Meeting my Maker

Chapter 5

I shut the curtains while leaving the window open, I turn my back to the window and keep watching various things to pass the time. It's 1:30pm now, and I'm getting bored. I know I told my parents I'd stay home today, but I need to get out. I sit up and look over at my desk, my key for our home sitting on the edge next to my wallet. I let out a sigh and pick them up, might as well get over my fears the best I can. It doesn't help to stress over this every day.

I lock the front door and leave my home, I walk down towards the bus stop. Buses are a safe place right? I mean, it's public and you can't get kidnapped with so many others there to see it. And the stations on the routes I take aren't sketchy either. The bus gets here and I take a seat at the front, I hold my key, wallet, and phone close to me in my pockets and watch every passenger carefully. I nearly glare at each one as they get on or off the bus. The driver goes down the route into the city, and they make their way towards the school. I know that's a safe place so I get off at the bus stop next to the school zone.

I sit down on a bench in the courtyard, the school is empty with the exception of the clubs that stay until 5:00pm at the latest. Wait a second, I forgot about club work the last few weeks, damn. I hope the other members won't be mad at me, I'll have to apologize to them on Monday. It might be a good idea to go to the fields and track, watching the teams practice would be fun. I walk over through the school to the bleachers and sit in one of the front rows, I love the cold winds that are present, they feel great.

"Hey Nira-san! What are you doing here?" Iris calls out to me.

"Hi Acedia-san! It's been a while since I spoke with you" I say and go down the bleachers. "How's your training going?"

"It could be better, we're just running for fun today before we all go home. It's the weekend, are you here for club work or a meeting?" he asks.

"No, I'm just here to get some fresh air and take my mind off things" I tell him.

"Is it about what was on the news lately?" he asks. "I don't pay attention to it a lot, I don't really care about the subject. I hope you can stay safe though Skye."

"Thanks Iris, enjoy your run" I say as he jogs off.

I return to the bleachers and lay down on the front row, and in the next hour the teams all leave to hang out someplace else. I rest my eyes out here as the breeze picks up, I shiver a little at the change in temperature. And later on though, the breeze stops, but I can still feel the chills through my body. I sit up quickly and look around me, I spot a strange figure at the other side of the long bleachers. I panic slightly and scoot away from him, standing behind the side bars of the bleachers.

"Don't come any closer!" I yell out as he takes a step towards me. "What do you want?"

I don't know if he can hear the worry and fear in my voice or not, but no matter the cost I'll keep him at a distance.

"I don't mean any harm, though I'm sure you won't care about that" he says. "I saw the news lately about what's been happening, I'm not one of those creeps out there, I promise."

"That's just the thing a creep would say to get near me!" I yell at him.

"Can you please sit on the end there, I'll stay over here. I just want to talk, and nothing more" he says.

His hands are held up in front of him, which is typically a motion of surrendering or backing down to avoid trouble. I cautiously sit on the end of the bleachers, I watch him carefully as he sits down on the other end about 15 meters away.

"What is it you want to talk about?" I ask.

"There's something I should show you actually, I have been doing a bit of digital artwork with the help of a friend, but the character was all my idea" he says.