Chapter 3

Chapter 3

 

 

“Oh God I’m going to be late hun” Susan cried out rushing around the house, the alarm had not been set that night due to situation erasing it from their worried memories. Eric grabbed hold of her coat and threw it to her.

“Here catch!” she caught it quickly and slung it over herself doing up the zip quickly.

“So we need a few groceries sweetie but I’ll get them after work, I only work for half of the day today” Eric placed his hands on her shoulders and smiled at her.

“I’ll get them don’t worry, I have to leave this house one day” he kissed her on the cheek, “Better get it over with now” she smiled weakly at him and nodded.

“Okay, but I’ll be home as soon as I can” she rushed past him and opened the door to be greeted by a group of news crew. They instantly began yelling at her and trying to push their way in to the house, Eric looked away quickly instantly feeling much more nervous about leaving the house. He heard the door slam hoping for silence, but to no avail, the rowdy voices of the reporters still filtered through the wooden structure. He sighed and ran his hand down his face as he fell heavily onto the sofa. He looked to the answer machine and pressed the play button upon it.

“You have 68 new messages” the machine spoke in its usual droning voice. “Message one, Mr Jones this is Dr Elbert from New York hospital. We have a Patricia Jenkins here and you’re the person she has requested we contact, she would like to see you” he looked up quickly suddenly remembering her, his memory flashed back to the moment it happened. It was all clear to him, no detail blurred or tarnished. He thought to himself, ‘Should I go see her, I don’t know if she’d even still be there anymore’. He shook his head and stood up quickly.

“No I can’t see her, not yet” he took a deep breath and looked to the door. He had already gotten himself dressed concealing the wings he so hated and despised. “Okay Eric, you can do this” he said to himself. He approached the door slowly and placed his hand on the handle; he shook nervously getting the jitters. He gritted his teeth and swung the door open, time slowed down for him, he knew what was about to come from the actions he had taken. Noise suddenly burst out from the silence, flurries if questions and the whirr of cameras clicking filled the air. They all huddled around him trapping him within the parameters of his own land, he put his and in front of his face and barged past them desperately trying to reach his car. He breathed in and out panicking as sweat clung to his brow, he had suffered from claustrophobia for years and this was his worst nightmare. He had grown accustomed to using elevators and sitting in the squalid cubicle for years, yet crowds was the bane of his phobia. He finally reached his car and slid inside not without struggle though, however he had reached a dilemma. They hustled around him giving him no room to move or to escape, he could not go forwards nor back without the risk of running someone down. He turned the car on revving it as loudly as he could signalling a warning to them, they did not move but instead carried on yelling at him. He gripped the wheel tightly and muttered to himself.

“I gave them a warning if they choose to ignore it then fine!” he threw the gear stick into reverse and slammed his foot on the accelerator, they moved quickly for him until his finally reached the road and darted off as quick as he could.

 

The TV echoed loudly in the police station, upon it was a young black woman; her face was caked in makeup and behind her lay the Jones household.

“Around 9:30am today Eric Jones finally emerged from his house, he acted aggressively towards news crews and spewed out verbal abuse. His wife Susan Jones however did not and has remained calm around the crew, we are still to finally reveal the so called wings his possess but promise you we will not rest until his secret is ours to share”  A couple of young policeman sat their scowling at the TV as they sat in the break room.

“You hear that Harold, another freak walking around New York that’s all we need” the policeman spoke angrily. His name was Vernon James, in his mid-20s, blonde hair and green eyes. He sat with his feet up on the table coughing loudly in between words.

“Yeah, as if we don’t have enough of those damn coloured people walking about out there” Harold replied agreeing with his statement. Harold Hunt was a man in his late 40s; he was bald with no eyebrows and had dark brown eyes. He was muscular in build a real hard man they would say. The door suddenly swung open to reveal a man who was clearly aged over the years, his face was wrinkled and his hair was thick and grey.

“I thought I’d find you two in here” he started, “Come I need to speak with the both of you”

“Y-yes Chief” they both said simultaneously. 

 

Eric sat back in his car wiping the sweat from his face; he looked out the window to the large Walmart he had driven to. The ‘A’ on the sign had been broken a long time ago and never had been fixed; Eric always thought this was just through laziness and nothing more.

“Right” he spoke to himself, “I just need to get some groceries, it’s easy I just need to get out of this car and walk…into that crowded supermarket” he banged his head gently on his steering wheel sounding the horn accidently. “Great I’m talking to myself, the first sign of madness”. He looked out to the supermarket and took a deep breath. “Alright, here I go” He stepped out of his car finally and took a sigh of relief that no one so far had seemed to recognise him. He began to walk nervously and cautiously up the car park edging closer and closer to the Walmart’s automatic doors. The right door slid open yet the left did not, just another thing which had never been fixed in the years this place was open. He entered the store still shocked he had not been spotted or recognised, he was all over the news after all. He thought maybe it was just the fact these people didn’t care and just wanted to get their shopping done and head home before starting their own corporate days. He gathered the shopping he needed, milk, eggs, vegetables the usual things they would need. He began to approach the cashier as suddenly a young black man slammed his shoulder into Eric’s knocking him to the ground, usually he would have turned and shouted at the culprit yet he did not want the attention and let him be. He picked up his groceries once more and finally reached the cashier. He began loading his shopping onto the conveyer belt and smiled at the young green eyed woman behind the desk.

“Slow day today…” he looked down to her name tag, “Diana?” she smiled back at him and giggled, “It’s been busier than you’d think today, you’re just lucky you seem to have hit a slow point in the day”.

“Thank God, at least something is going my way today then” he said chuckling weakly, she looked at him confused. He lifted his hand and shook his head.

“Never mind don’t worry about it” she continued to scan his items as he bagged them. She began taping buttons on the cashier,

“£34.99 please” he pulled out his wallet quickly revealing his card and slid it into the machine. Suddenly a voice echoed from at far end of the supermarket.

“Hey stop!” a man voice echoed, the young black man darted from between the shelves suddenly and out the door followed by a middle aged security guard, he lifted his radio to his mouth as he ran.

“We ‘ave a young black man possibly in his 20’s on Davidson Street, he was caught behaving suspiciously in Walmart” he spoke breathlessly, as he reached the door an explosion abruptly sounded at the back of the store. The shockwave tore through the shop knocking down the shelves, Eric looked back in horror as at least ten people could be seen injured or possibly dead. Fire raged and the smoke began to build up quickly setting off the smoke alarms. Yet the sprinklers did not activate and left the fire to spread unhindered throughout the store.

“Everyone out of the store!” the security guard yelled, everyone dispersed quickly and darted out the store leaving behind shopping. Eric grabbed his card before running as fats he could to his car. He jumped in quickly and started it as fast as he could; he pulled out quickly letting his tires screech on the tarmac. He shivered as his emotions were still raw from the shock of incident. It wasn’t long before police and fire crew were darting past his car appearing as nothing more than a blur.

 

He finally began to approach his home yet to his surprise his lawn was empty, neither camera crew nor cars could be seen. He pulled into his driveway slowly actually parking his car correctly as he always would have done in the past. He stepped out of his car and looked around, it was unusually quiet, deathly so. It was peculiar to him already not seeing the life sapping vultures crowding around him the second he left or came home. He chuckled weakly.

“Won’t Susan be surprised” he said to himself, “I wonder how long this silence will last for though” he entered his house quietly and sat upon the sofa, he began staring at the floor unsure of what he was to do. He flicked on the TV quickly to see if the incident had made then news of course already knowing the answer. His eyes widened in terror as he saw the footage being shown, he focus directly on him at the cashier as the explosion happened. It was if it had been timed the second he put his hand back in his pocket the explosion was caused.

“If you see this man we must warn you to call the police immediately, he is highly dangerous” his jaw dropped as did the remote from his hand. They were blaming him, the media had twisted the events trying to pin him to the crime, tears left his eyes as he sat back on the sofa.

“W-why me?” he stuttered, “They already know he probably did it, why are they blaming me?” he went quiet waiting for the second his door would inevitably be knocked upon. He thought about it, they couldn’t possibly arrest him for this crime, there would be no proof. Could they?  

Reviews

[ROSALIND]

Is this a book .
If not it jolly well should be much enjoyed 😁

[Rhianne Ney]

What is going on here? A person framed! Hope you get out of the trouble, dude. Anyway, nice read. And impressive as always(:
Can I ask you a favor about the spaces though (: I have trouble reading it since it was too packed