A Long Way Home: Chapter 9

Suzan finds out that the world is stranger than she thought. After a mysterious warrior comes to her rescue, she is pulled into a dangerous circumstance that will change both of their lives forever.

Chapter 9

It was amazingly easy for me to find the run-down housing development. Unfortunately, that was when it started to get complicated. I wandered around the area, seeing significantly less people around than last time. After a while I noticed that every time I thought I was making progress it turned out that I was in fact going in circles. The seemingly right paths led me to the point I had begun my journey in. When I passed the same building - painted slimy-green on one side, an arched streetlamp with a cat sitting on it standing nearby - for fourth or fifth time, I stopped.

"Okay. Carefully. I have to think this through. Think-this-through." I looked around to analyze the surroundings.

I thought I had already used all the possible paths. On the right of the characteristic apartment building stood a construction that once had to have been a kindergarten. The years of glory were long behind it, that's for sure. A few windows were missing panes; the only ones left were broken. Colors that once used to be bright had faded and turned gray. Only the metal frameworks were left of the swings. The grass was probably waist-high, and only one lonely tree and a couple of squirrels climbing it seemed to have a spark of life in them. Watching this scenery, I spotted a small path trailing beside the kindergarten.

"I haven't gone there before," I murmured.

I crossed the street, passed the nursery school and moved down the lane; not very optimistic about this route as I didn't remember going there that memorable afternoon, but hoping to finally reach my destination nonetheless. I left behind me street after street, building after building. Finally, I found myself in front of a club. A huge, gloomy construction that cast shadow on the whole neighborhood. Greenish checkered curtains and some plants in the windows indicated that the first floor had been turned into a hostel. The neon lights illuminated the next-door windows with every other letter of the sign. The name I depicted from it was 'Raven Party'; the 'n' was broken and didn't lighten up along with the other letters. Next to the name, a huge blue raven made out of neon shapes flapped his wings and extended its sharp talons at me. As if the look of the place alone wasn't ominous enough. For a moment I stared as an emaciated cat tried to jump from a tree onto a hostel balcony. When it lost its footing and ended up hanging on the tree, his hind legs kicking frantically, I wanted to climb the tree and help it. I wasn't able to do it though because I got interrupted by a sound of a door opening.

Looking around, I saw a boy, probably not much older than me, walking out of the dark insides of the suspicious club. He leaned against the wall, leaving the door ajar. He looked wrecked, probably by the stimulants he clearly used. Generally, his appearance wasn't very inviting: old, worn-out clothes, greasy hair sticking out of a blue wooly cap. Crazy eyes moved frenetically from left to right; dried lips, marked with scabs, moved without sound, a trickle of saliva dribbled down from the corner onto the stubble on his chin. I was standing at the middle of the pavement, gawking at him, so it wasn't surprising that I caught his attention. Shakily, he moved from the wall, trying to focus his runaway gaze on me. When he finally managed to do that, his eyes roamed through my body, from head to toe, before he started to advance on me, mumbling something unintelligible. I was backing away, he was drawing closer, I was moving away, he was drawing closer. If it weren't for the danger of the situation and my overwhelming fear, I would have laughed as we looked like a grotesque pair of dancers that didn't know the steps. Finally, as my back met with the tree, I lost my balance and fell down, hitting my head on the trunk so hard the cat fell into a shrub. Meanwhile, the boy reached me, gabbling louder and louder; a clash of sounds, from which I could distinguish only some single words. Maybe it was because he was making no sense, or maybe I was just so scared.

"….cutie…doll…nice a*s…burgee b***h…must have… " he muttered to himself. I started to wonder if he was in fact a madman. But did it really matter at that moment anyway?

He was moving closer and closer. A tattooed hand, covered in bruises from pricks, shot in my direction, as if wanting something from me. He must have come to the conclusion that wasn't going to get what he wanted and instead he brushed my cheek with the back of his hand before reaching to search my pockets. I smelt his repulsive breath. I couldn't take it anymore; I let out a frightened yell. His palm quickly covered my mouth; it was filthy and sweaty, with yellowish nails. He was foul. He tore my jacket off and went through it with a shaking hand, but he tossed it aside as he saw my bag which I must have dropped while falling down. I gawked at him, too dumbfounded to react. Never before had I found myself in such situation. My breath was quick as if I had just run a mile, cold sweat dribbled down my spine, my whole body shaking like a Jell-O.

Finding nothing, the drug addict turned his attention back to me. From his pocket he fished out a dirty syringe. Holding my wrist tightly, he waved it in front of my eyes. I tried to break free from his grasp but he was stronger, even in his poor state. The syringe was getting dangerously close to my forearm. Finally, I managed to kick him. He cried sharply, dropping the hypodermic and holding his leg.

I let out a sigh of relief, but the feeling was short-lived. He leered at me with g

lazed eyes. Ridden of my jacket, I was left only in my black top; the shoulder strap of it had slid down my arm when we had been fighting. He crawled closer and glided his hand over my bare shoulder. I flinched under his slimy touch and tried to jerk away from his cold sweaty hands. He laughed ominously and closed one palm around my neck; not as to strangle me but tight enough so I would realize that I should not protest. The strap was moved down fully and he started to touch me. My lids closed tight so as not to let tears fall down my cheeks. His breath on my skin was heavy and stunk worse than old socks; rough, clammy touch made me nauseous. As his hand finally found itself under my top, I shrieked deafeningly.

Through the rhythmic thud in my head �" the echo of my frantically beating heart �" I barely registered the door creaking again, but I couldn't see who went through them this time because of the tears blurring my vision. The only thing I heard well was a scream. At first, I didn't recognize the voice. Only when she got my assailant with a battle yell and threw him off me did I identify her. Izabela. Although my legs still felt like they weren't attached to my body, I could breathe easier. I didn't try to stop my tears anymore; though this time they were tears of relief. Straightening my top, I curled under the tree waiting for Izabela to get the better of the druggie. He wasn't very lively, so a couple of blows were enough to sort him out. Holding his stomach and shouting obscenities at the girl, he walked away into the development.

"Damn you!" she cried after him. For a while she stood there, self-satisfied. Her hair was flying majestically in the wind. The purple ribbon had slid off somehow during the fight and was now lying in the grass. Her breath was slightly quicker. She was in her element, I knew it. I felt as if the time slowed down. Gradually, she turned to face me.

"WHAT THE F***K YOU DO HERE?!" Furious, she looked at me from above. "You can't resist, you must get in trouble?! Why the hell you comed here?!" She looked so angry I wouldn't be surprised to see steam coming out of her ears. Strangely, her words seemed only to increase my hysteria and I burst into tears, shivering and hiccupping loudly.

"I-I… Oh!... I tho-ought he will raaa-ape me! Hic! It w-was so cloo-ose! Hic! I-it was ho-orrible! Hic! You s-saved m-me aga-ain! Hic! T-thank you!" My crying got even louder. Izabela threw my jacket on me and made a strange gesture, as if she wanted to embrace me but didn't know how. Finally, at arm's length from me, she patted me repeatedly on my shoulder, hesitantly. "A-are you hic trying to hic ca-alm m-me?" The girl nodded timidly, making me smile through my tears.

It took me some time to calm down enough to be able to think rationally and fully register my surroundings. It was then that I realized that Izabela was wearing a black T-shirt with a blood-red letters spelling "Rave Party" on front. What was she doing in this club anyway? Why had she helped me? And for the second time already! I would have thought it would be handy for her to be rid of me: the only person from this world knowing about the existence of Lightningale. After all, no one knew what the druggie would have done.

"Izabela?"

The girl was sitting beside me, almost completely still. "Mm?" Her head shot up and she looked in my eyes. She was much calmer now.

"I was wondering… Why did you stop the boy at all? Wouldn't you want something to happen to me? You know, if I had gone missing, crazy or got murdered?"

She was gazing at me with a strange look of concentration before fixing her eyes on something far away. "Yes, you are only person who know our secret. I thinked no one who see will accept. I thinked you will run away and bring troubles on our heads. And we will must run away again. You wanted to do it but you stayed and listened and you did not bring troubles. Well, apart from saving you from your troubles. I don't have reason to want something to happen to you. Besides, it's my job. I am bodyguard here." He motioned to the "Rave Party" club, smiling widely.

I gawked at her with wide eyes, analyzing everything she had told me. Suddenly, I remembered why I had come here in the first place.

"You asked me why I came here. HERE I ended up by accident. I was looking for your house. I wanted to warn you!" Izabela was glancing at me from the corner of her eye, taken aback. "You remember Gaston Floriano Sinagra? You met him near the Foreign Languages School and he apparently took a liking to you. At first he was just asking about you, but today he went much farther. He was following me in hope I would lead him to you. I'm afraid one day he would reach his goal and it would have terrible consequences if he saw a dragon. Gaston is strange. Sometimes I think that he may actually be mentally unstable. He acts odd. You will do what you want with this information. I just thought I should warn you."

"You… warn…came…druggie…danger…neighborhood…all this…oh my…because of us…" She uttered single words I couldn't form a coherent sentence from. She seemed moved. She looked around nervously.

"I will take day off today. Come. Lightningale will be happy to see you." She helped me up and pulled me into the darkness between the dilapidated buildings.

Author's Note

English is not my native language, so if you spot any mistakes, please, let me know. :)