Ally's Revenge (Part 1 complete, Part 2 in progress)

Chapter 10

"Did you know this river is one of few in whole world that flows north? Is too bad is so polluted, looks like chocolate river to me," he says with a chuckle.

"The city has put quite a few plans into action to clean the river up but I don't think they will ever be able to get it back to like it used to be. My dad said he used to swim in here, well not right here exactly, a few miles that way," I say as I point away from downtown and back towards my house.

"Yes, lot of work to be done, lot of work."

I normally do not mind mindless chitchat with strangers, but after the attack yesterday and the break-in last night, I am getting the overwhelming urge to get away from this guy. "Excuse me sir, I'm meeting a friend. Have a nice day," I say as I pick up my bag and get up from the bench. As soon as I turn around, I see Damien, standing maybe 15 feet away, watching me. I smile and wave, thankful for his timing.

"Hey you! Have you been here long," I ask as I walk up and give him a friendly and surprisingly not awkward hug. He hugs me back but does not take his eyes off the man on the bench. I can see a vein throbbing in his forehead and I think Is he jealous?

"No, just walked up. So...What do you want to do today?" He finally looks at me and smiles but it does not reflect in his eyes. Thankfully, I think I misunderstood his hesitance. It is not jealously, its anger.

We walk away from the riverwalk and towards the vendors, most of which have set up by now. We take our time strolling through the tents and talking about nothing important, looking at paintings, smelling soaps and candles. I stop to look at an artist tent and see Damien is staring off again. I turn around and find the man from the bench is at the tent next to us and Damien is watching him like a hawk.

He sees me looking at him and asks, "Do you know that man?"

He did not need to specify whom he was speaking about, I knew. "No, I was sitting at the bench and he walked up and sat down."

"I was watching him watch you for a few minutes before he sat down. I was about to come sit down beside you until I saw him watching you."

"He's probably harmless. Maybe he thought he could pick me up?" I give his rock hard stomach a friendly little nudge with my elbow and smile since this gets a little laugh out of him.

He smiles back but I can see he is on alert. "Are you getting hungry yet? You pick, I pay."

"No, lunch is on me since I owe you from dinner last night." We continue this back and forth discussion as we walk through the parking lot. I was looking for the white sedan he drove last night and was surprised when the huge, black Chevy 4X4 truck in front of us starts up from the remote in his hand.

"I thought you looked more like a truck man."

This time his smile was genuine. "The car is for work, the truck is for play."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

We decided on Lolita's Burrito Joint, an amazing Mexican restaurant a mile or so from RAM. Damien had never been since he had recently moved back to Jacksonville and this place was somewhat new. As soon as you walk in the door, you will either love or hate the place. There is Day of the Dead related décor throughout; lots of painted sugar skull masks, marigolds, and the centerpiece being an altar for Lolita (a mannequin), who is on a motorcycle, dressed up from head to toe like she just stepped off a parade float. I fell absolutely in love with the place the moment I walked in.

"Wow, this sure is unique," Damien says as he is looking around. The hostess sits us at a booth by the window where we can watch the foot traffic on the street while enjoying the view of the beautiful church on the corner across the street.

"Yeah, I love it. The Street Corn is amazing; the burritos are huge and packed full of fresh veggies and tender meat..."

"You sound like you're reading from a restaurant review article," he says with that sly grin.

Our server takes the order and shortly afterward brings what looks like a feast for an army. Damien ordered one of the massive burritos that had crab, rice, beans, and veggies, all covered in the special cheese sauce. I got us an order of the street corn to share, and then ordered off the single taco menu that offers a variety of their special tacos. I ended up with one pork, one beef, and one lamb. We stuffed our faces and were both surprised to realize that almost two hours had passed. We talked as if we have known each other for years. He told me about his military career and his three tours in Afghanistan, explaining that because of his time overseas he never married and therefore had no children. I told him about my extremely boring college years at University of Florida and talked a little bit about my job and the joys of looking at blood, urine, and semen all day.

I noticed he seemed to leave out about a three-year time span between his last mission overseas and when he moved back to Jacksonville. He has been back for about six months but before enlisting with the Marines, he was born and raised right here in Riverside, about a half mile away from where we sit now, and about three miles away from where I was raised. We would have gone to the same schools except I went to private school. Another crazy coincidence is we both have the same birthday, Halloween, but while I was born in 1981, he was born in 1979. We were even born at the same hospital, which happens to be the same hospital I went to last night after that psycho tried to strangle me in broad daylight.

"Hard to believe we've been right here in the same neighborhood all this time. We probably even had a lot of the same friends," he says. Suddenly I see his eyes following someone walking to the door. It was not so much the fact that he was staring at someone; it was the look in his eyes.

"Damien, what is it?"

"I think we have a tag along or maybe he just had the same urge for a burrito that we had," he says.

"What?" I turn around to see the man from RAM that had sat next to me was now walking out the front door and headed across the street. He walks up to a green Jeep SUV where two other men were sitting. He says something to the driver and points at Damien's truck, which is parked about five spaces to the left.

Damien looks at me and says, "Wait right here. No matter what happens or what you see, do not leave this booth. Please?"

"What are you going to do? Do you really think he followed me?"

"I don't know," was his reply. I am not sure if he was answering my first or second question and he did not stick around long enough for me to clarify.

Damien is out the restaurant and across the street before the men in the Jeep ever saw him. His back was facing me but I can see he walked right up to the man from the market, who was still talking to the driver of the Jeep, and said something to him. The conversation quickly escalated into a one sided, intense argument. I cannot tell what the man in the passenger seat is doing, but the driver and the man from the market are both yelling at Damien.

A woman, who was enjoying her lunch on the patio, opens the restaurant door and I can hear a portion of the conversation. To my surprise, what I heard was not English. Damien talked to the men for a few minutes, well he talked and they yelled, but he suddenly turns around and comes back across the street. The men watch him for a moment before they simply drive off...

(Like what you read? Please hit the star to vote! It lets me know people are reading and enjoying my work! Thank you for your time!)