I Overhear a Planned Ambush is the third chapter of The Gift of a Best Friend. It was first published on May 24, 2016.
Chapter[]
|
Chapter I hate kindergarten. I like it to get away from my dad and Savanna, but I can’t get away from Jasmine. She would sit next to me on the school bus and at school. She doesn’t talk to me much, but she watches me weirdly. “What do you want?” I asked her. “To be your friend,” she replied. “I don’t want a friend. Now go away.” She was hurt by that, but she still didn’t go away. What does she want from me? Even her friend, Peter, was wondering that. “I want to help her,” Jasmine told him. “Why?” he asked. “She doesn’t want you to.” I was starting to like him better than her. “I want to help her,” Jasmine would keep saying. I just tried to ignore her and focused on the teacher, but it was hard to do sometimes. On Saturday, I wanted to go to the park. I grabbed a small book from a shelf in my room, and left my house, not bothering to tell my dad where I was going, not that he cared anyway. I walked to the dead end of the neighborhood down the street to the bridge. I crossed it over the river below, and into the park I was. I walked over to the empty swing set, sitting down on one, and swung on it a little bit while reading my book. It was a stupid kid’s book, the Velveteen Rabbit, but it was the only one I had, so I read it. “Hi, Annabeth.” I looked up from my book and noticed Jasmine standing next to me. And she wasn’t alone. And I don’t mean with Peter. Her family was with her. Great. A woman that looked a lot like an older version of Jasmine, with blue eyes instead of black, came up to me. Her tummy was sticking out through her shirt a little bit, looking bigger than I think it should be. I think I knew why. There was a man with his arm wrapped around her, standing beside her, and he had black hair and black eyes. His eyes looked similar to Jasmine’s. You know what that means. “Mommy, Daddy, this is Annabeth,” Jasmine introduced. The woman knelt down next to me. “Are you Annabeth?” I nodded. “Where are your parents?” I pointed across the river. “Do they know you’re here?” I shrugged. The woman narrowed her eyes at me. “Oh. I’m Sarah, Jasmine’s mother. And this is her father, Zak.” She gestured to the man standing next to her. “Hi,” I said. “Do you want to come play with us?” Jasmine asked. “No.” She looked hurt. “Please.” “No.” “Jasmine, she doesn’t want to play right now,” her father, Zak, said. “But, Daddy—” “No buts. Let’s leave her alone now, ok?” Jasmine looked at me, disappointed. “Ok.” She grabbed her mom and dad’s hands and the three of them walked away from me. I felt my eyes getting wet watching them and I turned away before the tears could fall down my face. I didn’t want Jasmine to see me and I didn’t want to see her, so I decided to move over to the big yellow slide and hid inside halfway down. It was hard to stay in it, but I managed. I just hope no one comes down it while I’m in it. I continued to read my book. After a while, I heard voices at the top of the slide. “Ain’t she a little cutie,” one voice said. It sounded like a boy. “Yeah,” another agreed, also a boy. “I’d like to do some things to her.” “Dude, can’t you ever keep your horny thoughts to yourself?” the first boy asked. “Like you? No.” Horny? Does that mean they have a lot of horns? “Look, we can’t mess with that family,” the first boy said. “There’s too many of them, and they’re all very protective of each other. If we mess with one of them, we mess with all of them.” “I know that,” the second boy said. “But I’m so fucking horny. And that little girl is giving me a strong vibe. You can’t tell me you don’t feel it too.” “That’s her aura. But if we go after her, that’ll be like suicide. We should find another girl, preferably in another country.” “No. I want that girl. Now, are you going to help me get her or not?” “Even if I do agree to take her, we’ll have to get her when she’s alone, which she never is.” “She will be eventually, and we can wait until she is.” “I know I can wait, but I doubt you can,” the first boy muttered. If I could hear him, I knew the other boy could too. “I’m not hearing a no, so I guess you’re in?” he asked. The first boy sighed. “Fine. But I decide when and where to take her.” “Fine. But she might do it willingly.” “Yeah, and when does that ever happen?” “Never.” “Exactly.” “Hey, we can try. With someone as young as her, it would be easier for us if we could get her to stay still.” “We’ll see about that.” “Oh, yes, we will.” “Until then, keep your horny thoughts to yourself.” “Fine.” My heart was beating fast. I didn’t know what they were talking about, but it sounded bad, and I had a feeling that the little girl was Jasmine. Before I could decide what to do, one of the boys went down the slide. He slammed into me, and slid down the rest of it together, me dropping my book in the process. I quickly stood up and ran away. I quickly stood up and ran away. “Hey!” one of the boys called. But I didn’t stop. I ran home, which would probably be the first (and last) time I’m actually glad that I have a home that I can run to when I really needed it. I hope you guys liked this chapter. Annabeth, being five years old, of course doesn't understand what those guys are planning to do. She just knows that it's bad, and she's right. You guys can probably guess what it is. This is one reason why this story is rated T. Please review here. |
Character Appearances[]
Main Characters[]
Minor Characters[]
- Peter Hollinger
- Sarah Saturday
- Zak Saturday
- Frederick Chase (mentioned)
- Savanna Chase (mentioned)