Chapter 11

Tessa’s POV

Where did he just go?

He was only there moments ago.

The only proof left of anything happening was the crumbled motorcycles left in the streets. I stood in place, trying to make sense of everything that had happened, but my mind couldn’t comprehend any of it.

Soon, a police car was pulling out in front of me, along with an ambulance. A couple of cops got out of their cars and rushed toward me once they saw the shards spread out across the street.

“Are you okay?” One of the officers asked, examining my body with his eyes. “Can you tell us what happened?”

I was still staring off in the direction of those goons, tears lingering in my eyes and threatening to escape.

“I was attacked,” I managed to say, turning my direction to the officer taking the notes. “These gang members on bikes followed me and tried to get me to go with them.”

“We have an officer patrolling the area as we speak,” he explained. “Just try to breathe. You are safe now.”

“How did you know I was in danger?”

“Joseph Evergreen accidentally saw that you were in danger from his office window,” the officer said, peering up at the school building where the teacher’s offices were located. “He called us right away.”

I felt a wave of dizziness upon hearing his words.

Looking up at the officer, I said, “Joseph Evergreen was here. Did you see him?”

The officers looked at one another curiously.

“No, we haven’t,” one of them answered. “Was that just now?”

“Yes,” I answered. “He came out of nowhere and stopped the bikes with his bare hands. It wasn’t like anything I had ever seen before.”

The officer raised his brows, and I couldn’t tell if he believed me or not.

“That’s quite a story, mam,” the officer said as the others continued to look at one another with timid frowns.

“It’s not a story, it’s the truth,” I said firmly. “I watched him stop those motorcycles. Then, he just disappeared.”

The officer sighed and pulled out his phone.

“I will get to the bottom of this. But you should get checked out by the EMT’s.”

I frowned but didn’t say anything more as he turned away and went to call Joseph on the phone. I doubted he would answer. He was off running somewhere.

I went over to the ambulance where the EMT’s checked my body for wounds. Once they saw that I was fine, they finally got into their ambulance and drove off, leaving me with only a couple of officers left.

“Well, I called Mr. Evergreen,” the officer said as he approached me. “He said he’s been in his office all night.”

“What?” I gasped. “That’s not true. I saw him here. He was—”

“He’s been working all night,” the officer said, cutting into my words. “He only saw the commotion from his window and called us. He apologizes for any confusion.”

My heart fell into my stomach, and I took a step away from this cop.

I definitely saw Joseph. I felt him when he wrapped his arms around me and pulled me out of reach of those bikes.

He saved my life.

I wouldn’t have been able to get out of this without him.

Soon, the officer’s phone dinged, and he frowned down at the screen. Then, he showed me the screen and I saw a surveillance camera from the hallway of the school office building. The footage showed that Joseph walked into his office and didn’t come out the entire time I was being attacked.

I stared at the video shocked. I’m not sure how he did that, but it couldn’t have been right.

“You might have just been overly frightened and imagined that scene in the final moments,” the officer said, shoving his phone back into his pocket.

I wanted to argue more and say that I knew what I saw. But I knew no good would come from that.

I was at a loss for words.

“Do you have a way of getting home?” The officer asked, eyeing me carefully.

I didn’t have my own car here in the city. Brian asked me to drive his cars when necessary.

I was fairly close to Ruby’s apartment, but the thought of walking there by myself made me feel nervous.

“I can call my friend,” I told them, reaching into my purse to grab my phone.

The officers went to talk to one another while I called Ruby.

Thankfully, she answered right away.

“Hey, Tessa. Did you make it home?” She asked curiously on the other end.

“Not exactly,” I said slowly. “Can you pick me up?”

…

After I called Ruby, it didn’t take her long to come and get me. Once she arrived, the cops left.

“You should never be wandering around at night,” Ruby scolded as we made it back to her apartment. “It’s dangerous out there. Especially for women. You should have known better.”

She was right. I shouldn’t have chosen to walk home at night by myself. Especially knowing that there have been frequent incidents in the city recently near our school. Which Ruby hasn’t failed to remind me about.

Before we went home, we stopped by my old place which was only about 15 minutes away from Ruby’s apartment. I didn’t see Brian’s car in the parking lot, which meant he was hanging out with Amanda and his other friends. But I still waited in the car while Ruby was able to get most of my stuff.

Once she finished, she returned to the car with my stuff in bags and got back into the driver’s seat.

“This was sitting on the coffee table,” she said, holding me a folded piece of paper. “Something tells me it’s for you.”

I opened the paper just as she started driving away and all it said was: I’m sorry.

It was definitely Brian’s handwriting.

I stared at the note, silently for a long while as we continued driving to Ruby’s apartment.

“Don’t let him upset you,” Ruby said, peering over at me. “There are better guys who are more deserving of you. Brian’s a loser and always will be.”

She was right. It was time for me to fully move on from him.

I crumbled up the note and tossed it out the window as Ruby cheered.

Once we were back at her apartment, I put my stuff in the corner of the living room. Ruby lived in a one-bedroom, so I had to stay in the living room. Which was fine because Ruby’s couch pulled out into a decent-sized bed.

While Ruby made up the couch bed, I went through the stuff she managed to grab for me, and I frowned when I noticed that a majority of my clothes were ripped.

Most of the stuff was already in bags when I entered the apartment,” Ruby explained as I held up one of my favorite T-shirts which was no doubt ruined.

This had to have been deliberately done by Amanda, or maybe even Brian. It didn’t matter. I didn’t want to think about it anymore. I could use some of Ruby’s clothing until I could get a new wardrobe.

Ruby made us dinner and we ate while watching TV in her small living room. Once we finished, and the living room had quieted down, I grabbed my laptop, which was thankfully not ruined, and opened it to the paper I had tried to write in the library.

I stared at what I had written already, and I knew it was fiction, but it just felt so fake and non-genuine. It wasn’t something I was proud enough to hand in.

I thought heavily about the events that happened today and I thought about how amazed I was when Joseph Evergreen appeared out of nowhere and helped me.

He’s done this numerous times already.

I suddenly had a burst of inspiration and once I started typing, I couldn’t seem to stop. I began writing a short story based on my experiences today. Of course, I changed the names. But I write about a man who accidentally gained superpowers and hid among the humans, only coming out to save others when absolutely necessary. His rule for himself was that every time he saved someone, he had to move to a different place. Until he saved a girl he couldn’t bear to leave.

It was the first time I had written so fluently in the process of creation.

Reflecting on everything that happened tonight, was it all real? Or was it all in my imagination?