Animals

Day 4 & 5

Wednesday, May 13th

I shifted in my seat, sitting at one of the tables in the dingey library. It was locally owned and all the books were old and very used. It was my favorite place to be alone, and today it was relatively empty, and had been for the past three hours.

My phone was running low on battery because I had the camera pointed directly at Mitch, who sat on the other side of the room. I couldn't look at him directly for so long without him getting suspicious, but I could look at my phone all I wanted. He wasn't my sole focus, though; I did read a little bit. Especially since he was doing nothing.

Mitch was reading Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut. No one could say he wasn't well read. When he picked up that book, I'd been more surprised than anything. I didn't think he was stupid, but for some reason, he hadn't struck me as the classic novel kind of guy. The thought made me smile and seeing him slowly flip his page made me smile even more. I wasn't sure what it was about him, but I had yet to see proof of what made him so dangerous. I wondered if he was as bad as everyone said, or if it was a mask he wore. 

However, I was hungry, thirsty, and tired of sitting so I didn't praise him. I wanted him to get up and move around, go somewhere, do something. Was he always this boring? Being around him was like watching paint dry.

Finally, Mitch checked his watch and sighed. His eyes flicked up to me as he tossed the book aside. It was a flicker of a glance, but it made my heart squeeze nervously. I told myself it was because I worried he'd know I was following him, but that wasn't the real reason.

I snuck out of the building behind him, hiding in the doorway as he walked to his car. Once inside, I ran to my car, which was just down the street, and started it, waiting for him to pull out. He spoke on the phone for a few minutes, and I thought it would've been wise to bug his car when I put the tracking device underneath it. The device was already on it, but I decided I should probably find another opening to put a bug somewhere inside so I could hear his conversations.

Slowly, he pulled into the street and I let a few cars get between us before I followed. He went slowly like a grandpa. I was just about to make a snide comment to myself about it until he parked in front of the city's community center. I found this odd, considering I doubted this was the top secret meeting place of the Midnight Anarchists.

Through the window as I was parking, a little girl, no more than four years old, ran to Mitch excitedly, her arms outstretched. There was a small smile on his lips as she hugged his leg, and he fidgeted uncomfortably like he wasn't used to touching. As he sat down in a pink chair meant for toddlers, she tried to climb onto his lap.

Mitch gnawed on his lip, scratching at his chin, then he picked the girl up and set her down on the floor in front of him. I couldn't even imagine what he was doing in a place like this surrounded by so many children. He didn't even seem like the type to willing step within 20 feet of a room crawling with kids.

I sat on the other side of the hall, watching him interact with her. He didn't touch her after he set her down. In fact, he made a point not to, but it seemed more like her choice. Like she didn't want to be touched by anyone unless she initiated it first. Children, though I loved them, were a mystery to me. With adults, it was clear what they wanted. They set goals, they strived towards them, they were transparent, but kids were merely a reflection of the adult they were around except it was like looking at it through water. Everything came out distorted and garbled.

Mitch didn't really know what to do when she handed him a barbie doll, but he did his best. He was more relaxed here. Everywhere else, it was like he stood with a spine made of metal and he acted like everyone was out to get him. But not here. I caught myself smiling a few times as I watched him.