Untouchable (ON HOLD)

Untouchable Ch.2

 Alex was running for his life. He was fearful and furious as he ran through the dark back alleys of downtown Vancouver, briefly looking behind him to check for police. He didn't see any, but he heard sirens not too far away, and he wasn’t taking any chances, so he kept running.

While Alex ran, he contemplated how he had gotten into such trouble. After he left high school, he still had no idea what he wanted to do in college, so he had stuck to the street. High school wasn't something he really wanted to do anyway, but it was his mother who kept him there. The streets had introduced him to a new group of 'friends' who didn't know what they wanted to do in school either and stuck to the things they found easiest, like crime. Alex never participated of course, but he stuck to his crew like glue. Whether they were stealing cars or robbing thrift stores, Alex always seemed to be hanging around. His 'hanging around' had finally caught up to him and got him pegged for a robbery he didn't assist in.

So now he was away running from the police. Alex almost cried when he thought of what his mother would do to him when he got home. She was raised in Ecuador and moved to Canada when she was only 18, and while she was pregnant with Alex. His mother, Garcia, always wanted him to do the right thing and be a good son. Stay in school, Alex. Don't do drugs, Alex. Never let me see you being brought home by the policia Alex! She would kill him. But not before the police did.

"Hey, there he is! Don't let him get away!" Alex turned quickly and saw two police officers, holding guns, at the other end of the alley he had just entered. Alex speed up and ran down the alleyway, between the tall bricked walls on either side of him and rapidly trying to avoid piles of snow that were scattered across his path. Alex took a sharp turn to his right while the officers took a sharp turn to the left. Alex almost breathed a sigh of relief, but stopped himself just in time to realize the section of the alleyway he turned into lead to a complete dead end.

 Another twenty or so meters ahead of him was a solid brick wall. It was too high to climb over and was narrow with two tall wall on either side of it. Alex's panic began to mess with his brain because his brain didn't seem to be able to tell his legs to stop running. The panic drained and transformed into terror. Those idiot cops would turn around any minute now and find him and take him away, but not before Alex ran straight on into a brick wall. He would get a concussion, and go to the hospital. And his poor, poor mother, who only ever wanted her only son to be good, would sit next to his hospital bed, holding his hand and crying because her only son, her baby was going to jail.

Five meters until Alex would hit the wall, get arrested and break his mom's heart. But before he could accept his fate, Alex closed his eyes and hoped and prayed for a miracle, that maybe he wouldn't hit the wall so hard, or that it wouldn't hurt so badly, or even for the police not to find him.

Alex's eyes were closed as he braced for impact. An impact  that never came. Alex stopped running and opened his eyes. He panted heavily as he looked around him. He was out of the alley. Somehow, he hadn't hit the brick wall. Alex turned around and walked directly into a brick wall, one that was the same height, colour and texture as the one he'd nearly hit. Alex's brow furrowed in confusion. Alex was running and about to hit this wall, but somehow ran straight to the other side. A chill passed over Alex that had nothing to do with the mid-January temperatures. What if, somehow, Alex had run through the wall?

Banging and shouts of frustration on the other side of the wall startled Alex out of his thoughts. The police were still searching for him. They must have been furious that they almost had Alex in their grasp and the 19 year old had eluded them. Or the police could have been complete bewildered as to how Alex escaped from the alley.

 Alex decided he wouldn't give them time to find out, and bolted home. No, not back to the house where he had been staying with some of his crew members. Alex was headed to his mom's apartment, the only place he could think of that had the two things he needed most right now: someone who had his best interests at heart, and someone who always had and would always truly and genuinely love him.