No rest for trouble

Chapter 9

Marxes looked at the police cruiser as it slowly searched the rest of the street. It made a right turn. Marxes waved to Grace. The two youths went through people's yards so that the police wouldn't catch them. They eventually nearly climbed over one fence when he noticed a police car turning around. The officer nearly noticed Marxes and Grace near the fence. The officers though that they saw something over the fence. Marxes and Grace got down and tried to find a hiding place in the yard. Grace found a kid's slide to hide behind. Marxes hid behind the garden shed nearby. The search light only shined on the top of the fence. The two youths moved around the things they were hiding so that they wouldn't be caught. The police saw a stray cat in the street. The officer driving the car called for her colleagues to look for the stray cat. The agile monster returned to the abandoned cemetery in the meantime. He took out one of the cellphones he confiscated.

The two youths didn't move from where they were behind. The officer driving the car went to the house that the backyard was a part of. The car was parked next to the gate. The gate of course was parallel to the street that the two friends were running down. Marxes and Grace had their hearts pounding. The officer went to knock on the door. The owners came to the door wearing his pajamas. The officer informed them that there might be somebody hiding in their backyard. Marxes and Grace overheard the conversation. They slowly moved out from their hiding spaces. The officer was invited into the house. Marxes and had their scooters hanging on their shoulders. They slowly climbed out of the backyard. The two friends got onto the street that was parallel with the house door. The officer sitting in the car was looking through the cracks in the backyard fence. She also looked at the top of the fence before Marxes and Grace climbed over it. The two friends waited until the officer was starting to search the backyard. Marxes and Grace smoothly slipped away. The two friends passed the door of the house. They didn't stop until they were at the next intersection. Grace and Marxes put their scooters on the intersection. They used the flashlight apps on their phones so that they could look at the direction they would be heading in. While the officer looked around the yard, Marxes and Grace turned a left. They quickly moved down the street on their scooters. The two youths turned a left at the second intersection that they arrived at. They stopped at the sidewalk nearby. "That was close." Grace nearly panted. "Did you see how scared Holly was? I think she will be in more trouble. I don't think the police would believe her story about seeing a monster." Marxes said as he sat on the grass. "The officers did see us, and they have seen the monster. But they'll never believe us. They will just think that the creature is somebody dressed in a costume." Grace observed as she slowly stopped breathing too fast. Her panting started to cease in a little while. The two youths looked at the houses nearby. "The police are looking for us right now. Do you think that we could keep running from them forever?" Marxes asked Grace. "Please, I don't want to think about it. They might think that we were friends with that silly girl. Holly deserved to be in that police car. She was going to be framing me for vandalizing the school." She answered.

"I think that will teach her a lesson. She will never mess with me again." Grace continued as she stood up. "You don't have a sandwich packed in your backpack?" She grilled Marxes. He shook his head. The boy stood up from taking a rest on the grass. "So, what do you want to do? We won't have to go to school tomorrow. We could just stay up the whole night. We could go to the skatepark or go to the convenience store. They might have some sandwiches on their shelves." Marxes suggested. "And we could snatch a few snacks in the convenience store while we're at it." Grace added. Marxes smiled. "Should we grab a snack first?" He rallied Grace. She shook her head. "I know where the convenience store is. But we have to wait until the police collect some clues before leaving. The route I always take to get to the convenience store starts at the school." Marxes explained to Grace. The two friends got onto their feet. "Maybe we should take a route that doesn't start from the school. Do you know the address of where this store is?" Grace asked him. "I think so." Marxes answered back. "It's somewhere on the street where I turn left two blocks away from the street that is connected to the school." Grace had an idea about what convenience store Marxes might be talking about might be. She picked up her scooter and had aimed in the direction that Marxes might go down on the way to the convenience store. She put one foot on her scooter and the other foot on the pavement. She started to push the scooter in the path that her scooter was pointed at. "Wait up!" Marxes blurted out before quickly picking up his scooter and riding after her. Marxes foot pounded on the street, trying to catch up with her. He tried to catch up with Grace, but her scooter was only eleven feet away.

"Wait, do you know where to go?" Marxes pumped as he was riding along. Grace didn't answer. Her scooter went from the middle of the road to the right side and then to the left side. The friends rode until they were a few blocks away from the school. Grace then turned left on one street coming up. Marxes turned left as well. The two friends were riding along until they came upon the road that intersected with their school. Marxes looked at the time on his phone. He saw that the time was ten fifty. Grace hid behind one of the parked cars. Marxes didn't asked her what was going on. He dived behind a car that it's right side wheels on the curb and the vehicle was leaning. A police car drove by. The two friends couldn't see that Holly was in the back seat of the car. She had a blanket wrapped around her. Holly was still shaking. Marxes and Grace waited until the car drove past. Marxes slowly came out from behind the car he was hiding behind. He rode his scooter close to the intersection. His friend slowly peeked from behind the car. She quickly looked at the street to her left. There was nothing coming this way. Suddenly, a car with no headlights on zoomed through the intersection. Marxes and Grace approached the intersection. "So, do you know where we need to go?" Grace asked. Marxes recognized the road. He turned a right and then another right at the next intersection. The convenience store was next to two houses on either side of it. Marxes and Grace stopped right in front of the convenience store. They both went to take a look at the door. "Its locked." Marxes remarked. He looked at the times that the store was going to opened. "Guess we could come back here tomorrow." Grace said. Marxes looked at her. The smile she had on her face meant that she could be up to something mischievous. Marxes smiled back at her. "So, what do we do?" He queried her. Grace went to the back door of the convenience store.

There was a road that went behind the back of the store and all of backyards of the neighboring houses. The friends climbed over the fence that separated half of the outside space that the convenience store has. The two friends left their backpacks and their scooters next to the backdoor. "Wait a minute. We should need our backpacks, so we could carry our snacks." Marxes grinned. Grace smiled back at him. The two put their backpacks on. They tried to open the backdoor. It was no good. Grace noticed that there was a security system inside the store. She looked around the inside of the store for a way to undo the security system. The two friends went to look for a way in. Grace found a door leading to the basement of the building. A big padlock prevented the door from getting opened. Grace sighed in disappointment. "What's the matter? Are getting into the store or not?" Marxes asked. Grace shook her head. Then she spotted a small shed nearby. She didn't know if there was padlock on it as well. There was, but it was unlocked. Grace smiled. She removed the padlock and went inside. She looked inside the small dark space with the help of her flashlight app. She noticed a bunch of clippers that could cut through the padlock. Marxes helped Grace as they both pushed the padlock clippers. The clippers tore through the padlock with a loud snap. The padlock was moved out of the way. Grace put the lock clippers back in the shed. She then found a pair of pliers. Marxes carefully opened the basement door open. They noticed that there was security system alarm. Grace held onto her breath. She went to undo the first security device. Marxes found some other tools in the shed. He held onto the toolbox, while Grace worked on disabling the security system. The first security system was disarmed. Grace looked around the room for any other security devices. In the basement of the convenience store, there was a freezer, and a refrigerator. The freezer has the regular door that swings upwards. The refrigerator and the freezer were standing next to each other. There was some cleaning equipment in the basement. Some of them were the usual mop and broom. There were also some chemicals in a metal cabinet. It was next to the wall opposite to the refrigerator and freezer. Marxes went to the freezer and refrigerator. He went to see what was inside. There were some boxes of food that were also wrapped in plastic. Grace found a set of stairs leading to the store on top. She found another security system. There was a security device wired to the hinges of the door to the upstairs store.