Key to the Past

Chapter 19

I furiously pedaled into town. I kept going, past the movie theater, past Pinkberry, past the community pool, past anything that brought back unwanted memories. My whole life was blown away in an instant, everything was a lie. I finally stopped when I reached a building that had no history to me, a small craft store. I climbed off of my bike and led it into the narrow alley between the craft store and the Starbucks next to it. I threw my bike on one side of the dumpster and sunk down on the other side of it, curling up in a ball to take a nap. Great. I sunk so low that I was sleeping next to trash.

***

I woke up as the sun was going down, painting the sky in brilliant pinks and oranges. I slowly pushed myself up, my stomach growling. I saw a flyer stapled onto a telephone pole across the street. Making sure there were no cars first, I sprinted across the street. Flyers were rarely put up, so I was curious to see what it was about.

I fingered the flyer and saw that it read:

Bridget Christine Toulane

16 year old female

Blonde hair, blue eyes, thin and curvy

Ran away from home

Reward of $5,000 to whoever finds her

On the flyer, there was a picture of me being kissed on the cheek by Evan. My eyes were widened in surprise and a soft smile played across my mouth. We had taken these pictures in a photo booth at the arcade a week ago. Tears sprang to my eyes. I forgot that Evan was leaving for college tomorrow. I made up my mind. I would go home. I started walking, but stopped for a second when I heard a police siren going off in the distance. My pace began to quicken. The siren was slow, so usually that means that they are searching for someone! If I found the police car, I could get a ride home! I started to jog, keeping my ears tuned in for the siren. All of a sudden, I was checked to the ground. I tried to get up, but someone was lying on top of me, pinning me to the dirty hard sidewalk.

"Help!!!!" I screamed, panic rushing through me.

"Bridget? Where are you?" I heard a very distant voice answer.

"Evan! Help!! I'm near Starb..."

The man covered my mouth with his arm. My screaming was muffled.

"Shut up!" the man roughly commanded. "You ruined my life. Now it's my turn to ruin yours."

My heart stopped. I realized that it was Chris on top of me. They must not have arrested him. He reached into his pocket for something. I broke out into a cold sweat. I had a feeling that it was a knife. I had to do something, fast. I opened my mouth, as far as I could with his funky arm covering it, and bit down hard on his arm.

"Ow!" he shrieked, his grip on me loosening.

I saw that his arm was starting to bleed. I shimmied out from under him and made a run for it. I was panting. I tried to run towards where I heard the siren. It was coming closer to me. Unfortunately for me, Chris had gotten up and was now chasing after me.

"Evan! Evan, help!!! Please!" I yelled, sprinting as fast as my legs would go.

"Bridget?!? Is that you?" he screamed back, still sounding far from me.

"Yes, yes!!! It's me, Bridget!!!! Help!!!!!"

Chris flew through the air and tackled me to the ground.

Unsheathing his knife, he said, "It's my turn for revenge."

I started to whimper like a scared little puppy at the vet. In front of me, I saw Evan dashing towards us. I knew that he was going to be too late. I closed my eyes, took a deep breath, and braced myself for the inevitable. I was a goner.