The Alpha Female

FOUR: TRAPPED

CHAPTER FOUR: TRAPPED

            Swish-click, swish-click, swish-click.  The methodic sound of a can of spray paint being shaken was the only noise in the alley just off of Oriole Street.  A lone figure stood in a faded red hoodie, both sleeves rolled up and showing two very different pictures.  His right arm was pallid, his wrist adorned with several different colored bracelets.  His left arm was a completely different matter.  It was a used canvas, covered in ink and images that had been tattooed on his skin.  Images such as crosses, old school superhero symbols, and a wolf adorned his arm.  On the inside of his wrist were two goldfish viewed from the top that swam around each other in a never ending circle, one nearly double of the size of the other.  It was this image that he was painting on the brick wall alone in the alley just before a rain.

            The sky was dark from both clouds and time, and with the storm came a stiff blowing wind.  The cold air stole away the painter’s breath as he arced with his painting, his arm moving in perfect circles and beautiful swirls as he adorned the wall with a blue landscape that was to be his goldfish’s ocean.

            A rough outline of clear brick rested in the middle of the painting, forming the shape of two blurred fish. 

            The boy’s breath licked up from his parted lips.  His tongue fished out of his mouth in concentration as he accented the water he was painting with lines of light.  He didn’t even hear the man creeping up behind him.  Didn’t even feel the man’s smile playing on his lips as his hands balled into fists out of sheer anticipation of what was to occur.  The boy was too locked into the magic of art, his focus only for the once bare wall that backed an old apartment building.

            A can of paint clanked over onto its side and the boy froze.  His tongue returned to his mouth as his eyebrow rose.  The steady hiss of the pain stopped as his arm dropped.  He began to turn in a slow circle before the man grasped him by the hood.

            “Gotcha’ you lil’ punk.” The man reeking heavily of cigarettes blurted as he pulled back on the boy’s hood.  “Thought you’d get away with it, huh?  But I got eyes, I see what you doin’ here.  And now I gotcha’.  Wouldn’ your daddy love to hear ‘bout this?” Thing was, this boy wasn’t one who enjoyed getting caught, nor would the feat be accomplished by any lone man.

            The boy’s foot slammed back, catching the man on the toes.  He retrieved his arm to hug his foot, howling in pain.  The boy took off running as the clouds boomed overhead.

            “Hey!  You, get back here boy!” The man hollered after him, now gaining his bearing and hobbling off at a shuffle jog with the false hopes of catching the spindly legged teenager.  He would have made it away too.

            The boy glanced back over his shoulder, seeing that the man was quickly falling behind in the distance as a light rain started, dampening his sweatshirt and soaking through his canvas sneakers.

            A door opened as Curly, a neighborhood figure, decided at that exact moment to bring out the garbage.  The unsuspecting boy ran right into it.

            He stumbled back from the impact, landing on his back on the concrete, skinning his hands and his hood falling free.  Curly turned, a look of pure surprise cloaking his features.

            “Mason!” He exclaimed, reaching down to give the boy a hand and helping him to his feet.  “What on earth are you doing out at this hour?”

            “Thanks sir,” the man who had been chasing Mason came to a sloshing halt besides Curly .  “I’ve been chasing this kid for the last few blocks now, eh.  Just give ‘em over to me, yah.”  The man gestured to Mason and then to himself, a crooked and yellowed smile splitting his face.  “Been vandalizin’ my buildin’ for a few months now.  Wouldn’ do that if his dad were ‘ere now.” The man reached out for Mason’s wrist, which he hastily snatched away, baring his teeth.  “Come on son, nice and easy.”