The Red

Chapter 21

It's after dark. Shauna and Rob are asleep. Caylen and I snuck out.

"You're supposed to explain what we're doing now," I say as we walk down the street.

"Yeah," Caylen says. "So my friend, Danny, lives in a two story house on Main Street. Now's the time when all the late night shift people are busy getting home. We're gonna go on Danny's balcony, and drop water balloons on their windshields!"

"Caylen! That's evil! I'm excited!"

When we arrive on Main Street, there are cars driving down, and then stopping at the streetlight. Caylen knocks one of the house doors, and a scrawny boy with shaggy blond hair answers. He looks about Caylens age, but not nearly as attractive. Not to me, but to girls his age, probably.

Why are all of my friends attractive guys?

Do not fear, Natalie! There is always Robin!

Shut up, I tell my brain.

"Come in," the boy, who must be Danny, says.

Danny's house is dark, probably so we don't draw attention to ourselves. As he leads us up some carpeted stairs, I trip over some kind of object. Probably a shoe.

"Ow!"

The boys turn around and eyeball me, but I just stand up and say, "I'm okay."

We walk into a room that has a large window leading to a balcony. As Danny opens the window, I trip over another shoe. When the boys turn around to look at me this time, I say, "You really ought to get a shoe basket. You know, to put shoes in."

The balcony is made of stone, so we won't be totally exposed. There is a bucket filled with water balloons. Everything is lighted by the orange glow of headlights and streetlights.

"Natalie," Danny says slowly, as if I'm a child, "you're going to take a balloon, aim it at the big window, and drop it."

"Yeah, I got it."

"Sorry. I kinda assumed you were a little bit mental."

I have to refrain myself from insulting him to no end, counting to ten in my head. Dropping water balloons on cars with Caylen sounds super fun, but dropping water balloons on cars with Danny sounds downright rude.

"Who's going first?" I ask.

"You," Caylen says.

"Me?" I point at myself.

"Yep."

I approach the bucket and grab a water balloon. It feels cool in the palm of my hand. I look over at the cars stopped at the streetlights, and pick a dull pickup that looks like it could use a wash. I drop the balloon and it splashes as it hits the windshield. The boys and I duck.

"Well done!" Caylen says once we hear the cars start moving again. He stands and picks up a balloon for himself. "I'll get a moving target!"

I look at the sky. The stars are hard to see with the lighted street. I can see the neighbor's house from where I'm standing. All of the homes on this street have two stories. I look to the neighbors on the other side to confirm that thought. I see a man replacing shingles on the roof. Why in the world would he do it in the middle of the night?

Calyen drops his balloon and ducks. "Guys, that car was really shiny and expensive looking." He snickers.

Danny stands and selects his weapon, a red balloon, and bends over the balcony. "Guys! There's a woman down there! Should I get her?"

Caylen and I rush to the balcony to see the woman. She looks ominous, with large sunglasses and a trench coat, along with a big hat and some gloves. She stands outside her parked car, and she seems to be looking for something, or someone. She looks like one of those women from movies.

"Get her," Caylen and I say together.

Danny's fingers relax as he prepares to drop the water balloon.

He never does.

I feel something push my back, and I'm tumbling over the balcony toward the ground. I land on my ankle hard. I hear something land beside me, and the muffled sounds of a boy's screams.

"Caylen?!" I call desperately, looking around.

"Here!" replies the lump a few feet away.

"Oh, gosh! Are you okay?"

"Spic and span. You?" He sounds a little pained but now's not a good time to worry.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

The woman has jumped in her car and is speeding away.

"Natalie," Caylen says urgently, "that's the car I hit. That's the car."

I can still hear the screams - I must be Danny - coming from above. My heart is pounding out of my chest, and I am having a hard time hearing with the palpitation of blood pumping in my ears.

"What's going on with him?" I ask, very panicked.

"I don't know!" Caylen sounds just as panicked as me. He's running his hands through his hair, pacing back and forth. "Danny? Danny!"

I try to stand, but my ankle is killing me. Pain shoots up my leg. I don't think it's broken, but it must have come very close.

The screams stop abruptly. I look at Caylen, whose eyes are bugging out of his head, and imagine I look the same way.

We run into the house, up the stairs, and onto the balcony. I probably step on a million things as I run, and my ankle is throbbing with excruciating pain, but I don't care.

What I see on the balcony makes me scream until my throat hurts, but I don't stop.

It's Danny, lying in a pool of blood. There's a jagged wound in his chest, and the worst....

There's a sticker of The Red stuck to his forehead.