Seeking Solace

One

Looking to my left and then to my right, I step out into the empty street. I adjust the little white earbuds so that it plays the melody of The Fray at its maximum volume. I bob my head along to the beat as I step up on to the sidewalk. I walk a few paces before I hear a stick cracking under someone's weight behind me. I look back over my shoulder, but see no one. It must have been my imagination. I unplug the headphones and wrap them neatly before tossing them in my bag. I hear leaves rustling behind me. I whip around to face whoever is following me, but come up short again. I giggle at myself for being paranoid and turn around. My face comes into contact with a solid, firm, warm mass. The force of the collision knocks me backwards, but a hand reaches out to me, and grabs my upper arm balancing me before I have the chance to fall. I steady myself and the solid mass place it's other hand on my waist.

"Are you okay love?" His deep voice asks, in a husky accent. I look up at the mass and nod.

"I'm okay." I tell him.

"I didn't see you there, I really should watch where I'm going." He apologizes.

"No, no. That was totally my fault." I confess. His blue eyes look down at me with a twinge of curiosity. "I thought someone was following me, I wasn't really paying attention."

"A bit paranoid are ya? Nobody is gonna getcha all the way out here, except maybe a monster or two." He says with a smirk. "Where are ya headed?"

"School." I tell him. I do not know why I am telling him all this, the first thing my parents taught me was to never talk to strangers, no matter how appealing they were. "It's right around the corner." I lie.

He half smiles, "I just came from that corner love, there's no school there. As I remember it, the school is about six blocks away." He folds his arms across his broad chest. "Would you like for me to accompany you, so that no one can creep up in ya?"

"I should be okay."

Start walking. I smile and take a few steps past him.

"Thanks for the offer."

I turn my back on him and continue walking. In the blink of an eye, he is beside me, unplugging is headphones and walking at my pace.

"I insist." He says with a smirk. "I was just headed there myself."

"You go to school at Oakwood?" I ask him. I probably sounded more shocked than I meant to, but I have lived in Oakwood my whole life and not once have I seen him around. I would remember a face like his.

"I start today." He looks distant and suddenly closed off. Like he lives in an entirely different dimension.

"Homeschooled?" I try.

"Something like that." He says with a smirk. "How long have you lived here?"

"Uh, my whole life." I tuck a piece of hair behind my ear. He nods in response.

We walk in silence down the street before I hear another snapping noise. I turn around and look for the noise maker but see nothing.

"Are you okay?" His eyebrows have drawn together and he looks truly concerned.

"Yeah. Fine."

We approach the school with its overbearing, ugly green shrubs, it's trees looking more dead than alive and rusted bike racks resting against the dirty brick. I breathe in the musty air and relax my tense shoulders as the familiarity of the old building gives me a sense of safety. I look at him sideways and smile at his look of disgust as he stares at the school.