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Chapter Two: Meeting the Boys
Scared of being alone in my house, I left with Phoenix. So many questions swirled through my head. Who was this man? What was he doing here? What was that cloud? Why did it kill my mother? Did Phoenix send the cloud? I also thought of all the warnings my mom had given me about getting into cars with strangers. Usually I would listen to her. But, since I just saw a black cloud overtake my kitchen and consume my mother’s life, I discarded her wise words and went with a strange man that I barely knew. I couldn’t believe that this was happening to me. Everything felt like a dream that I hadn’t woken up from yet. To make sure this wasn’t the case I stopped in the middle of the sidewalk and started to pinch myself.
“Um… what are you doing Michelle?” asked Phoenix with a puzzled look on his face.
“Oh, nothing” I replied embarrassed. Phoenix and I continued our walk to his van in silence.
Once we had reached the van, Phoenix knocked on the door five times. “What’s the password?” demanded a deep voice from within the van.
"Open up Cooper it's just me" reassured Phoenix.
"Give me the password you impostor!" the voice screamed so loud I nearly wet my pants.
"Okay fine since I left the keys inside the van... I knew I should've taken them with me".
"Look, give me the password or I'll blow your head off!" At this point I started crying.
"Onions!" yelled Phoenix. The van door opened. "Now look what you did" scolded Phoenix, "You made the poor kid cry... Here Pointer take her for me."
Another young boy took me… he didn’t seem to be much older than me for he was small in size. “How old are you little one?” he asked in a thick Irish accent.
A bit stunned and shy I answered, “I’m f-five… how old are you?”
Boastfully, he answered, “I am nine… N-I-N-E.” I rolled my eyes; I said I was five, not two. I know how to spell nine I thought to myself. “Hey Phoenix” started Pointer, “This lass looks like your Arizona!” Phoenix just looked aside and whispered, “I know”.
Poor, oblivious Pointer had no idea that he had awakened a painful memory in Phoenix’s mind and turned to talk to me. “Well then you little booger”, teased Pointer, “I guess you know my name but I don’t know yours, right?”
I nodded.
“And I’m sure you don’t want me calling you a ‘little booger’ all the time… Now do you?” I glared and shook my head.
“So? What is your name then?”
“My name is Michelle” I whispered in a barely audible voice.
“Oh come on” complained Pointer, “It’s not like I’m going to bite. Talk a bit louder you mouse!” Astounded by Pointer’s harsh comment I held my head high and looked him straight in the eye and repeated, “My name is Michelle” Pointer flashed a smile at me and said, “Now that’s more like it lass.” I grinned back. He seemed like an older brother figure, although I had only known him for no more than five minutes. Then, I turned around and looked out the window.