Crimson and Furs

Chapter Eight: "Meow"

17th Woodbury, Crimson Springs.

This street was among the quietest streets in the city. Not only did it have few vehicles running around, it also had few people walking about. In a hot afternoon such like this when it was supposed to be bustling with activities, the street was empty of people as if it had been abandoned. If not for the few pedestrians who walked by the sidewalks one would think an alien spaceship had beamed everyone away.

Daniel walked along the sidewalk as he pushed his bicycle. His face wore an exhausted look and he was covered with perspiration. To be honest, he was very much tired from the whole event today. Who knew Walter would be so bent on getting him? How the heck did he even know the route he was gonna take?

Daniel wiped the beads of sweat on his forehead with the back of his right hand as he heaved a sigh of relief. If he hadn't been a pro at riding bicycle, he probably would have been caught and dealt with by Walter and his gang of idiot bullies. Apart from being intelligent, he always considered himself clumsy in everything else. But after the incident today—the whole bike chase fiasco—he knew he was good at bicycling. He genuinely felt glad that there was something he was good at again apart from academics. He was so proud of himself that he felt he should immediately sign up for the next bike racing competition that would come up in Crimson Springs. He was filled with happiness and almost jumped up for joy. It wasn't embarrassment that stopped him from jumping up. Hell no, there were no people around on this part of the street anymore; Woodbury Street had always been like that. Rather the reason he didn't jump was because he put the condition of his poor bicycle into consideration. This companion of his had been through such a great ordeal with him and he felt it should be given a special treatment. He couldn't have escaped without it!

He slowly walked by the several terraced buildings in the street, counting all the house numbers habitually as he walked. All the buildings here were not painted and seemed to be made of stones—ones that could be found in the medieval times. Any time Daniel walked down the street, he would have the feeling that he was in the medieval times. Although he didn't know why he had such feelings, he didn't probe any further.

He soon came to his house. It was a bungalow which had the same fashion as other buildings around. A short wooden fence surrounded the bungalow which was not so big, a wooden gate propped up by its hinges at the front of the compound which wasn't that big.

Daniel reached his hand into his pocket and took out the gate key, unlocking the big padlock. He pushed the gate open and proceeded in. As he walked to the garage he admired the compound in a habitual manner. The lawn at the front of the bungalow, the mango trees scattered about and the garden at the right side of the bungalow always made him drawn to nature.

He walked to the garage which was at the left side of the bungalow and placed his bicycle on its stand before heading to the house in delight. He couldn't help feeling happy about how he had escaped from Walter.

"Hahahahaha!" he couldn't help but laugh like a clown as he walked past the sitting room and dining room straight to the kitchen. He was so hungry right now and no amount of tidiness OCD would make him spend time in doing house chores (the latter part of the sentence is clearly a joke.)

There was a large food flask standing on the counter as he entered the kitchen. He didn't need anyone to tell him what it was as the fragrance from the flask was already making him salivate.

"Mum left some mushrooms for me," he muttered to himself. Since mushroom was his best food, he always drooled over it. Whether it was fried, steamed or cooked, he would eat it any day.

He dropped his backpack on the counter as he walked towards the flask, opening the lid. The aroma hit his face directly, causing his mouth to water as he stared at the contents. They were mushrooms soaked in chicken soup with oily chicken flanks floating about. He forgot about his manners and immediately reached out his right hand to pick a mushroom. Just as he was doing that, something caught his attention from outside the kitchen's window. Something was down there behind a mango tree.