A Chance Meeting

The Unlikely Meeting

This is the worst day of my year, thought the little eleven-year-old as she was going through her mother's book collection trying to find something that she hasn't already read.

I must have gone through these things a hundred times already, she thought.

I'm supposed to be in school right now. I would be there if it wasn't for this stupid sickness.

This was the first time she had missed school in the entire year. Most kids would be happy to miss a day of school and just play around the house, but she was not like most kids. She loved her school, loved the classes and her biggest worry was that she would miss out on something very important if she was not present at the class.

Why couldn't her mother just give her some medicine and she would be right as rain. She was a doctor after all. But no, her mother had told her in no uncertain terms that she was supposed to rest for the day. And even worse was the fact that she was all alone in the house now.

Still, it was nice for her to know that her parents trusted her enough to have the house on her own. No babysitters or annoying neighbors needed here.

It was already past noon and she had her lunch already. Her mother had prepared everything in order for her just before she left. Even if her mother hadn't done that, she was no slouch in the kitchen. She could have cooked up something for herself. That wasn't her problem right now. The problem was the insane boredom she was feeling. It was one of the many times she had wished for a sibling. She just hoped that her parents would be home early.

Eventually, she picked up a book on Micro Biology from her mother's shelf. It was pretty advanced stuff for an eleven-year-old, but she wasn't a normal eleven years old. She was sure she could pick it up in time. With that thought in mind, she picked up the book and began combing through it.

It was an interesting read all right. Nothing too complex in the initial pages, but it would get only better from here. But just as she was about to turn to the tenth page she was interrupted by a very loud noise coming from inside the house.

She was startled and very frightened now. There was no one else in the house, she was sure of it. Unless it was, of course, one of her family playing a prank on her. Still, she got up from her chair and went to look around the house. It had sounded like something had crashed inside the house.

Maybe it is a cat, she tried to reassure herself. Maybe it was trying to sneak in through the basement and knocked everything down on the way. So that's where she decided to check first. She had nothing against cats truly. But it's just that they were just so unruly.

But when she reached the basement all her thoughts came to an abrupt halt. It was not a cat at all. It was a man, a very young man with his clothes all tattered and singed at some points. He looked liked he hadn't even taken a proper shower in days. But the most important thing was that he was on the ground, probably unconscious.

The windows of the basement were shattered and there were little pieces of glass littered on the floor. Maybe that was the loud noise she had heard.

He was trying to break into the house, she thought. She didn't waste any time after that, quickly running upstairs and dialing 112 to report a breaking and entering. She just hoped that the police would get there in time before the man woke up. Still, it wouldn't hurt for her to be prepared to defend herself if he did wake up. With that thought in mind, she went in search for something to arm herself when she remembered, her dad's shovel was right there in the backyard.

She sprinted out of the house and just as she thought, the big shovel was lying there innocently on the grass. A rather unkempt way to keep it, but she would deal with that later. Right now she had bigger problems. She tried to take the shovel with her right hand and that's when she truly felt the weight of it. She could barely lift it. So she used both her hands and started to drag it back to the house.

But she stopped herself before going back inside the house.

Why in the world am I going back inside? That guy is just lying there inside the basement, if he hadn't already got up started plundering the house. Maybe I should just go to the neighbors until the police arrive.

But that's all she had time to think before the front door opened, and there stood the man in his ragged clothes looking directly at her. She felt a shiver run cold over her spine. There was no way she could get away from this man. She could run, but there was a very good chance that he would catch up with her.

Why couldn't she just run out of the house after calling the police? Stupid, stupid, stupid, she thought to herself. Standing out here in the open with a shovel in her hand that she could barely raise above her waist.

"Is this your house kid?" the man asked her in a kind voice that seemed out of place in the situation.

"What if it is?"

She was tempted to just drop the shovel and run, but she knew that she wouldn't get very far.

"What's the big idea with that thing on your hands?" the man asked her, a chuckle escaping from him.

She had no reply for him; she was just scared out of her mind.

The guy took this as a cue to approach her. She slowly started to back away from him, but it was not fast enough.

He knelt down in front of her and then asked, "So, are you like the guardian of the place or something?"

"To tell you the truth, this was not what I had imagined," the man said pointing to the house.

She was so petrified in fear that she couldn't muster enough energy to even speak. The man was so close to her that he could have strangled her without breaking a sweat.

Where are the bloody police when you need them? She was swearing in her mind, something she would not have done out loud.

That's when the man started speaking again, "Still, it's a better sight than some of the other places I have seen." He turned around to get a better look at the house and seemed to be immersed in his own monologue.

This is my chance, she thought as she lifted the shovel as high as she could. Before the kneeling man could turn around to face her again, she thwacked the shovel hard on the back of his head. That seemed to have done the trick as the man dropped to the ground like a puppet cut from its strings.

She was shocked for a moment before relief spread through her body. That was good timing on her part.

And speaking of timing she could hear loud sirens coming from down the road. Finally, the cavalry had arrived after all the action was done.

The policemen quickly spotted her, standing over the unconscious man with a shovel in her hand. One of them approached her and asked her if she was all right.

"I'm alright" she replied.

"That's good," the policeman said in a kind tone.

That's when one of the others asked, "You said that there was a man knocked out in your basement. Is he still there?"

"What?" she exclaimed to the policeman that asked the question. "This is that man," she said pointing to the unconscious guy next to her.

The policeman looked around in confusion and asked her, "What are you pointing at child?"

She was really confused now. Could they not see the man lying on the grass? He was a small man, but not that small that he could not be spotted by a person standing right on top of him.

"I'm pointing to the guy that broke into my house," she said with a hint of apprehension. "He is lying just at your feet after all" she continued.

The policeman turned to his colleagues who all had a look of confusion on their faces.

"Right you are," he said before pointing to two of his men.

"Collins and Bradley, you two stay with the kid and we will comb the house for the intruder. Call her parents too" he said pointing to her.

She was totally confused now. Why were they ignoring the intruder who was lying right in front of them and then go searching for the same guy up and down the house?

That's when she got the shock of her life. One of the policemen just stepped on the fallen man and his legs just went through the man's body as if there was nothing there.

What the hell.