Justice

 The night was cold. The breeze wrapped around me like snakes sending waves of cold throughout my body. My black joggers are covered in dirt from walking in the woods. Something about it just calls me. It's about two am and I'm trying to figure out where I am. I look up and see the glowing moon beaming down on the City of LA. While walking, I hear leaves crunching behind me as well as footsteps approaching quickly. I whipped around ready to strike when my eyes meet with Lucy’s. 

“Are you crazy Lucy, you could have gotten hurt,” I say to her. Lucy is my best friend. We have been friends since 4th grade. She is 17, just a year younger than I am. She has long light brown hair, and green eyes.

“Sorry sorry you and your kung fu are gonna kill someone one of these days I was just trying to scare you.” she states 

“Okay listen I only pull out the master weapon when needed. “ we both laugh. I asked her to come and meet me. Now we're off for some adventure.

 The air is cold but refreshing and the stars fill the sky. My mom used to tell me that everyone gets a star when they die. It's the earth's way of memorializing a person when they pass. We finally get to our favorite park. We call it “ The getaway.” The trees enclosing our private area give us comfort, like our own little home. The park has a big blue swings and a huge green slide that you fly off if you give yourself a running start. We are talking when I heard something from behind. I turned around to see a group of 3 men standing around. 

“Uh... what's up guys?” I say. No one said anything. A certain feeling came upon me that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up, so I stood up. 

“Lucy let's go,” I said to her urging her to stand. As we walked away they followed. We got out of the park and one of them grabbed my arm. 

Lucy chuckled as she knew the mistake he just made. I turned around slowly. I grabbed his elbow and upper arm and snapped it. 

                            *                                 *   *

Maze skipped around him, hooking the back of the neck. One down, two to go. The other two then came at her together this time. I hopped on the back of one guy then started elbowing his collar bone. The other guy is about 6’0 and I'm not gonna lie he's pretty big. Well, you know what they say go for the knees, and that's exactly what she did. Maze can get crazy when people threaten her. He threw a punch but she dodged and swung her heel out at his knee. I heard a pop then the grunts of pain he let slip. He tried to get back up but fell. 

“Lucy let's get out of here,” she said as I heard sirens down the road. I jumped off of him as he got up, grabbed his partner and then they fled. 

“Keep that crazy bitch away from me,” The man says shaking. Since she probably wasn't going back to her aunt's house we just went back to my place. 

                 *                                 *   *

We woke up and decided to go get some breakfast. Lucy grabbed her keys and we were on our way to Royal. Once we finished eating we decided to go shopping. I stood and we walked out the back door into the parking lot. The wind was blowing, but the sun beaming down made it warm and we started walking out to her car when something hit me on the back of the head. Everything started to go dark. the last thing I saw was someone grabbing Lucy. 

I woke up to the sound of voices echoing around, becoming aware of my surroundings I see I am in a room. The white walls were covered in dirt, and the pipes were hanging out of the ceiling. There was a draft coming from the door on the far side of the room. 

“ Maze where are we?” I heard a shaking voice say. 

 I look to my right to see Lucy. Her clothes are torn, she looks scared. The door unlocked and opened. 

“ I don't know just let me see who these guys are,” I say quickly before the door is open. When it does, the creaking of the door followed by a tall man strides in. He's wearing slick black jeans and a button-up top

“ Josh get in here,” He says while laughing.

“ The f is so funny.” I spit. 

“ This is the girl that broke your knee? She's so tiny man, being Leslie's daughter I expected a little more” Wait, Leslie? I stood up and charged at him but the chains around my hands stopped me. 

“ Don't talk about my mother,” I say trying to get free. 

“ Maze don't it's okay” I hear Lucy say from behind me. 

“ Ahhh there she is, feisty. Now I see your mother in you,” the tall guy said. How does he even know my mom? 

“ And sorry about the restraints I had to make sure my knee wouldn't get broken,” he exclaimed, he came and took the chains off Lucy and I. As soon as the chains fell I charged. I grabbed him by his neck, put my foot behind his and tripped him. He fell as I tightened my fist around his throat. 

“ Who the hell are you, and why did you send these people after us,” I say, venom dripping off my words. When I didn't get a response I punched him. One punch was all it took, I just kept going. His friend jumped in and launched me off of him.

“ My name is John, and damn woman keep those weapons you call hands away from me. Also I already told you, so my knees remain intact” John spoke.

“ Well maybe you should have just been like, “ hey my name is John I need to talk to you.”

                                                 *                                 *   *

I don't know what the hell is happening but all I know is that these people are crazy. Maze just jumped on top of this John dude and apparently, he knows her mom. 

“Hello!! Maze what the heck is going on,” I said. 

“To be completely honest I don't know I'm still trying to get those answers,” she replies. Looking upset, The tall man (John) started talking.  

“Maze, the reason you are here is your mom asked me. Before your parents died they were involved in some things that weren't exactly legal. They owed money and were messing around with not so good people. They are the ones that killed your parents, and they won't stop until even you are dead too, your 18 now and that makes you a bigger target for them. They've come to town recently looking for you, your mother asked me to keep you and Lucy safe since she's your best friend. Also, for the record, I only sent my men to see what your self-defense level was, what I was working with,” John said.

“They might have found you, and if we plan something they might expect it. ” He said. I think she's going to need some help. 

*                                 *   *

Well now that I finally know who killed my parents it's time for revenge. Those were my parents and now they're just gone. I have a plan but I don't know if it will work without her. I pull John and Lucy aside and I tell them what I'm thinking.

“ So this is what I'm thinking, We get Lucy to be bait, we dress her up she does her thing and you get him up to a hotel room. Well, be waiting in the hotel room with everything we need to hurt this man, everyone cool?” I said. 

“ Um slow your roll Maze you can't just lure a guy to a hotel and kill them. You need to think before you make any rash decisions.” She said, looking kind of panicked. 

“ Okay you're right, How about we still do that plan we just don't kill him. I can get in contact with the LAPD and they can arrest him.” I propose this offer and they accept. I think I'm going to add my own little twist on things, they can't possibly expect me to just hand him over without hurting him at all. 

“ Maze be careful when I'm not around. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if anything happened. I promised your mother I’d look after you” John said to me. I didn't know my parents were doing all of these things. Why am I having to pay for it now? 

*3 days later*

I am leaving my aunt's house ready to meet up with John and Lucy. He picks me up and we head out. 

“ So I hear they like to hang at this local club on 5th and main. Darrin is supposed to be there tonight, that's where all this will go down,“ he informs me. I don't know what I’ll do when I see this guy. He jumbled up my whole life and for what some money? Drugs? Something stupid that could've been replaced. 

“Lucy I think you should stay here, I don't want you getting hurt,” I express to her. 

“Not happening child,” she says with a chuckle.

“You're so stubborn but you know I had to try,” I say to her. John has already set everything up with LAPD, I guess he has a brother that works there. We pack everything up and head out. We drive for about 30 minutes to this club my adrenaline is growing the closer we get. 

“Okay is everyone ready?” I ask, I get two yes’s back and the plan is ready. We walked to the door of the club and enter. I'm 18 but Lucy is 17 so we had to get her a fake ID. Once we round the corner to the floor the music filled my ears. The beat of the music vibrated through my body and shook my bones. We go up the stairs of the club to the top floor, so we could get a better view. After scanning, we spot him. Sitting on the couch, women surrounding him. He has tattoos covering his chest, climbing up the sides of his face. He is wearing black pants with an unbuttoned, button-up top. As my eyes land on him anger builds up. I couldn't just stand there anymore so I charged. I grab John's gun from his waistband and dart down the stairs. I can hear Lucy and John yelling after me. I come up being him, my mind is clouded and my stomach starts to turn. 

“Hey ” I yell in anger. He turns and smiles. He SMILED. 

“Ah hello Maze, I didn't think you'd figure it out so soon,” Darrin says. The girls around him flee at the sign of the gun I had pointed at him. 

“You killed them, why would you, how could you. You took away the only people that cared about me. And for what some stupid money that you probably stole anyway” I spit. 

“I don't think you have it in you to pull that trigger, have you ever shot a gun before? I doubt it. They died because they betrayed me. They stole money from me, when I confronted them about it they lied to me. So I killed them” He said with a chuckle. I was fighting myself. Stuck in between good and bad. I couldn't think anymore. Out of anger, I angled the gun down and shot. 

“ That's for my mom.” I shot again just in the other leg this time

“And that is for my dad.” He went down in agonizing pain, the blood flowing out. Just moments after the police roll in. Darrin was put in handcuffs and taken out of the club. Sadness, joy, and fear spread through my body. I was happy I found the actual killer and even roughed him up a bit, sad because I missed my parents, but I have come to accept that nothing is going to bring them back. I need to live for them. Finally, fear. Darrin had left his crew behind. Would they come after me? Even if they do, I'll be ready.