Midtown

Three

In today's world, the phrase 'eat or be eaten' seemed like the best way to describe living. However, after sitting and seeing the news report of a missing person that was close by, Carly starting to think it's more like survival of the fittest.

She never paid attention to the news much, but understanding her new surroundings would help her know what to look out for. She managed to survive her first weekend in Midtown. That's probably because she didn't leave the house. The only time she left was to find her new school that she'll be attending today.

The school was only two blocks away. That was close enough for her to walk. Since it's early in the morning going, and mid afternoon leaving, walking the streets alone won't be too bad as long as there's daylight. Of course, that didn't stop Carly from looking up cheap tasers she hopes her dad will allow her to have.

Carly stepped outside into her new environment. The air was still, a bit cool, and felt somewhat lonely. She slowly walked on to the sidewalk to start her journey to Midtown high.

Her journey almost ended when she heard a noise and was about to take cover, but realized it was just a door opening. It came from the white house next door. The kid that she almost hit the other day was walking outside. A smile grew on his face when he saw Carly walking by.

"Hey, Carly!" He yelled out to her. She hadn't seen him once since they first met or even heard anyone leaving or entering the house. She had almost forgotten someone lived there.

"Oh, hey there Nathen." She said. Her only thoughts were hoping that she remembered his name right. He didn't show a face of confusion or shock, so it must have been right.

"You're out early. Where are you headed? School?"

"Yeah, I'm attending Midtown high. You too?" It was safe for her to ask seeing the book bag on his back.

"I don't carry this heavy thing around for nothing." He laugh pointing to the bag. "You don't mind if I walk with you then?"

"Sure." Carly allowed for Nathen to go with her. So far, Nathen seemed to be one of the nice people in Midtown. He was just a little too friendly.

Carly knows you can't trust all nice people. That's the easiest way to end up on the morning news as 'missing'. But he's only a high schooler like her. With that thought, he couldn't try something like kidnapping.

"Something wrong?" Nathen asked her. It was only then she realized she had been staring at him as they walked together.

"Oh it's nothing. Sorry, I was just thinking about what I heard on the news this morning." It wasn't a complete lie she told. But being the creepy neighbor wasn't want she wanted to be seen as.

"The news? I didn't pick you as a news watching person," he laughed again, "but this is my second time talking to you, so I really don't know anything."

"I'm not really a news watcher. But I thought I should check it out a bit more." It would come off as kind of rude if she told him she only started watching it since she moved.

"It's always something going on somewhere. Especially here sadly. Maybe if people just cooperated with one another more, things would be better." He suddenly said. It was clearly something he's thought about before with such a straight answer like that.

"Hey Nathen, on your way to school?" They made it to the crossroad on the next block when they noticed someone crossing the street to join them.

"Yeah, you walking with us?" Nathen walked up to the boy.

"If that's alright. Who's your friend?" The new boy asked looking Carly up and down.

"Her name is Carly. She just moved in from Uptown."