He took a sip of his coffee and looked at the clock: (3:00am) it said.

It felt warm as it hit his mouth. His lips. He looked in the reflection of the door of the fridges inside of the convenience store. He looked at his uniform tucked into his belt and waist area. He adjusted his badge and stared at his crew cut hair.

He was an older white male, 45 years old. He had been with the Cherry Hill Police Force for 20 years now.

He adjusted his belt. He paid for his coffee at the register. The cashier was a teenager. He had withdrawn eyes that seemed to sink into his head. He paid his bill, murmured to the cashier and went out of the door of the Wawa, in his police car.

The road was quiet. A few cars passed by on the Route. He was to patrol up and down 70 until his shift ended at 6am. The white lines seemed to blend together into one. When he usually got home his wife was up, making breakfast. He used to usually have breakfast with her after his shift, and then she would go off to work. But lately he didn’t really bother to. He went right up to bed and slept all throughout the day. Then when she came home from work to make dinner he would wake up and eat. He would see his kids and then get ready for his shift that started each night at 11pm.

He was always waiting. Waiting for something to happen. Being a patrolmen for an upper-middle class suburban town wasn’t the most exciting. The boredom began to claw at his eyes. He wondered why he ever took overnight all those years ago. It was the money, I guess. He had to provide. Most of his nights were full of bothering teenagers out driving too late and the occasional D.U.I.

The asphalt looked smooth as his car glided across it. There was a red light. He flashed his lights and went right on through it. Out of sheer boredom. He didn’t feel like waiting. He had been waiting too much. He didn’t have to. They did. He had a gun. And a means to justify. A will.

He heard some noise on his radio but it was nothing special. Just a check-in. His eyes were glazed with a fog but his heart was beating. The caffeine was starting to kick in.