On My Way to Believing

Chapter 10 - Mysterious

Hours passed by, and, suddenly, school was over. It felt like only minutes had passed. Anyway, it was time to work on the decorations with Mary.

After exiting the school, we walked towards the auto repair shop where her car was being repaired. Paula tagged along, since we're passing by my house anyway to get the materials. Once there, Mary talked with the mechanic about her car's engine.

"So, Claire. How are you?" Paula asked, while we were waiting for Mary.

"I'm doing good." I answered. "Chris isn't coming home until Friday though."

"That sucks."

"I know. Though, I'll be at Mary's house every day this week anyway." I said. "Well, at least Keido won't be lonely."

"Yeah, she's really really cute!" she said. "I'm always available for taking care of her if you're busy!"

"Yeah, thanks for doing so."

"Anyway, why don't you tell me how it's like being around Axel?" she asked. "I'm kinda curious. I've always found him mysterious."

"Well, that's definitely a word I'd use to describe him." I sighed.

"But he doesn't do any harm to you, right?" she asked.

"Actually, yeah..." I said. That statement got me thinking. He's never done any real harm. "All he's done is annoy me, and...just basically interact with me. It's strange."

"Aw, it sounds like he wants your attention." she said, giggling. "You should try to be friends."

"Yeah, well, I do wanna make it up to him for being dismissive." I said. "Especially after Philip and his douchey remarks."

"What did Philip say?"

"I'll tell you on the way to your house." I said. "Looks like Mary's done talking to the mechanic."

The drive to both mine and Paula's houses was silent after I told my friends about Philip. Paula was surprised, and Mary was indifferent, saying that she already knew that he can be much of an ass.

After arriving at our street, Paula and I went in our respective houses, while Mary waited in her car for me. I picked up the needed materials and left the house, locking the door. I got in Mary's car and drove off.

"So how's the engine?" I asked.

"Not good, it's getting too old to function." she sighed. "There aren't any more parts for it either, unless I go to Germany."

"That sucks." I said. We've made a lot of memories with this car, from going to the beach to driving home from school.

Minutes passed, until we finally reach Mary's house. After parking on her driveway, we entered her house, which was larger than mine, considering that she has 2 other siblings, and her parents, to top it off. Though, her father and brother aren't home at the moment.

"Hi girls! Come in!" Mary's mother shouted from the kitchen. "I'll be right there!"

Mary set her stuff aside, and placed her keys on the counter. Her mom came out of the kitchen, removing her apron. The two looked alike.

"Hi Mrs. Danvers!" I said, as I hugged her.

"Hello, Claire. It's nice to see you." She said as she hugged back. "How are your mother and brother?"

"Oh, mom is in London, while Chris is away on a mission."

"I see, well, you're always welcome here whenever you get lonely dear." She said smiling.

"She'll be here for the rest of the week mom." Mary said. "We have a project to do."

"Oh, that's nice." Mrs. Danvers said. "Well, if you girls need me, I'll be watching my soaps."

Mrs. Danvers then went to the living room, while Mary and I went up to Mary's room in order to start on the project.

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Mary and I worked on the project for the past two nights, and, so far, it's going smoothly. We were working again at Mary's house, and we were just about done with our work so we were cleaning up.

"Well, I'd say that went well." I commented while picking up trash, and disposing of the water used for painting. "We even finished faster than expected."

"Yeah, despite all our goofing around." Mary replied, making us both laugh. After cleaning up Mary's room and said goodbye to Mrs. Danvers, we headed for Mary's car. We got in her car and tried to start it up, but the engine keeps failing.

"Dammit. Why won't you start?" Mary said. She got out of the car to see what the problem was, with me following. She popped the hood and shone her phone's flashlight on the engine.

Mary examined her car for a minute before she spoke. "Looks like I need a new battery." She said, with disbelief in her voice.

"Damn, your car's become so problematic.." I said. "Well, I don't mind walking. My house isn't that far anyway."

"Are you sure? I could walk you home?" She offered, guilt-ridden.

"No, no. It's completely fine! It's not your fault." I replied. "Anyways, I should get going. It's getting pretty late."

"I'm really really sorry.."

"It's fine, Mary." I said, smiling.

"You take care alright? There're a lot of horrible people around this time of night.." She said.

"Sure, I will. See you tomorrow." I said. I then started walking towards home.

While walking, I just remembered that I needed to buy some groceries, so I stopped by a nearby convenience store. After buying what I needed, I continued walking home. But then, I felt a strange sensation. It felt like someone was following me. I started to step lighter, in order to see if I can hear their footsteps. My suspicions were confirmed when I heard the footsteps still following me even after I turned around a number of corners.

I immediately ran after realizing this fact. "Shit." I muttered to myself. Whoever was following me was now running. It then started to drizzle.

'Fuck my luck!' I thought to myself. In an attempt to shake the assailant, I ran through the park and hid behind a tree. It was raining heavily now.

'He shouldn't have seen me. Not with limited vision under this ra-' My thoughts were interrupted when a sudden feeling of danger swept across my body. I quickly ducked, making me land on all fours, and just barely managed to dodge a blow from a metal bat, but scraping my arm on a sharp part of the tree in the process. The assailant was now looming over me. It was dark, and I couldn't see the person's face, however, the figure looked masculine. The assailant then tried to strike me down while I was on the ground, but I was able to dodge the blow again. His swing was so powerful that the bat actually dug a hole in the ground. I saw my chance and grabbed a metal baton that Chris gave me, and struck my attacker. The figure staggered, and I kicked him as hard as I can. The assailant then fell and hit his head on a tree, knocking him out.

I ran out of there as fast as I could. I ran away as far as my feet could get me. While I was running, I noticed that my arm was bleeding. I felt extremely tired and I felt my consciousness fading in and out.

'I have to find help..' I said to myself. Afterrunning a bit more, I found some houses, and one of them had lights on. I ranup to the doorstep and rang the doorbell. It was hard to keep conscious at thispoint. Just as the door opened, my body collapsed.

Author's Note:

Dear Lord guys, I'm really really sorry for the extremely late update. I've been so busy with college, I had no time to actually continue this story. But I've been gathering up ideas, hopefully it would turn out great. Anyways, I'm keeping my word, so I'll finish this story, however long that will take. Again, I apologize.

~T