Follow Me

Chapter 2

The next day I walk to Emma's house.  We're neighbors so I'll be right there.  I enthusiastically knock on the door and wait, moving my body from foot to foot.  After a few seconds, the door opens.  Mr. Warner is standing in the opening.
He looks at me with a silent look.  I don't think Mr. Warner can put that much emotion on his face.  He only smiles when his family is around him.  "Hello Kai."  "Hello Mr. Warner. Is Emma home? Can she play outside?"

He looks closely at my face.  "What's that on your cheek?"  I look at him questioningly and run my hand along my cheek.  A brown jelly runs from my cheek onto my hand and I look at it.  "Oh, that's chocolate pudding. Dad and I had a food fight this morning. I won."

"Is your mother gone?"  He says with a raised eyebrow.  "Yes, she's at my uncle's for a few days."  "That explains."

Then I see Emma standing at the end of the hallway.  She's wearing nice clothes.  She always wears nice clothes.  Just like her father.  She waves happily at me.  I smile and wave back to her.  She is so sweet, so beautiful, it makes me proud that we are friends.  Mr. Warner looks at Emma and then narrows his eyes at me.  "Emma, ​​honey. Don't forget to feed Dog first."  "I'm going to do that daddy."  She says and walks away again.

"Kai."  Mr. Warner says sharply, which immediately makes me look at him.  "Your feelings for my daughter are starting to change and I don't like that."

I look at him questioningly.  "You're still young, but I'm going to tell you this in advance so that we're over this already."  He takes a step closer to me and I look in his big green eyes.

"If I feel you want to do more than play outside with Emma, ​​I'll drag you into my office. And we'll have a really good conversation while I show you my gun collection. I'm going to tell you what you can and cannot do with her. Or think of it at all Only then, when I'm sure you've understood me, you allowed to see her." I swallow while he looks at me sternly.  "And this conversation remains between us. Do you understand?"  "Yes sir." "Good."

Then Emma walks over to us.  "Daddy, I'm done. Can I play outside now?"  "Sure dear. I'll see you at home at 15:00."  Mr. Warner says and kisses her head.  "Well, now go have fun."  Emma smiles and hops outside.  Mr. Warner gives me a stern look and then closes the door behind him.

I follow Emma to the playground in the middle of our neighborhood.  She laughs and jumps on the swing.  She is always full of energy.  "Hey Emma, ​​maybe we can do something different today."  She looks at me with interest.  "What do you mean?"  "Maybe we can go on an adventure."  She looks at me with wide eyes.  "Where are we going?" "A secret mission. Just like our mom and dad did."  That way she can find out how tough and cool I really am. Just like my dad. "Yes! Yes! "Yes!"  She shouts happily and jumps off the swing. Ssshh I put my index finger on her mouth. "It's a secret mission. Only you and I can know." She nods and giggles.  "This is so exciting. Where are we going?" "Follow me."  I say and hesitate for a moment whether I should grab her hand.  But Mr. Warner's look is still in my mind and I decide not to.

We walk out of the playground towards the end of the street.  "So where exactly are we going?"  "That's still a secret. But it's really super cool."  I lie.  I really have no idea where we're going or what we're going to do.  Maybe I had secretly hoped she found it too exciting.  That she would think I'm cool enough because of this proposal.  But with parents like Emma's, I should have known better.  She is not afraid of anything.

After walking a bit, Emma looks back uncertainly.  "My mom and dad actually don't allow me to be that far away from home."  she says and looks at me.  "They won't find out. And your mom and dad are the bosses of the country. So basically this whole country is your home."  Emma looks up and I see her thinking.  "That's true.... Kai you are really super smart."  I blush lightly.

Then I see a car driving towards us.  I quickly pull Emma into the bushes.  She giggles tensely as we wait together for the car to pass us.  It will get busier with cars as we continue walking.  If anyone sees us, they'll tell our parents and we'll be screwed.

Then I see a car with a trailer behind it.  At that moment, 2 men come out of a house and they carry a sofa together.  They put the sofa in and close the lid.  Then they put a piece of sail over the trailer and tie it up.  Then they walk back into the house they came out of.

I look at Emma.  "Follow me. Quick and quiet."  She nods.  We quickly walk to the trailer.  I push the tarp aside and help Emma climb in.  Then I climb in myself and pull the sail back.

She giggles again.  It always gives me weird tickles in my stomach.  "This is so exciting."  She whispers and looks at me happily.  I smile back.  This is indeed exciting.  Maybe a little too.  We can still get out.  We can just walk home now.  But Emma likes this so much.  I don't want to disappoint her.

Then I hear voices.  Someone walks out towards the car.  "Yo, thanks for everything and see you soon."  I hear a man say and a few seconds later I hear a car door close.  Then the car starts and we start driving.  I look through a slit and watch as we drive out of our neighborhood.  Our village.

I swallow softly but promise myself to stay cool.  Mom and Dad would stay cool.  I just want to be like them.

After a long drive we hear more and more noises.  More cars, more crowds.  Our car begins to slow down.  I look through the slit and see large buildings around us.  We're in town.  I've been to town with mom and dad a few times.  People in suits go to work here.  But you also have shops and somewhere an ice cream parlour.  "We're in town."  I say to Emma.  She looks at me with wide eyes.  "Are we going to buy clothes?!"  she says with a big smile.  I shake my head.  "I don't have my pocket money."  Emma looks disappointed for a moment, but then quickly cheerful again.  "Our secret mission is more fun. Even if you haven't told me what it is yet."  "Then how do you know it's fun?"  I ask with a tilted head.  "Because it's with you."  she smiles.

After a few minutes, the car stops moving.  I look at Emma with wide eyes.  We have to get out of here quickly before the man sees us.  I quickly push the sail aside and help Emma out of the trailer.  Then I climb out.  We quickly walk away from the car so that the man will not see us again.  This is so super exciting.  I feel cool that this worked out.  We look at the tall buildings around us.  The busy streets where people walk everywhere.  It is so busy that no one notices us.

Then Emma points to a large sign with the time written on it.  14:00.  "I have to be home in an hour."  she says and looks at me.  I nod.  "Come on. Follow me."  This time I will hold her hand.  I don't want to lose Emma in this rush.  Even though Mr. Warner won't like me touching her.

Now I have to come up with a mission.  Something simple but cool.  Something that works quickly.  And then figure out how to get home.

Then suddenly I see a man take a wallet out of a woman's handbag without her noticing.  It's a thief!  The man walks on as if nothing has happened.  Emma looks at me in surprise.  She saw it too.  But we are the only one.  Other people are too busy with their phones.  "A thief. Are we going to catch him?"  Emma asks.  I nod automatically without really thinking about it.  "That's going to be the mission. We're going to make sure this man stops stealing."

Emma looks excited and she rubs her hands.  Now I'm glad Emma has super powers.  She can easily knock that man down.  And I can pretend I'm doing something cool to help out too.  I'll do the cool talk.  Promise your cat you will never do this again!  I hope he has a cat.

We run after the man.  "When are we going to get him?"  Emma asks.  Not too loud so that only I can hear it.  "We have to wait for the right moment. Wait and listen before you strike, my father always says. He learned that from Toph."  "Who's Toph?"  "No idea."

We see the man walking into an alley.  The alley is so narrow that you hardly notice it if you were to walk past it.  We carefully follow him.  Luckily it's still loud enough from the crowd that he doesn't hear us.  After turning a corner, he steps into a building.  The building looks abandoned.  Wooden planks where windows should be.  Stones that seem to crumble.  A remnant of a bad time.

This is the right time to strike.  I look at Emma.  "Are you ready for it."  She clenches her hands into fists and nods firmly.  I nod back.  We walk into the house.