Searching For A Home

Chapter 3

Diego woke up suddenly when he heard something. He looked around and couldn't find Ray anywhere. He snuck to the edge of the roof and found the marauders walking around below. The marauders were kicking around the sticks he used to make the fire. He realized they must have seen the smoke when he cooked the fish. He watched them carefully and noted one of them entered his building.

Diego gathered his stuff and quickly made his way inside the apartment. "Ray," he called out in a whisper. He stood in silence and waited to see if he could listen for Ray. When he didn't hear anything, he decided he had to move quickly and around the marauders.

Diego reached the staircase and waited to listen for the man who entered the building. When he didn't hear anything, Diego moved slowly down the stairs until he reached the second floor apartment. As soon as he reached the second floor, he heard movement from below. Diego was lucky to find the second floor apartment's door was open and snuck inside.

He snuck through a doorway and stopped at its corner. He felt the marauder come upstairs and stop outside of the apartment. He couldn't see the marauder but he knew the man must have been looking into the apartment, trying to decide if to enter or not. The marauder entered and Diego swiftly moved away.

Diego knew the structure of the apartment so he was able to keep a couple of steps away from the marauder. They both moved around the apartment, never bumping into each other until the marauder left and made his way upstairs.

Diego peeked out the window to see where the other marauders were located. He was only able to spot two of them standing between the buildings. He knew there must have been more but he couldn't see them from his location. He decided it was better if he stayed inside and waited for the marauders to move on. He stayed close to the entrance door so he would be able to listen for the marauders who entered the building.

Diego's mind went back to Ray. He had no idea where Ray could have gone. He hoped Ray was hiding somewhere and hadn't been caught by the marauders. Ray survived this long, he should be able to take care of himself.

Diego was still looking out the window when he noticed someone hiding at the end of the alleyway. It took him a second, but he recognized Ray. Diego decided he had to reach Ray before the marauders got to him.

Diego went to the staircase and could still hear the marauder upstairs, moving around. Diego snuck downstairs until he was at the door that led outside, and he could see the two marauders talking to each other from the crack of the door. He hid in the dark and watched them carefully.

"Yo," called out someone from above. "There was someone here," said the voice and the two marauders looked up.

Diego realized the person talking must have been the marauder from the roof and he found the fish bones.

"Alright," said one of the two marauders. "We'll gather the men and search the building."

Diego's heart skipped a beat. He had to move quickly or the marauders were going to find him. Lucky for him, instead of the two marauders going to the side door, they went out into the street.

Diego took the opportunity to run out of the building, even though he might still be spotted by the marauder from above. He ran between the two apartment buildings and to the backyard where Ray was hiding. Ray was surprised to see Diego.

Diego turned his head to look up at the roof. "Good, looks like I wasn't seen," he said as he turned his attention to Ray. "Where did you go?"

"I couldn't sleep, so I decided to fix this," said Ray as he pulled the rosary from his pocket. The cross was now attached to rosary beads.