"What is she like?" My voice knocked Brent out of his wide-eyed daze. "Your mother?"
His lip curled into an almost maniacal grin. A low chortle rose from his throat, breathy and sullen. "She's a model citizen. Recycles, pets puppies, fosters lonely orphans."
"Can I come with you?"
"No," he said a little too quickly. I looked down to see his hands digging fiercely into his thighs. Had the denim not been in the way, he probably would have drawn blood.
"Are you sure? You seem sort of stressed. And by stressed, I mean borderline panicked."
"I'm fine. Just stay here." Brent opened the door and stretched his long legs out of the truck. He turned to glance at me briefly, his eyes flitting first to the phone in my hand then to me. "If an emergency just happens to arise, and only then, may you come in. It's apartment 23B."
I gave him a small mock salute and settled deeper into my seat, folding my legs beneath me. He shut the door behind him and then he was gone, his looming figure vanishing into the ugly concrete apartment building standing, though just barely, before me. I turned on the ignition and let my CD drown out the silence. I glanced to my left, to my right, but there was nothing. No people, no vehicles, only scattered food wrappers and overflowing trash cans.
I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the headrest behind me. I don't know how long I sat there before an urgent knock on the window caught my attention. I opened my eyes and blinked once, twice, to be greeted by the scraggly face of a man no younger than fifty through the clear glass.
Dirt was smudged around his eyes, his forehead, caked in the untamed curls of his brunette beard. The tip of his nose was a deep pink, like an overripe beet, and several of his teeth proved to be missing when he smiled. He wore green wool gloves with some of the fingers torn off and a few thick jackets layered atop one another, enveloping his body in dark, swollen fabrics.
It took me a few seconds to shake my surprise before I asked, through the window, "Yes?"
He took a step back and gestured me forward with his bony hands. "Come on out," he coaxed in a gruff voice.
I swallowed the hard lump forming in my throat. "No thanks."
He beckoned me toward him as though he hadn't heard me. "Come out," he repeated.
This time I shook my head at him, a bit more frantically than I would have liked. "No."
His grin didn't falter. He started toward the car and tugged loosely at the door handle a few times, grunting loudly with each pull. Adrenaline made my vision sharpen. I looked down and saw my cell phone beside me. I grabbed it and held it up for the man to see.
"I'm calling the police."
His face began to fall and his mouth clamped shut, and suddenly I was grateful not to have to stare at his missing teeth any longer. His eyes darkened and he snarled at me viciously before waving me away with a reluctant defeat, as if I weren't worth it, and hobbling off in the other direction.
I put a hand to my chest, willing my heartbeat to slow, and took a few deep breaths. I shut off the music and peered at the keys settled menacingly in the ignition. I looked at the time on my phone.
No less than twelve minutes and I had already been victim to a poorly-attempted mugging.
I felt fear flutter inside my chest, and suddenly I wanted nothing more than to flee the vacant street. With a single swift movement I pulled the keys out and swept my belongings into my bag before slinging it over my shoulder and clambering, still slightly shocked, out of Sharlene. I locked her with a satisfying click and made my way into the building.
YOU ARE READING
Tourmaline
Teenfikce"Some people are just simply and utterly unlovable." He fell silent. His breathing was rhythmic and manual, as if he had accidentally fallen asleep. I took a moment to listen to the soft whistle of his exhales, the sound of his fingers tapping a fas...
