When I ran as far as I thought I could, I finally stopped while leaning against a very pungent restaurant trash container. You know the type, about the size of a sub-compact car, all-metal and painted an awful greenish-brown. It smelled of meat that had been left out in the sun for days. However, my pain was so great that I didn’t mind the smell or all the flies that buzzed around me.
I was gasping, sobbing, and cussed all at the same time, but none of what came out of my mouth was intelligible. The adrenalin and pain were overpowering everything else, even my ability to form words. I slid down the side of the trash receptacle to the ground while holding onto my throbbing knee. I think I was there five, maybe ten minutes before I was able to start to think a little better. My knee, besides being skinned up and bleeding from having jumped from a moving car, was also quickly swelling up on me. It was already more than double its normal size.
Scanning my surroundings, I realized I knew where I was. I was in the alley behind the Stir Fry Palace, which is several miles from the cave Meek and I were calling home. In my current condition, I couldn’t make it more than a few more blocks, let alone a few miles.
Right then a police car pulled into the alley. I was in plain view and they spotted me right away. They must have been looking for me because their siren came on almost immediately.
Again I switched into flight mode and was up and running before I knew it.
Thankfully, the trash receptacle I had been leaning against was sticking halfway out into the alley and thus blocked the cruiser. I was able to limp my way down the alley and duck between two delivery trucks. One of the officers ran right past me, soon followed by the cruiser. Once they were past, I reemerged and limped quickly back the way I had come.
When I had gone maybe four blocks I knew I could go no further but that was okay. I had managed to get myself into to the back of a strip mall that backed up to a low-income residential complex and was able to slow my pace. There was also a long metal chain-link fence that ran along the back edge of the residential properties that I use as a crutch to lean on.
Just when I started to think I was safe at the far end of the alley, a long black car turned and stared toward me.
“GRANDFATHER!” I cried and turned to run.
The horn blared, but I didn’t stop as I pulled over trashcans to slow him down.
There was narrow separation between the buildings and I took a left turn between them to keep Grandfather from following me.
I slowed only long enough to see Grandfather’s car slowing to look down the narrow corridor and that was enough to get me to quicken my limping pace.
Realizing I could not keep up the pace, I quickly turned and ran between the cars parked out front. I had to hope a small block wall only to come down on the other side into a bunch of bushes, which added to my scrapes and cuts. I was sure Grandfather could not follow me without going all the way around, but I could still hear his horn blaring, or I imagined I could. I crossed a street toward a gas station, rounded the service station, and actually hurtled their back fence before crashing onto the gravel back alley with a hard thud. My leg had completely failed me and my right elbow was bleeding pretty bad. That was it, I could go no further.
Looking around I saw I was in yet another alley. I tried to catch my breath but then saw at the far end, first a cop car go by, and then Grandfather’s car quickly followed.
Just then, I noticed the back door to a moving truck that was partially open. This was one of those full size commercial moving trucks. You know the kind for moving the entire contents of a families home. Without thinking, I sort of crawled and limped toward it and rolled myself inside, pulling the door closed behind me. It clunked when it closed and at first, I didn’t realize that what had happened was I’d just locked myself inside. I lay motionless trying my best to breathe as quietly as I could even though my lungs were screaming for oxygen. Once again, my tears began to flow like great rivers down either side of my face as my body ached all over.
I didn’t have to wait long at all before I heard both cars roll past the door. I could hear the police radio, which is how I knew it was them. They must have stopped a little ways past where I was hiding because I could still just hear them, “He must have turned back and is heading to the beach.”
“That was grandfather for sure!” I whispered to no one.
“Follow us through there. We might get ahead of him again.”
I wasn’t sure who had said that, but assumed it to be the police.
I waited a bit longer; listening to be sure they had gone. That is when I realized I was in completely darkness. There wasn’t a speck of light coming from anywhere. I continued to lie there on the metal floor of the moving truck out of fear, out of pain, and because the coolness of the metal against his sweat drenched body felt so good. Even despite the fact that I was in so much pain, I could still enjoy the coolness and it somehow calmed me. I was also letting myself rest and catch my breath.
Swallowing down my fear, I wiped away my tears and I got myself to my feet. Putting all my weight only on my left leg I was able to stand. I then placed my hands on door for support and pushed but it didn’t budge.
I tried again with all of my strength, “Ah damn!” I cussed, “It must have locked when I closed it!”
Feeling panic setting in, I began to frantically fumble in the dark with my hands but felt nothing but metal. I took a breath, let it out, and then took a step forward being sure to keep my arms and hands fully extended into the blackness. My right knee screamed as I put pressure on it, but it held me up. Shuffling my feet slowly forward; I expecting to find boxes, or crates, anything but a monster!
“No I can’t think about that! There is nothing in here but me!”
After several minutes of blindly feeling my way through the darkness, it occurred to me that if I had been using my head all I would have had to do was to just follow the moving truck door to the wall and then follow the wall around until I found the side door which most moving trucks have. Since I was relatively sure what was behind me, I decided to turn around and head back for the garage door. Now ask me why I didn’t just go sideways and find the side wall? Honestly, sometimes I think I am the dumbest person on the planet!
Once I had found the door again, I followed it to the left until I felt the corner where the door and the wall met. My hand bumped something that at first I thought was a snake but then I realized was just a holding strap. I felt my way along the metal wall. I continued to slide my hands along the smooth, corrugated metal, occasionally feeling one of the cleats used to secure cargo. Then my hands felt what I was sure was the side door. Just as luck would have it, it was locked from the outside too. More than a bit aggravated at this point I kicked at the door while praying it would open but it did not.
Now I was really getting scared and my mind now had me convinced that something or someone was waiting in the dark to grab me or worse eat me! Turning around, I put my back to the door and leaned my head back against it and that is when I heard IT!
There was a sort of muffled DINK DINK, a pause then another DINK.
I froze in place, not even daring to breath.
My mind began to tell me what I was hearing was something moving toward me, about to attack me when in reality, what I was hearing was the sound of my own blood from my elbow running down my arm and dripping off my fingers.
Sure I was about to be something’s next meal I slid down the metal side door, rapped my arms around my aching legs and laid my head on my knees as I wept and waited.
Two nights of nearly no sleep, the stress of the competition, and running from my Grandfather with a busted up knee got the better of me and I fell asleep despite my pains and fears.