King of Creatures

Chapter 1

"Turn right at the next light." Said a robotic females voice. Amari Johnston simply nodded as he rode his bicycle to the red light and made the turn. The next song in his playlist began and he began bopping his head to the beat, mouthing the words. He looked up and waved at a flock of birds the past above him. He didn't hear, but they all tweeted in response as they flew above and ahead of him.

"Oh yeah, a hill lets go." Amari said as he adjusted his earbuds. As the bike started descending, he stood up letting the wind rush past him, his locks whipping behind him. "Make a right at the stop sign." The females voice said.

"Perfect." Amari said, the stop sign was right at the end of the hill. It would be the perfect turn if he didn't fall. He leaned forward a little as his playlist turned to a rock song, his heart pounding.
Suddenly, a car parked in a hidden driveway backed out. Amari jerked the handlebars of his bike and just barely missed the car. Not that it helped, his front wheel hit a rock causing the wheel to turn sharply and Amari, and the bike, to fall over. Amari hit his head on the ground and scraped his arm.
"Ow." Amari groaned and cursed under his breath. Slowly sitting up, rubbing his head, and assessing his scrapes. The woman in the car stepped out, she wore a pair of tattered overalls with the straps and bib unbuckled and a striped shirt. She glanced at all the squirrels and birds that were watching the situation.

The woman walked up to Amari and put a hand on her hip. Angerly, Amari looked up at the woman. He could tell she wasn't going to apologize for suddenly pulling out like that. He pushed his bike off of him and slowly stood up. Maybe he shouldn't have ridden his bike like that; but then again. He's ridden like that on this hill many times before and that's never happened before. He rubbed his arm before looking at the woman, who seemed to be examining him. A certain hatred seemed to be burning in her eyes. He could already tell where this was going.
"Listen, I'm fine, okay? I have an appointment I need to get to so I can't really—"

"Y-you're Amari Johnston, right?" The woman said suddenly, as if she were bored, or tired of what he was going to say already. For a few seconds Amari only looked at her, his heart skipping a beat. How'd she know his name? He looked around and took a step back.

"Um, no. Sorry." He said before reaching down and picking up his bike, which was fine by the way.

The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. "You're lying. You look just like him. You have to come with me. Now."

Amari felt his eyes go wide as he looked away from the woman, who was rightfully freaking him out. "Nah, I-I don't think I wanna do that." He said getting on his bike. "Look, no damages were done to your car, I avoided it. And I'm fine, it's only a few scrapes and bruises. I'm fine."

"Not for long." The woman said causing Amari to look at her. This woman was just standing in the same position she was before, arms crossed and unmoving. Amari just nodded before peddling forward and as far away from that woman, as quickly as possible. She didn't even move when he did.

Eventually, he made it to his appointment, about five minutes late, but he made it. He hopped off his bike and ran to the front door, knocking fervently. A few seconds later a portly lady opened the door. She wore her hair in a messy bun and a flowery sundress. "Hi. I-I'm Amari, we talked on the phone? Sorry for being late I got into an accident. Ms. Markle, right?" He said quickly, hoping she would still let him look at the apartment.

"You look like it. C'mon in." She said after looking him up and down. She turned around and Amari quickly followed her.

"That's the office." She said pointing to a small room with a brown desk, an old leather chair and an old window fan. "It's open every day, but only from ten 'till two. C'mon." She guided Amari up a flight of rickety carpeted stairs. The hall smelled musty as she showed Amari another set of stairs. "Alright, right here." Ms. Markle opened the door at the end of the hall and stepped in, Amari following right behind her.