The man in the blue hoodie biked up to the boy. The boy turned to the man and asked, "Are you a cop?" The man did not respond but told the boy, "You're in big trouble." The boy was confused and asked, "What do mean big trouble?" The man then asked, "Do you know what happened here?" The boy said nothing and turned away, down the sidewalk.
The man turned and followed the boy, asking again, "Do you know what happened here?" The boy said nothing and kept looking down. The man asked, "A series of disappearances were reported to me.
image
Do you know about them?" The boy said nothing but turned and looked the man in the eyes. The man asked the boy, "Do you know what happened here?"
The boy did not turn back and continued to look at the ground. The man asked, "Do you know what happened here?" The boy then looked up and into the man's eyes and said, "If I did, I had to tell them." The boy continued pedaling down the sidewalk. The man kept riding behind and kept asking, "Do you know what happened here?" The boy continually refused to turn back and face the man. After a few minutes, the boy stopped riding, and without saying a word, started walking.
The man rode up to the boy, stopped his bike and said, "You have to come with me." The boy turned and said, "No one can bend me to their will." The man responded, "You know what happened here." The boy shook his head and said, "I have no idea what happened here." The man said, "Come with me." The boy did not respond and looked toward the ground.
The man then started to ride toward the boy, who immediately turned and started walking away from the man. The man sighed and dismounted his bicycle, which fell to the ground and was crushed under his weight. The man started running after the boy, shouting, "You must come with me. You're in big trouble! There's nothing you can do about it. You don't know what happened. I'll tell you what happened. I've been looking for you." The boy did not turn back. He continued walking.
The man ran to catch up with the boy. The man said, "What happened here?" The boy did not stop walking and said, "If I did and you've been looking for me, you know anyway." The man stopped running and continued walking. The man said, "You can do nothing about it. You're in big trouble. You don't know what happened here. I've been looking for you. The boy continued his pace.
The man spoke and said, "When you stole the bike, you were supposed to come with me. You were to tell me what happened." The boy said nothing, but continued to keep looking down.
The man became very upset, "Do you know what happened here? What happened here?!" The boy stopped. The man stormed at the boy, grabbed him by the shirt and shouted, "WHAT HAPPENED HERE?!!" The boy stared into the accusing eyes of the man. He said nothing. The young man shook the boy, "Answer me! What happened here?!!" The boy was silent but did not look up. The man continued to look at the boy, who refused to look up. After a moment, the man let go and walked away. The boy did not say anything.
The man walked away, his breathing heavy and loud. He was not in an emotional state to talk. The boy looked at the ground and continued to walk.
The man walked a while longer and then turned around. He went to the boy, who was walking in the same direction. The man walked up behind the boy and said to the boy's back, "What happened here is that I've been looking for you for a long time. I've decided that you're in big trouble. When I found you, I wanted you to come with me. Now that I've found you, you're in big trouble.
You do not know what happened." The boy turned around, said nothing and continued walking. The man asked, "What do you mean I've been looking for you?" The boy continued walking in silence. The man said, "What, you don't have time for me?! You have all the time in the world for them, but you don't have time for me! You and I have an appointment to keep!" The boy continued walking and said, "You don't have time for me!" The man said, "Why would you say that? You don't know what I have been through.
I've been looking for you for a long time. I didn't know you're very smart. I've been looking for you. After you stole the bike, I was afraid of you. You could do anything, and I didn't know you'd be so lucky to get away with it. I was afraid of you, but I wanted you to even more. I followed you, managed to hide in plain sight, waited and watched.
I watched you steal the bicycle, watched you leave without me. I feared you, because I didn't know what you were capable of. I followed you and hid, waited and watched, and then I wished I had you along to help me. A person can only do so much by themselves. You have a lot of spunk, but you were lucky to avoid a lot with all the prep. I'm in no danger of dying, but to you, if I die it wouldn't bother you." The man looked down, ashamed. "I stayed safe, dodged you and tried not to think about what I was going to do to you.
I knew I would catch you one day, but I was worried that you would never be found, especially not by anyone. So, I kept hoping one day you'd come looking for me, and I was able to be found. I didn't want you to steal the bike on me, but I was worried about someone getting hurt by thieves.
