Dark Justice - Ch1

1
Sarah looked out her bedroom window at the glorious summer day. There were no clouds in the sky, but plenty of birds. She watched as her neighbor's dog ran out halfway across the street and then stopped and turned around as it was called back.
She went downstairs and turned on the TV. She flipped through a few channels until something caught her attention. It was an ad she had seen countless times already, but never got tired of watching. It showed a movie that had recently been a big success. But what really caught her attention was the girl who starred in it. That was because Sarah was that girl.
         “Oh, I see you're ad's on again. VHS and DVD, huh? I didn't know they still made tapes for pop movies like that.” Her older brother Jim walked out from the kitchen. “Haven't you seen enough of yourself?”
         “You know it's hard work.” Sarah replied. “And I feel great now that it's done.”
         Jim laughed. “You mean you feel great now that the money's pouring in. How about lending me some?”
         Sarah smiled. “You're supposed finish college before I'm allowed to give you any money.”
         “Oh, that's right...” said Jim in a tone that implied he already knew this full well. “But, there's nothing saying you can't just lend me a few bucks on the side...”
         He ruffed up her hair and then went back into the kitchen.
         Sarah patted her hair back down and looked outside again. This time, she noticed something unusual. There was a boy standing there, a boy about her age, looking right back at her. She walked right up to the window, never breaking eye contact with him.
         “Jim?” she asked.
         “What?”
         “Can you come back in here?”
         He walked up beside her and she pointed out the window at the boy. Jim stared for a minute, and then asked, “You know him?”
         Sarah shook her head. The boy looked at Jim, then put his hands in his pockets and started walking down the road. Sarah and Jim watched until he was out of sight.
         “I'm glad he's gone.” Sarah sighed in relief, sitting back down.
         “You shouldn't be surprised.” Jim said. “Once people start recognizing you as a big movie star, you're never gonna get any peace and quiet.”
         Sarah walked out the front door, looked up and down the street with her arms folded, sighed again, then returned to her house.   

The next day was the first day of school, and Jim was right about Sarah's sudden popularity. Everyone talked to her about her movie, or at least acknowledged her newfound stardom by looking at her differently or quickly changing the subject of conversation with their friends. The day seemed to be taking longer than it would have last year, even though both days were of course the same.
         When the bell rang signaling that the final class was over, Sarah took her time getting to the buses, and  missed her ride. She picked up her cell phone to call Jim, but the battery was dead. 'Why didn't I recharge it last night?' she thought.
         She began walking home alone; all of her friends she could have walked with were already way ahead of her. She passed by office buildings, the metro station, hundreds of nameless shops, and came to a park. Looking at how dirty and dangerous the rest of the city seemed, she decided to pass through this place instead of taking the quicker way down Main Street.
         There were people talking everywhere. A bird was chirping nearby. It flew down to where Sarah was walking, and landed right in front of her. She walked right up to it, and it didn't move. She thought this was a curious thing, and so she picked up a stick and rattled it against the ground nearby the bird. It chirped, but did not move, except to breathe in another lung-full of air to continue chirping. Suddenly, it grew dark, and the bird took off in flight. Sarah turned around, and there, the mysterious boy stood next to her.
         “It's strange to see someone doing that to a bird.” the boy said. “Even if it was stranger still it wouldn't move.”
         Sarah jumped back, and almost lost her balance. “Are you following me?” she demanded.
         “No.” said the boy. “I live here. For now, at least.”
         The strangeness of the bird seemed insignificant now. “What do you mean you live here? You mean in the park?”
         “Yes, for now.” the boy repeated. “It seemed like the only worthwhile place in such a dreary town. Unless you know a place better where one could stay for free and not be harassed.”
         Sarah didn't say anything for a moment, because she wasn't sure how to respond to that, and in this moment, she noticed many things about the boy. Besides the fact that he talked in a strange way, he was wearing a plain black t-shirt that seemed to be a little worn, baggy jeans and some kind of necklace, but what was on that necklace she couldn't tell, because it was hidden behind his shirt. She also saw that they were now somehow completely alone, even though the place had been filled with people just a minute ago.
         “I sort of like parks, I guess. Towns with parks are usually better than those with just buildings and streets.”
         “Why were you looking into my window yesterday?”
         The boy looked Sarah right in the eyes, and then turned away to look at he rest of the park. “That's a little complicated.” He said slowly, as if choosing every word he said very carefully. “It's hard to talk about, still.”
         “What do you mean, hard to talk about?” asked Sarah, getting a little worried now. “What do you want with me? Look, I know it's not a coincidence I found you here today, even if you do live in this park, so what is it you want from me that you keep turning up?” She ended almost a little hysterically.
         “The crime rate in this city's high.” said the boy.
         “What?”
         “About to get higher, I suppose.”
         The boy looked right at Sarah, and then behind her shoulder, as if checking for something, and the possible horror of the situation dawned on her. Things flashed through her mind, terrible things, about what this boy wanted with her.
         Sarah turned around, and as she did, she bumped into a man in a brown trench coat with a knife.
         “Hand over your money!” he demanded, looking around him, checking for vigilantes or police.
         Sarah ran off to the right, taken by this sudden new panic of being robbed, passed through some bushes, and took a glance behind her. The man was following her, but the boy was nowhere to be seen. She jumped through some narrow trees and came out at a fork between two buildings. There was a left path and a right path, and she darted down the left, hoping to lose the pursuer. Up ahead there was another fork in the path, with the buildings tall around her, enclosing her, almost blocking out the sky now. The path grew darker as she ran, taking a right this time past some buckets, and coming to a dead end. She darted back down the other way, passing the buckets again, and came to a door leading into the massive building. The handle wouldn't turn. She banged on it a few times, but this factory complex probably hadn't been open in years.
         She turned around, crying now in the darkness, as she heard footsteps coming up behind her. There was a sound of flapping cloth, the buckets that Sarah had passed earlier falling over, and the voice of the man saying, “Damn it!”
         Sarah stood still for a minute, then began reaching in her backpack for anything that would hurt the man. His figure came around the corner, and darted toward her. She grabbed a bottle that was lying on the ground and dropped her purse. “Take my money! Just get away!” she yelled.
         He continued to come closer and closer, and so she raised the bottle. When he was right in front of her, she lowered the glass with a terrible force. She felt a strange feeling in her arm as it was knocked to the side, the bottle falling from her hands and smashing on the ground. Through the gloom, she saw the shape of the boy.
         “Go through the door and out the window on the other side of the room. Then, go left down the street and tell the policeman what's happening.”
         Confused, but scared enough to obey, she reached for the knob. “Wait, it's locked.” She cried and whispered at the same time.
         “No, it's not.” said the boy.
         She opened the door, and came into a room full of old, rusty, heavy machinery. She ran across to the other side, and, sure enough, there was a small window open there. She turned just a second to see the door closing behind her, and the shape of the boy disappearing with something running towards him. With some effort she climbed through the window, and came out onto an empty street. She ran down the left path like she had been told, all the way to the end of the factory, and found a police car behind a billboard. There was an officer inside with a speed-measuring gun, but he was sitting relaxed as there were no cars on the road now.
         “Help!” Sarah screamed.
         The officer jumped out of the car, and his partner came out from behind some bushes, next to which a motorcycle was parked.
         “What is it, kid?” he asked her.
         “There's some man who attacked me in the park, he's got a knife, and he tried to rob me, and so I ran into this building, and there's a boy in there who might be in trouble!”
         “Radio for backup.” said the first officer. The second got into the car, used the radio, then locked it up and headed after the first, who was knocking open a wooden door that led into the room Sarah had come through.
         Sarah went to the window and watched as the officers opened the door she had stood next to,  pointing their guns down the dark alleyway. “I don't see him.” said the first. “I'll check down here.” said the second.
         “What did he look like?” asked the first, turning to Sarah.
         “He was kind of scraggly and old, with a brown trench coat and black pants.”
         The officer relayed this information through the radio as a patrol car arrived and two more policemen got out.
         “One of you, stay here with the girl. We've got an armed runner with a brown coat and  'scraggly' hair. Let's move in.” Ordered the first officer, as the third joined him and the fourth took Sarah back to the car.
         It wasn't long until a third car showed up, followed by the successful capture of the strange man The policeman who seemed to be doing all the talking came over to Sarah and asked, “We can't find that boy. Do you know who he is?”
         “No, I'd never really met him before.” replied Sarah.
         “Right.” he said, picking up his radio. “Continue to search for the other kid, Jackson and I will take the girl down to the station so she can be brought home.” He looked down at Sarah, who was quivering, covered in tears, and holding her arms together as if she was freezing. “She seems a little shaken up.” the officer added.