Chapter 8

Chapter 8

I woke up the next morning around eleven. I was lucky that I woke up in time. I had completely forgotten to set my alarm the night before. I got dressed and got a cup of coffee. I felt like I had slept for days. I was really refreshed and awake. I was also happy to go to work. I figured that Betty would be there today to show me how to do everything. At least I was hoping she would be. I was going to smoke a small joint before I went to work, but I decided not to since it was my first day of work. I lit a cigarette and headed on my way. The temperature outside today was so hot that I was sweating just from the walk from my front door to my car. My mom was still asleep when I left. I was kind of wondering if she had been drinking the night before. I really didn't care to be honest.

I waited patiently for my car to cool down before I left. It just made the ride more enjoyable if it wasn't eight-hundred degrees in there (exageration ofcourse). Once my car reached a comfortable temperature I took off. I still had a craving for more coffee. It was pretty convienent how there was a little store right next the Antique Shop. I went inside and got me a nice big cup of coffee that would last me a few hours. I noticed that there was a microwave upstairs the other day, so if it got cold I could always heat it up. If it didn't work then whatever, I wasn't that worried about it.

When I got the Shop I realized I was still like fifteen minutes early and Betty wasn't there either. I took some Hydrocodons with my coffee and smoked another cigarette. Normally I like to be outside and smoke when I can, but it was so hot today that I stayed in my nice air-conditioned car. I was still thinking about last night and how much fun I had. I couldn't get over it. Right about then my phone rang, it was Jessica!

"Hey you!" I answered with enthusiasm.

"Hey Ian, what are you doing?" She asked.

"I'm just smoking a cigarette waiting to go into work." I forgot that she doesn't know about my job yet.

"Your job?" She sounded puzzled and a little dissapointed.

"Yeah I got a job at the old Antique Shop on the edge of town."

"Well that's cool." There was an awkward pause. "Well what time do you get off?"

"We close around nine and that's when I'll be done." I didn't like the sound of her sad at all. "You want me to come pick you and we can hang out, maybe smoke some weed.?"

"Yeah....yeah, that would be great!" She sounded like her happy self again.

"I have to work tomorrow too, but the next day I have something I want you to do with me. It's a surprise so I can't tell you yet." Right then I saw Betty pull into the parking lot. "I'll see you tonight hun, but I have to go into work now."

"Okay Ian, see you later."

"Bye." I said, kind of sad that I had to get off the phone.

"Bye." She replied then she hung up.

I stepped out of the car and took one last hit of my cigarette. I walked up to the door with Betty. She gave me a key and said after today I'm going to have to open and close when I work. I said that was fine. The Shop was actually pretty nice looking with the afternoon sun shining through the windows. Betty seemed like she was in a hurry. She told me how to work the register. She also explained that nothing in here had a price-tag. I would have to negotiate with the customer to find a fair price. Then I would punch the price into the register and she told me to write down what I sold and for how much on a little pad of paper after they left. It wasn't hard. She said all I had to do was sweep the place up morning and night. If I see anything that was messy just pick up as needed, but other than that I could do whatever I want. She wished me luck then left in a hurry. I just stood there in the silent old Antique Shop. I walked around and looked at some random stuff, but there wasn't much to look at. I went upstairs and turned the television on to the one channel that came in. It was one of the normal channels with the news and a few funny sitcoms. Everybody Loves Raymond was on. I never took the time to watch the show, but I figured I nothing else to do. I noticed that there was no smoking sign downstairs, but I guess it was allowed upstairs, considering there was an ashtray on the table. At first I was bored, but then once the pills kicked in I was relaxed and enjoyed the lack of business.

I found little random s**t to do upstairs like play solitare, watch TV, and read one of the books that were up there. Around two o'clock I heard the bell ring downstairs. I ran downstairs to find an old lady with curly gray hair standing at the counter. She had a couple old hats on the counter.

"Hey son, how much are these hats?" She seemed like she could barely talk.

I thought for a minute. Betty said she wasn't picky with the price at all, as long as it was reasonable and the customer was happy. "How do you have 'mam?" I finally asked.

"Well I think I'm willing to pay twenty bucks for the both of them." She looked at them and smiled.

"Sounds perfectly fair to me." I said and punched it into the register just like Betty had told me. I took the woman's money and told her to have a nice day. I wrote down that I sold two hats for twenty dollars. I was pretty proud of myself.

The day was really long and boring. The lady was the only customer I had until five o'clock around when people started getting out of work. There must have been ten or twelve people in the Shop then. I was surprised actually. I assumed that it happened everyday around that time. Everyone that came in was pretty nice. Every once and ahwile I would get some grumpy old man that thought everything should be sold for nickels and dimes like back in his day. They didn't bother I just laughed and set a solid price when they did that. I mean that’s what they got if they were going to be a******s about it.

When the day ended I was pretty relieved. I had swept the floor around eight because I Wasn't quite sure how long it was going to take. It took me only about thirty minutes. The sun was setting when I left. I made sure the door was locked behind me and walked towards me car. I looked up and saw that creepy old man standing at my car!

I wasn't sure whether to run, call the cops, or kick his a*s. He just leaned against the trunk of my car and stared at me with this evil little grin. I stooed there scared and trying not to show it. I didn't move, I couldn't move...I was stuck not knowing what to do. The old man started waslking towards me. He was walking very slowly and he didn't take his eyes off from me once.

"What the f**k do you want old man!?!?" I yelled at him even though he was only a few feet away.

"Shut-up kid!" He grabbed my shirt and slammed me up against the wooden door. The dorr handle had jabbed right into my back-bone. "I know about you and all your friends doing drugs and thinking you're invincible." He pushed me back against the door even harder.

"God-damn! What the F**k!" I yelled at him hoping someone would hear me and come to rescue me.

"If I ever catch you buying drugs or doing them again someone in your little group is going to pay....My son is in the hospital because of you and your f*****g friends!" The old man pulled me towards and slammed me up against the door again.

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about old man!" I was really scared and it felt like he had brokenmy back.

"Don't feed me bull-s**t! You just better watch your back...I've killed before and I'll do it again." The next thing I knew the old man balled his hand into a fist, pulled back his arm and punched right square in the eye. I fell to the ground and everything went black....I was unconcious.

When I awoke it was pitch black outside. How could a man that looked like he was eighty have such strength inhis punch. I wasn't sure how long I had been out, but when I looked at my phone to see the time it was around nine-forty-five. Damn! Jessica was probably pissed at me. I put my hand the side of the face that he had punched. I felt something wet, it was blood. I walked to my car, It hurt to walk because of my back. I knew I had a huge bruise on my back from the door-handle. I looked in the mirror on the visor of my car, my eyeball had been bleeding. I was so mad and scared. I texted Jessica and told her that something had happened and I would explain it later. I told her I would be there shortly. I drove home as fast as I could. I wanted to get cleaned up and go tell Jessica.

I got inside and my mom was washing dishes. She looked at me and screamed.

"What happened Ian!?"

"I was moving some stuff around at the Shop and a chair fell and poke my eye." I walked away, kind of ashamed. I also didn't wasn’t her to know I was lieing.

Damn I felt like s**t. I washed my face and hands. My shirt and pants were covered in dirt from when I was laying in it knocked out cold. I lifted up my shirt and looked at myback in the mirror The bruise was huge and it was black and blue, maybe even a little bit of purple mixed in with it. I touched it and immediately pulled my hand away. It hurt even to touch it a little bit. I put on a nice button-up shirt and a clean pair of pants. I was in pain, but I figured I would put ice on my eyes and back later. I was still pretty excited to see Jes. I grabbed the joint that I had saved for me and Jes and headed out the door. I kissed my mom good-bye, partly because I wanted to see if I could smell alcohol on her breath. I couldn't. She had really been clean for two or three days now. I told her that I was proud of her and that I was going to hang out with Jessica. My mom didn't know that Jessica and I were getting close, she thought were just old friends like we have always been.

On the way there I was lost in thought about what had happened. The old man said that his son was in the hospital. I didn't know anyone that was in the hospital though. I thought for minutes and as hard I thought I couldn't think of anyone that was in the hospital. He also that the next time he caught me doing drugs we were going to regret it. Part of me just laughed at that threat, but the other part of me was kind of scared. After all he did know where I was way to often. He would show up at the most random times and scare the s**t out me. None of the other times were like this last time. It hurt my back just to sit in the car. I could already feel my eye swelling up a little. I was almost debating even getting high with Jessica tonight. I didn't want her to get scared though, so I figured I wouldn't tell her. I have to be careful though, the last thing I want to happen is for her to get hurt.

I arrived at her house, normally she is sitting outside waiting. This time she wasn't, I don't blamer though. She was probably outside waiting at nine o'clock. I walked up to the door and before I even knocked she opened it walked out. She stop for a second and just stared at me. She stood there speechless for what seemed like forever.

"What the hell happened to you?" She asked as she walked up slowly.

"This guy has been stalking me lately...he finally went a little bit to far this time." I figured that was good way to get it.

"Who?" She reched up touch my eye.

"Bad idea." I gently pushed her arm away. "I don't know." I really didn't know who it was either. She just gave me a weird look like I wasn't telling the truth. "I really don't, that’s what I've been trying to figure out."

"I belive you." She reached up a kissed me gently. That one kiss made the whole night better.

"What do ya say we go het high?" I said trying to lighten the mood.

"I couldn't agree more Ian."

We both ran to the car and since the park was closed we had to think of a place to go. I mentioned the idea of smoking in the car and then going to my house and watching a movie. She loved it. I handed the joint to her so she could light it. The hydrocodons were definitely helping the pain. I figured once the weed took my mind off from it, it wouldn't bother me at all. I drove around randomly while we smoked and listened to music. I was pretty high about halfway through smoking so I decided to turn down a road that I had never been down. Jes and I talked about my new job and I told her that I was the only one working there so she should come keep me company someday. She said she would. Jess noticed a bunch or cement things off on the side of the road. I turned around and pulled over so we could see better. They were ruins of an old house. They were really big, maybe the ruins of a mansion. Jessica handed the joint to me and got out. She started walking acroos the road to get a closer look. I really didn't want to, but I couldn't just let her wander off alone. Especially with the threats the old man made. I took a nice big hit off the joint and figured, What the hell?

I got out and ran up to catch up with her. She was already in the ruins. It was dark as s**t and I couldn't see a damn thing. I took out my lighter so I could see a little bit. This was a horrible idea.

"Jessica! Where are you?....Jess-" Something reached out and pulled me down by my shoulders. I was about to scream, but a hand covered my mouth. I wrestled fought to escape. When I finally got free I turned around, it was Jessica.

"Ssshhhh." She put her finger up to her lips, then pointed out into the woods.

I didn't see anything at first, but then I saw what she was pointing at. It was man....or something walking around from tree to tree. It looked about the height and size of the old man. The silouhette was also slouched over just the old man too. I was scared shitless and I could feel Jessica holding metight because she was scared. I wasn't sure whether to run or not. We sat there perfectly still and quiet. The thing must of known we were there though, I was just yelling her name and using my lighter for light. Damn. The silouhette then turned so it was clearly facing us. It starting walking towards with heavy long steps.

"Let's get the f**k out of here...and fast." I whispered the Jessica.

We both scurried to our feet and ran back to the car. I didn't realize that we had wandered so far from the car. I got to the car first and threw the door open and jumped in as fast as I could. I had to wait for Jes to run around the car and get in. I looked back athe figure. He was still walking towards us with his arms by his side. It almost seemed like he wanted us to escape, but I wasn't going to stick around to find out. I started the car and floored it. The tires spun in the dirt on the side of the road spitting dirt and rocks up into the air. Then finally the tires gripped and we were out of there.

"What the f**k was that?" Jes asked as caught her breath.

"That looked like the man that was stalking me." I said barely able to talk because I was out of breath too.

"The one that did this too you?" She exclaimed.

"Yeah."

"Why don't you just go to the cops?" Jes was pretty much yelling.

"Calm down!" I yelled back at her. I decided it was time to tell her the rest of what happened.

I told her about all the other times that the old man had appeared. I told her about how he was some kids father and was mad because I had something to do with the fact that his son in the hosptial. I told her that he is sick of all of us kids doing drugs and he is going to get revenge if he ever catches us doing drugs.

Jessica was silent for a moment. "The only I can think of that I know is in the hospital is Justin."

"What?" I pulled into a waffle house because it the only place that was open this late at night. "When did he go into the hospital?"

"Well apparently he was selling drugs and some guy beat the s**t out him leaving him in critical condition....It happened today...uhhh it was on the news."

"Holy s**t." I said as it hit me. Justin saw me last night so when Chuck's roommate kicked his a*s he probably blamed it one me. "Sorry hun, but I have to take you home now."

I sped off into the night. I made it to her house in five minutes when it would of normally taken ten to fifteen. She kissed me and said that she understood. I told her thank you and that she should be careful. I drove home, going way faster than the speed limit. I wanted to get home and out of the night. I wanted to get somewhere safe and fast so I could think and piece s**t together.

I got home with no speeding tickets, luckily. I went inside and checked on my mom. She was already asleep in her bed. I grabbed a bag of Doritos and went to my room. As I ate my chips and thought I was trying to figure out why the old man was following me before the a*s-kicking took place. I guessed that he knew that Justin had gotten into hard drugs and thought it was my fault. Even though it wasn't, I even discouraged it. I wasn't quite sure what to do at all. I called Josh to ask him, but he didn't answer. His voicemail said something that he wasn't feeling well and didn't want to be bothered. I was hoping that was true because if something happened to him I would be pissed off.

I tried to relax so I could get some sleep considering I had to work the next day and it was already around midnight. I rolled a small joint and turned on the television. I got some ice for eye and laid down to smoke it. I quickly drifted off to sleep. This time I remembered to set my alarm.