The shock was more than legible on the boy’s face as his hand slipped almost imperceptibly beneath the counter and hit the panic button. “Y-y-yes ma’am.” He stammered out, using the keys latched to his wrist to unlock the register and pull it open. He moved slowly, hands quivering as he pulled the cash out and pushed it across the counter to the two girls. “For godsake hurry the fuck up!” The woman urged, watching him swallow back his fear and hurry his uncoordinated movements.

It seemed like forever but eventually the bag was full and the register empty. Offering a small and twisted smile the woman slung the bag over her shoulder, glancing triumphantly back at the girl who looked like she was on the verge of vomiting. Not wasting another second she pushed through the door, bursting out into the cold, dark air of the street only to find a blaringly bright spotlight shining in her eyes. Fuck.

“Set down the guns and bag and place your hands behind your heads.” Ordered the solemn voice from behind the blaring light that both girls squinted against. Following orders the woman set the pistol on the pavement along with the bag before interlocking her fingers  behind her head. The girl behind her attempted to follow suit, but as she straightened up she found the world around her beginning to waver. The woman didn’t have to turn her head to know the ‘thunk’ behind her was the sound of the girl fainting.

“Now lay face down on the ground with your hands behind your head.” The voice ordered once more as the woman obliged, rolling her eyes a bit. Laying with her cheeks pressed into the slightly damp asphalt she heard the rushing of feet and felt the tightening of metal linking her wrists together. She had gone through this what felt like a thousand times before, and this whole song and dance was getting a bit irritating. “Anything else?” She muttered into the ground with a small smirk, earning only a further tightening of the uncomfortable cuffs that now bound her hands behind her back.

After being jerked to her feet she walked calmly with the “nice officer”, allowing herself to be ducked into the back of the patrol car. It was going to be yet another long night. She flashed a grin to the officer in the front seat of the car as she leaned back against the all too familiar fabric of the seat. “Well, well, well… Back so soon?” The officer spoke, obviously amused.

“They don’t call me that fucking Spencer Carlin for nothing!” She spoke, still smiling that odd lopsided grin into the rearview mirror. The man in front shook his head a bit, still a bit thrown off that a girl so pretty could be so…. Well, the only term he could think of was “no damned good”.  Shifting his eyes away from the blonde he looked out the window, sitting up in his seat a bit and switching on the car as he was given the signal to take her down to the station and book her.

“What ever happened to make a girl like you go so wrong?” He inquired, head twisting to glance back at the girl behind him. One could tell just by looking at those blue eyes she wasn’t just one of the doped up broads that usually ended up on the streets. She had a glow of intelligence, an air of dignity, and possibly even a conscience. It was peculiar, he knew, but being an officer he had a way of reading vibes from people.

Spencer opened her mouth to spew out some smart mouth little quip but stopped, opting to just remain silent as her gaze shifted to the window. Oh, she didn’t even know where to stop. Everything went wrong, everything that you could possibly imagine went so insanely wrong that even she had a hard time comprehending it. She had found it best not to even try, to just smother those thoughts with a mix of drugs, alcohol, and a good deal of trouble. Oh, and can’t forget sex.