The Protest

Leah stood nervously among the angry, shouting magicfolk. Her unusually tall stature allowed her to see over most heads on the crowded street, but she noticed a few other towering cyclopes.

Her friend, Xanna had convinced her to attend this peaceful protest, but she wanted to leave and go home. Difficult though it was, it calmed Leah down to squeeze into small spaces. 

However, she knew how important this was. Tensions between humans and magicfolk had always been high, but after graduating highschool a year ago she saw even more acutely how bad it was. She couldn't help but feel that hand-painted signs proclaiming WE ARE PEOPLE, TOO! and REPEAL THE EXCLUSIONARY ACT simply weren't enough to change things. 

Looking over at Xanna, she saw that the short redhead was scowling quite forcefully, her fragile wings glimmering with opaline colors in the sunlight as she tensely fluttered them. Despite not coming up to Leah’s midriff, Xanna had managed to fight her way through the crowd for a spot near the front, practically on the steps of City Hall. 

Leah sighed inwardly. Xanna was her best friend, but she wished Cyrus were with her. Unfortunately, they couldn't attend the rally because of work, but she couldn't help but feel better when she was with them. Cyrus could stay calm under any circumstances, and they seemed to exude a bubble of peace wherever they went. Xanna, however, was the opposite of Cyrus. Fiery and quick to anger, an astonishing amount of fury stored in her small frame. She was definitely never attending another protest with the faerie again, the anxiety of being at the very front was beginning to creep up–

Sirens. 

Leah froze, recognizing the howl of approaching police cars over the myriad of other honking vehicles, and could see flashing lights. Her anxiety strengthened. 

“Xanna," she muttered. “Z, maybe we should get out of here." 

“What?" Xanna asked loudly, glancing up at Leah. “Girl, you gotta speak louder, I can't hear you over all these sirens!" She paused. “Ah… I see now. Alright, we'll leave in a few minutes.” She returned her gaze to the doors of City Hall. Leah pursed her lips, but said nothing more. She noticed her cardboard sign was drooping a bit, so she raised her arms again, making sure the popular slogan WE ARE PEOPLE, TOO was visible. 

The police cars pulled up nearby, and a tall, graying man stepped out of the foremost vehicle. Lacking any distinctly magical features, he appeared to be human, but he might have been a vampire or siren. He held up a megaphone with a gloved hand, the other resting by his belt, where, Leah noticed with no small amount of discomfort, a gun was holstered. In fact, all the officers had guns at their hips. Most of them were men, and all of them were human, except for one woman who was obviously a harpy, given the mottled feathery wings on her back. Leah hadn't thought there were any non-humans left on the force. She supposed that the woman was too high-ranking ro fire without a good reason. 

“Good morning!" The lead cop called out, speaking through his megaphone. “I am Officer Winston. While we do understand your grievances–" 

“Bullshit," Xanna growled beside her.

“–and are working to find a solution that addresses your needs, you are unfortunately creating a disturbance by blocking traffic and we must ask you to disperse in an orderly manner. We would be happy to assist you in finding another way to voice your concerns, if you will please remove yourselves from the–" 

“Hey, when are you dickbags gonna let my sister outta jail? What’d she do, huh?” A man’s voice yelled angrily from somewhere behind Leah. An empty soda can sailed out from the same general direction and past one of the other officer’s heads. He drew his pistol in an eyeblink, aiming it furiously at the crowd. Leah and many others gasped and shied away from the gun, but there wasn't any need. 

"Stand down, Scanlan,” Winston said firmly. “Put that away." 

The officer, Scanlan, begrudgingly did as he was told as another shout rang out from the protesters.

"What's a harpy doing with the cops? You heard the guy, they're tryna stop us!”

"Let's all remain calm! We can still settle this peacefully!” The winged officer cried, raising her hands in a placating gesture. But the crowd was too riled up, rage and discontent pounding an already cracked dam. And then the dam broke.

Someone from within the mass of protesters threw a rock at the officers, nailing one of them in the forehead. He dropped, and Scanlan opened fire. 

The crack of the gunshot silenced the crowd for only a split second, then all hell broke loose and the protesters charged the small police force. Leah, terrified, tried to grab Xanna and run, but something painful and blunt took her in the shoulder. She gasped at the sudden wash of agony, and glanced down at her left arm, utterly shocked to find a growing patch of dark blood on her shirt. 

“Oh…” she said in a small voice. "Hey, Z? I think I might sit down for a minute.”

Her thoughts were oddly blank. She started shambling off down the street, and only vaguely heard Xanna calling her name behind her. 

She settled down a minute later in the mouth of a quiet alleyway, feeling sleepy and lightheaded. There was a strange dichotomy in her mind, panic warring with unconcern. She could feel her breath, quick and shallow, and her heart trying to beat out of her chest. But at the same time, she felt apart from it. Something told her she should put pressure on the wound, so she balled up the hoodie tied around her waist and pressed it to her shoulder. She glanced up as Xanna came to a stop on the sidewalk, panting slightly.

“Damn, girl, what are you doing? Didn't you hear me calling your–” Xanna stopped, looking at Leah properly. Her eyes widened. “Aw, hell." 

“Hi, Z," Leah said tiredly, grimacing slightly. The panic was starting to sink in now that the initial shock of getting shot was over. Xanna didn't seem to hear her, though. She had her phone to her ear.

“Yes, a gunshot wound. It's in her left shoulder. She's still conscious. We're outside the jeweler by City Hall. Thank you so much!" 

She hung up, but quickly started another call.

"Can you get off work? Quickly? Yes it's important, Leah's been shot! I just did, didn't I? Leelee, tell Cyrus you're alive.”

Xanna held the phone out to Leah's face.

"Hey, baby,” Leah mumbled. Xanna pulled her phone back.

"Obviously I already called 911, are you crazy? They said they'd send an ambulance. Just meet us at the hospital, yeah?” 

It wasn't long before an ambulance did indeed stop by the alleyway, and Leah yawned as paramedics loaded her onto a stretcher. 

“Her name is Leah Torres," Xanna was telling them as they climbed into the back of the vehicle. “She's 19, a full-blooded cyclops…" 

Leah didn't hear the rest. Though her arm had been numb the whole time, the pain finally hit, and she let herself drift off.