The Boy Who Solved Crimes

28: Cornered

Amy Bloom

The orange, brown, and red leaves swirled around me while wind plummeted them to oblivion. The sky was cloudy and gray today, a contrast to the pale blue it had been yesterday. It seemed like such a stark contrast, weird how the weather can shift so quickly.

I tightened my hand around my umbrella, anticipating a thunderstorm as small, slow droplets landed on my face. I stared up at the sky, letting the water pellet against my cheeks as the droplets began to enlarge and splatter on my head. I clicked the button of my umbrella, contemplating letting it hang there like a boat while I enjoyed the water.

I couldn't help but smile, it had been so long since the last time it had rained. The air felt fresh and cool. I glanced around the empty road as rain stumbled down, making the stoplights look like blurred red and green stars. It was truly beautiful how quickly the Earth can darken.

I smiled like a maniac as my hair collected water, then finally decided to hold the flooded umbrella over my head. It's contents, which consisted of a bit of water, fell over my hair and onto my colorful knitted-scarf. I got chills as the cool air replaced the rain and my umbrella hid the sun, creating a dark shadow around me. It was then that this weird sinking feeling began to flash in and out of me.

I bit my lip, wondering if I should just continue my walk home without it. The umbrella was only stressing me out.

"What's a lovely girl like you doing out here alone?" A tall man who looked like he was in his mid-to-late thirties asked. He was well dressed with shoes that shined even as water touched them and immediately was repelled to the side.

"Excuse me?" I heard myself say, the irritation evident in my voice. He'd interrupted my moment, the joy I'd felt. I'd never been more bothered by a person in my life.

"Just that you're too beautiful to be walking around alone like this, someone might try to scoop you up."

"What am I? Ice-cream?" The dry sarcasm bounced off my lips immediately and the man chuckled soundlessly.

"You sure seem sweet." He remarked, though his sarcasm didn't go unnoticed.

"I should get going." I said. A strange feeling began building in the pit of my stomach. It was screaming at me to run away from this well-dressed stranger. I'd never acquainted myself enough with fear to realize I should've listened to this voice.

"Should you though? You should stay." He said, grabbing my arm and snapping his finger as two more men appeared out of the thin fog that seemed to cover the city.

Run! My body screamed at me to listen, my eyes shifted between the three men and I quickly pulled my arm away from his grip.

The world was a blur of rain and breathiness as I began sprinting through the city, tripping twice and landing on the wet concrete. I wondered how crazy the interaction may have seemed to onlookers, I wondered if the two other men had been there the entire time too. Was I overreacting? Had I just completely misunderstood a simple interaction? But he'd grabbed me, that surely stood for something. Either way, I was running.

I turned around to stupidly realize that I wasn't being followed. There was nobody there.

I let out a deep sigh of relief, trying to calm my heavy breathing. I was so out of shape.

Keep running. A voice said and I felt my feet begin to move again like they'd been struck with electricity. I didn't know where they were taking me, nor did I understand this sudden urge to run alone in the rain. I crunched a couple of leaves that had hidden under a tree, trying to steady my breath.