Opposed // [Kaplan]

Xantiago Ozlimario

The evenings in District Six weren't as cold and dead as many poor souls may believe. In fact, around this time of year, they were much more humid, muggy and full of criminals or other sketchy folk lurking the streets, and although Peacekeepers couldn't take care of the undesirable weather conditions, we could still, to the best of our abilities, keep the scum from roaming the back alleyways and sidewalks of our beloved District that we had always known as our home. Whether or not an individual had the desire to reside in District Six, if it was where they were born, it was likely where they would be staying. Therefore, it was part of my job to keep the place safe for people to live in and not have to fear for their safety or their lives every waking moment.

As a Peacekeeper, I suppose, in a way, since I protect the people, I'm like a soldier. I went through the necessary training and worked my ass off to get to the point I'm at today, and I'm not afraid to use all of my training and hard work to do my job the right way. I'm not a rule breaker. At least, not anymore. Sure, I have a daughter, which I'm not supposed to, but I follow their rules regarding her, and we don't live in the same household. Instead, she lives with my sister who I sincerely believe is taking sufficiently good care of her. There's no doubt in my mind that my daughter is living a good life, despite it not being under my roof.

Tonight, I had been assigned another late-night patrol shift of District Six, where I was born, raised and am now stationed. Therefore, I'd be going out into the streets, flashlight in hand and gun at my hip, roaming the area and keeping an eye out for any sort of suspicious activity. When I'd changed into my uniform to go out on duty, I'd traded my usual fedora and button-down shirt for my helmet and Peacekeeper uniform. I was ready for work, and, as I always did, I'd be focusing on it, not letting anything get in the way of my job to protect the people who lived in this place.

As usual, suspicious activity didn't seem all too difficult to come by tonight. The individual that stood out to me immediately was a girl, leaning against the metal pole of a lamppost and smoking a cigarette. It wasn't the cigarette, however, that caused me to find her a bit out of the ordinary. Usually, in my everyday life, I wouldn't judge someone for how they were dressed. When I was out patrolling, however, I had to judge every person's appearance, ever person's words, and every person's actions, just on the off chance that they were doing something that they weren't supposed to be doing.

This particular young woman was dressed in some rather revealing clothing, as well fishnet stockings. Her skirt was hiked up quite a bit, and she was clearly, at least, from my point of view, trying to catch someone's attention. My guess was that the attention she was looking for wasn't mine, however. No one that was dressed in such a manner would want the attention of a Peacekeeper, especially this late at night, as it would only cause said Peacekeeper to keep a closer eye on the person.

Keeping a closer eye on the girl was exactly what I did, too. I didn't even need to shine my flashlight in her direction to see her clearly, and seeing her clearly helped me have a general idea of just what she was up to. If I had to guess, I would suppose that this girl was a prostitute, or at least looking for some sort of payment for sex, even if she didn't do it regularly. Although, with how she was portraying herself, my guess was that she likely did this quite often. I, personally, didn't want to approach her. It was likely that the young woman was desperate for money if she was going to go about getting it in this way.

Regardless, though, I had to do my duty as a Peacekeeper and approach her, just to find out for sure if she was breaking the law or not. Therefore, I went up to the girl, flashlight now switched off, as the streetlight illuminated us enough to see one another rather clearly. I spoke to her as soon as I approached, so as to not just be lurking about. I needed to be straight and to the point with my words.

"Hello, miss. I'm Peacekeeper Xantiago Ozlimario. Might I ask what you're doing out here so late tonight?" I asked her this, making it a general enough question for her to be able to confess if she chose to. If she didn't choose to, however, it still gave me a bit of room to pry and try to find out exactly what she was up to, even if I thought that I already knew.

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842 words

Xantiago Ozlimario

Letting this girl off the hook easily would obviously be a huge mistake for me to make, and I couldn't allow myself to do such a thing. She'd crafted up a rather convincing sob story, but from what I could tell, it was all a lie. I was rather good at reading people, most of the time, and this was certainly one of those times. She asked a favor of me, however, and the favor she asked for was something that a Peacekeeper shouldn't just say 'no' to. The young woman wanted to be escorted home, as, according to her, she didn't feel safe.

If someone said they didn't feel safe, whether it was a fib or not, I was to make sure that they started to feel the comfort of safety again if I was capable of giving it to them. That was part of my duty as a Peacekeeper, after all. I was supposed to take care of the people, make sure things stayed in order, and most of all, maintain the peace in District Six where I was stationed to do my work. Therefore, I listened to what she had to say to me.

"This boy at school, Mitchell Black, he asked me out on a date. He said to meet him here but..." she said to me, trailing off for a moment as a tear streamed down her cheek. Was it forced? Most likely, but I couldn't know for sure. I wasn't her, after all. For all I knew, maybe she wasn't lying, but it certainly seemed like she was to me. "He never showed." She told me this and I nodded in response. Then, she continued to speak to me.

"I kept waiting and then the sun went down and now I'm too afraid to walk by myself," she expressed. "Men keep whistling at me, sir. I don't feel safe."

I paused for a moment before responding to her again, however, as what she had said didn't quite sound right. If she was waiting until the sun went down, that would have meant that she was still standing in the dark for quite a long time. It was hard for me to genuinely believe that she'd been out here that long. On top of that, when she stepped closer to me, the smoke from her cigarette wasn't the only thing that I smelled on her breath. She'd had a bit of alcohol, too. I could tell, and drinking typically wasn't something that a young woman her age would normally do before a date with a boy from school.

Expressing that she was of school age certainly sent off warning signals in my brain. There was no way that she was meeting a boy here. A girl who had as much confidence in herself as this girl appeared to have when looking at the way she dressed and presented herself, as well as how well she seemed to be able to lie, didn't seem like a person who'd wait around in the dark for a boy who obviously wouldn't be showing up.

"Yes, I'll walk you home. Just lead the way, if you will." I said to her. "Although, I have a few questions for you, miss." I told her this, all the while trying to keep sounding as respectful as I possibly could. Soon, however, she'd likely discover that I knew she was lying if she hadn't already.

"Oh, and if you don't mind giving me your name, that would be appreciated. It'd be good to know what to call you by, miss."

I stopped speaking for a moment, then continuing on by asking her the first of the inquiries that I was going to send her way.

"You said you'd been waiting for Mr. Black during the daylight, and that you've been here since it got dark. That was several hours ago. What made you wait so long, out here in the dark? Surely you could have flagged down another Peacekeeper in the area to help you walk home, as they've been patrolling the area all night." I said this to her with a slight raise of the eyebrow. Then, I kept speaking.

"Also, if you don't mind me asking, do you have an umbrella or something else with you as a means of keeping dry? It was raining just about an hour ago, but it's been dark for several hours, so I'm curious as to how you kept dry out here during all of that." I gave her a slight smile. Surely she knew I was onto her at this point, despite the fact that I was keeping a polite and respectful tone to my voice. My manners were proper, but it's likely that she'd still managed to discover that I wasn't convinced by her fabrication of a lie.

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796 words