The Stupidest Thing I've Ever Done

Part 7

  My heart lodged itself into my throat, making it difficult for me to find my breath as I sat frozen on top of the bar. I could see him coming closer to us, and every last neuron was screaming at me to run away.

Cass gasped below me, making the fence jingle when her hands involuntarily pulled on the chains.

I sat there for another minute, just watching the guy get closer and closer to us and seeing his features become more prominent in the moonlight. He had a round face, and a tiny nose. A belly was stretching out his polo, and sat over the top of his khakis. If I had seen him during any other situation, I wouldn't have pegged him as threatening. But when he was barreling towards the fence like the boulder in Indiana Jones, shouting at us and shaking a pudgy fist, I was just a little more than petrified.

"Don't touch my sign, kid!" he said. "You'll owe me twenty bucks for every letter you take!"

Cass shook the fence again, as though she were trying to get me to fall off it.

"Tryer! Dude, what the hell!" she screamed at me. "Get down! Jump!"

Finally, my body unfroze itself and I looked down at Cass. Her eyes were bulging like those squishy toys they give out at the roller-skating rink, like someone was squeezing her head to make her eyes pop out.

I swung my other leg over the bar. First came the rip, and second came the new gush of air against my thigh. I didn't think twice about it then, I just jumped off the fence. My ankles screamed in agony, but I bit my lip to hold back the wail pressing to escape my throat. When she saw me staggering Cass grabbed me by the elbow, dragging me off through the tall grass and back to the path we had come here on.

I thought I heard the chains rattling again, thinking that the guy was climbing the fence and coming after us.   

My heart was hammering blood into my ears, and the hold Cass had on me was sweaty. The ends of my ponytail tickled the back of my naked neck as it weaved back and forth with the steps of my feet.

We clutched to each other's sweatshirts like it'd be the last time we'd ever be close to each other.

I heard him fall over to the other side, making a much louder thump than the chairs had made.

"You come back here!" he shouted. "I know your parents! I'll call your parents if you don't come back here! You little punks!"

Cass almost slowed down. I saw from the look on her face that she was paranoid about the very real possibility that this man knew our parents. But I wasn't going to risk anything now; we had been so close to making it through the night. I knew we could outrun him.