Chapter 2: A Sudden Scare
September 5th, 2010
It’s Sunday! Of course I forgot to set my alarm, so I wake up at 11am. Sleep is my best friend, I swear.
I have training at 2pm today, but as soon as school starts, in two days I might add, it stops!! Thank God, because my knee is killing me.
I slowly roll out of bed and stretch. I look around my room, and see that it’s a complete mess. Like I said, I’m not very good at cleaning. I sigh, get up and pull on a pair of cute white shorts, and a green tank top, then descend the stairs carefully, putting as little pressure I can on my knee.
I look outside, hoping to spot Gavin running but I didn’t see him. Huh, I wonder why I’m disappointed. I shake the thought out of my head, and go to the kitchen. I decide I’m going to make scrambled eggs for a change. I go to the fridge, and take out the eggs.
When the eggs are ready, after much difficulty fishing the shells out of them, I pour them into a hot pan. I leave them for a while and three minutes later I can smell something burning.
“Shit!” I yell as I run to the kitchen. I grab the pan and run it under cold water, eggs and all. After I shut off the tap I look at the mess I created.
“Great.”, I mumble as I look at the charred eggs swimming in their own little pool. I drain the water, and pick up a piece of the wet eggs, and put it in my mouth. “Gross!”, I say and spit them back out.
Defeated, I grab my handy dandy box of cheerios, and pour myself a bowl.
Just as I’m putting my dirty bowl in the sink, the phone rings. I walk over and see that it’s my mom.
“Hello?”, i say into the phone.
“Hi, Wren! Um, so I have bad news.”
Uh oh. What’s this about? Her new guy, maybe?
“Coach Doug cancelled on your 2pm session today, and he can’t make it up. Are you okay with that?”
That’s not too bad, because I’m not in the mood to do it anyway.
“Yea, mom, that’s fine. I’m really sore today anyway. Maybe I’ll go for a run later.”
She hesitates. “Okay, I’m glad you’re okay with it, but Wren?”, she asks.
“Yes?”
“Why don’t you go out tonight? With Becca, and some of your other friends? It may be good for you to go out a little more.” She says it strongly, like she really wants me to.
“Just a thought, Wren. I won’t be home till eight or so, so you can invite people over too.”, she says eagerly, but then she says seriously, “Not too many people though”.
I laugh and say, “Okay mom, I’ll think about it. Thanks.”
After that, we say goodbye and I hang up the phone. I look around the empty house. I go upstairs, grab my phone off my bed side table and text Becca. Hey, you wanna hang out later?
As I wait for her response, I go back downstairs, and watch t.v. Ten minutes later I get a text from her saying: Can’t, I have bball, srry.
I sigh and wonder what I’m going to do. I could text Lindsay, but she’s probably at her weekly soccer tournament.
I grab my book, and open to my bookmarked page. Before long I stop reading and check the clock. It’s about four o’clock.
I decide to go for a walk. I put my green running shoes on, my sunglasses, grab my wallet, and my ipod and head out the door.
I live in a subdivision so their are a lot of families out and about. I see a young couple with their newborn, and they both look exhausted. I feel bad for them. I put on my ipod and start jogging to Around The Bend by The Asteroids Galaxy Tour.
Again I feel the pain starting in my left knee. What the hell, why does it keep hurting? I push through it and keep running until half my playlist is done. I stop at a convenience store that’s about eight kilometers from my house. I buy a vitamin water, and a pack of mentos. I love mints. I sit on the curb outside of the store, and catch up on my breath. I’ve never been very good at running, but I do it because I know it’s good for me. I take another sip of my vitamin water, and stand up.
“Ow!”, I say to myself as my knee buckles under the pressure. My knee is really bugging me. I start to walk back the way I came. I try to start jogging again but my knee screams in protest; great. Now I have to walk home.
I start walking and I hear steps behind me. It’s starting to get dark, and I hate being alone at night, especially when all the families are packing in their houses for dinner. I check my ipod and it says that it’s seven twenty-four. When did it get this late? I hear my stomach gurgle, and I laugh. I pop another mento in my mouth, and hum to Son Of A Gun by Oh Land.
I feel as if someone is behind me, so i push pause on my ipod. Sure enough I hear someone walking behind be. Great. Not only do I have an imagination of a three year old, but I have the imagination of a three year old paranoid child that imagines serial killers watch her, and wait for the right moment to attack.
Since the sun has already set, the soft breeze gives m goosebumps, even though it’s early September. I shudder as another breeze hits me, cursing myself for not bringing a sweater.
Because I’m so paranoid I start walking faster. My knee hurts more, but I don’t care. I cut through a playground as a shortcut, but I trip, and land my face in mud. I look behind me to see who the culprit was, but it seems I tripped on a wooden stake sticking out of the ground. It also happen to be spray painted with neon orange, warning people of it’s existence. Congrats Wren, you just tripped on something even a child would see as a warning. I gave myself a mental pat on the back.
I was completely focused on how much of a loser I am when I realized the person that was walking behind me five minutes ago, was now only ten feet away, and fast approaching. The figure had the build of a guy, but I couldn’t see who it was because it was getting darker and darker, and he had a hoodie on, covering his head.
I quickly try to get up, but my stupid knee keeps buckling underneath me. All I could think as the guy got closer was: Am I going to be kidnapped? Mugged? I only had five dollars on me. Would he want more than that?
As the figure closed the distance between us, more thoughts of murder, and kidnapping went through my mind. The man grabbed my arm, pulled me up off the ground, and set me on my feet. The only thing that came out of me was a stifled, weak scream.
And then the man pulled off his hood.
