by Rua Hasan
“Oh, right. I guess staying in the dark for days has given me amnesia,” I muttered to myself.
“You’ve only been here for exactly sixty two minutes!” Matt groaned.
“An extra two minutes have passed already?” I asked.
I grabbed the chalk from the ground and marked another two lines.
“Time is passing by too fast and soon I’ll be growing white hair,” I said.
“Oh gosh! What am I supposed to do with you?!” he said, as he ran his hands over his face.
I knew Matt was annoyed because our day hasn’t been going the way we’ve planned, but he couldn’t possibly blame me! It was that crazy old lady’s fault! I had no idea who I was dealing with! I swear! Who knew an old lady like her had something like that in the back of her sleeve. It was totally unexpected! She’s crazy I tell you! That woman needs to be sent into a mental hospital!
A couple of hours earlier
“Okay. Listen carefully, Crystal. We aren’t going to stoop to her level. All we’re going to do is walk up to her and ask for your wallet. If she denies it, then we’ll call the cops, okay?” Matt said.
He tried to calm me down but I wasn’t paying any of my attention to him. My mind was somewhere else. My eyes were following that old hag as she wandered off from booth to booth. I clenched my fist to my side as I tried to remind myself I was dealing with an elderly.
Well, a crazy one that’s for sure. Didn’t she have anything else better to do other than steal people’s money? I know there wasn’t that much proof she took it, but it was obvious. Who else got close to me, enough to actually take it from between my own hands? Looks might be deceiving, but I wasn’t going to stand aside and let that old thief walk away with my own stuff.
“Fine, fine. I’ll try not to tackle her to the floor just because I respect the elderly, but don’t blame me if I end up in jail,” I said.
If only I knew . . .
“Promise?” Matt asked.
“I promise.” I huffed under my breath. Tyler then placed his hand gently on my back and started to lead me to where the old hag was standing. It didn’t take us long before we found her and the relief that washed over me was overwhelming. Tyler and Matt didn’t want me to go by myself and confront her. They said it would be better if they went alone so that maybe I wouldn’t, and I quoted, ‘blow up’. Rolling my eyes at them, it took a lot of convincing to drop the protective act and let me face the one person who had the nerves to steal my wallet. I quickened my pace once I noticed everyone walking right besides me.
“Thank goodness, the pictures were in the bag.”
I heard Tyler muttered from behind me, and I turned around to glare at him.
“My wallet is gone, you idiot, and that’s all you’re worried about?” I asked.
He scratched the back of his head as he sent me a cheeky smile.
“What? I can’t help it. They’re pretty nice pictures.”
I sent him a look causing him to let out a sigh.
“Okay, fine sorry,” he muttered. Just when I was about to say something, I felt my heartbeat quicken when I noticed the old lady, not too far away, turn around and walk away quickly after she noticed us walking toward her. I started to speed walk as I left the others behind, struggling to catch up, but the lady started to run!
Oh, how dare she!
“Wait!” I yelled, as I ran through the crowd of people. I heard footsteps running from behind me, assuming they belonged to my friends and Tyler’s.
“Stop!” I heard Tyler yell from behind me, but she glanced at us and ran faster. Damn! Who knew she could run like that? She’s even faster than me! I was about to rip my hair out of my skull when I saw her disappear. I ran to the same place where I last saw her but couldn’t find her anyone. I then felt someone take my hand and saw it was Tyler. He yanked me to his side and I gave him a questioning look. I got my answer when I spotted that sneaky fox run away but this time, she was wearing a hat and a jacket to hide from us.
God, the hatred I felt right now was unbelievable.
Tyler started to run toward the woman as he kept my hand in a firm grip. I looked behind me to see Matt and the others, not too far away. The woman then slowed down her pace, probably thinking she lost us. It wasn’t a moment later before she figured out she was wrong because her eyes widened, as her mouth fell open. It looked like she was about to make a run for it, but we were able to reach her before she could slip away.
“Stop, you dirty old hag!” I shouted, which earned me a glare from Matt and a couple of confused looks from the strangers around us. I shrugged my shoulder helplessly at Matt and walked up to the lady as I breathed my heart out. I rested my hands on my knees for a second then looked up at her.
“Give me my wallet,” I said simply, as I reached my hand out to her.
“What?” she asked.
“You heard me loud and clear, woman! I want my wallet back,” I said, while my friends surrounded her.
“Oh dear, I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else. I don’t know what you’re taking about,” she lied.
“Cut the crap. We all know you stole it,” Tyler said.
“Oh, but do you have proof?” she asked, as a smirk grew on her ‘oh so wrinkly’ face.
It’s okay, Crystal! Just count one to ten and breathe slowly. Don’t let people like her get to you.
I was trying so hard to give myself a little relaxing pep talk, but the way she was looking at me like she accomplished something big, made me want to slap her face.
“Can I check your bag?” I asked, as I crossed my arms under my chest.
“No,” she said firmly, as she glared at each and everyone of us.
“Why not?” Troy asked.
“Yeah! If you don’t have anything to hide then show us what’s inside your bag,” Eva said.
“I don’t have to,” she said, as she shrugged her shoulders. She was starting to hit my nerves so I took a step forward, ready to tackle her to the ground but Tyler wrapped his arms around my waist, and pulled me toward him with my back gently hitting his chest.
He then leaned over to whisper in my ear, told me to relax and I felt my body loosing its strength under his touch. I awkwardly moved away from him and was about to say something when I saw security guards heading our way. I smirked to myself and was about to call them but I was interrupted by a loud scream coming from the lady who stole my wallet.
What the hell?
Her scream caught the guards’ attention and ran toward our direction. I turned around with wide eyes and saw the old lady touching her chest as she fall to the ground.
What on earth was she trying to do?
“Somebody, help me!” she yelled.
Oh, no! Please don’t tell me she’s doing what I think she is.
“What’s going on here?” one of the guards asked.
“She attacked me!” the lady said, pointing at me pretending to cry. I felt my face heat up in anger as I clenched my hands into a fist. How dare she accuse me of something I didn’t do?
“What?! No I didn’t!” I shouted back.
“She’s lying,” Matt said, as he pointed at her while Tyler and the others agreed.
“Why would I lie about something like this? You kids are the ones lying. I was minding my own business when she ordered her friends to harass me!” she said, making our jaws dropped in shock.
“Why would you do that to an elderly?” the guard asked.
Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me
“That’s a lie! She stole my wallet,” I said.
“Why would I want to steal her wallet when I have my own?” she asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. I was hoping to ask you that,” I said.
“Then show us some proof,” Sydney said, causing everyone to nod their heads
“Yeah, do you have any proof?” I asked, as I crossed my arms.
“Why, yes I do. See that bruise on my leg? It was caused by her,” she said, as she pointed to her leg.
“I just want to walk away like nothing happened, so please, just return the wallet you stole from me,” I said, purposely saying the word ‘stole’ out loud. This caused her to turn her head to look at the guards.
“You see what she’s doing officers?! She’s harassing and accusing me of stealing!” she said, as she wiped another fake tear she managed to make run down her cheek.
“Why, you! Let me talk to her,” I yelled, as I took a step forward but Tyler and Matt held me back.
The guards must have finally noticed the tension between us because they stood between us blocking my view of that dirty hag. I let myself curse in my head when I heard what the security guards said next.
“Take them both to the cell until we figure out who’s the one lying.”
And that pretty much sums up what happened. The lady thief and I were stuck in this cell until they figured out who was lying. I just hoped they would find my wallet. That would be enough proof because they were too stupid to realize that wrinkly monster was tricking them. She looked so innocent, but she knew how to get what she wanted. The only smart thing the security guards did was put us in separate rooms. I didn’t think I would be able to control myself around her any longer.
I’ve been waiting for Tyler and my other friends to get me out. I was thankful with Matt by my side but it did annoy me a bit. I mean, Matt was always trying to find the perfect moment to make fun of me and being behind bars was a perfect opportunity for him. He would act like he was annoyed at me but I knew he would never leave me alone in a time like this.
Well, except when he left me for half an hour so he could get himself a snack because . . . hey! The little boy was hungry, and I couldn’t get in the way of his stomach, could I? That would be just darn disrespectful. It was not like I needed him to distract me from the big spiderweb hanging in the corner of the room. No, I would never break our bro code.
Not like some people.
“Matt, listen. If I end up being taken to jail I want to tell you something really important. Something I should have told you a long time ago,” I said as I walked to the bars and held them in a tight grip. Matt then got off his seat and walked over to me as he bit his finger nail nervously.
“Is this the part where you confess your love for me?” he asked.
I stared at him for a minute without blinking but then listened to our laughter as it filled the small room. I then wiped the tear which was running down my cheek and tried to compose myself.
“Do you remember the time you tried to show me you were a better twerker than me?” I asked nervously. His smile immediately dropped.
“That was like in the seventh grade.” He pointed out as he looked at me suspiciously.
I nodded my head.
“Yeah, well . . . ”
He took a step forward as he crossed his arms under his chest.
“What did you do?” he asked as he narrowed his eyes at me.
I started to play with my fingers anxiously. I then took a step backwards away from the bars he couldn’t strangle me alive.
“I might have posted it on YouTube,” I said quickly.
“What?!” he asked in disbelief.
“I said, I might have p—”
“Oh, I heard what you said!”
“Crystal, how could you! Why would you do something like that to me?” he asked dramatically.
“And how come you never told me? Is that why everyone started to stare at my butt? And I thought it was because I was sexy!” he said the last part more to himself.
“I don’t know. It’s just I thought it was funny at the time,” I said.
“And it still is.” I pointed out which earned me a glare from Matt.
“Okay, okay. I’m sorry. I should have never done that,” I said as I rolled my eyes.
“And you decide to tell me now, why?”
I shrugged my shoulders.
“The guilt has been eating me up alive.”
“For five years?”
“No, for five minutes actually,” I said as I grinned to myself.
Matt opened his mouth to say something when the door suddenly opened. I felt myself become even more anxious. What if they never found my wallet? What if they charged me for murder? But wait, I didn’t even do that. But knowing that old hag could trick them into thinking that. That was it! I was done for it. I would rather live my whole life behind bars and never see my friends ever again. Even if I would get bailed out, I’d have to change my name to Jessie, grow a beard, get bad ass tattoos and move to London!
My life was over.
I was pulled out of my little dream world, or should I say panic attack when I saw Tyler walk into the room with the two security guards right behind him. Was this goodbye? I knew I’ve always hated him but knowing that this would be the last time I could ever see him felt odd. I wasn’t happy; not like how I thought I’d be. There was a little sadness in me.
Okay, something was definitely wrong with me.
I felt my mouth open when one of the guard took his keys out and opened the door. I stood glancing between Tyler and the guards. I then lifted my eyebrow at Tyler curiously, but him holding my wallet with a smirk plastered on his face gave me the answer I needed.
“They found the wallet in the woman’s bag with your ID in it,” he said as I walked out of the cell. I let a sigh of relief escape my lips as I took my wallet in my hand. I then opened it and looked through it to make sure I wasn’t missing something. Once I made sure I had everything, I looked up at Tyler with a grateful smile. He better appreciate it because it was not like I’d let that happen everyday.
“Thank you so much,” I said as I started to walk with him out of the door with Matt following right behind us.
“Hey, you aren’t going to thank me too?” he asked as he dropped his arm on my shoulder.
I huffed. “Thank you, Matt for leaving me all alone with an abandoned spiderweb. You are an amazing friend,” I said. Matt rolled his eyes but gave me a cheeky grin before ruffling my hair.
“I know, kiddo. I try my best,” he said.
We walked out of the security office and into the warm outside air. Troy, Jasmine, and the twins were waiting outside with worried faces but showed relief when they saw me holding my wallet. They gave me a group hug and I was left there standing as I looked at them in awe.
Yes, I know this wasn’t such a big deal as I made it sound to be but knowing they cared about me just got to me. I was even more surprised when they all let go, but Tyler still kept his arms around me, not knowing what to do. I didn’t want to move away because, and I hate to admit it, it felt good.
“What are they going to do with the thief?” Matt asked Tyler.
“They’re going to charge her with stealing, other than that I don’t really know,” Tyler answered.
I was glad they didn’t let her go empty-handed. She deserved to be punished so she could finally learn from her mistakes.
“Listen guys. We’ve just had a crazy day. Let’s go get some pizza and continue the fun!” Sydney said.
I handed my wallet to Tyler so he could keep it in his pocket until we got home. I wasn’t planning on losing it for the second time today. If you told me a month ago I’d be able to trust my childhood bully to keep a hold of my wallet then I would have thought you were crazy and sent you to a mental hospital, but I guess now things have changed.
Well, maybe I was the one who changed.
Chapter 21
I hid behind a big oak tree planted right outside of the school and in front of the parking lot. My chest was moving up and down as I tried to regain my breath from running. It wasn’t anything compared to when I actually went for a run, but it sure did make me feel like I was running from a serial killer
.
I swung my backpack over my shoulders after grabbing the water bottle I took out from it and gulped it down my throat. I then wiped the remaining water away from my mouth. and glanced behind the tree to make sure I wasn’t being followed by you know who.
You know since my luck really wasn’t that great, I got stuck with Tyler for last period. Not that it bothered me a lot than it used to but it did get annoying at times. He hadn’t been bothering me that much because one, he was sitting far away from me and two, I was pretty sure the forty-five minutes of misery in fourth period was enough. But today was a different story, you see our assigned seats were changed and although I might not sit next to him, we still were pretty closer than before.
Yay me!
Then Tyler came up with this great idea of us going home together and ‘working on our school project.’ I said it that way because we knew he just wanted to gain satisfaction of seeing me go red and crazy. I laughed at his face and said ‘No’.
Okay fine, I didn’t do that but I really wanted to but since Tyler was being nice, I decided to decline his offer kindly. It was Monday which means I had to work from five o’clock until nine thirty PM. Yes, I could have just finished the project with him in the couple of hours I have left before work, but I needed them to rest because I woke up extremely early this morning to run.
I was hiding behind a tree because Tyler was being his normal persistent self. The only way I managed to get away from him was by saying I needed to use the washroom with him waiting outside and I would climb out the window. I knew I had to leave now because he probably noticed I was taking so long.
Yes, I know you would be thinking that running away from him was completely useless because he knew where I lived and you were right. I was hoping I’d be able to get home in time and lock all my doors and windows before he could break in as if he was a robber.
Once I made sure Tyler was nowhere to be seen, I walked right out of my hiding place and started to walk to my car. I took my backpack in my hands and opened it so that I could search for the keys. Once I finally had them in my hand, I placed my backpack on the ground and leaned over so I could open the door but someone’s muscular arms wrapped themselves around my waist and pulled me to a hard chest.
