StarStruck Coffee

Flowers

"Zach!" Beth rushed to him, "What happened are you okay? Sit down please-"

"Beth I'm fine just give me a second" Zach straightened himself up, while he regained his breath, and made his way down to the sofa, "Mind if i?-" he looked over at Nate while gesturing to the whole sofa,

"Go ahead, please I don't mind" Nate nodded quickly and squeezed Jessica's hand for support.

Zach slowly sat down and squeezed his eyes shut. Everyone sat around with baited breath, it seemed as if time had come to a stop. No one dared breath too loudly, nobody fidgeted, all was quiet. It was as if they were photographers, trying to get an image of a brand new species of anima'; nobody dared make any move at all.

It seemed like an eternity before Zach finally spoke, "I'm guessing you guys want to know what happened?"

"Only if you want to Zach," Jessica spoke this time, almost as if she was speaking for Nate. Zach looked over at him as if to ask, "what's going on?" but just shook his head, "Alright you were going to find out anyway..."

Just After Beth Left Starstruck Coffee

Zach takes one final look at the woman, and ducks into the alley next to Starstruck, this city was massive, and if you didn't know where to go it's a bad idea to go through any of the alleyways, luckily for Zach he'd been living here long enough, to know how to get anywhere from Starstruck. That woman had not.

As he went from alley to alley, all the houses seemed to merge into one, he knew he had to stay focused or else he would get lost to; but he just couldn't help himself. He kept checking behind his shoulder to see if she had found him. He knew it wasn't possible, these dingy alleyways all looked so similar unless you had them memorised, there was no way you'd be able to follow anyone. Still, Zach was stressed.

He was so stressed, he didn't even notice the old man gripping his cane walking straight towards him. Zach was inches away before the old man coughed to signal he was there. Zach swivelled on his heels ready to fight, "Woah there skipper! Relax I'm just an old man, I can't hurt you." Physically, the man couldn't have been taller than five foot, especially as he was hunched over his cane, but... there was something about him, he felt so big. Not like he was looking down on Zach, but like those giant teddy bears you see in children's raffles. "You seem stressed. Come have a seat," The old man took hold of Zach's shoulder, his presence was so calming Zach stopped worrying about the woman, and followed him.

The old man took Zach to a bench just on the edge of a dog park. Zach had never been here before, despite the time he'd spent in the city. Despite the dogs barking, the scene was so peaceful. The trees still as green as if it were the height of summer. It was warm, but not so warm that they would sweat, and there was a faint smell of hot pretzels in the air,

There must be a cart near here Zach thought to himself,

The old man coughed again, "Son, tell me why are you so stressed. What ails such a handsome young man like yourself." Against all his better judgement, Zach looked at this tiny man who was so large, and decided he was trustworthy, so he told him a story. The story of a young boy and his sister;

8 Years Ago

A small boy, who couldn't be older than eleven, was strolling through the park, flowers in his hand and a smile on his face. He knew today was going to be a good day. It was the height of summer, so the butterflies were out and the sun was shining. There were babies in prams, and old couples sharing an ice cream, reliving the days when they were younger. This was true happiness.

As the boy walked, he began to hum a tune to himself. He didn't know what the tune was, but it made him happy, and made the time fly by. As he walked, he waved. He waved at the old couples out for a post-lunch stroll, he waved at the older kids playing football on the field. This boy was a social butterfly, who could put a smile on anyone's face. And that was what he was on his way to do.

He was going to see his sister. They were closer than close, normally siblings would bicker insufferably but the boy and his sister were inseparable, and this Friday was the boys day to pick his sister up from her sixth form.

When he got to the school, he saw some of his sisters friends walking out of the gates, "Excuse me." he waved from across the street. The girls halted where they stood, and waved back at him; so the boy bounded over to them. "Have you seen my sister by any chance?" he asked with a smile that melted the girls hearts,

"Of course sweety she's just talking to Tom by the track." One of them pointed to the back of the school, "It's just round there" the other one added on.

"Perfect. I'll go over and get her then."

"Y'know Zach, I wish my brother was as kind as you. I bet those flowers are for her aren't they." The first girl ruffled his hair as they started to walk out the gate, "OH Zach," the second one turned on her heel, "be careful of Tom he's been in a mood recently."

"I will don't worry." the younger Zach beamed as he strolled round the side of the building.

As he turned the corner though, his smile dropped.

It was dark and cold here, the sun had gone behind a cloud, as if it was too scared to witness the events unfolding. The wind begun howling, as Zach watched his sister fall to the floor, her cheek already swelling up from the force of the punch she was hit with. Zach looked up from her, tears already brimming his eyes, and saw Tom; he was stood over her, a dark grin on his face.

"I told you not to talk to those bitchy friends of yours." He kicked her hard, making her cry out in pain.

The tears were freefalling down Zach's cheeks now, like waterfalls. His hands begun shaking as he cried out "Leave her alone!" they both turned to look at him. Shock was slapped straight across Hannah's face, "Zachie why are you here? Go home please."

"Who said you could talk?" Tom kicked her again. "And you. Do you think you're some kind of hero? Do what your sister said and run home to your mommy."

Hannah started weeping on the floor. This broke Zach. He threw himself at Tom, a ferocious war cry springing free from his throat. It was no help.

Zach didn't even get one good hit in, Tom was six foot two and weighed about ninety kilograms. Zach's scrawny adolescent body couldn't do anything. Tom picked him up, with a killers grin and hung him by his collar onto the back of the bleachers. "Stay here and don't make a sound." he ordered, as he swaggered back over to Hannah. He didn't even say anything this time, he just started kicking the shit out of her. Zach tried to scream for somebody, anybody to help them, but he made no sound. Tom just kept kicking Hannah, but there was nothing Zach could do, all his struggling amounted to nothing.

When he was finally done, he strolled back over to Zach. "Now you..." he purred as he lifted Zach down from the bleacher, "If you say anything about this to anyone. And I mean anyone I'll come after the both of you."

"NO! TOM. please leave him alone" Hannah sobbed.

"See how broken your sister is. Do you want to make it worse?"

Zach sniffed and shook his head.

"Good boy. You've raised a good little brother here, darling" Tom joked, he stuffed his hands in his pockets, and swaggered away from them, not even bothering to look back. He knew they wouldn't say a word.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

AUTHORS NOTE-

Don't forget to vote for this chapter if you liked it and leave a comment :)