Middle School Miniature

Chapter 22, Leave Now

His hand closed around me. 

Tight and restricting but not crushing. It still felt weird to be on a human hand though, thanks for asking. The vertigo made me a bit dizzy as I was slid into a jacket pocket remaining on his hand. The hand and I swung around a bit from the big guy walking to open the door. However, I could tell he was trying to keep me stable with the hand as best he could. Suddenly, the loud knocking played again on the door.

A gruff man's voice shouted, "Open up!", paused, and added, "It's, um, Police."  Max froze and I froze along with him. "We know you're in there. If you would open the door, we would very much like to talk to you.. and your friend." My thoughts started to whirl around my head in a panic, questioning everything. Max slowly backed away and gained speed as he went to his back door. He peaked out the window checking both directions before opening the door. From the front room, we heard more banging and yelling.

"We are prepared to use force if you don't open this door right now!"

"Where are we going?!" I frantically ask Max. He probably doesn't hear my question and doesn't respond, instead, he shuts the door quietly and sneaks to the edge of the yard.

"Are you ok if I leave you in a pocket to jump the fence?" He asks bringing me back out for a moment to converse.

"Heck no!" I say, "I'm not getting squished in a pocket. Can't you just jump it with one hand?" He looks at me annoyed.

"Well sure, but it's just easier-" A loud crack cut Max off as the front door seemed to bust in. I felt the boy tense up in reaction to the sound and the flight instinct taking over, Max turned and ran at the fence, grabbed the top with his free hand, and pulled us over, falling to the other side. His grip had tightened around me to the point of slight pain, but from the bumpy ride and nauseating movements, I was going to take not being dropped as a win. He landed like a cat, which is to say, on his feet and looked back through the wooden lines of the fence that he just jumped over.

"Hey! Loosen up." I griped and pushed at the flesh that had tightened uncomfortably over my body. Max looked down with alarm and loosened his grip.

"I'm sorry." He whispered. "Again." 

I just nodded. It felt like this pain was never going to stop. I was just too fragile. Max was intently watching through the fence as a team of men searched his house and scoped his backyard. An important-looking man with a square-shaped face and meaty hands slammed the back door open as he walked out.

"Search the area," He barked at the men in the yard "They couldn't have gone far." They scurried to obey his orders. "I will not be on the chopping block for letting the rat get away!"

"This is insane. We have to run." Max looked down at me using his other hand to brush through his hair.

"Go to my house," I said, "It's far away and has a forest next to it if we have to hide or run."

"Won't they check your house?"

"I don't know, do you have any other ideas?"

"We can go to Jordan's. He's a good friend of mine and -"

"Fine, just get going," I said looking at the fence worriedly, "We just need to go. Now!"

Max got up carefully, his face scrunching up in concern and concentration as he started running. He went as quick and stealthy as one can with a tiny person in their hand. I held on to the hand I once loathed, as my brows creased and unease seeped into my bones.

~Ema