poemtry and prose

He wore a pair of black military style pants, and white canvas shoes. He had a black button down shirt that was open to reveal a red stained yellow t-shirt. The black shirt had also been torn in a corner. His hair, was wet and plastered to his head and had bits and pieces of grass and leaves in it. It looked like he was trying to get away from something that was running after him.

The boy stared at her, his breathing labored. Autumn wanted to step towards him, but hesitated. She was not sure what she should do and fear that he might also want to hurt her kept her from coming close to him, helping him.

"Please, help me. They are after me," he spoke, looking over his shoulder. "I could not do what they wanted me to and I failed to read the book. And now, they are after me."

Confusion grew over Autumn's face. The boy was babbling and she was having a hard time following him and what he was saying, "Who is following you? Do you want me to call the police? Are you hurt?" Autumn took a step forward, towards the boy. But he pulled away, unsure he could trust her. "Look I am not one of them and I want to help you."

A laugh erupted from the boy, "You cannot help me. No one can. If they knew I was here, they would take you away and probably kill you too. At least they will not find it. I hid it. Blackstone was furious when he learned I took it. But it was the only thing I could do to save us, to stop him. You think I am crazy, you should see him. He is worse. Way worse."

Sweat poured off the boy's forehead as he continued to babble on about someone she presumed was named Blackstone and some weird item. Autumn locked her eyes on the boy and never took her gaze off him. She moved her eyes from staring at his face and looked down at his shirt. That is when she noticed the red stain started growing.

"Oh my god," she cried, putting her hands over her mouth, "You are bleeding. Let me call the police and an ambulance. They could help you."

The boy shook his head and dropped to his knees on the floor. "No! Do not call the cops. No cops. Knowing Blackstone they are probably in on this too. He has so many contacts, it is hard to know who to trust and who not to. They did this to me. This is what happens when they find you and catch you." He lifted his shirt to expose a series of four slash marks that sliced deeply into his skin from his right side down over his abdomen. "I do not know how I evaded them, but they lost sight of me after they cut me. Fuckers, they had no idea how fast I really am. Still..."

A spasm of blood erupted from his mouth as his body started coughing and twitching. Autumn suspected that the pain of the cuts caught up with his body and that the boy was going into shock. She rushed over to him and put her hands on him, trying to keep him from collapsing all together.

The boy laughed some more, his muddy hair hanging into his face. He lifted his head and stared at Autumn, "Oh god, it hurts. I am dying you know. They got me really good. Blackstone finally beat me in the end I guess. Fuck him, fuck him and the weird ass beasts he controls. They are the ones with the claws. Unlike the ones that fly. I guess..." more coughs, "I guess I was lucky that he sent them after me. There is no way I would be able to hide from those flying bastards." He grabbed hold of Autumn's arm.

"There is a stone in my pocket. Take it. It is shaped like a raven, cut from black onyx. That is his symbol. Take it and hide it, and never let him find it. It will protect you, from them. I think. Hah, a lot of good it did me. But no matter now, I hid it safe and good and they will never find it. Better for us that they do not find it."

The boy looked up at Autumn and a smile grew over his face. And then, his head dropped down and hung limply. The blood had started spilling over his black pants and onto the floor. Autumn realized that she had stopped breathing throughout this whole time, and tentatively drew a small breath into her lungs. She gently set the boy's body down on the ground and held back a scream when she realized that he was no breathing and his eyes were open but distance. He was dead.

Autumn rushed to lock the front door of her store. She did not want anyone walking in on this until the police came. Then she rushed to the front counter where she kept a cordless phone and dialed 9 1 1. The phone's static turned into connection sounds as Autumn fought back the fear and the tears and tried to keep a grasp on the situation at hand.

"Portland Emergency. How may I help you?" a calm woman's voice came through the other end of the phone.

"I I I need the police... I do not know how to explain it, but er, um... someone walked into my store with a lot of cuts and died," Autumn stammered back, her voice filled with a numb dread.

"Okay ma'am, please hold on and stay calm. I need to know your name and where you are located. We are locating you by GPS but if you can just stay on the line we will have several units out to you right away."

Autumn closed her eyes and did her best to answer all the questions and give the emergency line the right information. She had never seen anything like this in her entire life and was scared beyond belief. Fifteen minutes later, the tell-tale sirens of two police cruisers could be heard growing closer. A third, of an ambulance also sounded in the distance. Autumn rushed, still holding the phone, over to the cold body of the boy, laying in the middle of the store, his eyes still open. Autumn reached out her left hand, still shaking from shock and closed his eyes, out of respect. She then felt around the boy's pants pockets, searching for that stone piece he wanted her to take. It was smooth and hand carved and cold and Autumn slipped it into her pocket without getting a really good look at it first. Then she stepped to the front door and unlocked the door just as the two cruisers appeared.

The rest of the afternoon and evening went by in a blur. The police focused on the boy first, searching him over and taking pictures of the giant wounds on his body. Then, after the ambulance arrived, the boy's body was placed in a body bag and taken away. Autumn figured they would be going to the hospital up on twenty-third street and down to the morgue where a photographer would then take pictures of the boy and an autopsy would be started.

Once the body was removed, the police focused back in on her. "Ma'am, I know that you have already been through a lot today, but it is important that we get as much information about what happened as soon as we can. Are you okay enough to talk?"

Autumn nodded her head in agreement and walked over to the counter. She took a shaky deep breath and told them about how she first saw the boy a few days ago, in her store, looking confused. Then she told them that she was shocked that the boy had come back to her store. "He was babbling on about strange things," she told them. "Mentioned that someone named Blackstone was out to get, or kill him, I think. And that he had hid something very important somewhere."

The police detective wrote all the things down in his book, "Did he look like he could have been on any drugs, Miss Chase?"

"No, well, I do not know. He seemed to not be on any drugs, but I know that he was acting rather strange. So I guess he could have been on something."

More scribbles went into the notebook. "We will make sure that the investigation team runs a drug analysis check on the body," he said to a uniformed cop standing near him. "Would you mind it if we looked around your store, to make sure nothing was dropped behind?"

Autumn nodded in agreement. "Go right ahead officer. I will probably be closing the store early today. So feel free to take as much time as you want."

The detective nodded and waved his hand for the forensics team to enter the store and start gathering evidence. Two techs walked up to the front door and pulled a small jar of black powder from their bag. Using a brown brush that looked similar to the brushes sold with fancy facial powder, they tapped some of the black powder on the rim of the door to the store. Dusting for finger prints. Autumn then spent the next two hours trying to stay out of the way of the police as they scoured her store for possible evidence.

Finally, after the police had crept over her store inch by inch, the lead detective returned over to Autumn. He pulled a small three by five inch card out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. She read the letters on the card and realized that it was the cop's business card. "If you find anything out of place in the store or think of anything other details you may have missed, please give us a call."

"Yes, sure officer. I will do that," Autumn said as she put the card in her jacket pocket. "I hope you figure out who he was and what had happened to him."

And then, Autumn was left alone in her store. It was dark outside and the store felt changed somehow. She felt changed. Goose-bumps ran up and down her arms. Autumn turned to the cash register and scanned the screen for the time. Five hours had passed since the boy wandered into her store, and normally she would be getting ready for closing about this time. Today, however, she was unsure what to do next. She wandered in and out of the aisles of books, wondering what the other store owners would think, wondering what everyone who saw the police cars pull up to her store thought. She wondered, if her store and the death of the boy made it on the nightly news. And then she wondered if this was the end of the store. "No one will want to come into this store now," she thought. "People who die in stores, make bad press and I am sure by now that rumors are flying up and down the street with all the other store owners." A tear dripped down Autumn's cheek as she thought about all the hard work she put into her store, the dreams and aspirations she had for it.

She continued to absently stare from one shelf of books to another and did not hear the door chime behind her. The sound of feet shuffling reminded Autumn that she had a job to do. Pulling out from behind the stacks, she noticed two men looking around her store. They wore black leather trench coats and had on identical dark brown suits with blue shirts and a black tie under the jackets. Both of them wore glasses, which Autumn though a tad bit strange because it was growing darker outside. Both men had slicked back black hair.

"Are you the propriator of this store," the taller of the two called out in a more statement sounding question. Autumn noticed that the man had a thick foreign accent, although she was unable to place it.

"Um, yes. However the police have already been here today," she retorted, "Who may I ask are you and can I see your credentials?" She did not mean to sound so rude but the new visitors seemed a bit odd and out of place.

The taller man nodded to the shorter man who then pulled out an wallet and flipped it open to display a large, official looking badge. He held the wallet out for Autumn to hold. She ran her hand over the badge and looked at the identification card held behind a slip of plastic. The card was white with a picture that matched the short man who was now standing before her. Across the top in big black bold letters read INTERPOL, the international and european version of the United State's FBI deptartment.

"Interpol, huh?" Autumn was puzzled, "What does the international police want with me?" She closed the wallet and handed it back to the short man who smiled.

"We were contacted by the police deptarment a few hours ago. The person who died hours ago in this store was a wanted felon who fled from Germany a few months ago. When the police ran his finger prints through the database and discovered who he was, they called us in. Now can you tell us, please, what you two conversed about before his death?"

Something inside told Autumn that these two men, were not all they seemed to be. While their credentials appeared in order, there was something dark and mysteriuos surrounding them. And she did not like it one bit. It all appeared so strange.

"It all happened so fast. There was not a whole lot of talk invovled. He said that he had been cut by something and that he knew he was dying," she replied, trying to act calm and natural. She did not like lying to officials but hoped that her answer would satisfy them.

"Did he give anything to you? It is very important that we know if he dropped anything here or gave anything to you?" the tall man probed.

"That seems like an odd question to ask me," Autumn began, "I do not think he left anything here and no, he did not give me anything. I am confused, what sort of thing are we talking about? The police have already crawled over every inch of my store, so anything that he may have dropped would now be in their custody. And to answer your question, no he did not give anything to me."

The short man nodded at her responses but kept turning his head around the store as if he knew something was left behind. Something that the police missed.

Autumn continued speaking, "You are more than welcome to look around my store, but I am sure you will not find anything except for books."

"We would appreciate that," the tall man replied and nodded at the short man who started wandering away, searching for something.

The tall man returned his gaze to Autumn but did not take his sunglasses off. He reached once more into his jacket, an action that made Autumn take a step back. "If you find anything out of the ordinary here, a book or sheet of paper or something. Please call us. It is very important that we retrieve the stolen items and return them to their rightful owner." He then flicked out a card between two fingers and extended his arm towards Autumn.

Autumn slowly took the card from the tall man and nodded, "Of course. If I find anything I will let you and the police know."

"No need to get the police involved with this business. They have already done their part in helping us find the perpretrator. He was a very masterful theif over in Europe who stole items of great worth and antiquity."

The short man returned to join them, and looked at the tall man. It almost felt like the two were talking to one another with only their minds. The short man nodded once more in Autumn's direction and then headed towards the door. "Thank you for your time and patience with us ma'am," the tall one said again, "and remember. Call us if you learn or find anything new." The two men then slipped out the front door and walked away from the street.

Autumn looked at the time on the register once more. It was now six thirty. She wished more than ever that Andrews was there with her. The events of the day left her haggled and cold and unsure about the safety of her store to protect her from anything. Her intuition kept poking at her stomach and left it all tied up in knots. She figured that it was time to close the store for the night so she locked the door shut and turned off the Open sign and hurridly worked through the store closing process.

When she was finished, she looked outside the store's windows one final time. Even though she could not see anything through the glass windows, she had the feeling that something was outside waiting for her, watching her every move inside the store. People walked briskly down the street and Autumn waited until she saw a group of people coming slowly down towards her store. She set the alarm and rushed out the door and quickly locked it behind her. Then she jogged to catch up to the group of people who had just passed the store, careful to look around herself. Nothing jumped out from behind a fence post or between the building to grab her. Still, she followed the group of people closely and attempted to make herself blend in with the rest of them, forcing herself to nod and smile at the conversation going on.

They passed by the light rail stop and Autumn ducked behind the glass covered stop. Only one other person was waiting for the train and Autumn stood close to them. Looking down the track, Autumn saw the train's head light coming closer to them. She looked around once more, the feeling that something was out there and it wanted her growing closer to her, and tapped her foot on the ground. A minute later and she was safely on the train, heading down to the Max stop.

Fifteen minutes later, she was running up the street to her apartment complex. Her mind now filled with terrified images of winged creatures and animals with sharp claws and teeth out to get her. It mixed the horrible dream she had the night before in with the stories that the boy told her and the fear that something was out there and waiting to kill her. But nothing came. She threw open the door to her apartment complex and ran by her mailbox. There was no way she was going to get the mail today. Maybe tomorrow. And then she rushed through the door to the stairwell and ran up the flights of stairs to her floor. Standing outside her apartment, Autumn fumbled for her keys in her jacket pocket. Her mind had her all worked up in a frenzy and her fingers shook as they tried desperately to unlock the door to her salvation. Once she was inside, she slammed the door and locked it behind her.

She slumped to to the ground, her back still pressed against the front door. Autumn ran a hand through her long curly hair and took a deep breath. Bubba Gadget peered at her around the corner of the kitchen and meowled a soft greeting. Autumn smiled at the cat and started crying, the stress of the day finally catching up to her. She crawled on her hands and knees over to the siamese cat, and picked him up. Bubba Gadget started purring in Autumn's arms. Autumn stood up and wandered through her apartment, turning on all the lights. Even though she felt safer in her apartment, she could not shake the feeling that there was something outside, ready and waiting to hurt her. Bubba squirmed a bit in her arms and Autumn set the cat down on her purple chenille sofa.

Leaving her boots on, she plopped down on the sofa. She arched her back and set her head on the top of the sofa and closed her eyes. Thoughts flooded her mind about the store, the boy, her life and the two strange Interpol police who came to her store. She was not sure she bought their story one bit. Autumn brought her hands up to her eyes and rubbed them, trying to get her brain to slow down and stop thinking about everything going on. She allowed her body to slump down to its side and she cuddled her knees to her chest. Soon, Autumn's breathing slowed down and she fell asleep.

A muffled voice woke Autumn up. She sat straight up and realized that she had fallen asleep on the sofa. She pushed her hair from her face and strained as she tried to make out where the voices were coming from and what they were saying. A horn trumpted and Autumn realized what she was hearing. Her alarm clock. "Wow. What a day," she said, rubbing the sleep and dried tears from her eyes, " I cannot believe I slept the entire night on the sofa."

Autumn stood up, her back sore from the hard sofa. Bubba Gadget had curled next to her feet in the last remaining available space on the sofa. She reached out and pet the cat on his back and the cat purred. She walked back into her bedroom to check in on the time.

"Hello, my name is Amy and you are listening to Oregon Public Broadcasting. Before we get to our normal daily programming, it is time for some news and weather. It is going to be a sunny day today, with the highs in the mid to upper fifties. And as for the news, the police have reported two strange cases of wild animal attacks occuring near the west hills. Yesterday, a boy and a girl were found dead, badly beaten with what can only be described as long claw marks across their bodies. Their names have not yet been released. Authorities say the two incidents are not related as the bodies were found miles apart. After police found the body of a young woman, in her mid 20's up on a hiking trail near twoent-third, they have decided to open up the possiblity that a cougar or bear may have found its way into the upper portland wilderness. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife caution people who use the trails into the hills to be on the look out for large and possibly infected anamals."

Autumn sat on the edge of her bed as the voice droned on about the story and several other news items. "Is it possible that there was a second attack last night?" she thought. "I am almost certain that the boy they were talking was the one who dropped in my store. But who was the girl?" Autumn thought about calling the police and asking them for more information on the attacks, but a better idea popped into her head. She rushed out of the room and into her office. She grabbed her Apple Powerbook and typed in the URL of a local television station.

"If OBP has it on their newswire, then I am sure that I can probably find out more about the second attack from the internet." The page loaded into her browser and Autmn scanned news headlines, looking for a link that would send her to more information about the attacks. Finally, half way down the page, she found what she was looking for. "Wild animal attacks," read the headline. She clicked on the link and waited for the page to display, hoping that there would be a few links. She was worried that the second attack could have been made on someone she knew.

The page finally loaded and Autumn scanned the article paying close attention for physical descriptions and for names. No names had been released yet, the article said, but there was a picture of the girl. Autumn gasped when she saw the image. In the picture was a girl with long red, curly hair and brown eyes. If Autumn had weighed a bit more and was about 5 years younger, the image of the woman in the picture could have been her. Apparently, the woman was running in the hills on one of the trails that was no more than five miles from her store, the Page Turner. Autumn closed the browswer and shut the lid on her powerbook. She had a bad feeling in her gut and somehow felt that things were going to get a lot stranger.

Thinking about all the people she knew and could trust in, Autumn knew she could not sit around in her apartment any longer. There had to be someone she could confide in, someone who could tell her who she could trust. The only name that her mind kept fingering was that of Andrews. She decided it was time she hunt him down and see what he could do to help her.