Promises - A Short Story Read online

  * * * * *

  Detective Danielle Brown showed up at the scene in front of Hank's Bar. She walked past the squad car in which Julie was sitting in the back. Julie just sat there with her head lowered. Danielle walks up to a Police Officer that is questioning Michele.

  “So, what do we have here?” she asked as she looked at the other bar patrons who were just staring at the car that held Julie.

  “They are all saying the same thing,” the Police Officer reported with a confused look on his face.

  Danielle looked at the Police Officer waiting for him to continue. When he doesn't she asks, “Which is?”

  The Police Officer looks at Michele. “Tell her what you told me,” he said plainly.

  “It was crazy,” Michele said looking at Danielle. “I was talking to this guy and this girl comes in threatening to kill herself, then she starts talking . . .” Michele looks down as if she is trying to make sense of the night.

  “Talking?” Danielle asks, confused.

  “Yeah,” Michele answered, looking back at Danielle. “One moment she is going to shoot herself in the head then she has this whole conversation.”

  “Conversation with whom?” Danielle asked, not understanding.

  “With herself,” Michele blurted out. “I mean she was having this whole conversation as if she was talking to someone, but nobody was there. The jerk I was talking to kept screaming at her to shoot herself but it was like she couldn't hear him after a while. Then she dropped her gun on the floor and it really looked like she was holding someone and crying.”

  “She wrapped her arms around herself?” Danielle asked, as she took notes in her little flip pad.

  “No,” Michele said and looked off into the distance. “That is the freaky thing. It looked like someone was holding her as she cried. Like there was an invisible person there holding her up.”

  Danielle looks at Michele for a few moments before nodding. “Okay, thank you very much,” she said to Michele then looked at her pad.

  Michele nods her head and starts to walk away. She then stops in her tracks as she realized something. She quickly turns to Danielle and says, “Chris Justes.”

  “Who?” the Police Officer asked, confused.

  “She mentioned a name when she was talking,” Michele explained. “It was Chris Justes.”

  Danielle nods with a smile. Michele turns around and walks down the street. The Police Officer watches her walk away and shakes his head. He turns toward Danielle and takes a deep breath. “Weird night, huh?” he asks as Danielle just looks at the squad car Julie is in. When Danielle doesn't acknowledge him, he says, “Have you ever heard anything like this before?”

  Danielle looks at the Police Officer. “As a matter of fact I have,” she said with a smile. She looks all around her. “People have been seeing this Chris Justes a lot in this area recently.”

  “What do you make of it?”

  “There are a lot of theories,” she says and sighs. She turns her attention to the Police Officer. “I personally think it is an anagram.”

  “A what?”

  “An anagram,” Danielle responded. She turns to a clean page in her pad and starts writing in it. “When you rearrange the letters of a word to get a different word.” She rips off the page and shows it to the Police Officer. He looks at it then back at Danielle, surprised. They both then look at the squad car Julie was in.

  The page read:

  C H R I S J U S T E S

  J E S U S C H R I S T

  * * * * *

  Julie sat in the squad car looking at her cuffed hands. She sees a hand reach out and touch hers. She doesn't have to look to know it is Chris that is sitting right next to her. “What's going to happen to me?” she asked, still looking down.

  “Whatever happens, I will always be with you,” Chris said lovingly, filling Julie with peace. “I will never leave your side.”

  “Promise?” Julie asked even though she knew the answer.

  “Of course,” Chris said as he smiled. “I died for you.”

  Julie closed her eyes and smiled. Tears of joy rolled down her face.

  ###

  Jason J. Cross is an Independent Filmmaker and Author. Though he has wrote numerous scripts – most can be seen on his website – this is his first novel. While in film school, he met his future wife and have they had twin daughters together. They currently live in Brooklyn, NY.

  See films and other projects from Jason J. Cross at FourSidesofcross.com

  Connect with Jason J. Cross online:

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