FicWad

Chapter 1: Words in the Alley

The toe of my shoe slipped suddenly from the next step as I ran up the metal staircase leading up to my apartment. My body came crashing down to the dull edges of the stairs. I covered my head with my hands as quickly as I could and felt the brim impact with the flesh of my shoulder. Slowly I rolled onto my knees and gripped my arm. I knew instantly that my bone was going to be bruised and my skin would most likely not do the same. It was like all the times in Tae-Kwon-Do when I forgot my shin guards and went up for a leg block. My shinbone would be bruised for at least two weeks and it was very painful when it was touched.

I thought I heard the pounding of footsteps dashing up the bottom portion of the stairway. I fumbled to my feet and darted up the remaining steps to my door. I turned the brass knob on the left side of the door and threw my weight at it.

It's locked! I thought. Of all times to not know where I'd put the key, why - and again I ask why - did it have to be now? I jammed my hands into my jean pockets, but found them empty. Come on . . . come on!

"What's the matter-gasp- Imari?" So my suspicions were correct . . . he had followed me. He huffed in deep breaths and huffed them back out again. If only one flight of stairs did that to him I would have hated to see what he looked like in Gym class.

"Please, leave me alone, Matthew!" I whined. I kept trying the door knob, thinking it might somehow get so fed up with me that it would let me in. I could feel him take a step toward me, still breathing heavily.

"But, Imari! If you don't like chess then why do you play it all the time? Why won't you join the Chess Club?" He said earnestly. He obviously didn't know that people have limits on being nice and I had just about reached my own. Normally I felt sorry for him- no one liked him once he started blabbing. If you had never talked to him before you would probably think him a kind, innocent freshman which, actually, he was. But he was so annoying!

"Because I don't want to!" I retorted.

"But, why?" He took another step toward me. My fists were tense and white with the restraint. I wanted to slap him! But I couldn't tell him why I played chess so much. The only reason I did play chess was because my friends' brother, Alex, had promised me we would play again one day. But there was no way I was going to tell him about my crush.

"We'll do anything if you'll just-" I whirred about sharply. I had almost forgotten about . . . them.

Matthew's coke-bottle glasses were falling off the brim of his nose as I walked to the overhanging and leaned over. And, just as I had expected, there standing at the base of the complex was the chess/math/science club, (some were in more than one).

"And the rest of you can go away, too!" I yelled. "I'm not joining your club! Any of them! And that's final!" I turned back to him.

"Go home, Matthew." I reached into my back pockets this time and found my keys. I slipped the slender, gold key into the hole, gave a slight push to the white, wooden door and slipped into the large apartment.

"I don't want anyone to worry about you;" I then shut the door with my back to it. I let my weight pull me down to the floor and rubbed my hands over my face.

"I'm glad that's over."

See, normally I could take Mathew's consistent nagging, but that day was, well . . . different. It was the anniversary of the first day I had started supporting myself. My parents- exactly two years before- had been trying to get a divorce.
Neither one was having an affair, but they had lost the so called 'love' they had once shared for sixteen years. I think it was young passion getting in the way of sense. They had met at a dance and within the same week were married in Las Vegas. Then they had moved to Chicago. Anyway, back to the 'losing of love'. They wanted to get a divorce and with no consideration on my part. On the way to the court house their car was hit head on by some drunk who had stolen a semi truck. Though I had never had a close relationship with either of them it had been a stumbling blow. Thankfully at the time I had a part-time job that I worked at after school for extra money. With the saved up money in my account I rented an apartment near to the school I was attending.

Knowing my predicament the school didn't make me pay for meals or anything like that, which was a big load off. On Sundays I ate anything that I could rummage from my fridge and cupboards. But on Saturdays I . . . well, actually it was pretty much the same as Sundays. Most of my money went into paying rent and the essentials. When ever my friends asked if I wanted to come over I accepted readily, secretly hoping that they would serve a meal or some snacks. I couldn't bring myself to tell them about my situation. Well, actually they knew all about it. From my ever changing jobs to the small four room abode.

Speaking of friends, there was a thing that we had planned for that evening. The movies. I looked down at the clothes I was wearing. My navy blue jeans were now faded as were my black and white sneakers. A black vest-jacket went over my white, long-sleeved, turtleneck shirt. I stared for a moment then decided it was good enough for the movies.

I stood and wiped at the few stress related tears that had come to my eyes with the end of my sleeves. I glanced around at the home I had.
It was actually large for an upstairs apartment, though a lot smaller than what I had lived in before. It had a living room, bathroom, bedroom, kitchen, and a few closets. I walked swiftly to the half empty bedroom and looked around thoughtfully. My room was mantled with many different objects- weapons, pots, maps, fossils and so forth. My father had been a collector. He loved to study different cultures and especially their forms of fighting. What can I say? He was a full-fledged male! During his small visits at home he had taken the time to teach me what he knew. The one I was most skilled at- but still very lacking in- was the sailor's cutlass and the like.

Standing there, I suddenly felt very hot. Lately, I had been getting hit with heat waves when ever I felt stressed or thought too much. I searched the room for the small blue bag that held my swimming gear.

I guess I'll go for a swim after the show, I thought, putting my hand on my forehead. I glanced down at my wrist watch and gasped. I gave one last look at the room to make sure it was tidy and glanced at the small mirror next to my bedroom door. My dark blonde hair was loosely tied back into a ponytail, as it was my favorite style. It looked a little ruffled from my incident on the steps, but giving myself an encouraging smile, I started for the exit. My hand reached for the door, but suddenly stopped.

What if he's still out there? I tried my best to open the door slyly, but even a deaf person could have heard the creak that my door always made. I poked my head out of the opening and searched the area. All was clear. I flipped the switch to the light and stepped out.

My keys. Quickly I went back to the small table that stood next to a lone chair and found my keys. I locked the door and began my descent. I would be right on time in getting to Damaris' house. It was a ways, but I could get there within a half hour if I walked fast.

The movie we were going to watch was Gladiator. It was Damaris' turn to pick which historic movie we would see next. Our small circle of friends had started a historic club that was all our own and each of us studied our own thing. Damaris, as you may have guessed, is in love with Ancient Rome. She studied the old language and reads up on all she can get her hands on. Kuri, the smallest of us, is half Japanese and so knew how to converse with people from Japan without much trouble. She often visited her grandparents who still lived in Japan and was able to practice with experts from time to time. Elene, the tallest, was into Germany. She worked at the local library and had plenty of time to study the culture. Amunet, I believe, knows more about Egypt than some of the people who live there themselves. Well, now she was also one of the people that lived there. She had moved to Egypt a week ago and left us with no idea as to if she would return soon. As for me?

My father had traveled all around the world before considering divorce and I studied a little of each culture he told me about. I mainly studied sword fighting of all the countries, if they used them, and not the language. Not having a particular culture to focus on I decided that my role would be to help the others with theirs. I also helped in finding historically accurate movies. I looked at the fighting parts mainly.

I looked up from where I had been staring at my feet to see I was a few houses away from Damaris' house. I heard a car coming from behind and glanced back to see if I knew who it was. The car stopped in front of my destination and for a moment nothing happened. I continued to walk along the sidewalk until I was across from the car. A girl emerged from the back seat and looked in the open passenger window. It was Kuri. I withheld my call of greeting when I noticed her talking with someone still in the vehicle. A moment later she turned away from the car and began moving up the walkway to Damaris' home.
Again I almost called out to her but was interrupted when suddenly Damaris burst from her door and in an instant was next to Kuri. I could hear her yelling how late she was and how she no longer thought they could get good seats. I then saw Elene's towering form coming behind Damaris. She had a warm, understanding smile on her face.

"Now where in the world is Imari?" Damaris shouted. I laughed loud enough for them to hear me. Their heads turned towards me, surprised that I was there.

"Let's get going, or we're really going to be late." I said. I knew that if I hadn't said so, Damaris would have been all over me about why I had been late, too.

I took my place next to Damaris in the front while Kuri and Elene walked behind.

"So who dropped you off, Kuri?" asked Damaris. We all looked at Kuri as we continued to press forward.

"Just my mom and her new boyfriend," Kuri shrugged and shook her head slightly.

"Oh, really? What's this one like?"

"He's a Linguist Professor at the college or something like that." Kuri, obviously wanting to change the subject, turned to Elene and said,

"So how was work at the library?"

I and Damaris turned to walk backwards and I saw Elene's smile wither.

"I got fired." She looked at the ground sadly, but we could see the anger behind it, too.

"I'm so sorry! You really loved that job." I said trying to comfort her.

"What happened?" Kuri asked soberly.

"Someone probably complained about me or something. My ex-boss didn't give me a reason. He basically said 'You're fired!' and shoved me out the door." Elene sighed and bowed her head.

We all said a few words of comfort to her because we knew she had loved that job. As Damaris and I walked backwards she chanced another question to Elene and glanced at me.

"How's your brother, Alex, Elene?"

I felt my face grow instantly hot and I flipped around.

"Oh, he's just fine!" Elene teased.

I guess I forgot to say. The one who had told me he would play chess with me again was Elene's older brother, Alex. I had a major crush on him, like I said before. It was actually kind of embracing having a crush on the brother of one of my best friends. That kind of thing just shouldn't happen, but what can I say!? I mean it's not like I can help who I fall in love with! Sheesh!

As I tried to hide my embarrassment Damaris nudged my arm where I had hit it not to long before. I inhaled sharply and gripped my shoulder.

"What's the matter?" She looked worriedly over at me and slowed her pace slightly, but instantly picked it up again.

"I fell trying to get away from Matthew," I said bluntly.

"You mean that chess-science-math-geek?" Damaris blurted.

"Yeah."

"Poor kid," said Elene. We all knew she didn't mean me.

*

We arrived 'late' according to Damaris and the best seats were already taken, even though there was more than twenty minutes till the previews began showing. At the end, Damaris came stomping out in a huff.

"I can't believe how incorrect that was!" She drew her jacket about her tighter.

"Well, you can't expect everyone to know everything that you do about Rome, Damaris," said Kuri.

"Yes, but the fighting was so unrealistic," I said. Damaris nodded in agreement.

"Exactly!" she said.

"Well, I know something that would cheer us all up!" Elene said. "Uncle Mike's!"

We all cheered in approval. It was our main meeting place, after the library.

"I need a double-scooper today!" I said and everyone laughed in agreement.

We walked down a few streets making a turn here and a there. We talked happily about what toppings we would put on our ice creams as we turned into the empty back alley where the back door to Mike's was. As we entered each of us stopped suddenly. Had we heard something?
I felt dizzy.

A red light drew our attention to the damp ground below us. Not to far ahead something was burning in the stone.

Now let it begin.

I felt my dizziness take over and I grabbed a pole standing next to me for support. The ground lurched forward and before closing my eyes I saw the others fall forward--toward the hard cement.