MINE TO LOSE
Officer Hamilton patrolled the alleyways of the city, the night air thick with tension. She turned a corner and spotted a teenager spray-painting a wall.
“Do you know you can go to prison for graffiti now?” Hamilton intoned.
The spray painter froze and slowly turned to face her. “Please, can you just let this one slide?”
Hamilton studied the spray painter. After a few moments she sighed.
“Alright,” she began. “I’ll let you go this time. But if I catch you again, I’ll have no choice but to arrest you. Understand?”
Relief washed over the spray painter's face. “Thanks! I promise you’ll never see me here again!”
As the spray painter ran off, Hamilton glanced at the freshly imbued message on the wall.
‘ONE HUMAN, ONE LIFE!’ it proudly declared.
As Hamilton shook her head, her radio suddenly crackled to life.
“Sergeant!” a female voice announced. “We’ve got a situation at the detention centre! Please respond immediately!”
“On my way!” Hamilton responded, as she bounded towards her squad car.
* * *
Hamilton arrived at the detention centre and hurried to the main office. She was met by Officer Edwards, a younger female colleague.
“What’s happening?!” Hamilton demanded.
Edwards handed her a folder, her expression grim. “We’ve got a clone awaiting destruction.”
“So?” Hamilton questioned. “Just fill out the paperwork and get it taken to the incinerat—”
“But,” Edwards interrupted. “It’s your clone!”
Hamilton’s face fell in shock. “What?!”
Edwards took a deep breath. “She beat a non-violent protestor to death. We had to cross-reference the surveillance footage to make sure, but… there’s no doubt.”
Hamilton opened the folder and saw her own face staring back at her.
She took a few moments to process the information, her face becoming a blank slate.
“I’ll give the order,” she commanded. “But I need to see her first.”
* * *
Hamilton entered the detention area, where her clone waited inside a cell.
“What happened?!” Hamilton demanded.
Tears welled up in her clone’s eyes. “I dunno! I just had enough of the protests, and I snapped!”
She wrapped her hands around the bars between her and Hamilton.
“You gotta help me!” the clone pleaded. “You’re the only one who can get me outta here!”
Hamilton looked away, struggling to maintain her composure. “You know I can’t. Police clones have to be treated the same as any other clone!”
“Please!” Hamilton’s clone begged. “Just don’t let them destroy me!”
“I’m sorry,” Hamilton uttered, her voice cracking.
She left the detention cell, barely managing to hold herself together.
* * *
Back in the main office, Hamilton watched a CCTV monitor.
“Take her through,” she instructed into her shoulder radio. “Make sure it’s quick.”
The monitor showed her clone being pulled down a corridor by two other officers. She kicked and screamed, her eyes wide with horror.
The officers reached the end of the passageway and dragged Hamilton’s clone through an open steel door.
“You OK?” Edwards asked as she approached Hamilton.
“Do you think I got too arrogant Edwards?” Hamilton vacantly replied.
Edwards looked at Hamilton with surprise. “What do you mean?”
“They offered to clone me because I was one of the city’s best officers,” Hamilton disclosed. “But I didn’t think it would come to this.”
Edwards reached out a hand to comfort her, but Hamilton walked away.
“I’ll be in my office,” she instructed. “I’m not to be disturbed.”
* * *
Hamilton sat at her desk, tears pouring down her cheeks.
She held a picture of her and her clone, proudly smiling together.
Hamilton put the picture down and took out her gun. She closed her eyes and pressed the muzzle against her temple.
“Forgive me,” she sputtered, as she wrapped her finger around the trigger. “I thought we could change this city for the better…”
At that moment, Edwards burst into the room. Seeing what was happening, she jumped over the desk and tackled Hamilton.
Both women hit the floor, causing Hamilton’s gun to discharge.
They lay motionless for a few moments, Edwards lying on top of Hamilton.
“Oh my god,” Hamilton spluttered. “Thank you, Edwards!”
Edwards didn’t respond or move. Hamilton pushed her off, revealing a bullet hole in Edwards’ upper chest.
“No!” Hamilton shouted, as she knelt down and started administrating chest compressions.
* * *
Hamilton stood in a court dock, clothed in a prison jumpsuit. The judge sat across the room, a looming presence in his suit and gown.
“For the charge of aggravated manslaughter in the second degree,” the judge began. “I sentence you to a minimum of fifteen years in prison.”
Hamilton wept quietly, using her cuffed hands to dry her eyes.
“In closing,” the judge continued. “It’s clear from these proceedings that both your promotion to Sargent and your inclusion in the police cloning program was a grave error, which will hopefully never be repeated.”
The judge gestured for the court guards to take Hamilton away. The guards took her to a holding cell in the depths of the court building.
“What happened?” Hamilton asked herself as she sat alone in her desolate cell. “Since when was life mine to lose?”