▌│█║▌║▌║Chapter 46║▌║▌║█│▌

I stumbled my way down the barren streets outside my apartment in the middle of the day. Everyone seemed to be either at work or at school. My whole body was aching, probably from the few hours of sleep I got on my living room floor, and my face felt sore from my crying last night. I don’t have anywhere I can go right now. Most of my parents’ friends avoided me because I was a sagaru, and I don’t have any friends I can stay with. I could ask Lainey, but I haven’t talked to her in a while. I could ask Zen or Via, but their parents’ don’t know me well or that I’m a sagaru. It seems like I’m going to be homeless for a while at least. I could hear thunder sound off in the distance. The gloomy weather seemed to be back again. A mist started to come down while I was walking, and I put my hood up and mindlessly walked straight ahead. There are so many thoughts going on inside my head. The last forty-eight hours have been a whirlwind of emotions. A group of construction workers passed by me on the road, and the knocked me around like a pinball until I was sitting on my ass on the sidewalk. I looked up at the group as the passed by my, and they ignored me completely. It’s like I wasn’t even there to them. They continued on their way laughing while I was left on the ground with my head down. I thought about just sitting there for the rest of the day. I wasn’t hungry at all. I felt that if I ate something, it would just come right back up. I already feel emotionally and physically drained for the day. “I don’t know what to do…” I thought to myself.

“Hey, kid! Get back here right now!”

I turned my head, and I saw a man running from the direction of my old apartment building. “The landowner?” I thought to myself, “What does he want from me?”

The landowner was running at me fast, and I realized that it must be because of the burn marks that was left on the floor of the apartment. I really don’t want to get in trouble. He will never believe me if I say I don’t know how it happened. I hurriedly got to my feet and started running in the opposite direction. “I’m going to kill you, you little shit!” I could hear him yell from behind me.

I continued my run away from him, and when I turned around to see where he was, I saw that the gap between us hadn’t widened a bit. Just how fast was this guy?! I looked back in front of me, and I tried to run even faster. This backfired on me though when a group of what looked like college kids turned the corner. I ran right into them, and they all tumbled down like pins at a bowling alley. I crawled over the fallen students, but as I was about to get back up and start running again, I felt someone grab my leg. Did the landowner catch me? I looked behind me, and it was one of the college kids holding onto my leg. “Just a second mate, you don’t think I’ll let you leave without apologizing huh?” He told me.

I started to shake my leg and told him, “Sorry for the trouble, can you please let go of my leg?”

I looked past the people on the ground, I could see the landowner steadily gaining ground on me. I started to try and shake my leg more frantically to get free, but the guy kept holding onto me! He asked me, “Why are you so adamant in leaving?”

A familiar voice asked out in the chaos, “Is that you Khan?”

I looked at the direction of the voice, and I saw that it was Jane—the college student that moved in to be our neighbor earlier in the year. I quickly told her, “Yes, can you please tell your friend to let me go?!”

She looked down and told him, “Hey, it’s cool Denny. Let go of him.”

“What, but why?” he protested, but it was too late.

By the time he had asked that, he loosened his grip, and I used that opportunity to wiggle free of his grasp. I quickly got back onto my feet and went back to running again. I could hear Jane behind me ask, “Hey, Khan…What’s going on? Hey!”

She yelled out an objection as the landowner bumped into her and shoved out of the way as he passed by and yelled out a strict, “Move!” to her.

I had to shake this guy somehow! The rain increased to a sprinkle now instead of a mist. I turned the corner at the end of the street, and I saw that there was a path extending away from the main road with a wall surrounding the area. I immediately took that path when I got to it, and I hid behind the wall. I could hear the feet of the landowner keep running past the entrance of the past and down the road. I breathed a sigh of relief as I let my body loosen up. I walked away from the wall and went back to the main path to look around. I realized when I got there that I’m standing on the Campus of Crystal High! Did I subcontiously travel here when I was walking earlier? “Well if it isn’t Mr. Khan. How do you do on this rainy day?”

I turned to see where the voice came from, and I saw the principal walked down the path towards me. Am I going to be in trouble? I heard another set of feet run up the street entrance to the path. Did the landowner find me? “Khan!” the voice yelled.

I turned around and saw Jane standing there at the entrance. I heard the principal say, “Hmm…This is interesting.”

▌│█║▌║▌║To be Continued║▌║▌║█│▌