officer was screaming, his face purple with rage.
Maya tried to push herself up, the wet
earth clinging to her clothes and skin. "You are
completely out of line!" she yelled back, gasping
for breath as the shock of the assault hit her. But
before she could fully stand, the younger officer,
holding the nozzle of her own hose, did
something so maliciously degrading that it would
forever alter the course of all their lives.
He turned the dial on the nozzle to 'jet'
and squeezed the trigger, pointing it directly at
Maya. A high-pressure stream of freezing cold
water struck her squarely in the chest, the sheer
force of it knocking her back down into the mud.
The water soaked through her clothes instantly,
blinding her as it sprayed into her face and eyes.
She gasped, coughing as the icy water flooded
her nose and mouth.
"Stay down!" the officer yelled,
continuing to spray her as if she were a wild
animal that needed to be corralled. The sheer
humiliation of the act was suffocating. Here she
was, in her own backyard, being brutally
assaulted and soaked with her own garden hose
by the people sworn to protect and serve.
The older officer finally stepped in,
grabbing Maya roughly by the shoulder and
forcing her face-down into the mud. He jammed
his knee into the small of her back, the weight
agonizing. Cold metal cuffs were slapped onto
her wrists, biting tightly into her skin. The water
was finally shut off, leaving a deafening silence
broken only by Maya's ragged breathing and the
sound of the officers panting.
"Got her secured," the older officer
grunted into his shoulder radio. "Suspect is
detained in the backyard of the target residence.
She was combative."
Maya lay in the mud, her favorite clothes
ruined, her body aching, and her heart pounding
against the wet earth. But beneath the shock and
the physical pain, a massive, unyielding inferno
of anger was igniting. They had no idea who they
had just assaulted. They had no idea the
magnitude of the mistake they had just made.
"You have just made the biggest mistake
of your entire careers," Maya whispered into the
dirt, her voice trembling not with fear, but with
an absolute, terrifying certainty.
The younger officer scoffed, pulling her
roughly to her feet. "Yeah, sure lady. We hear
echoed across the manicured lawns. Maya held
her head high despite her ruined state, her jaw set
in a rigid line of defiance.
They pushed her roughly against the side
of the nearest cruiser. The cold metal of the car
sent a shiver down her spine. "Where is your
identification?" the older officer demanded,
patting down the pockets of her soaked overalls
with unnecessary aggression.
"In my back pocket," Maya replied
coldly, her voice devoid of any emotion. "Take it
out carefully."
The officer fished out her small, water-
resistant leather wallet. He flipped it open, barely