Part Three
The receiver was in her hand when she heard the second gunshot. This time when she spun around she did see someone stumble backwards a couple steps. Her heart first raced then stopped as she waited for the movie type step or two forward to be made. Before the shot man just crumpled into a pile, hand over chest and he’d say his last words, gasp his last breath.
Her fingers clung tightly to the receiver and what happened likely in seconds seemed like an eternity. “He’s… still.. alive?” No way, that couldn’t be. Her attention was drawn back to the phone once more with the squeal and then the recorded voice, “If you’d like to make a call please hang up and try again.” Yes.. the phone! If nothing else, call the police. Cinzia had a plan, she would do something; right or wrong she was calling the cops.
As she reached slender fingers to the flap that would reset the phone, and give her the dial tone she needed to call 911 she heard the odd sounding thud. Something had landed atop the phone booth, perch may be small but it was there, she heard it and she was not looking up. Letting go of the chrome flipper she pressed 9.. she tried to tell herself to breath.. something is up there.. just look. Have to tell the cops something other than something’s sitting on the phone she’s calling from and someone is shot. Number 1 was pressed and she tried to force herself to peer up but as she went to press that number 1 a second time she felt the cold fingers wrap around her wrist.
The voice, seemed to come from herself yet it was loud enough for her to hear. “What are you doing?” The girl’s heart stopped, at least she swore it did yet all she could hear was the thumping as blood coursed through the veins closest to her ears. In those seconds she tried to make what little she saw, what seemed unreal and turn it around to make it real.. to keep it sane.
The person that was shot, it needed reported. Maybe he only got shot in the arm and that would explain why he hadn’t seemed to die. Still, he must need medical attention. And this person now holding her wrist and preventing her from dialing that last number, exactly how did he get on top of the phone? Jumped from above? Of course, of course.
Seconds, only a matter of seconds this all happened and the protected child suddenly had been brought in a world she didn’t know anything about. With her free hand she tried to quickly shove the receiver between her shoulder and ear, hang it up and and try once more to dial 911.
The man was suddenly off his precarious perch and on the ground next to her. With a yank the wire was pulled out of the phone. From the force, the receiver yanked painfully across her ear and shoulder, bounced off her chin and fell to the concrete with a clang.
The sound of the receiver hitting the ground was heard by the others in the park. The arguing stopped, and now footsteps made their way toward the pair at the phone. This went unseen by Cinzia.
Instead, where fear had seemed to paralyze her she was now angry, an anger fueled by the pain. With a force she never dreamed she could muster she tried unsuccessfully to yank her wrist out of the man’s grasp. She heard his soft, almost taunting laughter at her effort and suddenly she was scooped up in his arms. What she hadn’t seen was the look that crossed his face when he saw the group nearing. Her fingernails dug into his chest in hopes that the pain would be significant enough that he’d drop her, giving her a chance to run but he just laughed.
Then, the last she remembered was saying the words.. “Oh.. fuck.” Cinzia knew she was in trouble now. Dammit why hadn’t she’ stayed in the hotel room? She was, as soon as the words spilled through her lips, passed out. The stranger simply disappeared with the seemingly wayward girl leaving the crowd behind them.
