The Academy: Discovery

Kota and Max

I wake to the sound of something scratching at the door to the apartment. It still dark out. The room has just enough light from the moon coming through the dark curtains for me to see. Slowly I shuffle out of the tiny bed meant for toddlers and tip toe toward the door. Is it my parents? Have they come back? I had just started to think they might not come back. It has been...well Im not sure how long. Three or four weeks I think. Just as I reach the door the scratching stops. Thinking better of just opening the door without knowing whose on the other side, I release the door knob and peer into the peep hole.

The scene on the other side is like something out of a horror movie. There are two men. One is about my fathers height but has a nearly shaved head. He's thick with muscle wearing athletic shorts and tennis shoes with a tank top on. Theres a gym next door. He must have come from there. His back is to me so Im not sure if he's someone I might have seen before. The second guy is at an angle where I can't see him either thanks to the hood pulled over his head but the hoodie doesn't hide his broad shoulders and bulky torso. He clearly goes to a gym too but I'm not sure he was looking for a workout just now because he's wearing dark jeans and combat like boots. Also he's got a gun to the gym rats head. I've seen enough guns in my life to know it's a 1911 but its not like any 1911 I've ever seen. Is that a silencer on the end? Or is it supressor? I shake my head clearing my thoughts. Thats not the important question right now.

The gun goes off and I have to lock my legs so I don't collapse. My hand clamps over my mouth to silence the scream that wants to escape. Not again! I didn't want to have to see that again. I've already seen it too much. To make it worse the gym rat falls as if in slow motion. His head rocks back to his shoulders and remains, bouncing when his knees hit the floor, and eventually snapping forward again and connecting with the floor in a face plant. A whimper escapes my mouth before I can catch it. The shooters head jerks to look straight at the door. Straight at me.

I scurry back tripping over my own feet and falling to my butt with a thump. I know he can't see me but fear he may try to break into the apartment. The apartment is a studio like apartment above the restaurant my parents own. He couldn't be up here for any other reason.

I look around wondering what he could possibly want to steal. Basically there's the essentials and nothing more. A couch, a couple of old nasty chairs, a toddler bed, and a king sized bed, a refrigerator being the only appliance we have besides a microwave, and nothing else. No TV. No radio. No dressers. No coffee table. No kitchen or dining table. The absolute minimum.

Several minutes go by as I wait for the door to show some sign of being broken into or maybe a knock even. Yet nothing happens. Thank goodness for that. I don't exactly have any weapons in the house to defend myself.

Slowly I make my way to the door again peering through the peep hole. A large blood stain covering the wall is the only sign the scene occurred. They're both gone. The hooded man must have taken the now dead gym rat away.

I spend most of the remainder of the day sitting on the couch staring at the door. I replay the scene over and over in my head. Specifically the mans handsome face. When the hooded guy had turned to look at me I may have fled but I didn't miss his handsome features. He had reddish brown hair swept across his forehead, pointed jaw, light layer of stubble, thick but groomed eyebrows over top his piercing blue eyes. Eyes that were filled with shock but I think something else too. Something like simple kindness. Could I have read that wrong? I have gotten good at reading my parents expressions and features. Are his so different? Did I not get a good enough look?

I come back to reality when my stomach growls blinking repeatedly to clear my watery eyes. I had been staring too long, they had started to fill with water. Going into the kitchen, I get something to eat and pull out the only two things in the apartment...saltines and soft cat food. We don't have a cat.