Chasing the Browns

Chapter Four

Chapter Four

The blade wobbled at my neck. I gasped, choking on rain, struggling feebly in the man’s grip. He slipped a gloved hand over my mouth, cursing and shoving me up against the wall when I tried to knee him in the stomach. My hands trembled and my phone slipped from my grip.

That was when I realised just how dark it was in here. The alleyway.

‘What do you want from me?’ My voice was muffled because of the hand, but even with an indecipherable question, the man answered,

‘You know who I am,’ in a leery voice.

The rain pounded hard, slapping my hair in front of my eyes. I couldn’t see his face; he was wearing a mask, anyway.

He snatched his hand away from my mouth, keeping the other occupied with the knife at my throat. There was the idea to run, but if he had a knife, what else did he have? A gun tucked away in his belt, ready to trigger and fire a bullet through my heart the second my instinct takes over and I decide to run away?

I decided against the idea.

‘N-no.’

Mistake. I couldn’t help but cry out when he punched me, hard, in the stomach. The blade ripped through my skin as I collapsed to the ground in pain.

‘You know who I am,’ he repeated, towering above me.

I shuffled up against the wall, soaking wet as he stepped forwards. ‘W-what do you want from me?’

‘You know exactly what I want.’

I squinted up, puzzled. ‘N-no—’

‘You have two days.’

He left. Just like that.

At first I was dazed. I stayed paralysed on the floor, waiting for the bullet to come the second I made an attempt to get up and run.

But nothing came.

When the trembling died down a little, and the sobs were controllable – to say, at the very least – I mustered the courage to scramble onto my aching knees, which were drenched from the puddle that had formed around me, and stood slowly.

It was still pouring, so hard I could hardly see where my phone was. It was dark, too. Very dark.

I felt around in the water at me feet, found my phone and called Mum again.

‘Hello and welcome to the—’

I screamed in frustration, kicking the fence in an attempt to let out the anger. That’s when the image of those bright blue eyes came to mind. I scrolled through my phonebook. I had to squint because the light was so bright compared to the dark. I crossed my fingers, desperately hoping that the call would go through.

‘J-Jack?’

‘Hello, who is this?’

I struggled to keep my voice straight, but I started sobbing again. ‘I-it’s me. Lea. And…’ I broke off, wiping my eyes.

‘Lea, what’s going on? Are you OK?’

‘I-I…’

‘Lea?’ His voice became frantic. ‘What’s happened? What’s wrong?’

I took a shaky breath. ‘I need a friend,’ I whispered.

*

He’d wasted no time in getting here. In fact, he’d said he’d been going as fast as he could. I, on the other hand, had stood at the mouth of the alleyway for what had seemed like hours. It had been a bad place to suggest, because every time I’d grudgingly turned back, I’d seen shadows moving in the alley – either that, or my eyes were deceiving me.