chapter 4

              Chapter 4

The next morning we walked to school together. Katie more followed than walked, but we accepted the fact that she was friendly enough to talk to without her biting us. Once we got to talk to her Red and I found that we might like her company. People mistake other people for jerks but once you get to know someone you might start to like them.

            School was dull as usual. The highlight of the day for me was when I watched a fight between a girl and a boy about two inches shorter than her. She was a synch for a win but once the teacher broke up the fight she stomped off into the building saving the boy from another sucker punch.

            On our way home Katie, Red, and I took our time walking through alleyways and back roads and crossing over railroad tracks, and stopping at any possible stop. Then Katie started to see this guy. All over, trailing us, he would be on a bench, behind a corner, or just a couple yards away from us. It was starting to wrack Katie’s nerves, and mine. Red on the other hand didn’t seem to mind our visitor, him being raised on a farm might have had something to do with it. The man might have just been trying to get a handout. I kept this in mind seeing as how it could have been true. Katie insisted on walking down the main road instead of all the back ways, so we did.

“He’s trying to catch up to us.” Katie said, I looked at her, she looked as scared as a rabbit.

“Maybe he has somewhere to go and wants to get passed us.” Red said. He stopped and looked around. He nodded his head to a grocery store. ”let’s go in.” he told us.

I realized that he was probably as scared as we were. We crossed the street and went into the store and dodged a few people carrying paper sacks. We walked up and down the aisles. I didn’t see the man come in, I figured it was safe to leave so I veered down an end aisle.

“Come on lets go.” I told them, leading the pair, the man launched himself into view.

            His hair was a thick black, and greasy. It came down in curls and covered his left eye. He wore dirty jeans and a tattered black t-shirt. He also had on a leather jacket that might have been black, but was now covered with light colored dirt. He pointed a shaky finger directly at me.

“You.” he said. His voice was low and sounded as if it wanted to hurt me. Before I could react he made a mad dash towards me. The next thing I know he has me pinned the hard tile floor.

“I know you have the map, I seen ya hanging’ around with Scott. I been watchin’ ya boy.” His low voice was threatening and smelled of stale beer. I tried to struggle free but his grimy hands held strong.

“Give me the map.” he said slowly. I focused in on him and all the shuffling around me seemed to blur and mix in with screams and yelling. How did he know Scott? How did he know about the map? Watching me? His body weight on top of me was too much to handle, I felt it crushing my skimpy body beneath it.

            Then the man was jerked back by the store clerk. I sat up and stumbled into Red trying to get up.

“Brady are you all right!?” Katie screeched in my ear. I nodded and held up my hand.

“You kids better run on home. I’ll deal with this one.” the pudgy store clerk told us.

“Th-thank you.” I said to him. The three of us ran out of the store. The last thing I heard from the man before it was sounded out by the noises of the city was, “I’ll kill you! I swear by it!”

The three of us ran until we reached the courtyard of the orphanage. Then we stopped to catch our breaths. For a few minutes all he heard was the pounding of our hearts and our heavy breathing. I was shaking and sweating, the cold was probably biting my ears but I didn’t notice it. I was scared out of my mind.

“Brady you don’t look too good, are you sure you’re alright?” Katie asked me.

“I- I’m fine, I just need to catch my breath.” I wasn’t fine. Knowing that somebody had been watching me and Scott.

 We waited outside for a few more minutes then we went to our rooms. I flopped onto my bed and fell asleep. It wasn’t for very long, when I woke up Katie and Red were working their homework as if nothing had gone wrong. I sat up and pressed the palms of my hands to my head. I had a bad head ache.

“Do you think he really would-“Katie said, unable to finish her sentence.

“No. it was just a threat.” I told her to reassure her of the fear that might have been in her mind. It didn’t help me; it was still swimming around in my mind.

Red looked at me, “how do you think he knew about the map?”

“He also said he had seen you with Scott, have you seen that guy before?” Katie asked

            Taking a deep breath I smiled at the pair and said,”my aren’t you two observant. Maybe you two could be police men and have separate ticket pads marked his and hers.”

            In the same tone of sarcastisy Katie said,”my you do faint beautifully.”

            Red ignored what we had said before,”Enough of that, he’s been watching you.”

            That shut me up, to think that someone had been watching me for… for…I don’t know how long.

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            The next few days I was a little jittery. I couldn’t walk down an empty street alone, turn a corner, or go down a dark hallway. I got the feeling Red and Katie were as riled up as I was. It didn’t help when Katie kept referencing stories to a murder in a book or movie that she had seen when she lived in Texas.

            One thing I did start noticing more often than normal was how many people started to walk in my direction or people who would walk behind me. Sometimes they would just sit outside a building or across the street, and then when I would walk away, then they would get up to follow.

            After our first confrontation I did not see the first man who had tackled me in the grocery store. Katie nicknamed him Shaw, after a masked murderer she had read in a book. I was okay with not seeing him. Although once during a storm I was awakened by a clash of thunder. After that, I couldn’t get back to sleep. Getting up from bed I looked out the window to see when the storm would pass. It was then that thought I saw Shaw. Standing under a tree looking up at our window. I woke Red up and rushed him to the window, but when I looked out again Shaw was gone. Then Red got annoyed and told me to get back to sleep and stop bugging him. Then seeing people got old and annoying to us, so we stopped mentioning it, but it still happened.

Author's Note

Hey! just wondering what you all are thinking about my writing, please feel free to be frank with me cause I want to perfect my writing as much as I can.