Capítulo 5: Thugs
The rain stopped as the puppy leaped down the long store lined street with Johan's glasses lolling in its mouth as Johan chased after it. Periodically, the puppy would stop giving Johan time to catch up, during these stops, it seemed to make mocking gestures as if to provoke Johan. Then the puppy would take off at a sprint, as Johan got close. This only served to infuriate Johan more. They had been running for several minutes when the puppy finally stopped running, with Johan's glasses in its mouth and calmly turned into an alleyway on the side of the street.
"Hey!" Johan yelled. "Stop or I'll eat you for supper!"
Turning into the alleyway behind the puppy, Johan looked up and saw three grown men surrounding a girl with curly wet black hair, he couldn't make out her face. One of them was holding her arm, while another man was groping her chest. The puppy wasn't anywhere to be seen. She stood backed up against the alley wall, struggling to break free of them.
All four faces turned to Johan.
[Something is wrong here, the girl is in trouble,] thought Johan.
Johan's inner sense of justice urged him to help. As Johan pondered what he would do, one of the men looked at him and snarled, "Take care of him Dave," as he tightened his hold on the girl.
Dave stepped forwards and drew a knife from his jacket pocket. The steel blade glinted dully in the alley light.
"Oh," Johan said as he backed away surprised. "Crap".
Dave lunged forward in an attempt to stab Johan, missing him by inches, as Johan stepped to the side. The two remaining thugs and the girl stood staring at Johan surprised.
Dave yelled out, "Geeze! I'm a clutz."
"The idiot missed!," said one of the men. "How'd he mess that up?"
The girl took the men's momentary distraction as an opportunity to knock the man's hands off of her and break free of the them quickly closing the distance between her and Johan. Johan spun, taking the girl's cue and began running away from the men. He was relieved to see that she was alright.
"Son of a –," said one of the men slapping his forehead.
"Grab her Dave!"
Johan looked over his shoulder and saw the girl push Dave to the floor.
The other two men snapped out of their stupor and quickly gave chase.
"HELP! THESE MEN ARE MOLESTING ME!," screamed the girl.
"Shut up!," growled one of the thugs. "No one is out this late at night! Because of you making a scene, we are going to be extra rough."
Johan saw out of the corner of his eye that the girl had caught up to him. Turning a corner, Johan continued to run and the girl turned the corner after him.
As they turned another corner Johan saw a large dumpster. He twisted and thrust himself into it, and the girl did the same thing landing behind him. He closed the lid quietly on top of them and being careful not to make a sound.
They waited quietly as they heard the splash of puddles grow louder towards them. The footsteps came to a stop near the bin. "Where the heck did those kids run off to?"
"I think they went right", said one voice.
"You guys go that way, I'll go the opposite way," gasped a voice. "Hurry! Don't let them get away."
"These kids are fast, what are they feeding them?," panted a voice.
The smell of garbage made Johan want to gag, but he kept quiet as he heard the patter of their feet running in opposite directions. Johan peeked out of the dumpster and saw the men running down the alley until they disappeared in the darkness.
Johan and the girl climbed out and then he whispered, "Let's double back and get away from this place."
"This is so gross," said Jade wiping a rotting fruit off her sleeve and letting out a gag.
They broke into a jog in order to quickly get as far away from the thugs as possible.
-- Ø --
"I think we lost them," gasped the girl.
The rain had slowed. Johan and the girl collapsed exhausted on the floor of the wet dank alleyway. Somehow they had escaped the thugs. They stared at each other for a moment and then began laughing loudly out of relief.
"thanks for helping—," said the girl. "We got really lucky."
"I didn't help," replied Johan. "It was a coincidence."
"Yeah, you did… my name is Jade"
He looked closely at the girl and realized he knew her. Her hair was a little different, and she didn't have a cold pad over her eye. But, this was the cute girl from the principle's office.
"We met in the office at school didn't we!?," said Johan. "You go to St Picu High School, right?"
"Oh Yeah! You are the boy from the principle's office. Mr tough guy! I almost didn't recognize you without your glasses. What's your name?"
"My name is Johan."
"You are now officially my hero. You really aren't all talk," laughed Jade. "What brought you down here at this time of night?"
"It's complicated. But, to make a long story short, a puppy ran off with my glasses," answered Johan frowning. "I got here chasing it."
"A puppy!? You are kidding right? I guess we both having a bad day."
"You have no idea," said Johan.
Jade laughed and said, "You're funny."
"What are you doing out so late anyways?" asked Johan.
"Working," said Jade. "I'd just finished my shift at the restaurant and the guys jumped me when I was going to the bus stop."
"I see," said Johan, "heck, I guess this is as wild a night as it gets."
"Yeah," said Jade. "we're filthy. Look at your shirt. Its totally stained."
Johan looked at his shirt and saw that it was stained with blood. His mother's blood.
"Why were those guys after you?" asked Johan changing the subject, feeling sick in his stomach. He wasn't ready to deal with his parents deaths.
"I guess girl's shouldn't be out alone in the city at night," Jade said. "Do you have a cell phone? I want to call the police. Report those creeps.."
"No," said Johan, "parents thought it was an unnecessary expense."
"I dropped mine when the guys were chasing us. I am going to go find a phone and call the police. Want to come?"
Johan said, "There is somewhere I have to be. I need time to clear my mind and I don't want to deal with the police right now."
"Alright," said Jade. "I guess this is where we split up.
"Just be careful," said Johan. "Kinda weird that we are so calm after such a crazy experience."
"Nerves of steel," said Jade as she got up and began to walk away. "We got the makings of heroes!"
"Heroes that need to invest in buying new cell phones," yelled Johan after her.
"I'll see you at school tomorrow," said Jade over her shoulder.
After Jade disappeared in the distance, Johan leaned against the wall and let out a depressed sigh. He'd been holding back feelings as he talked with Jade.
He felt bad.
Your parents being murdered tends to do that.
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