Sunrise Walks

Note: This is my second draft of “Sunrise Walks” and still needs improvement. Two kids go for walks before school begins, what adventures will they encounter?

Sunrise Walks

At 5:30 AM, the alarm clock goes off interrupting the orchestra of snores coming from the beds.  The bedroom is dark and cold. The boy gets up and turns off the alarm clock, then looks at the other side of the room where his sister is still in deep sleep.  He turns on the light and takes out his school uniform from the closet. He lays it down on the bed, the pants are dark green and also the shirt; the sweater is marine blue with the seal of his school on it.  The boy takes a comb and just pretends to comb his hair; he just randomly combs a bit then skips some other parts. He hates mirrors, so he just combs his hair enough to where he feels with his hand that is uniform enough.

At 6:00 AM, he comes back to his room after having a light breakfast and brushing his teeth.  He checks if his uniform is clean and without wrinkles, because on Mondays the principal checks that everyone is clean and that the uniform is nice.  The boy puts on the uniform and he goes around like crazy looking for his belt, he remembers that the last time he saw the belt it was in the living room couch, he rushes over there but it is not there anymore. He calls out his mother, “Mom, where is my belt?”

“I do not know Carlos, last time I saw it was in your closet”

He runs off to the closet and to look for the belt, it is 6:15 AM now, and he is supposed to meet his friend, David, at 6:40 AM. He finds the belt on the floor of the closet and quickly puts it on. He rushes out of the door with his backpack on his right hand and the money for the bus in the other.  The bus stop is 2 blocks away from his house. The street is quiet; no cars or even dogs.  The sky is still dark and the parked cars are covered with a light layer of ice.  Carlos puts on his marine blue gloves and waits for the bus.

At 6:45 AM, Carlos is arriving at the bus stop near the school. He looks out of the window and sees David standing there with his long black coat covering all the way up to his ears and with his backpack on the floor.  Carlos steps down from the bus and he nods his head and David comes to him. They smile and cross the street to where the line to get into the school is already with 20 people ahead of them, they are always one of the first to get in the line. David makes some comments about them being in the 20^th place, but Carlos just laughs and they leave their backpacks in the line to save their spot.

“Ready?” David asks Carlos.

“Yes, but we go have to walk fast this time!”

“You are the one that got here late!”

“It is not my fault that the bus was stuck waiting for the train to pass. 150 wagons… can you imagine?”

“Alright, today we got to walk around the cybercafé and up to the triangle park then down to the painting store.”

“Okay.” Carlos says and he puts his whistle around his neck. They walk. When they speak smoke comes out of their mouth and at times they pretend like they are smoking. They have been doing this routine since they met in the first grade of secondary school.  They used to do it separated until one day, Carlos noticed that David used to walk around the school blocks just as he did, so he invited him to walk together. They did not have that much in common outside these walks. Each of them had different classes and set of friends.

At 6:54 AM, they are walking near the painting store. The sky is now light blue with a few yellow rays here and there.  Some street lamps are still on, and some others are slowly fading away.  Carlos looks around and sees some old ladies coming out of their houses with a basket in their arms and he manages to hear some clock alarms going off almost at the same time like a symphony.  He holds his black and shiny whistle, and he remembers the day David gave it to him; it was a raining morning and they were sitting inside David’s mother car, and when Carlos asked him why he gave it to him, all he said was in case someday they faced a real crime where someone needed help and it could come handy. Carlos was just happy to get a gift from his friend, but he brought the whistle every morning just in case and to show David that he cared for his gifts.

“Do you hear that Carlos?”

“What?”

“Listen, I hear screams coming from that apartment!” he says and runs off to where the screams are coming from.

Carlos runs off after him. His blood rushes from his head to his toes and he feels his breath shortening. When they arrive at the apartment they see the front door wide open and the screams of the woman coming from inside are louder and it makes Carlos’ skin shiver in fear.  David takes out his cell phone and quickly dials 060 to call the police.  While they wait for the police to come, they still hear the screams. David gets closer to the door to see what is going inside, and Carlos crawls behind him. All they manage to see is the shadow of a tall man and it looks like he has something in his hand; like a bat or maybe a gun the shadows are not clear.

“Should we go in?” David asks.

“What can we do?”

“At least something, we can’t let him kill her.”

Before Carlos gets a chance to speak; David jumps inside. Carlos stays in shock for a second then quickly follows and puts the cold the whistle in his mouth and he blows as hard as he cans.  The man turns around and holds the bat with both hands. David runs off and the man follows, mean while Carlos keeps blowing the whistle.  He sees the woman bleeding and with purple eyes. Carlos feels the rush in his blood to rescue David.  He grabs a bottle of beer that is on top of a table and he runs towards the man and hits the man in the back with it. The man turns and swings his bat hitting Carlos in his shoulder, he lets a loud cry and David turns around.

David shouts, “Come and get me! Leave him alone!”

Carlos tries to get up but feels he feels too dizzy and he watches   the man run after David. He screams but he loses sight of David and the man. He hears the sounds of the bat hitting glasses and doors.  At the distance he hears the police approaching. Struggling, Carlos makes his way to where the man is; he sees him hitting David with fury and he tries to distract the man with his whistle.  The man turns around and swings his bat against Carlos. The police arrive and the man drops the bat when a policeman points a gun at him and tells him to drop the bat. Carlos, crawls to where David is and sees him covered in blood and with his eyes closed. Carlos holds him in his arms and lets out a scream of pain. He feels his heart biting faster and faster and his soul pouring out from his eyes as tears roll down.

The next morning Carlos wakes up at a hospital bed, and he hears snoring and he looks to his side he sees David badly hurt but sleeping peacefully. He smiles and goes back to sleep.

Joaquine 2009