SELCOUTH

Chapter 1

2001

A slight drizzle bit at my skin as I walked. It was the first day of September that the weather had been in the 60s. I breathed in the cool air and savored the smell of wet grass. I knew this path well. It was my second year of walking it every morning. I knew the woman who lived in the house with the blue columns and I always returned the smiles of the man in house 300. I turned the corner and was in the last stretch of road before I reached Roosevelt Middle School. I didn't notice my untied shoelace and stumbled at my next step. I sighed and bent down to fix it. I was unraveling the bow on my feet when I heard a muffled shriek and a trashcan fall over. My head whipped up. A girl, maybe 5 houses in front of me, was being tackled to the ground by a man in a dark mask. My breath quickened and I started to sweat in the cold wind. Instinctively, I ran to the house closest to me and hid behind the car there. I had the urge to run to help the fellow student, but a stronger urge to stay as still as possible. My chest felt as thin as paper and shook rapidly with the wind. Did I dare to look? Did I dare move? I heard the trashcan again and shivers crept up my neck, behind my ear, to the hair on my face. My eyes flew back and forth in their sockets, straining for an action to take. With a surge of bravery, I pivoted around and stared through the car's windows to the trashcan. I couldn't make out details and the fallen trashcan was covering most of the man's body, but it looked like he was laying on the girl and I no longer heard the girl's muffled screams. He was moving strangely over her. I couldn't figure out what was happening. I heard tiny sirens moving towards me. I jerked my head at the sound. When I moved my head, I saw the woman whose car I was hiding behind standing behind her screen door motioning for me to come to her. I glanced at the man, who seemed preoccupied, and made a break for it. As long as I was quiet, I didn't think he would notice me. I ran to the screen door and the woman let me in silently. I let a tiny breath out. She rubbed my shoulders. 

"Are you okay?" She asked with big worried eyes.

I nodded yes. 

"I called the police. Did you get a good look at him?!" She asked me.

I shook my head no. For some reason, it was like my tongue wouldn't work. 

A police car sped down the road in front of us and we pressed our faces against the glass to watch. Two more cars followed and raced down the street and around the corner. The man must have decided to run. 

The woman shook her head and grunted in disappointment. She went to close the door and I stepped back.

My eyes kept blinking but I couldn't really see anything. 

"Come, sit." The woman said and moved me towards her couch.

I obeyed without thinking.

"Want some tea or something?" she asked politely.

I was silent a moment, still trying to process. "What?"

She just smiled and went into the kitchen. 

I sat, eyes fixed on the cheap reproduction of The Kiss by Gustav Klimt above the television.

The woman came back minutes, maybe hours, later with a cup of steaming hot tea. All I could think was, 'I forgot my Social Studies review at home. I forgot my Social Studies review at home.'

"Did you hear me?" The woman asked.

"What?!" I replied, shocked I missed her question.

"My name is Dorothy. What is your name?"

"Sorry. My name is, uh..." I had to collect myself. "I'm Allison Leaper." I remembered.

The woman took my hand and pulled a blanket from behind me and laid it on me. "Stay here, sweetheart." She whispered.

I nodded silently. Some time passed before I realized what was going on around me. Two police officers were talking to Dorothy and she was sitting beside me. I blinked a few times. I looked around.

One of the men raised an eyebrow at me and smiled. 

I smiled back the best I could. 

"What's your name, sweetie?" he asked me.

I stared at him a moment. "Allison Leaper." I whispered.

He smiled and nodded. "Okay. Did you hear or see anything you think could help us catch the man that killed your classmate, Allison?" he asked.

My chest was hit with a ton of rocks. "She's...she's dead?" I stuttered. My eyebrows shifted together. 

His face went blank and didn't say anything else.

I stood up, the blanket fell off of me, the men yelled at me to stop but I kept walking. Dorothy yelled as well. I just opened the front door and continued. The man that asked me the questions followed me and when I saw him coming for me, I started to run. My heart didn't seem to even be beating. I saw medics and people in CSI jackets clustered around the trashcan and house I had walked by a million times. My brain was reeling like a broken record player. I tried to push through the cluster of adults, but a man with heavy eyebrows stopped me.

"You can't be here, you need to go back home." He commanded. His mouth turned down at the ends. 

I shook my head. "No! No, is she okay?"

He tilted his head. "Sweetheart, you need to get out of here."

"I was-" my throat became dry. "I saw him attack her; is she okay?"

He stared at me. He looked at the two medics behind him. The medics began to assemble a gurney. 

I heard the zip of the body bag from behind the man with thick eyebrows. My eyes widened and I looked up at the man. He tucked his lips in his mouth and I felt my breakfast rise up in my throat. I doubled over and threw up. And threw up. And threw up until the only thing that came out was water. My forehead was sweaty and my hands were numb.

Suddenly, I heard my mom's voice towering above the din. 

"Alli! Alli!" She called for me. 

I looked in the direction of her voice to see her practically falling overself to get to where I was standing. Her arms were out wide in front of her and I couldn't help but collapse in her arms when she reached me.