Witness in the Window

We are here with the next chapter of The Witness in the Window! We left off with Abby seeing Margaret dead, supposedly by a hit and run. Now the panic ensues. Does this have anything to do with the fight that Abby witnessed? Was it actually caused by a hit-and-run? Where is Tom now?

The Witness in the Window

Chapter 3

I stepped back, startled, panicked, and somehow guilty. Maybe, if I had said something, if I had gone to the police and reported domestic abuse, maybe Margaret wouldn’t have died. It’s not like I knew her though, it shouldn’t matter to me this much.

As I wobbled back, my ears were filled with whispers by others who quickly covered my way forcing me to the very back of the crowd. I saw a person next to me, maybe they knew more about what happened. I turned to the stranger and before I said anything I was already distracted. It was a boy, tall, probably around the same age as me. His hair was black like the night sky and the stars were in his eyes. I didn’t want to ask him about Margaret anymore, the whole event that I just witnessed was out of my mind. He was the only thing in my mind now.

“Hi,” I said quickly and shyly. Then I snapped back to what was happening. “Umm, do you know what happened to the girl over there?” I seemed to forget her name in an instant.

“Not really… Well, kind of. She lived in the apartment below me, I never saw her much, except for when I went to school in the morning. She was always standing in her doorway.” He replied. That’s it! He was one of the three kids living across from me!

“ I’m Zaine, by the way.” He said, holding out his hand for me to shake. “I think I’ve seen you around.” He grinned, showing small dimples on both his cheeks. They made me smile too. Although I didn’t have any dimples, it just showed my weird smile lines.

“Abby,” I said, shaking his hand. “Do you happen to go to the high school down the street?” I pointed to the left, which was the direction of my school.

“Yeah, I do. Maybe I’ll see you over there. Anyways I have to go back to my apartment, my mom’s probably waiting.” He smiled again and walked around the crowd to his building. Well played Abby, well played.

The next day the police cars, crime scene, and big crowd of people were gone. It seemed more peaceful now, peaceful being honking cars and shouting people. I started walking to school when I heard somebody calling my name. It was Zaine, he was walking across the intersection crosswalk that went to his side of the street.

“Hey!” He caught up to me on the other side. “Abby, right?” I nodded with a small grin.

We got to school and I waved him goodbye. He said bye too, and smiled! The rest of the day was normal. Our school was big and surrounded by a fence and chalk all over the sidewalk and blacktop.

I started to walk home and behind me, I saw him again. He smiled and walked faster to catch up to me. And it was the same walking home as before. At the very end, he handed me a sticky note with his number!

I was about to walk into my building but I heard a thud behind me across the street. It was the cops and Tom. They were shoving him against the hood of the cop car and putting handcuffs on him. As his head slowly lowered into the back seat I saw his eyes move to me. He stared. I saw anger and fury in his face. And out of all the things that happened, I haven’t been this scared.

The next chapter will be out next month!