Miranda

You can even lose "spattered."

I like this very much, I forgot to say. I can hear the sirens, see the flashing lights, and feel her inner calm, state of revelation.

(re note above: the word makes me think of spattered against the wall, against the windshield, etc., and thereby works against the quiet close-up of visualizing the blood beneath the handcuffs.)

Thanks Matt; appreciate the comments and thoughts. On the use of "spattered," I hoped to register the violence of the act, as opposed to a mere smearing, say. Not sure if I've accomplished that or not. Good food for thought...

That's one chilling sentence. I don't mind "spattered," but I'd put a comma after "Well" and delete "quietly." How else would she be looking at it?

I don't mind "splattered" either. "Cop" brings me out of the fiction, but that might be just me.

Good micro.

Thanks Tina and Kim. Agree with all your suggestions. I had originally added "quietly" as a reference to the implied Miranda Right but you're correct; don't think I need it. And, in retrospect, cop is a bit of a received TV word. It also settles the protag into a social class that works against the tension of the story – a slangy woman who's used to trouble with "cops." Stronger if she''d never do this sort of thing,except that she's been driven to it. Many thanks for reading and commenting.

This stab at the micro form went wonderfully, I think. Just enough left unsaid that points to a larger story with enough given to show us that glint in time, that half-second when everything can change. Well done and fine.

Sheldon: thanks much for that. And for checking in. This one's been quiet for a while so it's interesting to think that folks are still checking in occasionally.

Frightening image, it did it's job well. It feels like a story start, though and I want to know more. :)

Thanks for checking in Paula. Enjoyed surfing your list.