White light streams into my vision. I blink repeatedly and my eyes flicker open. Patterns dance in front of me and my thoughts are hazy as I try to focus, but I’m panicking. I don’t know where I am. I can hear my name, but it sounds as if I’m underwater. Someone takes my hand and I am thrown into consciousness. The first thing that I see clearly is a stranger’s face. I reach out and touch it, making sure it’s real. I slowly realize that he’s carrying me. I look to the side and my head swims. There’s Dylan sprinting beside us. Wait…what? I look back and the guys who’s carrying me and realize that he’s also running. What is happening?
“Dylan?” I croak. “Hey, dude, put her down. She just woke up” I hear him say and they stop running. The stranger sets me down on the side walk and I lean against the wall of a building and close my eyes, feeling lightheaded. Memories flood back into my head. The Circle, my mother, the knife, running, and…Pippa.
“Where’s Lenny?” I ask, opening my eyes. “LENNY” Dylan yells and from further down the road, Lenny comes running over. “Hey Aida” he says, nervously, when he reaches us. “Who is this guy?” I ask, pointing at the tall stranger who had carried me. He was standing awkwardly away from the three of us. “Um….we don’t really know…. you kinda passed out and then he just came out of nowhere, picked you up, and just kept running” Dylan says, staring at the guy too. “I think he’s trying to help” he adds. “Can he talk?” I ask, getting more and more curious. Dylan shrugs, “if he can, he certainly hasn’t showed it.” “What about the policemen? Where are they?” I wonder, they should have caught up with us by now. “We lost them after we climbed up the fire escape of that building ove-““wait, hold up!” I interrupt. “You climbed a building carrying me?” I say, turning to the stranger. He nods slightly and then begins to walk down the streets, hands in his pockets. I turn to Dylan with raised eyebrows and he shrugs.
“Hey!” I yell to the tall guy and race after him, ignoring my aching head. “Who are you?” I ask as I try to match his stride. He faces me, “I’m no one from nowhere and I must be going now” he says quietly and I just stare. He keeps walking and I struggle to keep up. “You aren’t from here, are you? Are you some kind of space alien thing from, like, another planet , right?” I say, stupidly, hoping he’ll say yes. I’ve always been fascinated by the idea of extra-terrestrials. He chuckles slightly, “not even close.” I frown “where are you going? You can’t just leave!” he stops walking and asks “why not?” and I shrug. “You saved me and my friends and I just want to know why. I want to know who you are” I tell him and he stares at me. After a while he says “go get your friends and follow me.” I back away slowly, still watching him, and then run off to Lenny and Dylan.
They look up curiously as I approach them. “What does he want?” Lenny questions. I shake my head, “I’m not exactly sure, but for some reason I think we can trust him. Come on, he wants us to follow him.” Dylan stands to join me, but Lenny just crosses his arms. “I’m not going to let some crazy person lead me to my death!” he shouts. I notice Dylan shifting around nervously. “Um guys… I think someone’s coming” he whispers, peering around the corner. I can hear it too. The stomping of boots coming from not very far away. “Come on, Lenny! They’ll catch up to us soon and then you’re guaranteed dead meat. This stranger is possibly our only hope of getting out of here alive” I say, attempting to persuade him to join us. I reach out my hand and he takes it, standing up next to Dylan and me.
The three of us break into a run down the street as the sound of angry police grows louder. We reach the stranger quickly and he motions for us to follow him. He leads us to one of the many abandoned buildings in the city. “What are you doing? You can’t go in there!” Lenny hisses as the stranger swings open the door and steps inside. I follow him and the boys sigh, but do the same.
