Fallen Part 1

The coarse rocks grate my fingers. I can feel myself slipping. a pebble does the classic drop and bounces away down the cliff face. I never hear it hit bottom. The sound of shoes scuffing against rock reaches my ears. The sky is just starting to turn the first shades of sunrise pink. I wonder how I, a nineteen year old 'detective' finds himself hanging from the face of a cliff, while being hunted by several men. I guess God has a reason for it but I sure cant think of one. my fingers slip a little more and I try and imagine what it will be like falling and falling and then... A flashlight beam glows against the rocks above me. Voices are getting closer. my feet search for any kind of toe hold no matter how small. something crawls across my fingers and I instinctively want to shake it off. I don't. Then it happens. My fingers slide off the rocks slick with blood from being scraped in my wild flight. In books and such they talk about you past "flashing in front of your eyes". It didn't for me. Not all of it, only the past few days.

A single face is stamped in my mind. Funny, when I first saw it I really didn't think anything of it. you know how it is, a face in a crowd that seems to stand out for a second and then fade. But I would see that face often over the next few days and on it I would witness many emotions, but mostly cold almost unimaginable cruelty.

"Have I seen you somewhere before?" the checkout lady at Winco asked me.
"Well, I come here often." I replied.
"No," she said, "I think it was on TV or something. You haven't played 'The Price Is Right' 'Jeopardy' or the 'Wheel of Fortune' lately, have you?"
"Uh, No mam, I haven't."
"Oh! I remember now!!! Your that kid who caught all those crooks a few months ago, right? I saw you on the news! All by yourself you caught them, didn't you!"
"Well, kind of. I didn't really 'Catch' them as much as I delayed them."

I paid for the groceries and left the store. As I left, I bumped into a debonair man, scattering my groceries.
"Oh I AM  sorry, my good fellow!" He exclaimed, and started helping me pick up my things.
"No problem. It was my fault." I replied, as I picked up the last bag.
"Well then," He said, dusting off his hands "Au revior!" and with a smart salute he was gone.
"Thanks! I said to no one in particular. "Au revior? doesn't that mean til' next time or something?"

I wondered about that a second or two and then shrugged it off.