Lost Soul by Forest Ostrander (red queen free ebook txt) 📖

I was wondering the streets of Whitney Point. I was not afraid to be here on my own, I had grown up in this town and knew the people within it. I went to school here, made friends here, and even found someone I could truly finally love. The streets were quiet as they normally would be in a small town such as mine...well not really a town, more like a village where everyone knew everyone and no one's business was their own. I was just leaving my friends house after a nice day of hanging out with her and was just making my way to a cross walk to head up my road which will take me a good three hours or so to walk before reaching my house when I heard a bunch of boys talking from an alley behind Aiello’s. Curiosity getting the better of me, I decided to take a peek. Slinking in the shadows and behind dumpsters and cars, I inched closer to the group of boys, every step I took made my heart pump so loud that I was sure if my breath didn't give me away then my heart would. Cupping my hand to my mouth to prevent any vapor from escaping I peeked around a dumpster behind the restraint. I could see five or six boys all huddled in a circle. Each one held an expression of pure anger. I looked through the group to see if they were anyone I knew and counted three of my school mates. Brandon, Sean, and Zack. The three boys were of the football team and the wrestling team. The rest of the boys I did not recognize which made me nervous. New people in the neighborhood were not good news, people would instantly have picked them out and news spread like wild fire. I held my breath, what were these guys doing here? What were they planning? As I watched the group I didn't notice that one of the members was walking to the car where I was hiding behind a dumpster nearby. When I finally spotted his shadow coming my way I quickly ducked even further behind the dumpster which by the way was not a pleasant smell, and watched the boy open the driver's door picking out a bunch of manila folders. When all the folders were in his hands, the boy closed the door. It was still too dark for me to make out much of any appearances out of any of the group except my three schoolmates who were thankfully in the light of one of the street lamps illuminating the dark streets of down town. After a few tense moments I finally peeked around the dumpster again and noticed the boy handing out the manila folders to every one of the boys. I needed to inch closer but how was I going to do that without being spotted? Quickly scanning the area around me I noticed another dark ally, this one was a bit closer to the boys but would take a lot of slinking and hoping that I didn't get spotted during the process. Finally making up my mind, I took a few deep breaths to get my beating heart under control and calm my nerves before I made my move. When I was sure everything was under a good amount of control, I used the moves of my favorite movies where the hero or the spy would roll into the closest shadows they could find. I was disappointed when I couldn't do it as well as the actors in the movies but you would think it wouldn't be that hard to do something like that. All it really is, is rolling while aiming where you are going to roll and hopefully make it with no cuts or bruises as you fell to the ground and tucked yourself in a ball and rolled. I knew all this must have been making some sort of sound but when I reached the ally I looked back at the boys and were amazed none of them were looking my way let alone looking around. I sighed with relief. I must have done something right and my skills of slinking around these streets must be improving. I was thankful that I knew these streets better than anyone of the members in the group...well all but Brandon, Sean and Zack. Those boys would be considered my equals in the whole knowledge of the streets and where to hide and not hide. And the sad part, I knew in a fight I could not take all of them on, especially my school mates. I was stronger, no doubt about that. In fact I was stronger than most of the girls in the school and could really take on anyone single handedly but even I have my breaking limit and a group their size would have easily took me down, no matter how much I injured them. Finally I could hear what they were saying and I listened in.

"Are you sure these are all the information we need? There doesn't seem to be much here." That was one of the strange boys talking, he stepped into the light only halfway but it was enough for me to make out some features. His nose was slightly pointed, kind of like a bird’s beak almost. He had chocolaty brown eyes that matched his hair and he had some sort of accent to his tone. He was well built, his arms bulged under his black shirt which clung to his body like a lover. Oddly, despite his nose, he looked handsome, in fact he looked mouth watering.

"Yes. I went through a lot of trouble to get these. You should have no problem finding them. They don't live far from here. You could easily take them on. You only have one problem to deal with though," That was Sean talking. One problem? What could he be talking about? Who could he be talking about? And what information are they looking over exactly? Surely those aren’t the schools files? My mind was racing with questions.

"Who is she?" Mr. Handsome said to Sean.

"Her name is of no concern, you just have to worry about getting rid of her. She won't be easy to deal with but once she is out of the way, people will soon fall and everything will be much easier to take on."

This doesn't sound too good. Who is of no concern? What are they planning?

"Are you sure about this? I don't want any more problems. You failed me before."

"I promise you on the sake of my life. She is the one who can bring these peoples defenses down." Sean was looking at the boy with intensity in his eyes. I knew the kid was mean in school but this mean? And what did he mean by getting rid of her? Who is her?

"For your sake, I hope you're right." I knew I had to get out of there then but how without drawing attention to me? Looking behind me, the ally had an unfortunate wall blocking it, great. Scanning the area again I noticed a bunch of boxes piled next to a wall. I knew then that if I could make somewhat of a tower, I could climb over the wall and drop into the river on the other side. The water would be unbelievably freezing this time of night but it was either that or risk going back the way I came and defiantly being found. Sighing I hoped that moving those box's wouldn't make too much of a sound. Heading over to them, I looked them over. The baggers ones would be heavy and I was thankful that my grandpa was a plumber and had me lifting heavy things much bigger than these box's, plus working at Boces Animal Science wasn't bad either with their 300 pound cages and a good amount of bags of food, I was practically built to lift. Though I was not too muscled like someone one steroids, I was a good size. My legs were lean and well built as well and despite bad knees, I knew these boxes would be no problem at all, the only thing that scares me is the noise it would most likely cause. Cracking my fingers and neck I set to work. I moved the bigger boxes next to the wall, occasionally looking over my shoulder and hoping to dear God they didn't hear me. After a few minutes of no sound or indication that they knew of my existence there I began moving more boxes. Unfortunately, I made the biggest mistake of my life and didn't get some of the boxes stacked well so the result was a loud rumbling as little box's rolled over big box's.

"What was that?" I heard a voice say from the group, my heart leaped to my throat. I've been heard. I quickly hid behind the fallen box's, hoping that they would tower enough to cover me up and would not fall on me in the process. I watched through a crack in the boxes as the boys scanned the isle with their flashlights. I held my breath to the point where I thought I would pass out. Looking up, I noticed a cat perched on top of one of the boxes and heard the boys say.

"It's only a cat. Get the files, we are getting out of here. That noise would have disturbed the neighbors. Whew! Saved by a cat! I sent my silent thanks to the cat on the boxes and watched it leap off in a graceful jump. Landing on all four legs with a silent thump it scampered off to an unknown destination. I finally released my built up breath and stayed there for a few more minute. I had almost been caught and something deep inside me told me that if I had, the consequences would be catastrophic for me. I stood up, brushing off my legs and whipping my hands on my pants I left the ally way and quickly ran home.

I un-willingly opened my eyes to the bright light that flooded through my window into the loft. I had a splitting migraine and groaned as the light hit my newly opened eyes. I thought back to last night, was all of it a dream? Could I have made it all up? Surely I did? Sitting up in bed with a groan I looked at my dirty clothing, dust covered every inch of me along with dried mud. Nope, it was not a dream. I really heard an ominous plan last night and I had a feeling that I needed to do something about it. I needed to investigate this, something bad was going to happen to my small village and I couldn't let that happen. I couldn't go to the police despite the fact that they adore me. Without proof they just simply wouldn't believe what I was