Warrior: The Forging of a Champion

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

"Okay, what time do you want to come to my house tonight?" I hear Dan say on my cell phone as I walk up to my house on Saturday after just getting home from Tae Kwon Do. 

"Your house?" 

"Yeah, we're going to the party tonight." 

"The party?" 

"Yeah, the one that Nicole's friend told us about." 

"I forgot all about that," I say. I put my Tae Kwon Do bag down at the edge of the steps and sit down. It is a sunny Spring day. The heat of the sun cuts through the cooler windy air and burns down on me. 

"Okay, here is your official reminder. Now what time are we going?" 

"I don't know, I have a ton of homework and I'm exhausted. It's been a really long week of school and training." 

"Come on, Doug. Don't you ever want to do anything fun?" 

"I do a lot of fun things." I say as I stand up and look out over the front yard. 

"Like what?" 

"Well, umm, I umm it's hard to think of them right now." 

"Look, Nicole has to do something with her parents, so she can't go, and I don't want to go by myself. The whole school is going and it would do you good to actually get to know some of the people that go to your High School, and I got us a ride and everything, so be at my house at 8:30 and don't be late," he says and hangs up.  

Crap, I hate when he does that. I totally forgot about the party. I want to go, but I just have so much to do. I should call him back and tell him, some other time. I just can't make it this week. I call him but get no answer, so I send him a text and get no response. I call his home phone but that also doesn't pick up. I should just stand him up. Well, I can't do that. I guess I gotta go, so I spend the day doing as much of the homework as I can and then get my Mom to drive me over to Dan's house. 

We pull up to the house, and Dan is sitting on the steps of his porch. He runs up to the car just as my Mom pulls up. 

"Dougie boy, I knew you wouldn't let me down and, as always, you are five minutes early." 

"You wouldn't let me let you down." I say. 

"I only want the best for you, Dougie boy." 

My mom pulls the car away, and waves back.  

"Does your mom know we are going to this party?" 

"Of course not, she thinks we are going to spend the night playing video games." 

"Nice," he responds. "Now, where is my ride?" he asks, and just like that we see a sports car turn the corner and approach us at a high rate of speed. Doug turns to me and says, "This is going just as planned." 

The car rolls up in front of the house and has to squeal the brakes to stop. The tinted window rolls down, and there is a very scary looking man with long hair in the front seat. He takes the cigarette out of his mouth and says, "Get in." 

Dan whispers in my ear, "He works with me at the supermarket. I think he's safe." He opens the door and hops in. I look at the man again and then the car, and Dan looks at me and waves for me to get in. Against my better judgment, I squeeze into the back seat. The car stinks of the smoke of a thousand cigarettes. I can't really tell much about the ride because I spend most of it looking down at the floor praying, but I do learn that Dan's friend, the driver, has three kids and has been out of prison for six months. Dan finds it fascinating to meet an actual convict and asks all sorts of questions about prison life that only Dan would ask .