When the Flame Goes Out
Chapter One
The sun was slowly setting, while the moon was steadily rising. A young girl of about sixteen was running, trying to get home as fast as she could. Trying to dodge the oncoming traffic, (since their were no sidewalks) she ran furiously, glancing at her watch every few minutes. It was well passed ten o'clock, and she knew that her parents would be waiting for her, since she was a half an hour late. Before she had left her house, she had reassured her parents that she would be home on time, but she was a little caught up in the moment. Alyssa had spent her evening with a bunch of wanna be thugsters and their crew at a party. Her parents weren't all that keen in letting her go, but in the end, they reluctantly allowed her to go.
It turned out that it wasn't much of a party at all. In fact, it wasn't even close. Alyssa had arrived at the given address, and found out that they weren't interested in partying. They were interested in her body, nothing more than that. She only figured that out at the end though, which made her late, because she told them that she had to go, but they just laughed at her. She had managed to get out of the apartment the "party" was in, and didn't have enough time to hail a taxi, so she just ran. Ran, and didn't look back.
All of the running she had been doing didn't help her at all, especially when she felt like passing out. They had offered her some beer, and Alyssa accepted, because she didn't see any harm in having one or two drinks. The thing is that it turned out to be more than one or two drinks. It was more like six drinks. It surprised her that she was able to go as far as she did, without throwing up, or passing out, but as soon as she thought that, her stomach began to churn. She began to have trouble breathing, and thought that it was from the running. Her head started to spin, making her feel really dizzy, and nauseous. She had stopped running, and stood in place, breathing slowly, and deeply, trying to catch her breath. Her sides ached terribly, as she held on to them. A sudden strong pain surged through her head, creating a horrible migraine. And then after a few moments, their was nothing.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Glad to see your awake." said a female voice that was unrecognizable to her. "My name is Detective Holly Johnson, and this is my partner Detective Connor Peterson."
Alyssa's vision was blurred at first, not allowing her to see the two people before her too good. After a few short minutes, she could see the two detectives. One was a woman that appeared to be in her late twenties, early thirties, with blond hair that was tied in a ponytail. She wore a black coat, which was unzipped, showing a hand knit sweater, probably knitted from someone in her family. Her hands were in her back pocket, and she rocked on her feet, waiting what seemed like to be impatient, for an answer, or some kind of acknowledgement.
Her partner, Connor Peterson, seemed nicer than Alex. He was a married man, Alyssa could tell, for he had a ring around his finger. He appeared older than Alex, and most likely had more experience as a cop than his partner. She noticed that he smiled at her, when her vision became focused. He had short black hair, his eyes were warm and inviting, which made Alyssa shiver a bit, not knowing why either.
"What can I do you for?" she asked the two of them, though she didn't make eye contact with the female cop.
"We would like to ask you a few questions." replied Alex.
The knot in her stomach tightened. What was this all about? Surely she did nothing wrong. All she knew was that her memory was a bit hazy, and she couldn't remember anything that happened at all for the past week or so. She bit her lip, racking her head for something say to the two cops.
"Badges?" she heard herself ask.
The two of them simultaneously took out their badges. Alyssa then nodded her head to them, again not making eye contact with Alex. Slowly, she sat up, preparing herself for the questions they had.
"Alright," said Alex again. Alyssa made note that it was only her who did the talking. "Where did you get the beer from?"
"Excuse me?" asked Alyssa with a slight snide in her voice. "Me drinking? What is this all about?"
"Some one called us, saying that they found you passed out on the street. We know that you were drinking, but we don't know where. If you tell us who supplied you with the beer, we won't haul your ass into jail."
"I don't know anything about beer." said Alyssa defensively. "I think we're done here."
"Don't tell me when we're done." said Alex coolly, staying calm. "I will let you know when we're done. Your in a lot of trouble."
"For what? Passing out on the road?"
Still, the detective, Connor stayed quiet while Alex spoke to Alyssa. He personally thought that she was lying, but he didn't like the technique that his partner was using. After a few minutes, he made his way to the door. He opened it, and said.
"Thank you, we'll be in touch."
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
School for the next few days was pretty rough for Alyssa. People stared at her, and some people laughed. It was fairly obvious that they heard of her passing out and being questioned by the cops. How she did not know, but she suspected that the Alex woman let it slip to the press, for within the next day, it had an article about her, which made her want to die. Nothing was worse than having the whole school reading about you in the paper. It frustrated Alyssa greatly.
Her parents were more than furious with her. They grounded her for a month. No computer. No television. No phone, music, or anything else. The thing is, Alyssa still couldn't remember anything that happened. She asked herself what she had done wrong, but had came up with no answer. Was it truly possible that she did drink beer? And how much could she have posssible have drunken? And the question that troubled her most, did she hurt anyone?