Another brilliant piece from a GUNNAS WRITING MASTERCLASS WRITER
The first time she saw him, he was standing on the opposite side of the street, a cap pulled over his head, staring in her direction. The things she noticed, however,were his shoes which had 2” thick soles, one leg casually crossed over the other.
By the time she reached the bus stop, she became aware of the squeaking noise of his shoes as he stood closely behind her in the queue. She was suddenly aware of the brackish smell of cigarettes and alcohol breathing down her neck. As casually as she could, she edged out of the queue and made for the railway station a block away, the ground suddenly seeming sticky beneath her feet. To her dismay she again caught sight of him. “I have no idea who he is, or why I m suddenly so scared.
Seeing a cafe on the other side of the street, she quickly crossed over and ran, actually ran, into it. “Please” she asked the boy with long blue hair leaning on the counter, “please can I have a coffee – I’m scared, someone is following me”. “Oh yeah?.let’s see”, the boy detached himself from the coffee machine and sauntered over to the window. ?Would you be imagining it? Are you, like, Goldilocks, like someone has been sitting in my chair?’ There’s no one there.”
Perhaps, she thought, perhaps I was imagining it, perhaps I’m just a paranoid bitch, as James kept telling me. I’ll have a coffee and go on to the station. To her relief, Blue Hair accepted the $5 ringit note which was all she had beside her Myke card.
As she sat down to the low-fat Latte, the door of the cafe opened and the man walked in, leaned over her and said “This was not the plan”. Her involuntary scream was answered as Blue Hair muscled, to the extent that his long bony form could muscle, up to the table: “The lady…” he began as the man, without even glancing in his direction, felled him with a single blow to the back of his head.
“Is it human?” she thought, but terror and instinct made her grasp the glass pepper shaker, quickly unscrew its cap and fling the contents into his unblinking stare. Next minute, on her feet, screaming and flying out the door she ran straight into the arms of her ex-husband james who carefully deposited her back in the cafe. “
Get on with the job I paid you for, you loser” he snarled at the man.
But the man was doubled up, weeping, coughing sand sneezing, unable to croak out a word. At his feet Blue Hair Boy was groaning and thrashing weakly, his feet finally connecting with the legs of her ex-husband, who loosened his grasp long enough for her to again make a break for the street.
The light was now fading and she hurtled down the alley behind the cafe, knocking over the array of overflowing bins. The alley opened to a street where a passing bus had stoppedt the lights so she was able to pull herself on board, quickly hiding behind the couple clinging to the rail….
WHICH IS AS FAR AS I GOT.