Hardships

Chapter One

A Night Out.

It was later than I usually like to leave during the night, walking alone with the light of the street lamps to guide me. I was happy I opted to wear jeans and a hoodie, the day had drastically cooled off and the brisk night air was setting in. Walking down the side streets of my neighbourhood, the time read one twenty-five. I put my headphones in and let myself fall into step with the beat, cars passed by back and forth, the walk blurred as I lost myself in the music. I strolled past lots of houses with a few nice cars, but I wasn't wowed by their sleek and expensive looks. I've seen them all before, although it has been a while since I walked the back way home from the bus station. I used to do it all the time, down McConnel street and right through the tunnel. At night the tunnel always trips me out, I walked nervously, aware someone could be hiding in wait. In the shadows, they could be waiting for someone like me to walk through, small, and vulnerable. But, like always, there was nobody hiding in the darkness that the blinking streetlamps couldn't touch. I still shone my flash around out of habit, checking.

I continued my walk down the alley that led you out of the tunnel, the fence was old but beautiful. Trees and vines had waved their way through the chain-link fence, when I emerged on the dark street and took my headphones out, the night was quiet. No families laughed in their living rooms, no lights lit up windows, and not a single car engine ran. It was lonely and peaceful to walk past the houses after the world had gone to sleep. I never bothered to learn the name of this street, I just saw it as part of a path to get where I'm going. Nobody from my neighbourhood used this street unless they needed to get to the tunnel anyways. I finally reached the break between the steady pattern of houses. This route was muscle memory, I bet I could walk it with my eyes closed.

I've always lived right next to my old elementary school, only a small roundabout separated my building from the school parking lot. The wide alley between the houses was stopped by an open fence gate, leading onto a concrete path. It was meant to allow easy access to the school for the people who lived on this side. I started to walk down the dead-end, but I stopped before I crossed the gate leading onto the dark field. Maybe it was the ominous feel of the night, or maybe it was the pretty look of the distant streetlights in the dark. Glowing yellow lights also hung off the school building, but those lights barely lit up the school's walls, much less deep into the field where I needed to walk. I could see my building to the right across the field, the path drew a line between the two fields. Running parallel to my building, the path led into the courtyard for the school. The grassy field to the left is for sports, it has a soccer field and two baseball diamonds. To the right the field was a lot smaller, still big, but not in comparison with the other one. It was split diagonally into two triangles, half was just normal trimmed grass, the other half was tall grass. But there were paths in the tall grass, ways to get in and around it. To get to the other gate and to the roundabout connecting to my building, I had to follow the tall grass border across the field, or I could walk the long way using the path.

I moved without thinking, taking my first step using the fast way across the field. I stopped mid-step when there was a tap on my shoulder. It was the type of tap someone gives you when they're demanding your attention. I stopped in my tracks with a startling feeling, my heart was racing so unreasonably fast I almost laughed at how silly I felt.

"Excuse me?" A voice called out, it was deep and unusually panicked but I turned to face it.

"Can I help you?" I asked confused, I turned to see a young man showing me his dead phone battery. Although the streetlamps were dim they offered some light, I could see half his clean-shaven face and his caramel skin. His eyes were curious, the one that bathed in light was a sky blue, but the other was darker, if not an entirely different colour. I stared at his face, studying his features, even in this lighting he looked familiar.