With a deep gulp I push myself up against the window again to see the men shoving a bundle into the back of a van. That bundle is him which means I need to act more. I race to the front door without thinking much about it and swing it open. I don’t know what the hell I’m going to do against all these guys but I can’t do nothing.
“Hey!” I yell out, but it’s too late. They don’t even listen to me. “Hey, stop.”
I glance my eyes around, desperately searching for someone else who has seen this. I need a person to team up with, to agree with me that what I saw was real, to help me know what to do, but somehow by some miracle I’m alone. Maybe this isn’t as strange as I thought after all. Perhaps this happens all the time.
“Fuck, what do I do?” I mutter, my voice shaking. “What do I do? What do I do now? Fuck!”
I step back inside and slam the door behind me. There is one thing that I can do. However normal this is to other people, I need to tell the cops. The police have to put a stop to this before it gets out of control. I stagger through the house until I find my cell phone and I grab it with shaking hands. Before I can make the call, I fire off a quick text to Rae asking her to come over. I tell her a bit of what has happened but I can’t give her the full details. I’m hoping that everything is still good enough between us for her to come around so I can have her support. None of the pettiness that has come before means a damn thing with all of this happening.
Once that’s done I can’t put it off any longer. I dial nine one one and put the phone to my ear. I struggle to get the words out, I don’t know how much sense I make as I babble out the story, but in the end they let me know that someone is coming. Someone will ‘be with me soon’ to speak with me about it. I don’t know if I like that, I would rather like them to chase after Shane and find out what’s happening with him, but that’s protocol apparently.
As I wait for someone to turn up I pace up and down my apartment, staring out the window. I don’t really expect the guys with the van to come back but if they do, I want to see it right away.
“I shouldn’t have let him boss me around,” I tell myself aloud, mostly to fill the silence. “I should have ignored his stupid attempts to send me inside. Maybe if I fought harder then he would still be here.”
Or maybe those guys would have knocked me out too. I have to admit, that’s just as possible and probably what Shane was trying to avoid. The fact that I witnessed all of that and have been left alone is weird. Not that I know much about gangs who carry guns around but I would imagine they don’t want witnesses.
“What if they come back?” Now I’m really trembling. “They might want to silence me.”
What if they want to silence me but it’s too late because I have already gone to the cops? What will happen to me then? It doesn’t even bear thinking about. It actually makes me want to speak to someone from back home. One of my old friends or my parents, but actually I don’t know if that is a good plan. Yes, they will know what’s happened to me if this ends up taking a really dark path, but it could also make them worry unnecessarily. Plus, it would prove everyone right and I don’t want that. I don’t want my dream destroyed. As childish as that is while facing this potential adversity, I can’t stop myself from sticking to this thought.
“No, I just need to wait. Someone will be here soon and then I’ll be fine.” I nod, trying to convince myself that my words are accurate. “The police will be here to protect me. Then I won’t need to worry anymore.”
Bang, bang, bang.
Instantly I jump, immediately my blood runs cold. I don’t consider that it might be the cops, the people I actually want to come and help me. I haven’t seen any sign of anyone coming but that doesn’t mean they haven’t sent one of their sneaky ninja types to finish me off. Although I don’t know why they would need to knock if that’s the case. Still, I’m cautious as I walk. I try to be quiet, I even walk on the tips of my toes, but that’s a massive challenge when my heart is thumping so violently against my rib cage.