At 1:27 precisely I hear a knock on the window. I've always been good at estimating, but I feel like tonight was just pure luck. I smile to myself as I go to open the window, and the wipe the smile off my face. I'm going on a date with Duncan, what do I really have to smile about?
He sits, perfectly perched on the tree outside the window. I open the window, and say to him, "You should really buy a seat that you can attach to my tree."
He smirks at this, "Hey, Princess."
I sigh, "Let's hurry up and get this over and done with, Duncan."
"Sure," he says, and the jumps from the tree down to the grass. "You coming?"
"Yeah, yeah, I just don't show off like that," I reply, as I lower myself out the window and climb down the tree carefully. I can even see Duncan's look of disapproval even though I can't actually see Duncan. I jump when I'm about two feet from the ground.
"Finally," he mutters and then takes my hand and literally drags me down the street.
"So," I say, trying to start conversation with him as he drags me, "what are you- I mean, we- planning to do tonight?"
"Don't know. We'll just do whatever I see when we get into the centre."
The centre is the middle of the big shopping districts that are generally close to my house. Some older kids – I don't know, around 15 – used to slip off to the centre and cause havoc after school. I sometimes saw Duncan slip off with them – but that was rare enough.
We hit the centre in a few minutes. It's rather deserted except from the rare person smoking or just walking back from a club or something.
"Nice place, huh?" he questions. I nod as a reply, and he takes me down a few alleys. "The best places are always deeper in."
While Duncan leads me through the alleys and streets, I try and observe what's happening around this time. It's dark, and it's kind of one of those times that a wolf would come out and shred you to pieces. Empty glass bottles lie on the ground, and you can barely make out your own figure. In a way, I can see where Duncan's grouchiness in the day time comes from – this is far more interesting.
"So – um…how did the whole –like, criminal thing start?" I ask quietly.
"As I mentioned before, all my family work in the police force. I spent a lot of my time at police stations on weekends with my parents when I was younger. It was decent enough, I had Petey, who was my pet dog, and he'd always play with me. But Petey ran away when I was seven. I still had to spend my weekends at the police station, but without Petey it just wasn't any fun anymore. So, I met this dude that was being questioned. He was a criminal, it was rather obvious. I asked him what he'd done, and he said he stole some jewellery from this fancy store in the centre. And then I asked him was it worth it, and he shrugged and replied that it was. So I tried it out a few days later, and I liked it. But – if you saw a seven year old kid now walking about the streets stealing stuff, you wouldn't question him, right? So I started to get my image. I pretended to be busy on Saturdays and Sundays, though sometimes I could end up in juvie if I did something really bad. But I was seven; they could only literally keep me in less than a day. When my parents got letters home, I always got them first and hid them myself. And that's it. I guess I just went from there."
I nod. I can vaguely remember Duncan at six – he was definitely happier. But then, at six – no one was really sure what an extremely happy six year old looked like and an average six year old looked like. They all just, smile, I guess.
Duncan leads me down another alley, and then I see his faint figure stop in his tracks. He seems shaken, scared maybe. He doesn't scream, but I hear him breathing heavily.
Something's obviously wrong.
A few metres away, I can make out some figures. There's about four of them, all around the age of 15. It takes me a minute but I realise that the figures are the older kids Duncan would hang about with after school sometimes. I hear them whisper to each other in the distance, but Duncan is intimidated by them too much, he grabs my arm and starts running. It doesn't take me too long to start running alongside him. He's fast – but I was in a cross-country team a year or two ago, so I've got a decent enough pace.
"What's wrong?!" I shout to him, over the loud noise of us running and trying to get away from them. I don't turn my head, but I know they're behind us. I can even hear Duncan panting – we're too tired to make it any further, but we're still going. I don't think we've much choice. He starts cursing under his breath, but I can hear him.
"DUNCAN! You're not supposed to say those kinds of things," I hiss to him.
"I. Don't. Care. Not now anyway," he says. His face is panicked, his expression scared.
I guess he knows he messed up.
"Duncan – don't blame yourself. You didn't know they were here," I tell him.
"Well, guess what, Princess? Guess what's here – reality. You're still here, and so am I. And so are they. We're not safer than we ever were," he keeps running as he says this.
The people behind us are catching up on us. I see what they have – a sack, they're obviously here to take me or Duncan – and get some kind of payback, I'm guessing. And I'm the weakest link…Duncan will come after me, that's the thing.
"I love you," I tell him briefly.
"Me too?" he asks puzzled.
And then I know I'm captured…
A/N –Okay, this is rather exciting. Now – CONFESSION – I did ask for help with the main idea of the danger. So, I'd like to dedicate this chapter to I'll Cover Angel and Collins. I did add the whole idea of getting 'captured' and all, but I couldn't have done it without her help. So…um, I'll hopefully update soon, guys. Thanks…please review.
