THUMP

'THUMP'
The man woke suddenly and jammed on the brakes. He jumped from the car and raced to the side of the road. He prayed he would see a dog or a badger but he knew only one creature makes that noise when it’s hit by a car. After a moments search he found the body of the man he had struck.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry" he chants as he looks at the crumpled body of his victim.
The man coughs blood and his eyes roll. The driver notices his hand is missing, an old wound unrelated to the accident. The driver picks up the mans wallet and a picture falls out it’s of a boy and his father the cop. As the man realises he killed a cop and made a boy fatherless he cries and the man dies.

He had been following the girl for almost an hour now. Her red hair flowed as she walked the streets of the town.
"Bitch" he mutters, "No one will stand in my way. I must find him no matter what it takes"
As the girl walks into the alley which leads to her house the man gets closer. When she puts her key in the door he moves in pushing her through and knocking her to the ground. He closes the door and turns on her, failing to see the bruses which cover her face.
"Where is he you bitch" he screams as he hits her.
"I don’t know, I don’t know" she cries as he hits her again and again with his artificial hand.
She is knocked unconscious but he continues to hit her. "I must find him, I have to find him” he is saying as she dies.

She had fixed his favourite dinner, wore her best dress and had her red hair tied up just the way he liked it but every inch of her being screamed 'run' as she heard his key enter the lock.
He had hit her again last night and had kept hitting her until she lost consciousness. They had been together for almost two years and every time she brought up the idea of having a family he had gotten upset but he had never hit her before last week. She loved him and thought that he loved her, but last week it had all changed. They had mentioned children only once before that night he had dismissed it out of hand and told her never to bring it up again. But she had really wanted children, her sisters daughter was three and a constant source of joy to her. She had decided to approach her partner so they could work through whatever issues he had together. He had become more and more angry as she pressed him and she was stunned when his hand struck her face. He had hit her back handed and walked from the room. He had barely spoken to her since then and it was last night that she had decided to apologise to him. She had grown angry by his constant attempt to dismiss it and she pressed for a reason for his violence.
As he walked into the room he had tears in his eyes he walked up to her and opened his mouth. She looked into his clear blue eyes and saw the glint of the knife in her hand as it plunged into his throat.

Two years ago to the day the man had been on patrol, his first day working for the security firm that protected almost every house in the neighbourhood. He had seen a suspicious looking man with one hand enter an apartment. His partner had said he was going in for a closer look and had been gone for a long time. As he heard a shot ring out he had sprung from his car and ran to the door. The door opened and he saw a gun. He fired two shots chest high on the door and the body of a six year old boy crumpled to the ground. The car next door backfired for the second time.

The five year old child had been playing with his favourite toy his plastic gun, on his grandparent’s farm when he noticed the door of the shed was open. As he walked in he accidentally hit the start button on the shredding machine. He began throwing sticks and stones into the machine and eventually it jammed as his watch slipped from his wrist into the machine he had climbed upon it to try to get it out. It was at this moment that his father the cop walked in still wearing his uniform.
"Hold up little man" he said picking the boy off his perch, "I'll get that."
"You know better than to go near this machine." he said as he reached into get his sons watch, "I could never live with myself if you got hurt"
As he pried the watch from the machine his sleeve got caught and his hand was almost completely ripped off.
As he lay holding the remains of his hand in his lap and his son screamed in fear, he saw an image of the man who would kill him. After being asleep at the wheel he sat on the road side crying over a picture of a cop and his son.