The Attack
By: CaspHer
January 6, 2019
About the Author:
CaspHer is an author of many crazy stories online. Some of which are fictional and realistic. You’ll often find blind characters in the stories because CaspHer is blind. There will always be a character or two with disabilities included in everything she writes. The goal is to include folks with all disabilities in creative writing and portray them as strong people, a lot of stories have characters with challenges that are frowned upon. CaspHer will give each and every person in her work a great spotlight as deserved. Every disabled person is not helpless or useless. We will be the strongest folks in CaspHer’s stories whether fictional or not.
You’ll find folks from the military in her work and some events taking place at night clubs she frequented in Minneapolis!
She was standing near her window in a three-story building while she was on the phone. It was around 6:30pm and she was still in the office. Suddenly, she feels a breeze behind her neck and a painful set of finger nails scratch her forearm. Someone had attacked her from her work window and began scratching and pulling her arm through the window screen.
She tried to look in the attacker’s direction but they’d pushed her in the face to the floor. She only got a glimpse of the ashy palm on her face.
How did this person scale her building to reach her?
Who is this person?
What did they want?
Why the hell are they climbing through three-story building while there are elevators and stairs?
She battled with the masked individual and grabbed a bronze trophy from her desk top. She smacked the attacker in the head with the device once and sent him flying. They slumped down to the ground holding onto their mask and bloodied head, still trying to remain silent. She grabs another device with a pointed end and quickly attacks the person again. She kicks the guy or girl in the face, causing them to black out and the mask to finally peal off!
Under the shattered and bloody mask is a bloody face that belongs to her ex-boyfriend from three years ago! They dated in the US Marines a while back and broke up because he kept cheating on her and so much more. He had the nerve to propose to her before deployment and she declined publicly in front of all of their Marine friends during vacation in Minneapolis. Once she got rid of him, plenty of blessings and great opportunities found their way to her life, she gracefully accepted them all.
She finished her time in the Marines and became a state representative in the Massachusetts State House with wonderful team members and creative interns. Her life became less miserable without this guy who’d made everything difficult. Yet, he’s climbing through windows to stalk and attack her. She pressed the button behind her desk to call for security. A few men and women in uniform burst into the room to find the knocked out attacker and woman standing.
“What the hell happened here?” Security guard 1 asked.
“No idea. I was standing by the window talking and someone came climbing through nearly ripping my arm off and it led to this,” she explained raising her scraped up arm.
“Who the hell is this idiot? We’ll take it from here,” three men and four women in uniform surround the creep and carry him out by his arms and legs. They tied him to a chair in her suite and checked him for identification and asked if she had any clue who this was. She explained where he came from and why this situation may have been brought on.
A nurse applies bandages to her arm while she explains, “I dated this dude while I was serving in the US Marine Corps when I was younger…mid twenties for a few years. During that time, I was not happy with him and all of his doggish ways. I did not feel the need to serve my country and be miserable at the same time. When he proposed to me, I declined instantly. I took the ring, set it up a post and shot it with my hand gun,” She mimicks a shooting motion with her better arm. She shot the diamonds clean off that day.
She mutters, “Should’ve been his kneecaps flying off instead of the ring.”
Her attacker is Jason Blande from Wichita Kansas and has been known for aggressive treatment of women in both the service and in the civilian life. Somehow, he managed to hang onto his career as a Marine.
When she was done serving, she became the mayor of Boston while he was away and her life took off so quickly in the direction that she’d intended. She wanted to give back to her community in the city of Boston and stuck to her word.
She had an intern that stood out to her and was considered an idol to her. Not because this individual was blind but because of their attitude and strength. To her, they did everything she could ever need an intern to do and never used her disability as an excuse. Sometimes this intern became pretty angry about politics and they’d take the day off by going to paintball in Everett.
The intern’s name is Ella Pickles born in Miami Florida and she grew up in Sleepy Eye, Minnesota and moved to Newton Massachusetts. She claims that she was tired of the sleepy people in Sleepy Eye, MN constantly falling asleep at the stop light in traffic. She needed something fast pace and quick like her.
Ella had clean dread locks longer than her own leg that swayed with each step and was colored purple and blue like a planet from out of space. She wore really clean suits to work and was about her business once she sat down in that leather chair in front of her desk. As always, she had a cup of Caribou Coffee from home to start her day off right. She wore green and blue hearing aid molds as the colors swirled with navy blue backing for processor color. Ella was not only dealing with blindness but also progressive but slow hearing loss. Her prosthetic eyes did not have pupils as they were replaced with music note designs when she had no sunglasses on.
Sharon walks over to Ella’s desk, “Hey, what’s going on?”
A slight delay as Ella comes out from reading a document, “Not much. What happened to you in there? Someone said somebody attacked you through a window?”
“Yup…my ex-boyfriend climbed through my window to attack me. The real reason is unknown but he’s spending some time behind bars,” Sharon sat in the chair across from Ella.
All of the seats surrounding Ella’s mini office space were leather and her desk was mahogany as requested before becoming an intern.
“Do you want to grab lunch in the building across from the State House? I’ll have security with us coming and going,” Sharon asks
“Sure, no problem. I’ll need to finish this document in three minutes before heading off with you, sounds good?” Ella types away effortlessly on her Focus 40 blue braille display.
“Sure thing, I’m going to get us some body guards,” Sharon walks off while Ella types a completed email to her boss and the Governor of Massachusetts.
Ella and Sharon are walking to the McCormick building side by side with a guard ahead and another behind with enough space for Ella to use her long white cane smoothly. They’re walking at a steady speed and bypassing scanning and security and headed down the escalator to get food.
Ella Pickles gets her traditional ground turkey burger and fries with lemonade and Sharon gets French fries and Ginger ale. They sit by a wide window showing a view of Bowden street and a chunk of busy Boston at lunch break hour. People are scattered across the city in cars and on foot. The busy sounds of Boston are fascinating to Ella. They finish up and head back over to their office at the state house. The body guards are in place as they walk through the crowds of people. They were guided past the bigger crowds to the freight elevator where no one stands and make a discrete entrance to the West Wing Office suites. Back in the moderately air conditioned offices and back to work.
A group of constituents burst into the entrance of the office looking for Sharon but was warmly greeted by Ella.
Ella has her iPhone in hand while greeting twenty-three people looking for Sharon. They each tell their name and where they commuted from. Their secretary was out for the week for personal time off. Ella and Sharon decided to take over for Maxine.
Brandon is totally side tracked by the reason why he came and blurts out, “Why is your iPhone talking so fast and why is the screen black? How can you see that?” He points and slowly walks over to Ella. Sharon blocks him with her bandaged arm from invading Ella’s personal space.
Another person starts, “I want to know why your eyes are closed. Open them so we can see your eyes,” A few murmors take over the waiting area while Ella and Sharon stand in place watching.
A woman squeals from behind the crowd, ”Oh my goodness… She’s blind!”
Another voice from behind, “And she has on hearing aids! I can see them from down the hall! I’ve seen that face before!”
More people talk over one another about Ella, “And her dimple is cute!” Flashing of cameras come from the phones of bustling constituents as the number of visitors grow by the second.
Sharon whistles loudly and gathers everyone’s attention from Ella and her dimple to ask them all why they came today. Many of them had different reasons and left behind packets and booklets for campaigns for Sharon the state rep.
Everyone leaves at last. Sharon swipes phone numbers that were scribbled onto shards of paper from Ella’s desk and apologizes for their strange behavior.
“In all of my years of being a state rep, I’ve never seen so many people fawn over any of my interns before.”
Ella stands in place, “Well. This is not new to me. Many moons ago, I used to be a television show about kids with disabilities in Florida. The attention I got out in public became so dangerous that my mother moved away unexpectedly with us, all of that chaos calmed down. Still, I get people trying to take pictures of me because of how I look at times,” she sits down in a chair.
“Oh really? Not that I don’t believe you, but you escaped a famous life?” Sharon plunks down in a chair across from Ella.
“Yep. I attended a private daycare for children with all disabilities and they were looking for three kids with disabilities. They saw me and read my story and asked my mother to let me on, she allowed it and from then on, I was a tv star for a while,” Ella explains.
“So…a regular day in your shoes consists of people sometimes fawning over you unexpectedly? If you were my daughter, I’d need you to have a bodyguard and or a guide dog!” Sharon replies.
“Well…I’m apprehensive about the guide dog stuff. Sometimes people aren’t very nice to me but it’s life. Some days are good and some are not,” Ella listens to her screen reader intently and replies quickly with a few plucks on her braille display.
Sharon taps Ella’s right shoulder, “I’m getting you an Uber home after you’re done for the day. Let me know when you’re ready to leave. I do not feel comfortable with you outside like this after what happened,” she walks away before Ella could say anything.
Many days later, they’re back in the office working super hard. Maxine is back and everything is in order.
Sharon is not in for a few days at the office. Ella unlocks Sharon’s office door and uses her desk for quieter work space. She carries her MacBook Pro and braille display over to the larger desk and begins working. Maxine pops in to greet Ella, “Good morning!”
“Good morning, Maxine. Did you have a great weekend?”
“Yep! I sure did. I went to Martha’s Vineyard for the weekend, what did you do this past weekend?”
Ella sighs comfortably, “I stayed home watching Netflix and ordered pizza. I didn’t feel like going out,” she plugs in the computer to a nearby outlet.
“Sounds like a relaxing weekend,” Maxine gestures to the visiting constituents piling up and leaves Ella in the state rep’s office.
Ella drafts several pieces of legislation in a few hours and orders lunch to her office instead of going outside. Not that she’s afraid of leaving. She wants to work and eat at the same time and is on a roll. She had her iPad and Macbook out to multitask with drafting bills which consist of a simple word document, transferred over to a legislative aide with language. Soon, the bill will be filed and official in the months or weeks to come.
Her phone rings and it’s her boss, Sharon, “Hey, good afternoon,” Ella starts first.
“Good afternoon. Got a surprise,” Ella stops walking toward the door, “Yes? What might that be?”
“You’re not an intern anymore,” Sharon begins, “ I’m hiring you. I’m creating a position for you. By the end of the month, you’ll get to stay with the house of representatives if you want.”
That was the best news ever!
“Oh my goodness! You’ve definetly shocked me, boss” Ella exclaims.
“How are the bill drafts coming along?” Sharon askes.
“Um. They’re going pretty well. I drafted a few bills during the morning and currently sending the last one over to the Ethics Committee really soon,” she traces the dots on her display.
“Well…gonna let you get back to work. I’ll be in tomorrow,” both ends of the call end and twenty-six year old Ella is now a full time employee of the Massachusetts State House. Ella Pickles will be a constituent specialist working with Representative Sharon Briggs.
The following morning, Ella was on her way to the office when she was stopped by a random person and started getting taunted loudly.
A loud scruffy voice circled around her screaming, “Blindy blindy blindy…black blindy black blindy! You can’t see me…hahahaha…black blindy! I’m gonna snap your cane and leave you stranded to get hit by a car…you better watch your back….oh wait you can’t see…blindy blindy!”
Luckily Ella had plenty of canes in the office and two in her back pack that collapsed if anyone did take her cane.
She screams back as loudly as she can, “You suck at life! Touch my cane and I’ll use your spine as a cane you yuck mouth prick!”
A silence hovers the sidewalk. The guy starts pushing her and going around her in circles, pulling her cane tip, “ahahaha…you blind bitch…you’re gonna get hit by a car today…I’m gonna push you into oncoming traffic…you’re gonna die today…I’ll take you out of your misery. You’re getting hit by a car….blindy blindy blindy! You’re blind…you don’t need to be alive!”
She gets so mad, she’s got the shakes and is getting extremely hot with anger. Sweat beads form on her forehead as the same voice from the man surrounding her begins again, “You’re a black blind bitch that’s getting hit by a car today when you come out from work. I’m gonna push you into oncoming train track…I followed you…blindy blindy blindy blindy!!!!”
While he’s screaming again, “Bli-”
She cuts his scream off with a stiff grip of his throat and adds instant pressure on his wind pipe.
“You dusty ass mutt…scream that shit in hell…move one more time and your windpipe is busted…breathe one more time…your pipes are done!”
He tries to breathe as his eyes bulge from his head. The veins in his head are showing as pools of sweat swarm around his bushy raggedy eyebrows. One more squeeze and he jolts and collapses to the floor twitching for air. Ella jabs him wherever the cane lands and he continues twitching in pain. Not a single peep comes out of him.
She learned how to choke people out with one hand from her friend in high school. He was fascinated with single handed death touch techniques and ended up joining the Marines. She grew up with men and women who ended up serving in the military. She’d never been interested in attending a school for the blind. Her twin sister served in the Navy. Had she not been born blind, she’d certainly be in the military.
She trails back to his twitching body and hovers again, “Do that shit again and see what’ll happen.”
She straightens her suit and dread locks as onlookers finally decide to ask if she’s okay instead of helping while he was screaming and threatening her. She responds, “Fuck all of you raggedy lemon-head dust ball bitches…you saw this shit happen and wait to offer help afterward. Fuck all of you!” She flips everyone the double bird and continues off into the state house, bypassing security and still flaming with anger.
Sharon awaits her new hire with everyone at the door as Ella storms past without saying a word.
“Why didn’t you call out for help when he attacked you?” she followed Ella to her desk.
“I wanted to deal with this asshole myself,” She removes her sunglasses and places them in a drawer in the table.
“I know you can take care of yourself but that guy was my ex-boyfriend! Not sure how he got out of jail and knew who you were…I’m gonna have to do something about this,” Sharon grabs the nearest phone and dials security. She goes away into an intense conversation for a while and storms back in screaming, “They let him walk free of charges even after breaking into the office!”
The justice system has been pretty crummy these days in Massachusetts and everywhere else. Women (men too), children and elderly folks are being assaulted by criminals who should be locked away. The system is letting the wrong folks walk free and locking away the innocent people.
“Ella listen to me. I understand that you’re an adult and can take care of yourself but I’m going to arrange to have you picked up from home to work and brought back…we’re not going back and forth about this,” Sharon warns firmly.
“Okay. Got it,” Ella replies flatly.
“And send me your address with specific directions so I can give to the driver, please,” Sharon disappears into her office with the door closed behind her. Maxine comes over calmly to congratulate Ella on her being officially hired. Ella is comforted with a new intern who walks around with her whenever she needs to navigate around the house of reps. Somehow, strange things keep popping up and bypassing security.
Unable to concentrate on her work, she’s unable to complete a draft of a bill and decides to do a bullet pointed list of things she’d like to see improvements on in her state. She drops a print out of some new legislation that seems agreeable off to her boss under her door. Still filled with aggravations from this morning, her work flow is slower but is still happening. Hoping tomorrow would be better, she realizes something is missing. She forgot to put on her prosthetics that morning. It’s a good thing she forgot them because of the scuffle she got into with her boss’s ex-boyfriend who attacked her on the streets by the state house.
Ella is given her new ID and username and password for her computer at her job and is now official with the house of representatives, Sharon tries to cheer her up along with Maxine but fails.
“I want to be excited about this but after what happened, my nerves are still screwed up. I hope I can come back happy or in a better mood some other day,” She places the ID in her pocket along with the brailled out password and username.
The End
