Chapter Four; Killer

Ryan’s parents ran to him at full speed and hugged him as tight as they could, still crying. Ryan then asked, “What’s the big deal?” They looked at him and replied, “That man could have killed you!!” Ryan was confused, he just looked like a simple old man. “How?” he asked, “That man was a murderer! We had seen him on T.V. for years!” Ryan peered over at the T.V. and the headline read, “Murderer steals money at Cold Toes for the second time!” Ryan went blank, he thought of the other horrible outcome that could have happened.

He went upstairs, sat on his bed, and cried. He cried for what seemed like hours. He just couldn’t stop, until his phone rang. He didn’t pick it up, but a few minutes later it rang again. So he decided to pick it up. “Hello?” his throat felt like it had a lump in it, so it was hard to talk. On the other line was Lucy crying over the phone. “Ryan, we almost got killed!” she sobbed. Ryan and Lucy cried for a few more minutes until Ryan’s mom came up.

“Who are you talking to?” she asked, “Lucy” he replied. “Who is that,” Ryan heard a sternness in her voice, “A friend, we are working on the same project.” he replied. She nodded and went back downstairs. “Can you come over tomorrow?” Lucy asked. “I don’t know” he said. Lucy told Ryan her address just in case he could. They said goodbye and hung up. Ryan went downstairs to eat dinner. Just like their mood, the food looked gloomy.

Mashed potatoes and gravy, that was it! The parents had been a little traumatized and that was all they could cook at the time. Ryan understood, so he ate the meal happily. He then asked his parents if he could go to Lucy’s house tomorrow. “No way Jose,” they said in unision. Ryan asked again, but after said it was an emergency. “You have to be more careful out there” his mother said. “Can YOU walk me there?” he had thought about what he had said, and immediately regretted it. “Well…” she paused, “OK, only if it’s an emergency.” He almost bashed his head on the side of the table, “WHY AM I SO STUPID!?!?” he thought. He finished his meal and stomped upstairs.

He sat on his bed watching T.V. for a while when he decided to text Lucy that he could come.

Ryan 101-*Hey Lucy, my mom said I could come over tomorrow.*

Lucygirl *I have to cancel, my grandma had a heart attack. I have to go to her funeral*

Ryan 101 *I am so sorry*

Lucygirl *Don’t be, she lived a happy life.*

Ryan 101 *Goodnight*

Lucygirl *Goodnight*

Ryan then put down his phone and watched T.V. for another hour. His mom came upstairs and kissed him goodnight, she turned off his light and shut the door. But Ryan did not fall asleep, he kept thinking about what had happened at Cold Toes this morning. He wondered what would have happened if the machine wasn’t out of order. Would the man just take the ice cream and walk away? Would he have killed them? What if Lucy gave the man the refund?

These thought raced through his head all night, he couldn’t sleep. Finally at 3 A.M he got to sleep. He didn’t even have nightmares, just good, happy dreams. Dreams about vacation, surfing, even owning a fro-yo shop. His dream was going well until an old man had a fly in his fro-yo and shot him. In the dream no one missed him. Ryan was experiencing sleep paralysis at this time, he couldn’t move, yell for help, or get out of this horrid dream.

At 5 A.M the sleep paralysis finally passed and Ryan didn’t dare go back to sleep, not even closing his eyes. He turned the lights on and put his T.V. on at a low volume and watched baseball until 7:00 when he got a text on his phone

Lucygirl *Ryan you are not going to believe this, my grandma is alive.*