The flipside, p.2
The FlipSide, page 2
part #1 of The Connected Worlds Series
She spoke before he could, “You’re a lot faster than you look!”
Axel gasped for breath, “Ya know...I could...say the same about you.”
“You always come out here trying to impress the ladies?” She glanced around at the rest of the track, noting that Axel was the only guy out there that day.
“Uhh,” Axel blushed, “I can’t say that I always do.”
She laughed and took it for an acceptable answer. They both continued walking along the track; she led the pace at more of a speed walk if anything. Axel’s mind was racing trying to think of what to say next. He never had a problem with girls, but all the running had exhausted his body and mind.
“I’m Axel by the way, you must be new here.”
“Well nice to meet you, I’m Lexa. Yeah, this is actually my first day here.”
“So, where did you move from?”
Lexa paused for a moment, “Oh...you probably wouldn’t know the place.”
“Why? You think everyone from Chicago only knows this city?”
“No, sorry, that’s not what I meant by that—”
“Don’t be sorry cause its true. I really don’t know much else besides this city, so it was a dumb question to ask anyways.”
Axel looked down at the ground now instead of at Lexa. He hated when he somehow found a way to put himself in a bad mood when things should have been going just fine. This girl doesn’t want to hear you complain.
She picked up on his mood change, “Well do you ever plan on going someplace else?” asking optimistically.
“Maybe. My whole family lives here, so I’m not sure where I’d go exactly.”
“Sometimes there are greater places that are closer than you think!”
Axel laughed, “Oh you mean the suburbs? Yeah, I’m not about to move out to the suburbs, that might even be worse!”
She was making direct eye contact with him now, “I’m sure you can find places more exciting than that” she smiled.
The sound of a whistle screeched across the track. Axel looked back towards the school in confusion, class was already over. Talking with Lexa had made for the fastest class period that he had ever experienced. They walked side by side toward the school, not saying a word now. The number of eyes on him had grown even more now that he was with the new girl with bright hair. Once they got through the doors to the school, all the girls began going left toward the girl’s locker room, Axel expected Lexa to say something to him before she went with the others, but she simply broke off from his side and blended into the crowd. He stood there a moment in astonishment, staring into the crowd. A shimmer of red hair could be seen from the crowd and, for a moment, Axel thought she looked back at him and smiled.
As soon as he entered the hallway for the boy’s locker room, he saw Damien walking toward him.
“I don’t even want to hear it” Axel beat him to it.
“No, but I want to hear it” Damien shot back.
“Hear what?”
“About the girl, man. You actually went out there and talked to her?”
Axel expected this conversation to go a lot different. Usually if he did anything that wasn’t hanging out with the guys, he would constantly get ragged on. This time, Damien seemed more interested than anything.
“Chill out, it was just a normal conversation. She said she was new here; from some place we wouldn’t have heard of. That’s about it.”
“Not as exciting as I would have hoped.”
“Well I don’t know what you expected in a forty-minute class period.”
Damien shrugged his shoulders and threw up his hands. They both entered the locker rooms and got changed quickly so they would make it in time for their final classes of the day. It wasn’t until Axel sat down in his seat for the next class that his thoughts of Lexa’s stare changed into the stare of the man from the train yesterday. He tried his best to just focus on Lexa, but the man kept appearing and taking over his mind. Next, he attempted thinking of his next class, but that made his mind trail to the bug-eyed glasses and the black suit even more than before. Trying to look on the bright side, at least he wasn’t focused on the monotony of his days anymore. Axel wasn’t sure all the events happening around him were for the best, though.
As the final bell rang, Axel made his way toward the same exit doors as he did the day before. Once again there was a group of students huddled where his bus should have been. The bus being on time was something that would’ve been better left unchanged and boring. Approaching the group of students, all he could hear were complaints about how the bus wasn’t going to come on time again. Axel considered taking his own way home again but didn’t like the idea of being on his own in the city anymore. His mind was made up that he would wait for the bus here with the other students, until Lexa came up from behind him.
“Hey Axel! What happened to your bus?” She asked.
Lexa was bundled up in a larger black jacket than what she had worn for gym class. The dark black material made her red hair pop even more against the setting sun. She seemed even prettier than when Axel had originally seen her, but he managed to keep his cool a little better this time.
“I’m honestly not too sure. This is the second day it’s been late on me.” he said.
“Well I planned on walking home today any way since it’s so nice out. Wanna come with and we can get something to eat on the way?”
Axel questioned what her idea of ‘nice’ was, since it was starting to get cold; especially with the breeze from the lake. Half of his brain was telling him that this was a perfect opportunity to get to know her more, but the other half couldn’t stop thinking about the danger of being on his own again. You’re not on your own idiot, you’ll be with Lexa. Most of the time at least.
“Yeah, that sounds great actually.” Axel said. “You craving anything?”
“Hmm, I don’t think so. Let’s just walk and figure it out as we go!”
The two teenagers turned their backs to the group of anxious students and began moving away from the school. Axel was excited to see where the rest of the night would take him. Things had been different the last two days, and he knew he had to take the good with the bad. His mind tried to hold onto the good for as long as possible.
Chapter 3
They found themselves at a burger joint that was closer to where Lexa claimed she lived. Evidently it wasn’t that far off from where Axel lived either. Conversation between the two of them seemed to flow effortlessly and, just like gym class, time seemed to pass with ease. Before they knew it, the sun had disappeared completely, and the time was already passed 10:00PM.
The conversation lulled and Lexa grabbed a napkin to wipe her hands, “It’s getting a bit late, don’t you think?”
“Eh if you think so. I don’t have anywhere to be.” He replied, grinning, “But I suppose it is about that time of the night to wrap things up. I can walk you home.”
She looked startled by the offer, “No that’s okay I can make it home myself!”
“Look how dark it is out, I can’t let you just walk home alone!”
“No, really, it’s okay. I walk home at night all the time. I appreciate it though, Axel, I really do.”
Axel sat looking at her with an unsure look on his face. He didn’t even like walking home at night alone, and he would feel terrible if he made her do the same. The least he felt he could do was walk her to her doorstep.
“Well how am I supposed to feel like a gentleman if you don’t let me make sure you get home safe?”
She laughed, rolling her eyes ironically, “I’m sure you will survive without being my knight in shining armor for the night.”
He still wasn’t entirely convinced, but in the end, Lexa won the debate and they agreed to both walk home separately. They exchanged numbers before heading outside.
“Text me right when you get home though, okay?” Axel said.
“Of course, right when I get home”
And with that final farewell, Axel turned the corner to begin his own walk home. It wasn’t till this moment that he thought about his fear of being alone again and the stare of the bug-eyed man in black. I guess it would have been an even longer walk home alone for me if I had to walk Lexa to her place. He knew he was just thinking selfishly, but deep-down Axel was happy that his walk home wasn’t any longer than it needed to be at this hour. All the lights in the street were on, but he couldn’t see any other person in sight. The distant buzzing of cars and honking could be heard behind him as he walked away from stores and toward more apartment complexes and houses. Passing an alley on his left he saw three men older and bigger than him playing dice. He walked a little faster as he passed them to avoid making eye contact, but they were too engulfed in their game to even notice a teenager walking past him. For the next block or two he turned around to make sure he wasn’t being followed by them for good measure. As he gazed out behind him and ahead, he looked for more than just the men he had seen; he looked for anyone else out there that could be looking at him.
At this point, Axel was only three blocks away from his house, so he began to let down his guard a little. This was his neighborhood, so he felt safer than anywhere else. Another alley was coming up in his left and, without directly looking, out of the corner of his eye saw a large shadow standing in the alley. At the mere glance of a figure, Axel jumped forward past the alley and began to run. There was no time for him to look backward to see if anyone was following him; he just ran. He ran faster than he had on the track today. He ran faster than he thought he was physically able to. As he neared a corner, he felt something hit his ankle hard and he fell forward past the sidewalk onto the street. Both of his arms scraped hard against the pavement. The flesh on his arms was exposed and bleeding. He looked back at the corner and saw the bug-eyed man in black staring back at him. He froze in terror, but luckily the man seemed to not move either. Axel sat staring back for a few seconds, before finally feeling the adrenaline in his body kick in to run away. Axel sprung up and turned away once more and started running. He looked back this time to check for the man but saw nothing until he turned forward again to see the man now standing 20 feet in front of him; still doing nothing but standing and staring. Axel pivoted again, switching directions as he would if a turnover happened on the court, and ran back the way he had come. What the hell is happening right now! Axel couldn’t tell if he was being surrounded by multiple men or if this was the same one somehow ending up everywhere that he looked. He turned his head back to see nothing once more, but this time when he looked forward there was still no one in front of him. At this point, Axel was running down the middle of the street, desperately looking around for anyone else or any sign of headlights. There was no one else outside but him and the man; or men. Just when the situation seemed like it couldn’t get any worse, all of the streetlights went out. Axel tried to yell out, but he wasn’t able to produce any sound from his mouth. Without any cars or streetlights, it seemed like the entire city was devoid of light. He looked up to the sky and couldn’t see any signs of the moon. It was useless to keep looking back as it was impossible to see anything that wasn’t directly behind him. The only thing that he could do was continue to run through the streets in darkness. In a few blocks he would be able to see the burger joint that he was at with Lexa. Axel didn’t necessarily have a plan for when he got there, but the only thing that seemed to make sense was getting to somewhere where there were other people that could help him. His mind kept racing until all of a sudden, he felt the street pulled from beneath him; his body fell – his foot had tried to place itself directly where a manhole covering had been removed. Axel’s chest hit against the side of the opening as he fell, his arms stretched upward to try to grasp the street, but he only ended up hitting his elbows against the sides as he dropped lower. His joints knocked against the ladder until he had lost every opportunity to save his fall. He fell on his arms first against the pathway of the sewer. The pain against his hands and already bleeding elbows was immeasurable as the rest of his body impacted with the concrete sewer pathway. Axel groaned in pain but was able to flip over onto his back to look up at the one source of light coming from where he had fallen. His vision was hazy, but he could make out a shadowed figure standing at the manhole looking down at him. It was difficult to make out any details, but it was obvious that the shadowed figure was the bug-eyed man in black that had caused all of this. For the first time, the man made movements in front of him. The man picked up the manhole cover and slowly placed it back over the opening. The source of light was gone. He was surrounded by darkness.
For the first time since he said bye to Lexa, Axel was able to find his voice, “Please no, stop! Don’t leave me down here!”
All hope had drained from Axel, but the feeling that the man had left him alone instead of coming down to the sewers after him was reassuring. He looked to his right and watched as all the sewage ridden water roared past him and the smell of the entire sewer entered his nostrils. Normally plugging his nose would have been a primary concern, but the rush of adrenaline made small things like putrid smells not a priority. His whole body laid motionless for a moment, until Axel placed his palms against the ground and tried to push himself to a sit up position. The cuts against his hands burned as he pushed, but he was able to get himself up. At least my arms aren’t broken from the fall. He looked down at his legs, which seemed to have not taken too much of the damage from the fall and tried to stand up one foot at a time. With the last of his energy, Axel brought himself to a stand position. The streets without lights would’ve seemed bright to how dark the sewer surrounding him looked. The roaring river drowned out any other sound that Axel would have heard from the sewer. Probably better that it’s not dead silent in here. Luckily, he could still feel his phone in his pocket as he reached for it. With a few taps, the phone’s flashlight illuminated everything in front of Axel. The path was so narrow that it was surprising he hadn’t fallen into the waterway after the fall. He pointed the flashlight toward the ladder and the manhole covering. It surely couldn’t be that difficult to move the covering once he was at the top of the ladder.
Axel shook his head and muttered, “Whoever that guy was, I can’t believe after all that he just left me down here.”
From behind Axel a disembodied voice whispered, “Oh I didn’t leave you.”
Axel physically jumped in fear, dropping his phone to the ground in surprise. As he began turning toward the voice, he felt a large hand push his chest. As he fell down toward the water, he could barely make out the blank face of the bug-eyed man that had been chasing him. Once again, he couldn’t find it in his voice to yell as he plummeted into the water. The plunge down made his back hit the bottom of the sewer, his body was completely submerged. Even after Axel was able to get his bearings right under water and emerge at the top of the sewage, the current had already taken him far enough from where he was pushed. He stretched his feet as far as he could but still couldn’t touch the bottom of the water. He already knew that swimming wasn’t his strong suit and couldn’t think of a way to get out of the waterway. The current seemed to be picking up speed, pulling him along faster and faster. Axel tried to reach out toward the edge of the waterway against the pathway for a ladder but could only feel concrete wall. It was difficult to keep his hand outstretched grasping for a ladder while he was simultaneously trying to keep his head above the water. With each passing minute, the struggle to remain above the water grew more and more difficult. With each dip underneath, more water, or sewage, entered his mouth. The adrenaline once more kept him from thinking about how disgusting the whole situation was and kept his mind thinking about how he’d survive the situation. Between the struggle to stop himself from drowning and the lack of light, Axel didn’t see the low archway coming up ahead of him. He pushed his arms down against the water to keep himself up at the perfect opportunity to have his head at the right height to be hit by the archway. The speed of the collision knocked him out instantly and he was swept beneath it further down the water way. The entire sewer seemed to consume every trace of him being there. The only sign that Axel had been in the sewer was left by where he was first pushed in. The phone laid on the ground with the screen facing upwards. It lit up with a small ring and the name Lexa across it. There was no one around to have heard the sound or seen the light up. Not even rats.
Chapter 4
Axel slowly began to come to consciousness. His eyes remained closed, and his back was against something soft, like a bed. He inhaled deeply through his nose; the air around him felt clean as it went through his lungs. Slowly the memories of what had happened the night before crept into his mind. Had that all been a dream? The air felt clean, and definitely not that of the sewer in his memory. The air was also certainly not his bedroom, so the possibility of a dream had been ruled out. Refusing to open his eyes out of fear, Axel used his hands to feel around him. The soft feeling of grass touched his scraped fingertips. It wasn’t till this moment that Axel noticed the lack of sound around him. He couldn’t hear the busyness of the city; Only the sound of wind moving around him. He’d never been somewhere like this. Axel realized that he would have to open his eyes eventually and it wasn’t worth waiting any longer. He finally opened his eyes unwillingly and sat up as quickly as he could. His body wasn’t ready to get up so quickly and his head shook with pain. All around him seemed to be a blur of unfamiliarity for a moment, but he slowly regained his ability to see clearly. Large trees surrounded him all over in a small clearing that he was in. The leaves of the trees blocked out any view of the sky, but the area around him still seemed illuminated. Axel’s mouth dropped in astonishment. A forest? Where is there a forest anywhere near where I live? Still in disbelief, he rubbed his eyes to make sure he was seeing correctly; next standing up to get his bearings right. The soft area that he had been laying on was simply a pile of bunched of leaves. Behind the pile of leaves there was a small cave like opening. It didn’t make sense how any of these things could be around him and how he had ended up here in the first place. Even if he reached the end of the water way, he should have been shot out into Lake Michigan – not laying in a neat pile of leaves. The only conclusion that made sense was that someone had made the pile of leaves and found Axel to put him there. Who that someone could have been was an even bigger mystery.
