The boy stumbles a bit but manages a coherent sentence.

"What was your relationship with this man," he looks down at the paper in his scrawny hand, "Rudy." I chuckle. Leave it to the police to not know who they're even arresting.

"He was a boy I met in school. He had contacted me earlier this week, he wanted to catch up." The young sergeant nods.

"And do you know of any other offences he might have committed? Perhaps to someone you both knew from high school?"

"Nope," I say swiftly. Not the time to get into all that, never the time. That's what he'd always say when I asked him. "Not the time to talk about that Morgan." Him and his thick breath and playboy eyes.

"Whelp. I have an appointment. I'm not surprised your taking him in. He wasn't ever the best kid," I say, getting up gracefully from my park bench.

"An appointment? At 6:00?" The officer interrogates. I look from the car driving my Rudy away, back to the boy who thinks he can change the world for the better.

"A date. Call it a date," I say coldly. I collect my things and turn to leave.

"Ma'am."

"What?" I turn suddenly and bore my eyes into him.

"Your name would be nice. And number, in case we need to contact you," he says through vocal tremors. I look down to the pen and paper he's handing me, quickly grab it and jot down my information in a way I pray isn't legible.

The next day, I get a call from the country jail. I sigh as I hesitate. I've been sitting next to the landline in my apartment all day, waiting for his call. Ignoring him would be the best thing to do. It's what I want to do, but a good girlfriend would never do that, would she? And who knows? He might say something stupid if I don't answer, and get me stuck in there alongside his sorry ass.

"Hello Rudy," I say through a sigh after I drag the phone to my ear.

"Actually this isn't Rudy," a voice I recognize says through the phone. I straighten, scramble my brain back into the polite successful woman I play for the police.

"Oh? Then who am I speaking too?"

"The officer that questioned you last night. I shouldn't be doing this, but I wanted to invite you out for coffee or something. Anything you feel like. I just-" He stops. Coffee? A date? With a pig? I have to hold in my laughter! Is he even in his twenties yet?

"Officer," I say.

"Yes?"

"This is quite inappropriate, isn't it?"

"I-," he pauses for some seconds, "yeah. It is. Sorry, I just-"

"Tell Rudy to call me please. I want to here how he's doing." And with that I hang up.

That was kind of funny. Kind of cute too. A date, huh?

Part of me definitely doesn't want Rudy to call, in fact, it's the last thing I want. But the other part of me carves to know he wasn't shot after "he reached for an officers gun" or because "he lashed out against a sergeant". And I've always had to be the one to keep him in line, stop him from slipping all our secrets. Might be why we ended up together. I've always been good at putter a muzzle over his loud mouth.

After a day of waiting for his call, I have to leave the stuffy place. It may be my home, but it is not a place I'd like to stay in all day. If he doesn't want to call me, fine. I leave and when I go into the world with no destination in mind I often end up here. The cemetery. This grave.

Tobias McDaniels

1997 - 2015

He was an accident. A causality, we've called it that since it happened. But the older I get the less I want to call it that. Fuckin' Rudy. Always Rudy fucking up lives. Ordering other people to do it with him. Tobias, Avery, Jonathan, Mine, his own, just to name a few. I sigh, staring at the stone, leaning lopsided. It wasn't like that last time I was here. Maybe Rudy got high and did something stupid, wouldn't be the first time. Probably not the last either.

As I ponder high school and the events that led to this kids' untimely demise, I hear footsteps. I turn, almost hoping for it to be Rudy. It's not. It's the scrawny sergeant. His blonde hair shines more in the full moon and he's out of uniform. He's shocked to see me.

"Umm Morgan? I didn't expect to see you here." I side glance the officer as he takes a stand next to me. Staring down at the stone he says, "I'm sorry for the call, it was-"

"How did you know him?" I ask. Not out of curiosity, out of fear. Please don't say family. Please don't say family.

"Family. He was my older brother." I sigh. Oh god. Family members are always the ones to never give up. The ones that don't settle for just an answer the police provides, they want the truth.

"You knew him in school?"

"Yeah," I say quietly. A few moments of awkward silence, which I'm sure he viewed as calming, pass by.

"It sucked when he died," he chuckles to himself a bit, "Wrong place at the wrong time. That's what the police told us. I think he was targeted but I suppose you never know. Stray bullet just seems so hard to believe, you know?"

I feel sweat dripping down my throat as I gulp.

"Yeah." Stray bullet was the story the police got? Damn. How wrong could that be? Wrong place at the wrong time, sure, but stray bullet. No. Rudy said he needed to die. It's not my fault I can aim from far away.

"You ever think they'll open the investigation again," I ask with a hopeful tone I hope he doesn't understand the meaning behind.

"Actually, part of the reason I joined the force. I'll make them if I have to."

I stare at him. He's rock solid, a crease arching his brows and a icy gaze falling over his eyes. He's a threat, an enemy. A danger, but despite the panic growing in my gut I scramble my brain again, doing what I do best. Using my best asset.

"I think that date would be nice right about now."

He turns to me with a sad grin.

"Really?" I stare for a moment. Waiting for my brain to finalize my answer.

"Yes, officer."