"Black-Dove January"
Chapter 2

              Kevin came up behind the girl with Brian right behind him. He
tapped her on the shoulder. "Excuse me." Startled, Raegan spun around to
find herself face to face with the 2 guys from the grocery store. For a second
Kevin thought he saw fear flash across her bright green eyes, but that was
quickly replaced by a look of annoyance. "Yeah?", she asked, hoping he
hadn't seen her shoplift. "I believe you have some things from the grocery store",
the tall one said. Raegan decided to play it smart. She took the gum out of
her pocket. "Um, yeah. A pack of gum", she replied, looking at the guy like
he was stupid. "No, in your backpack", the shorter guy said. "I don't know what
you're talking about",she said, gripping her bag tighter. "Shoplifting can
be a serious offense. Maybe you should go and return those things you took." "I
didn't take anything. Now please leave me alone." Raegan started to walk
away but the taller guy grabbed onto her bag. "I think if we look inside your bag
it'll tell us different", he said. "Get away from me", she almost growled,
moving away so he lost his grip on her backpack. The guy put a hand on her
shoulder. "Why did you take those things?" "Get away from me! Leave me
alone! I'll scream!" "And you know, if you scream, the police will be here and
discover you took those things", the shorter guy pointed out. Raegan's eyes
narrowed. Who the hell were these guys and why did they have to be doing
this now? "What do you want?", she asked angrily. "Do you need help? Are you
homeless?" She gave a short laugh. "Oh, and who are you? Mr. Self-Righteous?
Need to do your good deed for the day?" "No. I'm Kevin. This is my cousin,
Brian. What's your name?" "Marie", she lied. There was no way she was
telling them her real name. "And I don't need your help." "Marie what? Where's your
family?", Kevin asked. He didn't know why, but he wanted to find out
everything about this girl. He desperately wanted to help her.
                        Raegan just wanted to get away from this. She had
the urge to throw her backpack down and run. But there was the chance she could
get caught. There was no doubt in her mind that these guys could catch up to
her. And if she got caught she'd be arrested and then they would find out
she was a runaway. She'd have to go back to that awful place, to her awful
father. "What's it to you? Why do you wanna know?", Raegan
asked. "We really want to help", Brian replied. "And I told you I don't need your
help." "So what are you going to do for food when what you stole runs out?
Steal again? One of these days you're going to get caught. And you know it's
supposed to storm really bad tonight. Where are you going to stay?", Kevin
asked her. "I manage." "Look, Marie,why don't you come home with  Brian and
I?" Brian gave him a look and Kevin just gave him a just-go-along-with-it
look. Brian sighed. "Yeah. Why don't you come home with us? We don't want
you out here in the storm." "What do you guys care?" "We care more than you
think. Now come on", Kevin said, grabbing her arm. "Don't touch me. Why should I go
home with you?" "Because if you don't we'll just have to drop by the police
station", Brian threatened. He was getting a little tired of this girls
attitude. "So now you're blackmailing me? That's good. What other choice do
I have now?", she asked. She was secretly hoping to annoy them so much and
protest that they would just forget about it. But that didn't appear to be
working in Kevin's case. "It's not blackmail", Kevin said, putting his hand
on her back and guiding her in front of them. "How do I know you're not going
to beat me and rape me when I get to your place?" "We won't. We would have done
that already if that was the plan", Brian said. So reluctantly she started
to walk home with them. Like she said, what other choice did she have?

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