Resistance Is Useless

I sat in the cushioned chair at the police station with my coffee cup in my hand. I hadn’t stopped shaking my leg since I got here. They called me in for more questioning, to make sure I definitely told them everything. There was nothing else to tell, really. I told them there were four guys, guns, sort of tall, dressed in black with masks. What else I could possibly tell?

The tattoo. I never told them about it. I was still too afraid to tell them. Besides, if the Feds were really that good, they’d find these guys with or without the clue of a tattoo.
“Karina, are you sure there’s nothing else you can give us?” Officer Andrews asked.
“I swear, there’s nothing else,” I lied. “I can’t think of anything else.”
He sighed, running his hand through his brown hair and walked away.

I heard shouting and police radios going off all around the office. Almost everyone jumped up from their seats and grabbed their things. I sat there looking around confused.
“Round ‘em up, we have somewhere to go,” Someone said. “Close the bridge downtown!”
It was like an army of cops as they all left the office, talking and making commands. It went from officers talking and laughing to them being well… cops in action. All in a matter of minutes.
“What’s going on?” I asked when Officer Andrews came back over to me.
“Another robbery,” He said. “If we’re lucky, we’ll catch them and maybe they’ll be the guys that did you wrong.”
“Oh…” I said. “Well, I hope so.” I didn’t know how to react knowing there was another helpless person out there getting robbed the way I did before- probably the exact same way, too.
“I guess, obviously, you’re free to go,” He said. “We’ll call you back if anything comes up.”
“Yes, sir. Thank you,” I said, grabbing my purse from the floor and putting it over my shoulder. As soon as I walked out of the station, I lit a cigarette right away and practically ran to my car. I just wanted to be home.

At home I threw my purse on my bed and stripped out of my clothes to get in the shower right away. It felt like things were crawling on my skin. I felt disgusting; just the way I felt in the car as a hostage when he touched me. I leaned against the wall in the shower, letting the scalding hot water run over me. I scrubbed my skin as hard as I possibly could until I felt clean again. When I got out the shower my skin was practically raw and red.
I tied my hair up and put on a two sizes too big baggy sweatshirt. I curled up in a ball on my bed, contemplating on whether to call him or not. I dug through my bag for my cell phone and leaned back against my bed. It rang a few times before he answered.
“Hello?”
“Alex,” I sniffed.
“Karina,” It sounded like his whole demeanor changed. He sounded more concerned. “What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Are you okay?”
“Can you come over?” I asked.
“Uh,” He paused. “I’m sort of busy right now, but I’ll definitely come over later, alright?”
“Okay,” I said.
“I love you,” He said. “I promise you, I’ll be there.”
“Love you too,” I said, hanging up.
I put my phone under my pillow and laid there trying to sleep for what seemed like hours until there was a knock at my door. I slowly got up and dragged myself to the front door, unlocking it and opening it. I rubbed my eyes to see more clearly and leaned against the doorframe.
“Kari,” Alex pulled me into a hug. “What happened? Tell me what happened.” He released me from his hold and looked over me, probably wondering why my skin was red.
“I’m scared.”