"Are we lost?" I asked, scanning the same gray walls we had walked through for the past five minutes.
"No," Aileen responded. "We just don't know where we are."
I frowned. "Isn't that lost?"
She didn't respond.
I sighed softly, humming to myself for entertainment.
Soon, however, the humming turned into scatting. "Ba doo dat shabam watta bang boom bop dee la shobop-"
"What on earth are you doing?" Aileen stooped to stare at me, mystified.
"Scatting," I told her. My teachers had always told me that my scatting was the most awful noise they had ever heard, and judging my the look on Aileen's face, they were right.
I sighed lightly, and decided to go back to humming.
"I can think of about ten thousand things I'd rather be doing right now," Aileen muttered under her breath, still scanning the alleyways for signs.
"What? You don't want to be here with me?" I teased, nudging her shoulder with mine.
She smiled, and continued walking, "I guess being here with you isn't so bad."
"It could be worse," I stated matter-of-factly. "At least there are no muggers."
"Are you sure about that?" A low voice said from behind us.
We stiffened. Crap.
I slowly turned around to see two tall men standing with their arms crossed.
Aileen cursed colorfully.
The guy in the front smiled menacingly, revealing two yellow teeth.
"What do you guys want?" Aileen asked, placing her hands on her hips.
What was she doing?! Never provoke the criminals!
"Oh, nothing," He smiled again, exposing his yellow teeth. "Just wondering why such pretty girls are in a place like this?"
Aileen looked him up and down, along with his friend, unimpressed. "Funny. I was about to ask you the same thing."
His face darkened significantly, and I wanted to tell Aileen not to anger him anymore, but she was already going.
"You guys look lost," She said. "I think the DayCare center is over there. And lucky for you, a HairDresser is right next to it."
They growled lowly, making me want to back up a few steps.
"You really shouldn't have said that," He spoke in a cold voice, sending chills down my spine.
I acted completely on impulse, picking up a stray brick on the ground that must have fallen off the wall. Then my arm quickly propelled it at them, and I yelled, "RUN!"
In the blink of an eye, Aileen darted back the way we came. While they were distracted, I took off after her, speeding down the path and panting heavily already.
Aileen seemed realized that the safest thing might be to run back to the Kidnappers.
She switched her destination, and began running back the way we came, the thugs on our heels.
I noticed where we were heading, but didn't protest.
We ran back with all our might, but I got tired and needed a break.
"Too-fast-" I panted. "Need-break-now!"
Aileen turned to me with a confused expression. "We've only been running for eleven seconds."
"Can-only-run-five!" I wheezed.
She rolled her eyes and told me to get a grip.
We continued running a little longer, and just when I was positive my lungs were about to collapse, I began to recognize the neighborhood.
"Get back here!" One of the guys yelled at us.
"No!" I shouted back. Gottem!
Soon, the house was in sight.
Suddenly, the guys stopped pursuing us.
For a second I almost stopped on surprise, but I quickly caught myself, and kept running.
What made them stop?
Finally, we raced back on the front steps, and I was panting hard.
"That was-" I wheezed. "-a workout."
Aileen caught her breath slowly, and straightened back up.
Then, with a reluctant hand, she rang the doorbell.