Lost in the Shadows

Chapter 3

"Kill her?" I wasn't prepared for this. 

"We need her out of our way, and the only way to do that is to get rid of her." said Mad Dog.

"Are you sure there isn't a better way to get rid of her? I mean, all she did was call the police."

"Get her outta our way or you'll be outta the gang." said Mad Dog. "Lets go guys."

Mad Dog left with the others and disappeared into the dark alley. "Great," I thought. "Now I have to kill some girl I barely even know." I walked away and head back to the house. Mom was home sleeping on the couch with empty beer bottles all around her. She must of went out again. I went upstairs into my room with some chips and soda. I sat on the couch and turned on my TV to see if everything interesting in on. After a few hours of channel surfing I turned off the TV and hit the sack. It was late at night now, about a little after two, but I couldn't sleep. Not because of getting arrested the night before, not because of the new guy in the gang, but because of having to kill Stephanie.

The next morning a crash in the kitchen woke me up. I checked the clock. 11:50 am. Well, gonna be tardy for school again. After laying in bed for another twenty minutes, I finally got up. I looked on the floor for some clothes that didn't smell like crap and put on the cleanest one I had. Then I head downstairs. Mom was in the kitchen cooking up something that smelled horrible.

"What are you doing home? You have school!" she shouted.

I knew she must have just woken up from being drunk and without more alcohol in her, she gets crabby.

"Don't just stand there and stare! Answer me!" she said.

"I gotta go." I turn around and start walking towards the door but I knew this wouldn't end so easily. Mom grabbed my arm from behind and threw me again the hard concrete floor. She held me down tight and put herself up in my face. 

"Your so troubled!" she screamed. 

Her breath smelled like beer that was sitting in the heat for days. Mom yelled more crap at me about how I never should have been born and threw a few punches. I pushed her back but gravity pushed her weight down on me. 

"You never should have been born!" she yelled as she threw a punch at my eye. By now I had no fight left in me, and I don't think she did either. She got off and pushed me towards the door.

"Get out!" she said.

I stood up and walked towards the door again, this time with a black eye. Mom sat back down on the couch and chugged down some alcohol. 

I left the house and started to walk towards the school. I walked in and checked in at the front desk. An office lady looked at my eye and asked what happened. I made a stupid excuse of falling down the stairs on my way out. She looked at me suspiciously and went back to her work. I walked to the library and found a seat in the back. The less people there were to look at my eye the better. I opened some book and put it on the desk to look like I was reading. I put up my hood and sat there quietly thinking. It was pretty much silent in there except for a book cart that was squeaking. I was sitting there dozing off when a book cart slammed into the back of my chair. I turned around ready to sock the kid who did this to me when I saw Stephanie. 

"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" she said, picking up the books on the floor. She finally looks up and we make eye contact. "Oh, uh... I uh.. I gotta go." She puts the books back on the cart and pushes it out of the aisle as quick as possible.

"She must of recognized me," I thought. "No it couldn't be, she barely got a glimpse of me the other night." Then I remembered my black eye. It must have scared her. And the anger on my face. I'm not surprised that she would be scared of it.  

The bell rang and swarms of kids filled the halls. I waited in the library some more until it died down a bit to leave without drawing attention. I was about to leave the library when I got a tap on my shoulder. I turned around and it was Stephanie.