From The Ashes We Rise

Chp 17: Close Calls

I pretended not to notice and walked away slowly. Suddenly I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped in response and spun around, almost hitting the person with my bag. I recognised the dark blue uniform of the policeman and shrank back a little.

"Y-yes officer?" I stammered.

"We have received reports about a missing kid from Minnesota and people have been seeing a boy with black hair roaming around areas nearby."

"What? Missing boy?" I inquired.

Oh I was in deep shit for sure. Dad usually wouldn't care about me but this was very shady. I didn't think he would be the one to file a report.

"Yes. The person who filed the report in Minnesota said he looked like this."

The main policeman showed me a picture of a boy with short black hair and a small innocent smile. The damn picture was in black and white so I didn't know what colour the eyes were. The face almost looked like mine but was slightly smaller.

"I don't look like that. I think you might have gotten the wrong person."

"The person also said his name was Ashley. What a girl name..." he added. I thought I was the only one.

"Yeah," I chuckled nervously, "who would name a boy that? Anyways m-my name is Ebony, so yeah...I'm not the one you're looking for."

I was about to take my leave when the other policeman suggested to take me to the police station for further investigation. They started arguing after that, with the one who talked to me repeatedly telling his associate that I wasn't the missing boy. When they weren't looking, I slipped in between the crowd, dodging people left and right.

After I've gotten far enough from them, I set my bag down on the concrete pavement and covered my face in my hands. Who would be stupid enough to use one of my younger pictures? It could be dad but then again, he would've been happy that I'm gone. At this point I'm not sure if I can truly escape my past. I decided to find a bathroom so that I could change my clothes; they're filthy and I haven't showered in days. There weren't many people now but maybe I could act like a beggar or something. People would notice a kid begging on the streets than a middle-aged hobo.

I decided to find a place to sit near a building and waited. I didn't know why but I just decided to sit there, alone and afraid. I decided to hug my bag for warmth as night was approaching. As a result, I dozed off, drooling on my bag as I leaned on it.

I didn't know how long was I out for, but I felt someone shaking me rapidly. I woke up in a daze and in alarm and looked at the person in the eyes. She looked no older than 30 and she was dressed in office wear. Accompanying her was a man also dressed in office clothing and standing beside her. The woman was kneeling down and looking at me with the most pitiful expression I've ever seen.

"What are you doing here on the streets? It's dangerous here, what with robbers and kidnappers running around."

"Don't scare him, Demi," the man stated. The woman looked at him and somewhat spoke in a low tone, "Should we let him stay at our place?"

I heard some of it and widened my eyes a little. The man nodded before offering to help carry my bag. I thanked him and followed them closely to prevent myself from losing them in the dark streets. I was going to stay at someone's house for the night, which was what I was hoping for, to be honest.

We arrived at a small apartment not far from where I was sleeping. The man placed my bag on the floor near the couch and the woman known as Demi led me upstairs to a vacant bedroom. I went to shower and finally change my clothes before placing them in my bag. Demi stopped me and offered to wash it for me. I smiled and allowed her to do so. I changed into a random band shirt and a pair of shorts, then sat on the bed. I was called for dinner later.