Keeping Up With the Wind: A 'Burban Tale by Suleyma Moon

21.

Faith slid to the ground and let out yet another deep sigh. "That's better."

            No sooner had she said that, I heard someone sneer from behind, "Hey baby. You look familiar." I knew that voice.

            I froze, and then just as quickly jumped to my feet. Pulling Faith up by her hands, I shouted, "Run!"

            "I can't!" she breathed heavily, but kept up with my pace. It's amazing what adrenaline can do for you. Looking behind me to make sure that I hadn't pulled Faith back down to the ground, I ran right smack into someone and screamed.

            "What the..." Spider began, hands firmly holding onto my shoulders, and then looked past us. "Who the hell are you?"

            I heard another, unfamiliar, voice come from behind me, but was still afraid to look back. Right about this time, Li'l Jay walked out from the trees, followed by Ace and Blaze.

            The silly drunk grin on Li'l Jay's face seemed to melt and slide right off. "Aw damn!" he shouted in frustration, throwing up his hands and stopping dead in his tracks.  

            "Dude!" Blaze began as he walked right into Li'l Jay. "Are you shooting up again? Because you've been acting crazy all n..." he finally saw what had made Li'l Jay stop and rolled his eyes at Ace.

            At last I, too, decided to turn around and see who it was.

Tommy was standing not even two feet away from Faith. I realized that I hadn't yet let go of her hand and held on even tighter when I saw Tommy. His must have been the voice that I recognized. Another kid, clearly Johnny's brother, stepped from behind him. He looked just like Johnny, right down to the threatening sneer and piercing eyes.

            "Long time no see," Tommy said to Li'l Jay. Li'l Jay, maintaining his cool, nodded and gave a half-hearted smile.

            "You," the other one said pointing to Spider "must be the little brother."

            "Of who?" Spider questioned, obviously enjoying the anticipation of the fight that was sure to follow. He loved playing these games with people right before he fought someone. It was like foreplay to him.

            "Of the..." Johnny's brother went on to curse Ace in as many ways as he knew how, and then made some names up, "...that was trying to fight my brother the other night."    

            Spider tapped his chin thoughtfully. "That's funny. I thought you were an only child." Then his smile faded away.

We all turned to look at Spider. Even Ace looked surprised at the harsh words that had just spewed from his little brother's mouth. Spider just wasn't that dude, and we all knew it.

            A pained look crossed Johnny's brother's face. In that moment, he looked so young, so vulnerable. I knew that he couldn't have been any older than we were, and had just lost his only brother in the world. As soon as the pain left his face, though, it was replaced by a blind fury.

He lunged at Spider, knife in hand. Spider quickly jumped out of the way and the boy suddenly found himself face to face with a grinning Ace. He had had his brother's back the whole time. The boy, who momentarily forgot that he was the one holding what looked like a switchblade, lost his concentration long enough for Ace to effortlessly take it away.

            "Don't you know these things can be dangerous?" Ace asked, twirling the knife around like it was a toy.

            The boy looked at him and blinked in surprise. Spider laughed, impressed. I don't think that even he could have done that. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Faith sink to the ground. Blaze saw it too, but didn't move. Li'l Jay, for some reason, had been watching Tommy the whole time. Now Spider also looked over at Tommy. Briefly, I wondered why, but didn't have time to think about it.