Jake - I

Days Later.

Evening came sooner for Kai who happily relished in the richness of Dayspring. 

He raced through a couple of blocks in the hood as was his usual sporting exercise on purple evenings like this. Actually he did this on every other evening, even when it rained; especially when it rained. 

He sprinted through, hopping past a couple of more blocks. He'd left the Estate in a little over 20 minutes. These grounds were quiet but thankfully he had on his headset for the music company. 

Rap was his most preferred genre of music. Eminem's 'homicide' blasted beautifully in his ears, giving him the perfect boost he needed to run his laps. 

Two days ago, after Larry had accosted him with talks about his newly acquired girlfriend, Janet; their mum, Mrs. Chase would not let Kaiden free of her constant disturbance. She buzzed his phone multiple times a day only to investigate if he'd equally found a girl he fancies.

''Quit bugging me, mum...'' Kai shoved her off a couple times before. 

Just as he was about to push past the Campus Mall, his phone buzzed again.

Running faster, he ignored her call whilst expecting his music to turn back on. By the time he'd raced past the square, his phone had beeped for the umpteenth time. He slowed down a bit and clicked the side of his device to receive her calls.

''Kai honey...'' Her voice sauntered softly over the receiver but he was in no mood for this.

"What's the matter this time around, mum? I kept ignoring but you won't stop calling. Now you finally succeeded in cutting off my music.'' 

''Oh honey, you got me worried once you wouldn't answer my call.'' She stopped. ''And why're you breathing so hard? Are you doing the usual exercise or the unusual exercise? Also, who's the girl?''

Kaiden hissed at his mum for being so blunt and naughty. Why in the world should the thought of him making out with a girl even cross her mind? I mean, do people who do those things even bother with their phones at that moment? Larry wouldn't.

He scoffed and then said. ''I'm simply running, mum. You're distracting me by the way.''

"Oh alright.'' Her voice sounded pained. ''I want to ask; have you gotten the time to see Janet? I mean Larry told me about her being all nice and-"

"That's it? Bye mum."

"Ah, ah wait!" Mrs. Chase pleaded because she could guess how very well her brat of a son would not hesitate to drop the call on her. 

"What now?"

"Uh. Yes. I wanted to add that; maybe you should try to be a little more supportive toward your twin brother? He's worried that he might not be able to bring her home.'' 

"Bring who home? Look, mum. Larry is fine. Plus he's all grown up and can do whatever the fuck he wants. He can turn the lounge into a brothel for all I care.'' 

"I beg your pardon! My Larry is a sweet little boy. He would never stoop so low.''

''And I am running out of patience. I need to get my music back on.''

''Is that all you're going to say to me, Kai?"

"Yep. Gotta go. Bye bye."

Kai dropped the call and felt thankful once his music got back on. If his mum wouldn't stay out of his business, he was going to have to apply certain measures and fast. But why was everyone bent on him getting a girlfriend anyway. He's never seen girls that way apart from the fact that they were... Well, girls. He's never felt those things Larry often fantasised about, and yet there was Larry, he felt differently for every girl he's ever dated. Janet's seems most legit though but Kai could only get his hopes up. He still wasn't quite sure about that jerk of a brother he's got.

Kaiden jogged some more. Then he saw her.

''Great.'' He snarled. ''Just great.''

Just when he was finally starting to enjoy his solitude along with the evening breeze, little miss stalker a.k.a Keisha Rowlings decided to hop in on his sprinting challenge. 

He raced ahead of her.

"Hey!'' She shouted, her voice ever so pitchy. ''Kai honey, please wait up!" She screeched loudly, almost alerting folks from miles across the residential part of the school.

Kai hissed and turned to look at her.

''Hi Keisha… '' He mumbled softly and then pushed forward and faster, creating a large distance between them.

Keisha knew how much he hated getting disrupted while having a runout but she couldn't help her urge of wanting to be with him. 

''Hey! Wait up… '' He snubbed her but she sprinted further. She was putting on a banded white sleeveless crop top on a pair of pink coloured leggings. Her sneakers bounced tiredly against the tarred roads as her breathing became frantic. Keisha has got to admit. She was nowhere good at such sport. Her dancing talent was what paid off for her thus her enrollment in the cheerleading team. But as for all other sports, she gladly stayed out of it.

Her racing stamina began to slow down and she wiped a slab of sweat with the back of her hand, the smudge of wet sticking longer at her skin.

''Ewww!''

As she slowed herself to a stop, (Kai was way ahead of her by now), she became frightened by what she saw; a big burly creature, an animal, trotting towards her. Her eyes widened and her feet went numb. She peeped at Kai but he was so far gone. That place was quiet that the moment she sucked in her saliva, she heard it gulp its way down her throat. 

*****

The animal kept approaching her steadily and she retreated a couple of steps behind. Its eyes were scary and its ears pretty huge, slumped to the side of its head.

Suddenly it stopped some distance in front of her and barked.

WOOF! WOOF!! WOOF!!! 

Alas! The dog was a Rescue and as she gulped in another lump of saliva, she became cold in her spot, thinking she needed an actual hero to rescue her from this beast in front of her. Her eyes got buried deep inside her skull. 

Whose dog was this? She mused quickly.

Apparently it had to be a stray one due to how his neck chain was dangling from his neck and carelessly scratching against the grounds of the lonely tarred road.

"Kai… " She muttered softly from seeing it walk menacingly towards her. Her throat dried up and she hoped that Kai had heard her call the first time. Had he?

The Rescue inched closer to her and her heart did sink to the abyss of her chest. She panicked.

''Kai… '' She lost her voice and shouted only in her mind. 

Once the dog reached some four paces in distance from her, she strained her lungs allowing her shout to bust out of it. 

"Kaiden!!!!!''

No answer came.

Shakily, she steered her eyes from the beast to look on at Kai instead. His departing silhouette under the red sky caused her heart to fail. Her Saviour was right there, but instead of running to save her heroically like in the movies, he was jogging further and further away. 

'Damn stupid headphones!' Keisha cursed from observing his headset. Why didn't she notice this before?

Once she turned to look back at the dog, she saw how he let his dripping tongue stick out of his mouth.

Does that mean that it's hungry?

She observed his eyes grow smaller and she panicked about it. The vibe she was getting from this animal was not good. Now would have been the perfect time for Kai to show up or anybody for that matter but this was a huge gap away from the School's residential areas. No one would come.

Gripping her eyes shut, she allowed her mouth to scream as loudly as it could. 

''Aargh!!!!!''