A Journey, A Coincidence, A Memory

Chapter 6: Richard

January 19, 2022, 2:30 pm

"Ring!" that's the sound of freedom.

"Woohoo! Dismissal!" I scream with my legs rigidly moving towards the classroom door, followed by Alan's.

"Want to come over?" Alan asks.

"Of course, buddy!" I answer. I love going over at Alan's, especially when we get to play video games 24/7 and eat some delicious, appetizing cookies.

Me and Alan arrive at the main gate and exit out.

"How do you think of this school, dude?" I question Alan.

"It's amazing!! Way better than our old one, it has a bulk football ground!"

"I know right!" we are in love with football, "We can skip math from now on and play on the football grounds instead!"

"Great idea, buddy! Can't wait to go through that experience!" Alan agrees and we sit on the bench and wait for our parents. "By the way, I wanted to ask you ... How in the world did you escape the school yesterday?!"

"An adventurous dude got its secrets, I jumped over the fire!"

"Really dude? That is super amazing, fantastic, extraordinary, striking, marvelous, spectacular and I don't know how far my vocabulary can go, but that was some awesome sick moves you did back there!"

"Thanks buddy, you did an important part too."

"Alan, I'm here!" I can already recognize that kind-hearted voice, it's Mrs. Grace, Alan's mother, the one who's a master at making cookies.

"Hey, Mom!" Alan replies, it looks like his tone is disgraced. Alan turns towards me, "Can Richard come over?"

"Of course he can. By the way, hey there Richard!"

"Hey there Mrs. Grace!" I say very positively. I hope she doesn't notice that I'm way too excited about her cookies.

"I see you are excited for my cookies," she chuckles and well ... she noticed. "See you then, Richard," she waves and takes my best friend away from me to her black BMW.

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I wonder where my parents are, it's pretty unusual that my mom is picking me up very late today, even though she arrives a bit early usually. I stare at my surroundings and watch every student proceed to their car happily, while I sit on a bench isolated.

Every bit of every student flashes away before me, but one remains and it is someone I know so well. "Hey Richard!" she says as she takes a seat beside me, "Is this occupied?"

"No, the person who was sitting on it left an hour ago," I say pessimistically.

"Let me guess, Alan," she knows my bestie; in fact, everyone knows.

"Yup, you have an eagle-eye, Lara" I joke and Lara giggles. That's the least I could do since our parents aren't here yet.

"You know ... I've been wondering if our parents are doing some sort of mission right now," she mutters.

"How do you think that?"

"Well, both our parents are police officers, we shouldn't always expect them to be free."

"Then how could you expect them to go on a mission all-together. Like, is that even possible?"

"I don't know, but it should be when there is a big accident where there are a lot of police officers ... hmm, I have an idea."

What's she up to now? She always comes up with some sort of idea. What a big brain she has, probably bigger than the milky way while mine is as tiny as an electron.

"Follow me," she instructs as she leads me back into the school.

"Why are we going back into the school, Lara?"

"They have a waiting room here, with a TV and also, we can't just stay outside in the cold," she keeps on keeping me curious. What is she up to? We sit in the waiting room and Lara immediately turns on the TV. She switches it to channel number 380 where they are showing commercial news. Oh ... she was right.

"Is that Mom and Dad?" I anxiously ask.

"It looks to me they are; my parents are also there ... Oh no, it looks like there was a big accident! An apartment building was smashed by somebody, and now it's crushed to pieces!"

"Oh no! Who would do that?"

"I don't know, that's probably a reason why there are so many police officers, and plus, 67 dead!"

"That's terrifying! I want to be next to my parents right now, this is creeping me out!"

"Me too ..." Lara pauses, thinking of something again. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Run away to a forest full of hungry bears?" I need to put some sarcasm into this.

"No not that, we could go to where are parents are right now!"

"Do you even know where this place is?"

"Yes I do!" I have no idea where her optimism came from, but that actually sounds good. "Come on, follow me."

And I do, I just hope she knows what she's doing; I can't always trust a girl younger than me.