PHOTO | Tara Espinoza
Previously…
I felt red flush across my face…
I walked out of class and ran to the bathroom. I needed to see Dante, I needed him to be okay. Why would he wait so long to reach out? Was this some elaborate prank gone too far? Was he in too deep? I couldn’t imagine him taking it this far, he’s a good person.
*RING*
School finally let out. I went home and prepared, I had to bring some extra supplies to defend myself if need be. I grabbed pepper spray and the closest sharp object I could find that wouldn’t attract my mom’s attention.
I told my mom I was going to Leila’s and left at 8PM. I got on my bike and followed the GPS to the address Dante gave me, but when I got there, it was just some empty plot in the middle of nowhere.
I looked around and noticed eyes glistening in the trees at the back and started walking that direction, dropping my bike near the road.
“Erik??” a voice whispered from the trees
“Erik, they’re looking for me, I need your help, none of this was supposed to happen. I was just supposed to house it.” He walked out slowly, and his clothes were discolored, browns and reds all over, he had scaring all up his legs and his jeans were ripped into shorts.
“Who’s they Erik”
“The people I was working for… There’s s-“
Next thing I knew he’d collapsed; I called the police and suddenly everything went black.
-2 weeks later-
The police found Dante and I passed out in the plot. The people responsible turned out to be a heinous crime family. Dante and I made a full recovery, and everything went back to normal once the investigation finally came to a close. Nobody ever figured out why I passed out, but something was definitely off that night.
