Romaaance Kurzgeschichten/Szenarios

1.1 Autumn Walk

I was going down the road where I once lived when I had been a child while listening to my autumn playlist. The leaves on the ground were already losing their bright orange and red tones and were slowly turning brown. Soon, even the last few leaves that had managed to stay on the trees until now would lose their fight against nature and begin to slowly float down.

My orange shoes matched the colours of the leaves until a few weeks ago but now they seemed too bright and out of place. And again, my red scarf was blown from my shoulder by the icy November wind because I refused to wrap it fully around my neck; it made me feel like choking. I needed that freedom right now. I wanted to clear my head.

When I came home from school today, I was endlessly exhausted and irritated so my mother suggested I take a walk. I was surprised by the good idea and quickly grabbed my coat but just before I could open the door and get out into the cool air, she said if I was going out anyway, I could get a few things from the supermarket on the way. What a lucky coincidence.

So now, with the shopping bag slipping from my shoulder every 30 seconds because it was yet to be filled, I shoved the leaves on the ground in front of me while dragging my feet. I hurried over the crosswalk where some construction work van was waiting impatiently. I started to get angry again but then I reminded myself that the guy was only doing his job so I walked faster and quickly reached the other side of the crosswalk. The ground was fully covered in leaves, so I kept dragging my feet, at least a small pleasure in these dark days–
I missed a rock and stumbled over it. Luckily, I didn't fall but my mood took a swing downwards.  Or should I say, further downwards. As if the day hadn't already been annoying enough, the way I had planned to go was blocked because of road work. Recently, there was construction work all over the area.
Now, I had to walk all around two blocks to get to the supermarket. Perfect. I decided to take a shortcut over a little fence which technically wasn't all that legal but today I didn't care. I walked down a narrow path and enjoyed the calmness that wrapped around me as I kept walking along the street, away from the buzzing centre and hopefully, from all the road work. Finally I could get a rest from all those people. I had been all over my head the whole day.

As I walked around the corner, the street had gotten even narrower, I reached a construction van blocking the street. So even here, there was road work. How I hated it.
Dorothy Street was so narrow that I couldn't get around the van, it could just as well have been in Italy, you know those cute little streets.
I looked for the construction worker (who could've used another parking lesson) but I couldn't see anyone so I assumed he was somewhere on the other side of the car. Or maybe he had stopped to use someone's bathroom? I surprised myself with how calm I stayed, the walk in peace seemed to have cleared most of the negative thoughts out of my head. So I waited, tapping my foot to the beat of The Coral's Dreaming of you. I had been listening to it on repeat for the last few days because somehow, it made me feel understood.

After two minutes (and twenty-six seconds, to be exact, I had kept a close watch on my watch) nothing had changed. I started wondering but the guy was probably still thanking the old woman who had let him use her toilet. Or man, obviously, or anyone, reall–
Suddenly, someone grabbed me from the back. I hadn't even heard them coming because I was too distracted by – what was his name again? Jacob Kelly? John? – well, his voice singing right into my ear.
A hand was pressed on my mouth before I could even think to scream for help and a strong arm wrapped itself around my waist, pressing my arms to my body. And before you think this is one of those Stockholm syndrome stories in which I get kidnapped by Harry Styles or God knows who and then we fall in love – I can tell you: It's not. But I'll tell you everything in chronological order. (Yes, I'm a very structured person and yes, I also want to leave some excitement for later.)