Running From Lions
028
Xavier lived on the outskirts of the next town and so it was only a 20-minute walk from where we lived, it was all in streetlights until you got out of town and reached the suburbs where there was a few dark alleys to walk down but by then I should have met Alex and not need to walk down them.
I wandered through town looking up at the clear sky, tonight it was warm outside so I wasn’t in any rush.
I noticed the lights growing dimmer and realized I’d walked out of town and was nearly out the suburbs, I looked down at my phone to see it had been just over 10 minutes since I left home.
Alex should be somewhere near here I thought so I kept walking, I reached the first alleyway and looked to see it’d been 15 minutes and Alex should have been here before now but he was with Xavier and they had probably gotten carried away again or something and he was running late.
I checked the alley was empty before practically running down it and I reached the other side feeling braver, those sorts of things rarely happened it was just one of them things that it happened once and your parents made you think it was something that happened to everyone who wasn’t careful.
I walked down another alleyway before reaching the one I hated walking down; it was completely dark with only the moon for light and it looked safe but I knew full well you reached what you thought was the end to discover it was a bend and that in that bend nobody could see a thing.
Even from the other side it tricked you the same way, anyone could stand in that bend and you wouldn’t see them until it was too late.
I waited for a few minutes thinking Alex would surely be here any time but he never showed and I was about to ring him to ask him to hurry up because I wasn’t walking down there on my own.
If I had to walk all the way to Xavier’s I’d make him stay on the phone to me while I walked down this alley so if anything happened he would at least know and be able to somehow help.
Truth was he could hardly do anything in that situation but it made me feel better knowing he knew where I was.
I looked for his number when I heard voices nearby and I stayed quiet, it sounded like people talking down the alleyway.
s I tried to listen I recognized one voice to be my brothers, I moved towards the voices walking slowly down the alleyway.
I made sure I wasn’t heard, he was talking to someone who wasn’t talking back.
He wasn’t making sense either, he was slurring words and struggling for sentences. I crept closer to the bend in the alleyway making sure I stayed out of sight, the only downside was if I was out of sight I couldn’t see them either.
I heard a strange noise and I realized it was someone trying to talk but they weren’t able to.
Whoever it was was being stopped from speaking somehow, I heard muffled noises again as my brother snapped at them something about he was sorry.
I heard noises of someone trying to move and couldn’t work out whether it was Jonah or the person he was with.
I heard a noise that I recognized as kissing and figured my brother had talked another girl into being with him and he was probably filling her full of false hopes.
I turned to walk away not wanting to see or hear what happened next when I heard crying, someone was crying and that someone was with my brother.
The girl had obviously realized what she’d just done and felt bad for her boyfriend or whoever she’d ditched to be with him and he was comforting her.
Jonah spent more than half of his time with girls stopping them crying, for all his downfalls he was good with charming girls, poor at keeping it up but a charmer none the less.
I was about to start walking again when the crying got worse, whoever it was wasn’t finding my brother to be comforting at all.
I stayed still as I heard heavy breathing that was shaking from what I guessed were sobs.
“Grow up,” my brother snapped and I tried to force my mind into a decision.
“Shut up,” I heard Jonah growl at whoever it was.
“Please,” I heard the person beg and I froze.
Without even thinking I walked back towards the bend and rounded the corner and I felt sick when my eyes fell on them.
I wandered through town looking up at the clear sky, tonight it was warm outside so I wasn’t in any rush.
I noticed the lights growing dimmer and realized I’d walked out of town and was nearly out the suburbs, I looked down at my phone to see it had been just over 10 minutes since I left home.
Alex should be somewhere near here I thought so I kept walking, I reached the first alleyway and looked to see it’d been 15 minutes and Alex should have been here before now but he was with Xavier and they had probably gotten carried away again or something and he was running late.
I checked the alley was empty before practically running down it and I reached the other side feeling braver, those sorts of things rarely happened it was just one of them things that it happened once and your parents made you think it was something that happened to everyone who wasn’t careful.
I walked down another alleyway before reaching the one I hated walking down; it was completely dark with only the moon for light and it looked safe but I knew full well you reached what you thought was the end to discover it was a bend and that in that bend nobody could see a thing.
Even from the other side it tricked you the same way, anyone could stand in that bend and you wouldn’t see them until it was too late.
I waited for a few minutes thinking Alex would surely be here any time but he never showed and I was about to ring him to ask him to hurry up because I wasn’t walking down there on my own.
If I had to walk all the way to Xavier’s I’d make him stay on the phone to me while I walked down this alley so if anything happened he would at least know and be able to somehow help.
Truth was he could hardly do anything in that situation but it made me feel better knowing he knew where I was.
I looked for his number when I heard voices nearby and I stayed quiet, it sounded like people talking down the alleyway.
s I tried to listen I recognized one voice to be my brothers, I moved towards the voices walking slowly down the alleyway.
I made sure I wasn’t heard, he was talking to someone who wasn’t talking back.
He wasn’t making sense either, he was slurring words and struggling for sentences. I crept closer to the bend in the alleyway making sure I stayed out of sight, the only downside was if I was out of sight I couldn’t see them either.
I heard a strange noise and I realized it was someone trying to talk but they weren’t able to.
Whoever it was was being stopped from speaking somehow, I heard muffled noises again as my brother snapped at them something about he was sorry.
I heard noises of someone trying to move and couldn’t work out whether it was Jonah or the person he was with.
I heard a noise that I recognized as kissing and figured my brother had talked another girl into being with him and he was probably filling her full of false hopes.
I turned to walk away not wanting to see or hear what happened next when I heard crying, someone was crying and that someone was with my brother.
The girl had obviously realized what she’d just done and felt bad for her boyfriend or whoever she’d ditched to be with him and he was comforting her.
Jonah spent more than half of his time with girls stopping them crying, for all his downfalls he was good with charming girls, poor at keeping it up but a charmer none the less.
I was about to start walking again when the crying got worse, whoever it was wasn’t finding my brother to be comforting at all.
I stayed still as I heard heavy breathing that was shaking from what I guessed were sobs.
“Grow up,” my brother snapped and I tried to force my mind into a decision.
“Shut up,” I heard Jonah growl at whoever it was.
“Please,” I heard the person beg and I froze.
Without even thinking I walked back towards the bend and rounded the corner and I felt sick when my eyes fell on them.