By Terrio Jenkins
Malik struggled to ignore his rapid heart beating. He turned down a gritty alley in downtown Camden. The smell of urine, pollution, and trash invaded his nose, making him feel noxious. The summer heat beat the sweat out of him as it trickled down all over his body. Litters of trash lifted as he feet raced through the dark alley. The sun rays couldn’t reach the small alley with dark cloud covering the sky. Malik noticed that some of the trash cans lay on the ground, more of its contents pouring out. His breathing control took only seconds to remind him that he needs to be more active. He didn’t stop running, that is, because it could be the matter of life or death. He looked behind him.
A rotund, white officer with black sunglasses chased him and worse, started to catch up. Malik could see the visible sweat stains on the cops uniform. The cop took out his club, shouting directions.
“I said FREEZE”
Malik expected him to have a softer voice, but the voice almost caused him to tremble. The bass of the cop’s voice carried as if Malik stood in front of him. Malik didn’t stop, taking notice of the weapon. Why should I freeze if he has that out. Malik continued down the alley. Surprised that the officer could keep up with his hefty size compared to Malik’s smaller frame.
“Why, so you can use your club on me?” Malik’s heart almost stopped when he realized the tall wall in front of him. He thought to himself about if he could jump it. The tall wall formed from brick stood there. If I keep my running start.
“The innocent don’t run, kid.” The officer’s voice panted, a sign Malik noticed that meant the officer should get tired soon. Malik noticed some flyers on the wall, trying to take note of anything special.
“And cops don’t pull their weapons on kids!” Malik yelled approaching the wall with more speed. He calculated where he needed to place his foot on the wall so that he could scale to the top and pull himself over. He wished he had grown some more during the Summer. He leapt off both feet and his right foot made impact with the wall. Using the momentum of the launch, he reached up for the top, jumping from the wall. He managed to grab the top of it with both hands and struggled to pull himself up. Malik decided he will work out more after this. the cop tried to jump, his hand close to grabbing Malik’s foot, but Malik was faster. Pulling his whole body over the wall as the cop ended up landing .
“That’s what led to Trayvon’s murder!” Malik yelled, landing on the other side. Thinking about the Trayvon circumstances. His dad told him all about the unfortunate death. Malik put his hands on his knees to take a quick breather. He could hear the cop trying to jump up to the wall before giving up. Malik took a deep breath and proceeded to run, not taking any chance of the cop finding another way.
—————–
what did you think of the beginning of chapter 1, comment with what you think Malik did to have the cops chase him.
Meet one of our protagonist! Malik Caldott
