Neon Street Signs

A Story by Xenaphobic

The extremely rough draft of a story idea I had. Not sure if I will continue which is why I have not gone back to touch it up.

I was sixteen when I met Pyper and there was absolutely nothing remarkable about him. That isn’t to say there was anything wrong with him, he just didn’t stand out. So how was I to predict he would be the one to destroy me?
I am not exactly sure of the events that ended up bringing Pyper into my circle of friends, but there he was. There were six of us counting him and we didn’t really interact all that much but we liked to say we were “there for eachother”. Even though Pyper was devastatingly average it still put him light years above us on the imaginary social ladder so I didn’t understand why he hung out with us. At least, I didn’t understand at first. After adding Pyper to Island of Misfit Toys we all started to get together more. We watched movies, had sleepovers, and it soon became painfully apparent that he was goofy, and cocky, and broken, the latter being the only requirement of the Island.
Even though he went to a different school our houses were walking distance apart so we started meeting up independent of the group. There was this little park, really just a soccer field sized patch of grass next to a creek that stuck benches on and named after a war veteran, but it was about midway between our houses so we met up there to people watch before aimless wandering the streets until city curfew. People watching was perfect at this park for three reasons: Catman, Catman, and Catman. Catman was just one of the town crazies but he was my favourite. There were lots of runner-ups, the woman that wore halloween costumes everyday who was married to the man to checked the mail in only cargo shorts and six inch heels, or the graffiti artist who put sudoku puzzles on the side of the library twice a month (who Pyper was convinced was the weather man), but Catman put them all to shame. Catman was a superhero.
Every Wednesday night from the time I was ten I would sneak out and go to the twenty-four hour doughnut shop two blocks from my apartment complex. Normally I would take a shortcut down an alley between the newspaper office and one of the hundred abandoned buildings that filled the town, it just so happened to be the exact building where Catman took his naps so he would walk with me through the alley to make sure I was safe. When I was maybe twelve though, he shacked up with what I assume was a crazy cat lady. I was happy for him but that meant that for the first time I had to take the alley all alone. I didn’t know how to get to the shop the long way around and I figured since I hadn’t ever seen anyone but Catman there before, the most trouble I was likely to run into was the patrolling cop who would nab me for breaking curfew again. I wish that would have been all that happened.
I cut down the alley and made it halfway down the alley where I was yanked to the ground by the hood of my jacket. My head hit the concrete and dazed me long enough for whoever had done it to climb on top of me. He pressed a small pocket knife under my jaw and said something along the lines of, “Stupid girls get what they deserve.” It was hard to hear exactly because of the probable concussion and the fact that I still had one earbud playing Hartley’s Concerto for twenty-three winds (previously my favourite classical piece) loudly in my left ear. He proceeded to drop the knife next to my head and pull the earbud out, I guess he wanted to make sure I heard him the next time he spoke. The next few moments are fuzzy but they involved lots of crying and threats and my jeans finding their way to my knees. Then he wasn’t on me anymore. I don’t know how he got there but Catman had tackled him. I was stunned I couldn’t process everything that had happened and was currently happening so i just stared for a moment, but when the man reached his knife and plunged the tiny blade into Catman’s leg I managed to get it together enough to pull up my jeans and run. The only place I could think to go was the doughnut shop and when I got through the doors out of breath and sobbing the woman working the counter immediately called the police.
They found the man right way, unconscious in the alley and face covered in scratches. It took them seven hours to find Catman who had somehow made it five streets over and thirty feet up a tree. They called the fire department and he was taken to the hospital, despite all of protests that he needed a vet and there was nothing people medicine would do for him, and then somehow charged with aggravated assault. How a rapist (well attempted rapist) was allowed to press charges on anyone is beyond me but that f****r did. Unfortunately for him Catman’s girlfriend was a survivor herself and also the daughter of a lawyer, she took the whole case very personally. Catman’s charges were dropped. Since the rape never actually got to happen the man was only sentenced to four years. With good conduct he potentially got out in three but I never checked and haven’t seen him.
Catman’s girlfriend invited me over for dinner after all of the court cases were over. Her name was Aubrey and she turned out to be Catman’s fiancee.
“Wyatt cares for you quite a bit, Mallory. He re-applied his whiskers at two o’clock in the morning and when I asked him what he was doing he would only say it was doughnut time.” Most women may have been angry that their fiance left the house that late with the intention to meet a young girl, Aubrey just seemed proud. She really loved Catman.
“He is a really great man,” I awkwardly pushed the food around my plate. I was nervous, didn’t want to say the wrong thing and make them think I wasn’t grateful.
“So it looks like you will have to give up Wednesday night doughnuts, huh?”
I nodded slightly, “I haven’t gone for a few weeks anyway because of court and such.”
“No,” Catman lifted his head from his plate, “you won’t give them up.”
Aubrey and I just stared at him. It was the first thing he had said since I got here and already more than he normally spoke at meal times.
He licked the back of his hand and rubbed against his face, “Mal, I will meet you and walk you there and back.”
“Oh, no, you really don’t have to.” I was floored, I hadn’t ever done anything for him. Why did he care?
“I want to.” It was clear I didn’t have much of a choice in this matter so I thanked him and Aubrey drove me home. She tried asking if I would rather she picked me up in her car instead of walking, but I explained it would wake up my parents and that would get me in trouble.
From then on he met me at the house and we walked the long way to the doughnut shop, staying under street lights. In return I payed one of my friends Brandy to buy me bags of Mi Mi shrimp flavored crackers from China via the internet.
So on the weekends or after school Pyper and I spent time in the park watching Catman chase birds that Aubrey drew in with bread crumbs.
This had started to become a daily activity for us. I really liked spending time with Pyper, we came from similar family situations, we liked the same things. Brandy (the sort of leader of the Island) insisted that he liked me. I pretended that I didn’t believe her but the truth was I had started to wonder. His hugs lasted a second too long, he held my hand when we walked through less well lit areas even though he didn’t know about the Catman story. All signs pointed to the buds of a crush.
Being the unconfident and painfully awkward person I was, I didn’t ask him about it. That is, until he kissed me.
I remember learning once in science class that if you put a frog in a pot of water then put that water on the stove and turn on the eye, the frog won’t notice the temperature of the water rising slowly. That is what Pyper was for me, the pot of water and I was the frog, too stupid to realize I was being boiled to death.