The Metal Blade

Excerpt from the book: "The sidewalk was cracked and stained where I walked, heading away from the rundown prison my parents called a "school." As I walked, the air started to smell like rain and it began to darken even though it was still early afternoon. I listened as my headphones blasted my favorite song. When I looked around, I saw the same path that I had walked all these years. The same gray and white houses, the same bored expressions on people's faces who longed for a change in their monotonous lives. When I went to brush my hair out of my face, I noticed that the wind was blowing harder than usual, which made me shiver. I turned the corner that marked the halfway point from school to my house and as I waited at the crosswalk, I saw an unfamiliar shadow to my right. I turned around and to my surprise there was a lanky, pale man with a long black coat and a faint smile on his face, standing close behind me. Suddenly I remembered that I had spotted him at the last crosswalk. He'd been intensely staring at me, which made me a little nervous and the hair on my neck stood on end."