Page 58 of Yellow
CHAPTER 10
Nikomaniacs
Adam
I had only driven a minute or two when I stopped to give room for a car leaving a prime parking spot.
It seemed like a sign that I needed to park my car and go back and talk to Chloe.
“Stay here, Max,” I said and walked back toward the busy place where I had dropped Chloe off. A frown grew on my face when I heard loud screaming and saw a crowd of people.
My intuition made me run and break through the large crowd only to find Chloe on the ground rolled up into a ball, covering herself while two women were beating on her. I grabbed them both and pulled them away from her, shouting: “What the hell is going on?”
The noise from people all talking and shouting at once made it hard to understand what had happened, but a lanky teenage boy shouted the loudest, “They were all attacking that woman.” He was holding on to a chubby girl his own age and nodded his head to the other side of the crowd. “They were five against one.” I looked over to see two other teen girls trying to break free from the grasp of some women who were holding them back. “I’m recording it on video,” someone shouted in a strong Latino accent, “and my husband is calling the cops right now.”
Chloe wasn’t moving and I wanted desperately to see if she was all right, but at the same time I couldn’t let go of the two lunatics in case they got away or went back to hurting Chloe.
“You, sir,” I looked straight at a large black man who was part of the crowd. “Hold this one until the police gets here, will you?”
He nodded and moved in to hold the blond girl, who was wriggling to get away and cursing at me.
“We can hold the other one,” a middle-aged woman with a short bob offered, elbowing her husband to take action. He looked like he wanted nothing to do with the whole thing but his wife grabbed the feisty teenager and scolded her in hard terms. The girl reacted by spitting at the older woman and received an instant slap in the face in return.
I turned my back on the craziness and kneeled down to assess Chloe’s injuries. The minute I touched her she pulled back in fright. “Chloe, open your eyes, it’s me, Adam.”
She was shaking and still curled up in a ball with her arms protectively covering her head.
“Chloe, talk to me, are you hurt?”
A siren came closer and someone shouted, “The police are coming.”
I leaned down and picked Chloe up in my arms and was relieved when she didn’t push me away but hid her face against my neck.
“Get me out of here,” she whispered in a brittle voice.
“I think the police will need to speak with you.”
“Get me out of here!” Both her body and voice were shaking
“Do you have your key?”
“I dropped it when they attacked me,” she cried.
“Does anybody see a key on the ground?” I called out.
A woman found it and helped unlock the red door to Chloe’s building.
“Thank you,” I mumbled and got the key from the woman as I carried Chloe inside.
“Tell me where it hurts,” I asked and sat her down on the staircase to check her over.
“Here.” She pointed to her right wrist, and my fingers quickly searched for fractures.
“Does this hurt?” I asked and pushed it back a little.
With a grimace of pain, she pulled back. “Don’t do that.”
“How about your head? Any blows to your head?”
