The Listener

She was wearing black baggy jeans that were too loose at the waist and were very baggy at the bottom, a black strappy top with a see through black top over that and had her hair tied back in two pigtails with a black bandana over the top.

She slammed the door and walked down the path. She turned on her CD player, again at the maximum volume. She chose to go left and was kind of hoping that there would be someone that could help her out if she needed it. She walked along, generally being nosy at what was happening around. At the end of her street she saw a young woman walking along. She paused her music and shouted out to the lady.

"Hey!" The woman stopped in her tracks and turned around looking for who had called to her. "Er... hi, yeah." Max waved her arm. "I was just wondering if you could point me towards the nearest supermarket."

"Sure. Go straight on the path you are on then take a left. Go straight on down that path and it should be at the end of that road. Look I have to be getting back; I’m in a sort of a rush." The woman hurried off.

"But-" Max started but realised the woman was further away now. She went to the end of the street and tried to remember whether it was left or right. She trusted her instinct and went with the right. She saw the small cinema on her left but then realised that the end of the street was a dead end. As she moved closer, she saw a little gap to the left of the house that stood at the end. She shrugged her shoulders and walked down it. She didn’t quite estimate how dark it was down there. It brought her out in front of an old factory.

Suddenly, someone appeared in front of her, but with her back to her. Like a flash, the girl spun around and held her by some kind of invisible force up against the wall of the old, run down factory. Max started to feel a pain in her chest. She tried to look down at what was hurting but the force at her throat kept her looking straight ahead.

Max stared at the face that was pushed into hers. It was smooth, and had a pair of bright green eyes. She couldn’t see the hair as he girl was wearing a hat.

"So. You’re the new one?" the girl asked.

"Y-Y-Yeah." Max stammered, finding it was becoming a little difficult to breathe.

"You seem nervous. Did you not know what would happen?"

"N-No. All I was doing was looking for the store."

"Huh?" The face turned into a puzzled look.

"You know the place where most of us normal people buy things to eat." She thought this was a bold statement, but felt that if the girl was going to mug or kill her, she would have either worn a mask or done it already.

"You don’t... You mean... Damn." The force let go as the girl looked away. Max doubled over, breathing in deeply.

"What is your problem?" Max turned her fear into anger.

"Look, I’m sorry. I thought you were something – I mean someone else. Just run along."

"Look at me." Max went over and pulled on the girl’s shoulder to turn her around. "The least you can do is show me to the store.