Redemption

After the incident, James’s friends and family abandoned him one-by-one. He tried to convince them he was innocent, but they just couldn’t believe it against the evidence saying that he assaulted and murdered the two men with little provocation. He had gotten into some fights as a kid but that wasn’t who he was anymore. The smaller man from the incident, the man who lived, had made a compelling argument against him. He was visiting someone in the area, and just happened to be walking down the street when James attacked him. That was his story at least. The witnesses all saw that as well, no one saw them chasing the boy. No one saw them confront James. To his credit, the boy had remained persistent. That James had protected him from the two men. But he was just a kid who had been in shock at the time. He couldn’t even say a word when the police had arrived.

James noticed movement across the street. The past didn’t matter anyway, he thought, he was focused on getting himself out. The target had gotten up, slung a tote bag over her shoulder, and was heading out the door. James chugged the last of his beer and headed for the door, his fingers tapping against his thigh as he walked back out into the rain.

The next stop was an alley a few blocks away. He watched the target head outside and walk around the corner. She put on a raincoat and pulled the hood over her head as the rain picked up. She would be easy to tail tonight.

James walked up the street, trying not to draw attention. In a minute or two he would head into the alley and complete the task. He trained his peripheral vision on the alley entrance since she had disappeared. But after only around 30 seconds James saw her turn the corner back onto the street and set off to the next location. He missed opportunity number one. He slammed his fingers into his thigh as he made his way toward the alley entrance. How was she so quick?

He decided he was going to find out a little more information, see what she was working on in her last hours. He ventured deeper into the alleyway looking for a door or person but only ran into a dead end. He started looking around, she hadn’t looked like she was carrying anything out of the alley. Then he remembered the tote. She must have left it somewhere.

James trudged around the back of the alley throwing up boxes and moving garbage bins. Finally, he spotted some graffiti spelling IV, and underneath it, a rusty bike covering the tote. He pulled the bike out of the way and grabbed the tote underneath. Inside he found a stack of papers. He gasped as he flipped through them. Pages and pages of emails and memos. One symbol showing up on nearly all of them, the Iron Vale logo.

As James read a few pages, he found the memos formal, but the emails were clearly not meant for outside eyes. He started reading the correspondence, talking about removing certain people.

“Shit” he said, realizing the time. He had missed the second opportunity while reading the papers. He folded a few and shoved them in his pocket but left the rest.

He would have to take advantage of opportunity three, the final location. He began to make his way to the target’s house. As he rounded a corner, he realized that it wasn’t far from where the incident happened, where he was arrested. He was surprised he recognized the boring suburban streets in the rain.

It had been a beautiful day leading up to the incident. He had been walking home from a friend’s place by himself along a quiet suburban street lined with cars and small houses. He had a grocery bag in one hand and his shoes in the other, choosing to feel the grass beneath his feet while avoiding the dilapidated sidewalk.

He turned the corner and saw a young boy running towards him, maybe 15 or 16 years old. He looked terrified and when James noticed the two men running behind him, he understood why. The smaller man came barreling around the corner first before the larger man followed at a slower pace.

The boy cowered behind James and whispered, “please help”.

James looked around the street as the two men pulled up in front of him. There was no place he could go where they wouldn’t catch the boy. He would have to stand his ground.

James stood a little taller, still in the grass. “Can I help you?”

“Hey man, this has nothing to do with you, we don’t want to hurt you, just step aside.” The smaller one said.

“Just leave the kid alone. Walk away and we can forget about this.” James said assertively.

The two men started walking around James in opposite directions. James could feel the sweat start to pool on his forehead.

Under his breath James whispered to the boy, “run”.

“What?” the boy said, clearly missing the sign.

“RUN!” shouted James. He watched as the smaller man faltered on a piece of broken sidewalk. The larger man was still too far to reach him. James lunged at the smaller man, knocking him into the car parked on the sidewalk, setting off the alarm. James reared back and landed a swift punch to the side of the small man’s face, knocking him out.

The larger man had started running after the boy. James chased after, catching him just before he reached the boy and tackled him. He forced the larger man onto his back as people started flooding the street from all the commotion. All they saw was James punching this man in his face over and over.