Eye Of The Beholder-BWWM

Chapter Ten

 Chapter Ten

Gavin

Gavin stepped inside his silent home still wearing a smile from the day's events. He had no clue things would have worked out so well when he got up that morning. But he was glad they did. He just wanted to slip in and check on Diamond before he left for Mark's.

 "Diamond?" The floor boards creaked under his feet, the only sound in the eerie silence.  He inched into their room hoping she was asleep. His eyes went to her side of the room where he expected to see her raven hair cascading down the quilt she liked to cover up in. The mattress was empty.

Gavin raced out of the house like a mad man. His heavy boots kicked up the dirt of the filthy street as he ran to find his sister. He had a bad feeling, a really bad feeling. He didn't know what he would do if Diamond found herself locked in the asylum.

 His mind started spinning when he reached the strip mall. The panic gripping him covered the burn in his chest from his hard run. The parking lot was filled with cars and the image of Diamond getting ran over flitted through his mind. He grabbed his head.  Why him? Why Diamond? Why couldn't she have just stayed with her own kind? This would have never happened if she had stayed with her own kind.

His pace doubled and he went in and out of rows of cars as he called her name. Eventually he wandered into the stores.  People stopped and gave him strange looks as he flitted through the aisles. I t didn't occur to him, as he ran around like a chicken with his head cut off, that he was the one who looked crazy.

Gavin went from store to store, his heart speeding up with each store he left without any sign of his sister. He burst through the door of Magoo's Sweet Shop. His eyes darted around the colorful shop before he felt a heavy hand on his shoulder.

"I've been watching you running around here, boy. You've been making trouble?"

Gavin slowly turned around. He stiffened.

"What are you up to colored?" The man wore the brown suit of a Peace Patroller. His hard as flint eyes bored into Gavin’s.

"I'm looking for my sister, sir." His voice was polite, but his eyes were just as hard and dark as the patrollers.

The patroller put his face close to his, the powerful stench of his breath hit Gavin immediately. "No, I believe you're a troublemaker." Bits of licorice flew from his mouth and struck on Gavin's face.

Gavin didn't flinch.

"Your sister?" The short old man-his name was Alfred, if Gavin remembered right-stepped from behind the counter. "Oh, yes! I saw her. She was looking for you."

"She was?" Gavin looked away from the peace patroller to peer at him.

Alfred nodded. "Yes. She told me to let you know she was going home after a bit of shopping."

Gavin's shoulders slumped, it was apparent he was lying.

"I was just going to close up the shop a little early. I need to do some shopping myself. Why don't you come with me, my boy? I can give you a lift home. You look exhausted."

Gavin didn't know what to say. The peace patroller looked from one to the other. "Fine," he grunted, "But, I have my eyes on you, colored." With that he shuffled out of the shop.

Alfred looked around, saw that it was only him and the boy and locked the shop door behind the patroller. "Those so called peace patrollers are nothing but thugs," he said turning the open sign around to “closed”. He turned to Gavin. "Now, aren't you Alice's boy?"