A 14-Year Old

We ran till the end of the frozen food aisle. When we looked back, it looked like we had lost him. I turned to Hannah for an explanation. “Who was that, Hannah?”

“I don’t know.”

“Then why did you make us run?”

“He looked dangerous. Sort of.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I am. Very sure.”

“You don’t look sure.”

“Well I don’t, but I am.”

“You can tell us if anything happened or if you know that guy.”

“God! Jean! I don’t know anything. I just ran and I just ran. Okay?”

“Okay!” I shrugged. She turned and started going back and motioned us to come too. I flung an arm around Crystal and the three of us went with her. The day didn’t go like we thought it would, with the misunderstanding in between. We actually had some fun. We had a few fun stories to share with Jess and Rose.

At night I had called Scott and we were discussing about the guy we had seen. We figured that definitely Hannah was lying to us. I made a mental note to squeeze it out of her someday.

End of Chapter 3.

Chapter 4: R&K Communications.

“You can’t be switching jobs! This is not fair!” I exclaimed.

“What? Everything is fair, Jean. Why does it matter to you so much?” my Dad answered with a weird expression on his face.

We had been arguing with Dad for a few hours. What had happened was that Dad had switched jobs. But since my siblings and I loved his previous office too much. We even had a few friends there like Sir Robin. Also Emily the assistant. Right now we were in Dad’s office and had reluctantly agreed to help him clear his stuff and throw the junk in an empty carton. It was just me and Hannah. It was very boring until someone knocked on the door. “It’s open,” Dad called out. A man entered and when he saw Dad he put on a smile. His eyes were wrinkled when he smiled. He wore a cardigan and pants and looked like he was in his 30s. He was looking uncomfortably familiar too.

“Oh, Sir I was wondering when I would see you,” he spoke with a surprisingly soft voice.

“Yes. Brydon… was it?”

“Yes Sir.”

“Oh I’m glad you showed up. I was having trouble understanding this,” Dad motioned to a pile of papers then he looked at us and nodded. “Excuse us kids.” The strange man nodded at us to and left us alone in the office. I slouched into my father’s chair and sighed. Hannah smiled at me and pouted. “C’mon Jean. It’s not much of a big deal.”

“That guy sure was strange.”

“Who? Brydon?”

“Yup.”

“No, no. Not to me. He was pretty okay.” I wasn’t too convinced. I told Hannah that I was bored and wanted to get something from the vending machine. I asked for a few dollars. She rolled her eyes and gave me $3 from her pocket.

“Tell Dad I am near the ground floor machine,” I called out while leaving. As I made my way towards the lift my hands touched something in my pocket. I pulled the ‘something’ out. It was a key. Not on a ring but just a single key. I tried to remember what lock it unlocked. I was still staring at it when a voice said, “Jean?” I jumped and flipped, it was Emily. She smiled a little and said, “Did I scare you?” I shook my head.

“Why are you standing here alone?”

“I was just on my way to the vending machine,” I explained.

“You should have brought Hannah with you. If someone saw you alone you’d get fried up. C’mon I’ll escort you.” She motioned to the lift. When we stepped in there was a woman in it. She smiled at Emily and Emily nodded back. She got off on the 13^th floor. When we were alone I asked Emily if she knew about Brydon. She nodded and replied, “Yes, I do. He is the guy your Dad is switching places with. He is taking your father’s place here in R&K Communications and Mr. McCollister is taking his place,” I nodded and then waited for the lift to stop. I took a coke for Hannah from the machine and a box of chocolate milk for myself and headed back. When I got back Dad was already in the office. Hannah looked at me and grinned, “You took forever. I was convinced that you had finally dropped dead.”

“That is so lame and five minutes is not forever.”