The Night Children

Chapter 21

Edited. 

One of the policemen rounded the corner, his hand already itching at the gun strung on his belt. Ignoring him, I burst forward, slipping on the smooth tiles to veer towards whatever exit I could find.

My only instinct was to escape. Forget subtle, stay alive.

The brown haired policeman stepped forward, blocking my desperate run. He reached out a firm hand to grab my shoulder in an attempt to still my actions. There was a moment when I thought about biting him but then I thought better of it and instead wrenched away from his touch simply by shoving him forwards. He stumbled with an angered grunt just as I spun wildly around to pin point my mother. I may not love her, but I didn't want to see a bullet through her head.

The policeman reached for me again, his expression angles of confusion, urgency and anger. "Miss Argent, what is—"

I caught Mum's brown hair from afar, her gaze vacant and staring off into the distance. She hadn't heard my outburst.

"Mum!" I yelled, causing everyone in the hall to glance up. "Go now, you need to run!"

She glanced up from her spot, blinking at me with a dazed expression. Footsteps surged around me as people began to arouse from my sudden exclamation.

I neared her, bending down to reef at her hands in her lap. She resisted me and pulled her lips into a snarl. "What is wrong with you?"
I stared into her drunken gaze, hoping more than anything she could see the importance behind my words. "We have to go; he has a gun. He's going to—"

Mum suddenly blinked into attention. "Who has a gun?"

"Sheriff Pincel," I gasped, purposefully ignoring the policeman appear at my side with his colleague following shortly behind him. "He has a gun and he pointed it at me and threatened to kill me." My words were a mess, jumbling to come out in heaves.

Just as I reached to tug my mother again I was yanked backwards by strong arms. I let out a shrill scream, trying to escape from their hardy grip.

"Miss Argent, I need you to calm down." I heard the attack say against my ear. It wasn't his voice. It wasn't his venomous breath. It wasn't him.

"Let go of me!" I hissed, struggling to remove myself from the policeman. "You no right to touch me."
I managed to swing myself around in his arms to see Mum staring at me, her face tight. She glanced at the policeman but said nothing to him. Nearly screaming in frustration and fear, I lunged at the policeman's arm around my shoulder and bit him. Hard.

He instantly let go, swearing colourfully. His colleague reached his side, looking down at his friend's hand. "What happened?" he asked.

I spat out his blood and eyed the guy who had held me. He turned to give me a snarl. "She bit me."

"You violated my privacy," I snapped back. The curly haired policeman placed his hand on his friend's shoulder then glanced at me.

"Forget about that, what's going on here?"

I took in the circle of policemen, watching their tensely suspicious faces. "We need to leave. Pincel has weapon, he held me at gun point," I turned to Mum. "He'll do something to you, we have to—"

The policeman who had emerged beside the guy I bit took a step forward. "Miss Argent, if you don't mind me interrupting, I have to ask where Sheriff Pincel is." He glanced to his colleagues. "If he was attacking you as you say, why isn't he here?"

Shocked by the simplicity of this question I paused. "He's inside the room." I stared at the officer's badge, memorising his name. 'Lachlan Grove.' Lach – Officer Grove observed me with one raised eyebrow, sharing the same expression as the rest of the surrounding policemen.