Chapter 2- Alan

SQUELCH.

She stopped abruptly. She knew that sound. Someone was watching her closely. Her senses had perfected now that she started coming here. She knew every inch of this place.but she was unarmed,and if someone was here,she was defenseless.

"who's there?!", she asked with more confidence than she had expected.

No response.

Of course,there wouldn't be any response. No one would be that stupid.

Suddenly, she caught movement at the corner of her eye. She turned, bent down and picked up a big stone. She started moving in that direction.

"I know you're here,come out now or I swear I will use this stone.", she said fiercely.

Then ,as swift as wind, a boy stepped from behind a wide tree, wearing black jeans,a dark green leather jacket,and an annoyingly smug smile. "PEEK A BOO!"

It was Sarah's best friend, Alan. He was your average famous kid in the town. Child of extremely rich real estaters, girls swoon over him at sight. And he bully kids for absolutely no reason.But that was till he met Sarah an year ago. He soon realized that he hated the rich life where he was forced to wake up 5 am in the morning to 'help his father with business stuff' and his friends dragged him to the club all night where he was knocked out cold from way too much alcohol. What he really liked was hanging out here in Sarah's plot, helping the farmers in the paddy field. Sarah tried to teach him archery, but he had worse aim than a drunkard, which in fact he was. He can be really annoying at times, but it was cool to have him around. Though Sarah would never admit to him, she would really miss him if he were to go back to his old life.

"ugh,its you.", Sarah said without any emotion.

"miss me? I know you did. Listen, I came to to tell you about your uncle. He's an idiot."

" tell me something I don't know. what did he do this time?", Sarah asked irritably. Her uncle was either the most shameless guy or the most idiotic guy she ever seen. Maybe both. Hard to decide that he was related to her mother. He maybe once loved Sarah and her family,but that was before her mom died. After that, he channeled all his pain and sorrow into Sarah. Occasionally,he rams his giant jeep into small roadside shops,just for the fun of it. It usually ends up in the police station from were Sarah had to bribe the inspector to let her uncle go .total 3 times ,if you don't count the incident where he destroyed a farmer's field(Sarah also had to compensate with the farmer for that). Now Amir Mohammed, the man who used to be a successful car dealer is the main entertainment of the police station. Sarah had sworn to herself that she wont help him next time he gets himself into trouble. But Sarah was the sole member of her family who was not completely dumb,broken or currently not around. And her uncle is family, even though he locks her up in her bedroom,starving her for days just because she's alive. So,she just keeps on saving an idiot repeatedly even though she never gets acknowledged for it.

"well, for starters, he broke the support beam for that new bridge that's being build. Then,when the police came to take him, he punched the constable in the face. I don't think any amount of bribe is going to let him out this time around.",said Alan in a disgusted tone.

Sarah growled in frustration. " great, just great. Oh god, what did I ever do to get such a daft person for an uncle!",she throw her arms up in the air. " look, Alan...help me on this one, I have to get back home soon, with or without my uncle. Just, can you ask your dad for help? Maybe he can get him out of jail."

Alan sighed and said, " I don't know, Sarah. You know my foster dad, he hates me now. But,if I promise to work with him for a while, maybe he might help. But amir would still have to spend a day or two at the police station."

"thank you so much, Alan. I know you hate to work with your dad, but I have no other option. Its going to get dark soon, and aunt and the kids will get terrified if I don't get home soon.", Sarah said with a sorry look.

"naah... its cool,sis. You owe me now. How about one of your special chocolate cakes this weekend?",he said with a smirk.

" yeah, whatever. Just help Amir and bring him home . tomorrow's harvest day,right? I'll meet you at the fields at dawn?"

" cool, dawn works great.",he started walking away. "See you later, Sarah.", he said.

"Bye Alan.", Sarah said with a wave.

And with that, Sarah started walking back to her bicycle. Once reached, she took a black hijab from the cycle's basket and pulled it on. She didn't want to cause any more trouble by going in front of grandmother without covering her head.

She kicked the stand back,climbed on the cycle and started pedaling.

And without even meaning it, she was soon pulled back into a vortex of memories. Memories that she wished she could erase from the dark black void that formed her mind.