White Fur

Chapter 8

Skyler’s POV

Friday and Saturday went by in a blur, all I seemed to be focused on was my date on Sunday. The festival lasted from 8am to 9pm on Friday and Saturday, which unfortunately didn’t leave much time for other activities. But I was able to send a couple messages to Kanto during the day. Later at night we’d talk about my day and his day. I told him about how I stopped 4 kids from eating glue, 3 kids from putting markers or crayons up their noses, and 1 kid from chopping off all his hair with a pair of scissors. Kanto filled me in on an annoying project his company was working on, how the clients family kept adding more demands to their design which would contradict other family members’ demands. I was very happy to not have his job, adults tend to be more of a hassle than kids.

I was so happy waking up today because it was finally Sunday. The last day of the festival and my date with Kanto. I showered quickly and got ready for work. I put on a pair of jeans and black sneakers so I could be comfortable, but since all my staff shirts were dirty from the previous two days I had to wear a fancier top than I wanted. I put on a dark green, loose v-neck shirt with long bell sleeves. I was just happy that Mrs. Johnson was back to working the crafting booth today so I could go back to the ticket booth. I pulled my hair back into a high ponytail and added some light makeup to my face. I went to my small kitchen to make breakfast when I heard my phone buzz.

It was a message from Andrea.

-Don’t forget you are working the dunk tank for the last hour today. See you soon boo!

Uhhhh I completely forgot about the dunk tank. I packed a swimsuit, a large old t-shirt and a pair of shorts for the possibility of falling in the water. Then as if he knew I was about to text him, my phone went off again.

-Good morning. Still on for tonight?

-Yes but is it ok if I push the time back a bit? I forgot I have to work the dunk tank tonight and seeing as how the high school’s baseball team likes to stakeout that booth I’ll need more time to get ready.

I felt really guilty about asking him to push back the time. He’s a busy man with a probably busy schedule, I feel making him work to my schedule again.

-No worries. Maybe I should stop by and try my hand at the dunk tank.

Fear and humiliation ran through my body at the thought of Kanto knocking me into the dunk tank.

- No thank you. But you can stop by my apartment at 9, I should be ready by then.

-Haha 9 it is, see you then. I hope the water is warm.

I laughed and put my phone into my travel bag which was so much easier to carry than my giant teacher bag. I finished making my breakfast and grabbed everything else to go to the festival. As I walked down the street to go to the park where the festival was held, I ate my toast and thought about my preparation plans for after the festival. I walked enjoying the morning sun on my face in between the big buildings. I took a brief pause in front of my new favorite skyscraper, I looked up at the Boterea building wondering if Kanto was there.

“Good morning, ready for the last day?” I practically shouted at Andrea when I got to the park.

“You have no idea.” She looked exhausted, there’s a good chance she isn’t going to be in charge of this next year. “You look cute, is it because you are working the ticket booth today or is it because of the guy who made you seem so happy on Friday morning?”

“Andi, I always look cute for you, my dearest.” I winked at her jokingly.

“Oh please Sky. You’ve been looking cute all weekend in case your new man-candy shows up.” She was right, Kanto has made the joke of stopping by way too many times for me to not be prepared. “Can you at least tell me his name? You’ve been so secretive about him.”

“I told you, I’ll tell you more if we become more serious. We can even go on a double date with your invisible boyfriend.” I knew Andrea had a boyfriend but after all these years I’ve never met him, I don’t even remember his actual name she always just refers to him as B.

“What can I say, B is a busy man who—“

“Who barely has time for me. One day his boss will give him more time but for now he’s just too busy.” I finished for her in a mocking tone of me trying to sound like her. I’ve heard this excuse so many times I’ve memorized it.

“Smart ass.” Andrea smiled. “Anyways it’s almost 8, and again don’t forget you are in charge of the dunk tank from 6-7.”

I rolled my eyes and groaned about volunteering for that. Andrea waved goodbye with a cheeky smile and moved off to inspect the tents. I went to the ticket booth and prepped everything in there. The other teacher working with me helped make sure we had enough rolls of tickets after seeing the line of people start forming. Right at 8 o’clock we started to sell tickets and the park started getting noisy.

The day continued on like that, selling tickets, making sure the students were giving the proper change, getting more rolls of tickets and occasionally texting Kanto to persuade him not to come to the dunk tank. At 5:45 I left the ticket booth to change into my swimsuit and to prepare for my shift. When I got there, the teacher before me was drenched, this was not a good sign for me. And of course there was the baseball team with a couple of my past students. Big smiles crossed their faces as I sat in the dunk tank chair. Like clockwork I was in the water almost instantly. Good thing I told Kanto to push our date back a bit.

After 6:30 the festival started getting empty which meant not many people were at the dunk tank anymore. I managed to grab one of the towels that were at the station and wrapped it around me to keep warm as the sun disappeared behind the buildings. Luckily my hair was mostly dry by this point but my clothes were still very wet. That’s when Andrea came by one more time.

“How you doing up there?” She purposely didn’t pick up a shift at the dunk tank and you could tell she was very pleased about it.

“Why don’t you come up and find out.”

“I actually have a favor to ask. Would you be ok with walking home tonight? I know I said I could give you a ride, but B has free time and said he wants to take me out tonight.” Andrea’s dark brown eyes sparkled as they turned into giant puppy dog eyes.

“Only because I love you. Go have fun, after all the work you did for the festival, you’ve earned it.” I gave her a big smile from atop my chair.

“Thank you! You’re the best!” Andrea squealed. As she walked away, she stopped and hovered her hand above the drop button.

“I swear if you hit that button, I’ll jump out and give you a big hug in my soaking wet clothes. And then I’ll crash your date.” I swear Andrea jumped 10 feet back away from the button in terror. I smiled feeling pleased with my new power. Andrea just laughed and walked away.

I sat up there and patiently waited for the festival to end, not many people were stopping by my station. Then I heard it on the loudspeaker, the announcement that the festival was over. I swiveled off the dunk tank chair and headed to the bathroom to change. I made sure to clean up my face a bit from the water damage, but there really wasn’t much to fix. I’m not a makeup goddess so I usually only wear mascara, a foundation power and lipstick. I fixed myself up, redid my high ponytail and set off on my walk home.

It was about 7:45 now, I’ll probably get home at 8:30”. That’s enough time to rinse off, blow dry my hair and put on more makeup. Maybe I’ll even attempt eyeliner, but I’ll do that last just in case I take too much time doing other stuff. Next is what I’m going to wear, Ive been stashing a black, tight dress for a while. The dress had long sleeves with poofy shoulders and an open back. I could wear some heels with it too. Kanto did say we were going to get food from a fancier place than last time. Granted the last time was Hot Pockets but still I want to look amazing. I’ve been walking for a while, wow I’m making good time it’s only 8:15, I’ll probably make it home by 8:25 at this rate.

That’s when I heard an empty, glass bottle rattle on the sidewalk behind me. I looked back slightly to see a group of four men making gestures towards me and motioning at me. I instantly felt unsafe. I didn’t know for sure that they were after me or if they were going to do anything other than be creepy. I thought back to my self-defense classes, I remember them mentioning to not lead them to your home and changing your destination to one with more people. So I instantly started looking for an open store. I spotted a clothing boutique up ahead so I walked faster and entered the store.

The cashier greeted me but I instantly headed towards the back of the store so I would know if those men were following me. I watched as they all walked by the store without stopping. I sighed in relief. I took another couple moments looking at the clothes so I didn’t scare the cashier before leaving. That detour took about 10 minutes, there goes my attempt at eyeliner. Oh well, so I continued my walk home.

Almost there, I’m only a couple more blocks away. That’s when from the corner of my eye I spotted two of the four men from before coming up from behind me. I started to walk faster, but they picked up their pace as well. I just need to make it to the intersection half a block away, there are lights and people up there. But my hopes were dash when the other two men stepped in front of me. That’s when I made a sharp turn down the alley and started sprinting. I could hear the men running behind me. I put my hand in my bag and instantly found my pepper spray. I put the spray in my left hand but had to stop running anyways. I came to a dead end, there was no where else to go. I’m going to have to fight my way out.

“What’s wrong beautiful? We just want to have some fun.” I heard one of the men say behind me.

I turned to face the four men who had followed me. They formed a line blocking the only exit out of the alley. One of them had a bottle in a paper bag in his hand. Then one of them took a step forward out of the line.

“What’s wrong baby, we don’t want to hurt you.” It was dark out but I remembered that I needed to make out details for the police. I went across the line and mentally labeled the men 1, 2, 3, and 4. 1 had fair skin, wearing a bandana on his head, flannel shirt, seemed to have tattoos on his neck, small stature. 2 was the one who stepped closer to me, he was missing teeth, some were silver, gaged earrings, mustache and scruffy beard, he was also pale but had a bigger build than 1. 3 was the biggest out of the four men, dark skin, rockband shirt, big scar on his right, no left arm, lots of tattoos. 4 smaller build similar to 1, tan skin, was holding the paper bag bottle, had a tattoo on his face but I couldn’t make it out. I stood there silently focusing on committing these details to memory when 4 spoke.

“She’s pretty quiet, maybe she wants to have fun too.” He took another swig from the bottle.

I need to plan my escape route, I’ve only got one shot and I can’t waste it. I need to use my pepper spray on the weaker one and make a run for it. I need to make it out of here. I have my date with Kanto, I can’t make him worry. I need to get to know him more. I need to take him hiking with me. I need to learn more about his favorite movies. I need to go on more dates with him. I need to have another kiss with him. I need to be by his side. I need to be with him. I need him.

Focus Skyler you can’t panic now, you need to focus on getting out of here. You need to pick a target and be ready to move.

“Awww do you wanna play baby?” 2 took another step towards me.

“If you take another step towards me, you’ll regret it.” I said in a low clear voice. I made sure to make my voice as steady as possible so they couldn’t know how scared I was.

“That isn’t very nice. Aren’t pretty girls like you supposed to be nice?” 3 was the one to speak this time.

“Guess we’ll just have to make this b***h nice and obedient.” 1 said, his voice was a little shaky.

1 is my target, that’s my way out.

I turned my feet slightly to prepare myself to sprint. I shifted the pepper spray off of its safety mode in my left hand. I clenched my right hand ready to punch my way out.

2 took one more step closer. It was go time. It was now or never. I need to get to Kanto.