Ethan - Prologue (draft three)

Ethan was running. To be specific, he was running just about as fast as he could down the street five blocks past that shady old movie store, and there was a lanky young cop – who looked like he had just been mud-wrestling – behind him. But not right behind him. The cop had finally doubled over, hands on his knees, and was panting as he tried to catch his breath. He sounded like he was going to cough up a lung at this rate.

Ethan couldn't help but laugh as he turned a corner and disappeared out of the cop's eyeshot. He weaved in and out of manicured suburban streets – or at least, as manicured as you ever saw in this tiny town. It was funny, he thought, that the cop hadn't thought to just chase him in the car. He could have caught him easily that way.

Ethan slowed to a light jog now that he far enough ahead of Officer Mud-Wrestling, and a grin broke out across his face. He'd found just the entertainment he'd been looking for today, and it wasn't even three yet.

"Don't move, hands where I can see them."

Ethan turned around for a half-second to see another cop – this one with a much less mud covered uniform – coming from the driveway of a nearby house. He must have just gotten off duty. Unfortunately for Ethan, it appeared that he was still on call. It was a good thing he enjoyed a bit of adrenaline. Rather than jump a nearby fence, he took off down the road at full speed again, taking his chances with the cop. "Catch me if you can, copper!" He smirked. He'd always wanted to use that line. His old audience wouldn't have appreciated it nearly as much as he did.

Ethan tried to dodge his way past him, but the cop caught his arm. "I said not to move."

"My karma must really be catching up to me," he muttered as he turned to face the cop. Ethan punched him straight in the jaw before the man's hand could reach his cuffs. Ethan tilted his head for a moment, wondering how much trouble that would get him into later. "Add another one to my record." He smirked. If adding to his list of crimes bothered him, he didn't show it.

"Assaulting an officer. Not your brightest move." The officer landed a punch in Ethan's gut, just enough to momentarily stall him. "Probably not your dumbest either."

So, the guy had heard of Ethan's record. It wasn't surprising. Most of the police department had, excluding the cop he'd outrun earlier.

From inside a nearby white-brick and wooden house, a girl of seventeen watched the fight. Her eyes held fear. When Ethan knocked the officer to the ground and was dragged down with him, she ran to the door. "Dad!" She almost ran to his rescue, but she knew there was nothing she could do to help.

Her father glanced towards her, and was promptly hit in the face with Ethan's fist. He winced, before hollering to her, "Call for backup!"

She nodded, trying to mask her fear, and ran inside to the phone.

"Cute girl."

"Don't even think about it."

It wasn't long before backup arrived. The officers had only been a few streets away to begin with—they'd only recently lost Ethan's trail. Unfortunately for Ethan, his already bad luck only seemed to be getting worse. He was outnumbered, and had two guns pointed on him before he had a chance to make a move.

"Stand up and put your hands in the air."

Ethan sighed. He felt far more nostalgic than annoyed. He stood up, and stepped away from the officer he'd been fighting, and looked towards the others. "Aren't you going to read me my rights or something?"

"Don't you have them memorized by now?" The officer spoke, still from the ground, and wiped the blood from his nose. "C'mon, someone help me up already." One of the newer officers did as he was told, then backed away. "Someone read him his rights already; we don't have all night."

When someone started, Ethan did nothing more than chuckle. "You might want to cuff me first, new kid."

--

"You can't possibly be serious."

"Is there a problem, David? You did sign up for this, after all. You don't exactly get scrutiny to choose who we assign to stay with you." The judge watched him with quite the serious expression.

David frowned – not just because she had used his first name instead of his title. The kid had just spent a fair amount of time trying to injure him. He wasn't too fond of the idea of Ethan living in his home. Justice Prudence was right though. He'd signed up for this program, and he wasn't going to go back on his word. "No, your honor, there isn't a problem."

Ethan scowled from where he sat outside, slumped on a bench. He played the disrespectful teenager part very well. Any mother who walked by was sure to give their daughter a talk later about how they better never date a boy like that.

The door to his left creaked. He turned to see the doors opening outward, and David walking in his direction. "Get in there. I'll be waiting out here."

Ethan looked the slightest bit confused when the cop said he'd be waiting, but he didn't ask. Finding out his punishment seemed to matter a little more in his mind at the moment than bothering to decipher whatever riddles this guy wanted to speak in. Odds were, he'd found out when he went into that room anyways.