Silver Locket

Ok, so here I am walking home from yet another day at the office, well the bakery anyway. Words cannot describe how much I hate working there. The smell of the place alone makes me feel sick let alone the thought of even eating anything from there. I turn the corner out of the high street and onto St George’s Way by the park. The smell of fish and chips fills my lungs, making my stomach rumble. I resist the temptation to stop and get something to eat because Peter is taking me out later on. Yeah I know he’s old, has terrible taste in clothing, likes classical music and doesn’t drive over 20mph, ever, but he’s fun. He’s like a father, mixed with a brother, mixed with that freaky exchange student that just makes you laugh from their naivety to English teen culture. He’s brilliant.

As I walk past the door to the chip shop, a girl rushes out right in front of me and knocks me to the ground.

“Ouch!” I exclaim trying to get up.

“I’m so sorry! Are you ok?” The girl asks grabbing my hand and helping me up. Her blonde curly hair falling over her shoulder. She much be a couple of years younger than me, about the same height and has a strong Scottish accent that softens her voice.

“I’ll live. I wasn’t looking where I was going anyway.” I mutter back

“Sorry, I’m just in a rush” she picks up her plastic full of fish and chips. “You sure your ok?”

“Yeah I’m fine.”

“I’ve got to go, Bye” She hurries off down the road. I follow but walking at a much slower pace. I don’t think I’ve seen her around here before. I don’t recognise her. She’s probably just visiting someone. I look at my watch. 8.37. Crap. I better hurry up, I’m meeting Peter at 9.30 and I’ve got to have a shower before then. I quicken my pace as I walk through the park when I hear a female cry in the distance. I listen out. Silence. I must of imagined it.

“GET OFF ME!” the woman cries again.

I definitely didn’t imagine it that time. I run over to the other side of the park to the gate that leads to the housing estate. That’s when I see her, the girl from the chip shop struggling against a guy who’s trying to steal her bag. I run up to them and push the guy off of her. He wasn’t expecting me to be there so he quite easily falls over backwards but brings the girl with him. He lands on the pavement hitting his arm against the railings as he falls with the girl on top of him. She quickly gets off but trips as she struggles to get away and collapses down hitting her head on the concrete. The guy stands up clutching his arm in his other hand and tries to run away. I pull him back so I can take a look at him. I can’t let him get away with this.

“YOU! YOU’RE NOT GETTING AWAY WITH THIS!” I shout, recognising his face, anger filling me up. My fist clenches and before I know it my knuckles are crashing against his face and he crumples to the ground in a lot more agony than should be expected. I didn’t hit him that hard. He crawls away from me as fast as he can. I turn around to see the girl sat on the floor shaking. The cut on her forehead causing blood to trickle down the left side of her face. I go over to her and pull her up. She wobbles as she tries to stand.

“Are you alright?” I ask. Dumb question I know, but what else do you say in this kind of situation?

“I think I’ve hurt my ankle but it’s not broken. Thank you so much! He wanted my bag I should of just let him take it- he came out of nowhere-”she mumbles in tears.

“Look it's ok, he’s gone now. Come on I’ll help you home. Where do you live?”

“I’m on my way to my friend’s house. Its on Windborne road, I can’t remember the number. I’ve never been there before. It’s the one with the blue front door.”

“I know it, it’s just round the corner from my house. Come on this way.” I put her arm over my shoulder and help her as she hops along beside me. We aren’t far from the house but it's tiring having to help someone along like this.

“I’m Maddy by the way.”

“Anna” she replies, her voice faltering.

We go up the driveway to the front door and she rings the bell. A boy around the girl’s age answers the door. He’s tall and slim with golden brown hair that falls down slightly longer than his eyes.

“ANNA! What are you doing here? What happened?” He stutters with shock all over his face. He helps her up the step and into the house.

“My parents, they were arguing so I left to come here. Then I decided to get some chips on the way, and I wasn’t sure where your road was, so I asked the guy in the shop, and he said to cut through the park. Then some guy tried to steal my bag and then Maddy here stopped him and my ankle-” We sit her down on the sofa in the living room and she leans back into the cushions.

“I take it your Bradley’s stepbrother?” I ask the boy who is now sat next to her with his arm around her shoulders trying to stop her from shaking.

“Will Bradshaw. I take it you know him then?” His voice had a dissapointed tone to it, like he's ashamed to even be associated with Bradley. He holds out his hand for me to shake. I grab it.

“Maddy Toppling. Yeah, I went to school with him, unfortunately. It was one of his cronies that did this. I can’t remember his name. I, err, better be getting off actually. You sure your ok?” I ask Anna who is wiping her face witha tissue.

“Yeah, its just a scratch.” Anna responds, a lot calmer now than before.

“I’ll show you to the door. You sure you’re alright walking home alone?” Will asks concerned.

“Yeah I only live round the corner, and besides, I probably am the scariest person you could come across.” I can’t help but grin. He smiles back and laughs a little as we approach the door.

“Thank you so much for helping her. I don’t know what she was doing wandering around on her own At this time of night.”

“It’s ok. I’m glad I was there to help in the first place. Bradley’s gang are always doing stuff like this. The sooner they get sent down the better.”

“I knew they were a nasty piece of work, but I didn’t think they were capable of this. I go to boarding school, so I’m not here often, so I wouldn’t know.”

“I’ve really got to go now. Good to meet you. See you around.” I step onto the driveway, still facing Will.

“Yeah good to meet you too.” We wave at each other and I turn around and walk down the driveway and off home.

He looked familiar for some reason. I’ve probably just seen him around town or something.