Death Dreams Dire Wolves: Part Two

Chapter Three: Coast on the Wind

Manzer makes his way through the open air of the yard. Stepping into a world that changes the entire atmosphere of his resolve as he breathes in the humid pine stained air of a late summer morning, a scent tinged in the industrial salt like aftertaste of small town concrete and early morning exhaust.

The town is yet to fully awaken as often it does by this time of day, this makes it one of the only times if day where a young kid like Manzer can get in street skating moments without having to worry about too many cars in the roads, or too many people on the streets, concerns that can often turn a good skate session into a bad one as the complaints of people disturbed by what is seen as an act of rebellion, find themselves colliding with an entire person on well oiled wheels.

As Manzer looks around the yard making sure he isn't spotted by anyone else in the foster home, he can overhear some of the talking taking place in the front of the house. The conversation is nothing to be alarmed over as Manzer makes out the scraps of the conversation through the filter of a house between him and the people talking. It's odd that he can hear it anyway he thinks, as he puts a finger in his ear digging around through the uncomfortable nature of intermediate bursts of of enhanced focused hearing, but not even plugging up one if his ears can keep him from overhearing a bit of the conversation that puts Manzer at unease.

"Her family was murdered." Says a man's voice in a serious and stolid tone. "Jesus." Says Sister Therin: the caretaker of the foster home. "Did they ever catch who did it?"

"That's classified." Says the man.

Manzer goes to peak around the corner trying to get a better sense of what exactly is taking place. And whether or not he is in danger. However this seems to end the conversation between these two dark figures as they put everything else on a need to know basis. As Manzer gets a look at the car that this man is driving, it looks a bit different than the child services vehicle that usually drops off wayward kids from abusive houses.

Sister Therin is holding her silver cross in her hands, as she says a small prayer. Then turns around to go into the house where the young girl with blond hair sits waiting to be shown her new home.

Manzer hides behind the corner of the home, out of sit. Thinking about the information he just gathered. It scares him, deeply.

The way that girl was staring at him. The thing he saw as he caught a glance of her looking at him. Something about does seem more off to him than any of the other kids.

Manzer makes it a point not to be involved in anyone else's business, but now it seems that his foster home might be an unsafe place to live as new information is introduced.

Manzer doesn't need things to be complicated. He just needs to keep his head for a while as he tries to make sense of what is going on in his own life, and this, this is too much.

Manzer runs to the side walk that holds landing a good four-yards away from the corner of the house at which he sits. As soon as his feet touch hard concrete in a transition from the grass, they are planted onto the hard black sandpapered grip of of sturdy skateboard, and like a trapeze artist jumping onto a tightrope, Manzer is soon balancing himself on a line, but one made for speed and radical constitution.

Through the crown of Manzers head of hair is soon combing Manzers dark resolve of heated thoughts, as he skates without wearing a helmet. The wind rushed past him at a steady pace as the fluid of motion turned the world around him through the divide of things moving, and moments standing still. Although the street here before him is relatively flat, he still gains a good deal of speed as he swings his foot forwards and pushes past himself with a solid step.

The concrete is smooth here. As this part of town is relatively well looked after by the towns caretaking city planners, but as Manzer progresses the conditions become more graded, steeper faster, breathtaking in certain difficulties, but even more extreme in what an experienced skater can accomplish.

Manzer is still learning a great deal about the art of the skate trickster, but even at his level, he can still pull off a few impressive moves that make his transition through town a bit smoother in prospect.

Manzer has to pass through an open mall on his way to his destination. Skating along the very smooth open walkways as he makes it through the area marked with 'no skating' signs.

He comes up on a flight of stairs that has more than a few steps in it, looking like six or seven as Manzer comes up on it. But, skating isn't about thinking as it is a lesson he has learned through countless painful days of sprained wrists, bruised and scraped elbows, and rolled or sprained ankles.

As he reaches the top step of the seven set stair, he ollys ( a type of jump that requires a timed step steeped against the uplifted front of a skateboard. For a moment he sees nothing but an absolute clarity, as he flies through the air. In mid flight he straightens out his board so he can slam his feet down above the metal skate wheel bearing trucks that sit at either end of his board. As the bottoms of the stairs come up to meet him, he pushes her feet down into a more stable landing, ensuring that his wheels stick to the concrete without becoming unstable so he can coast on smoothly.

He lands, gracefully. Keeping his balance and his shoulders above the skateboard as he carries on. A security guard tries to yell at him as he passes by having just seen Manzer commit this dangerous stunt.

Manzer cannot hear what the security guard is saying. He is caught up in the moment of catching air down stairs and landing through the hard set moment of nerve wracking fluidity. Even though jumps had been landed. Manzer still needs to focus in order to continue making it through the open space of the mall without being caught by the security.

He coasts past the open stores and through the courtyard, but as he is about to make it through the shop he catches something out of the corner of his eye that makes him stop and look at something that shocks him.

In a store of oddities called "Odds and Ends" Manzer catches a reflection of himself in a mirror. In the reflection is the image of a big black dog-like figure in place of where his reflection should be. The stunning visage of this creature is enough to cause Manzers heart to skip a beat as he looks deep into the eyes of a goliath shadow with eyes that stare directly into the deepest darkest abyss of sound mind, and stabs all questions of reality with death curling madness. It's such a frightening sight that Manzer loses focus, but as soon as he realizes that he is still speeding through a mall on a wooden board, it's almost too late.

Manzer looks in front of him and notices that someone in the mall is setting up one of their mall booths. Carrying a number of boxes in front of them the don't see Manzer coming their way. Manzer barely has time to dodge as he veers and swerves, missing this person only by a little as he wipes out into a nearby bush. He skateboards flying off into the distance, as leaves and sticks snap with the force that Manzer carries behind him.

Manzer is in a daze for a moment as he tries to assess what just happened. He is winded having had most of the air forced out of him as he crashed into the bushes, as not all of them are totally soft. He can feel that parts of him are scratched or scraped, getting ready to bleed or bleeding already as he slowly tries to pull himself out of the bushes. He checks to see that nothing is broken, moving slowly and surely. He knows he is Definitely hurt.

The person. Who was carrying the boxes looked around to see what all of the ruckus was, and who it was that passed by them so quickly. They put their boxes down and look around frantically, putting their focus on Manzer.

"Oh my gosh are you okay?" They say as they run over to Manzer still stuck in a bush. "Are you hurt?"

Manzer gasps as he tries to answer, unable to respond except with the sound of his breathlessness.

"Oh no, I'll call an ambulance!"

"No, wait..." Manzer says as he finally catches some of his breath. "I think I'm okay, I just need a second."

"Shit kid! You really scared the crap out of me."

"Yeah, sorry. I was just trying to get to school."

"School? Ever hear of taking the bus? You don't have to come speeding through a mall to get to your classes on time."

Manzer is still struggling to get to his feet. When this mysterious pedestrian reaches in to lift him up and out of the vegetative mess. He is able to stand upright but is still winded and struggling to breath.

"That looks like it hurts."

"Yeah." Manzer relies.

"Anything broken?"

"Just my pride I guess. *Cough*..... Am man where did my skateboard go?" Manzer says looking up at the person now standing in front of him.

This isn't the first time Manzer has been through this mall. But this is the first time that he has been able to speak to the long-time crush that he has been looking at for the past few months every time he comes through this mall. The young woman now standing in front of him is tall and very large breasts for her age. Her alternatively colored pink hair accents a number of tattoos and piercings that adorn her skin and face. To go into detail of how she might look to someone who has never seen her face, she looks like a young Anne Hathaway mixed with the softer features of Lonna Del ray, and large hazel colored eyes.

"Well if that is the only thing that is hurt, then I think you might be fine."

"Yeah sure, I just need to catch my breath."

"Yeah well after eating it like that.... Was that my fault?"

"Ah yeah a little."Manzer says as he tries to be honest without being crazy. "You should watch where you are going."

"Right, because kids come speeding through this mall all the time. You know honestly I used to be one of those kids, and wipe outs like that usually get you more respect if you have friends around to watch them."

"I don't have time for friends."Manzer says, still catching his breath.

"Oh one of those loner kids huh? Hey wait a second, haven't I seen you around here with Sister Therin?"

"No." Manzer says trying to cover the fact that he is a foster home kid. Not something I want to take pride in.

"Oh, touchy subject."

"I need to get going." Manzer says as he looks for his skateboard. He finds it in a not too far away bush, still in one piece but the board is now chipped.

"Ouch, a chipped board is tuff."

"What would you know?"

"Kid, take a look at me. I know my way around more than just a skateboard."

"Yeah sure."

"Hey. Come by after school, and I'll get you a new deck. It's the least I can do for cutting off your line."

"What? really?"

"Yeah I've got plenty to spare Just stop by the shop."

"Right, sure. Maybe. I gotta go."

"Yeah I get it. Just, come around if you feel like it, I mean. If you ever want someone to talk to."

Manzer doesn't know how to respond. "Whatever."

"Hey, what's your Name?"

Manzer looks behind her and sees a number of security guards looking for him. Hey figures they must have seen him on the cameras and are now coming in to assert their authority.

"I gotta get going." Manzer says as he skates off.

"Just remember, okay kid?"

"Yeah sure. Later." Manzer skates off. Parts of him are still hurting and bleeding but he knows its nothing serious. He knows it's not as much of a problem as what he seems to be facing. At least he has an excuse not to go back home, and try to avoid whatever it is that might have made its way into the foster home.

A few more blocks to go until Manzers us at school. At least he will still make it on time.

Chapter Four: Stone Cold

The mall security officers chase after Manzer as he continues to skate through the mall hallways. This causes quite the commotion as the guards do their best to try and cut off Mnzers path, underestimating the young skater as he weaves through security guards and the mall's ballards making his escape out into the parking lot. Manzer can hear the furious yelling of the guards as they reach their limit of angry running and yelling, as well as their jurisdiction of influence.

Manzers coast through the parking lot jumping over a few parking lot dividers and rallying past the few parked cars that are at the mall in the morning.

The parking lot is a good hundred yards long, made to contain a few hundred cars. For a renegade skater, the sight of an empty parking lot is like laying eyes on the most pristine field of snow. Relaxing as Manzer knows that there are little to no problems to get into his way.

At this moment, Manzer just relaxes, and coasts for a while, letting the wind run through his mind and cool down his thoughts. All the world slows down for a moment giving Manzer a moment to think before he rushes on his way to school.

Things are going rather odd as the entire day unfolds. Little bits and pieces seem so odd and yet so familiar. Manzer thinks he must be losing his mind. That the years he spent underneath his mother must have finally driven him mad and broken something deep inside him.

It had been months since Manzer saw his mother get dragged into a white van. and driven away in restraints. He was told she was "committed"or taken to the mental health institution. Something that was both a long awaited blessing and a curse upon his conscience after years of suffering under her care. This entire situation had been weighing on him for months, and obstruction of his thoughts as he just wished to think freely for a while instead of in a cage of cruelty.

Those moments when you find yourself just coasting along in an open parking lot, with trouble ahead and trouble behind you makes the entire moment of peace worth it. When all you can hear and feel is the vibration of the world as it moves beneath you, turned by the fluid coasting of the wheels of a skateboard.

Life is a complicated mess when you are only thirteen years old and still trying to figure things out past the day by day problems of an already troubled youth. Nothing much to live for and nothing to look back to. Moments come and go as the entangled life lines make a mix up of fires all across the board of people's lives. Manzer is just lucky to be in the place he is at the moment. Although sister Therin is a stern and cold caretaker, being in her home beats being on the streets or the mess of his mom's madness. It's times like this that Manzer wishes he could talk to his dad. Or at least even know who he was.

Manzer thinks for a moment, a place in the past where things were still problematic and nothing was too clear. The only words Manzers mother spoke of his father was that he was a good for nothing loser and left because of Manzers conception. That Manzer was unwanted and a problem to both of their lives, but with the fact of his mom being committed to a hospital, put a good portion of his life into a common place of strange and abusive nonsense.

Some direction at the moment would be nice, a starting point of good stolid based on facts and not in the opinion of a mad tyrant of a mother would most definitely paint a better picture of what the truth of Manzers young life could be.

It's probably better just to forget the past, as starting over in a sense was now an option made possible. Much like skateboarding, Manzer figured it was probably much better to focus on what was ahead of him, rather than what was behind him, lest he trip and fall on his own past.

As Manzer reaches the edge of the parking lot he comes to the open road lines by the sidewalk. Like the path in his life things are now set and paved with so many opportunities and better circumstances, much unlike the cracked and broken roads of the past things would now go much more smoothly to a brighter future, of places and people and things that would lead to a better life.

Manzer would finally get what he wanted. Not to be the odd person out or the ids getting special treatment because of his crazy mother. But the same shots every normal kid has at being a normal kid.

As Manzer Skates onto the road, another flash of thought enters his mind. The conversation he overheard about the girl who was at the foster home and how it involved something rather dark and serious. Manzer thinks about what was said, how he and everyone in that house could now be in danger of whatever killer could be looking for that little girl, and whatever trouble that would come along with this.

Manzer got a gut feeling that it might be best to avoid the foster home for a while. As who knows how much trouble some of the kids in that place are into or whatever problems are gonna come looking for them.

Manzer kicks and pushes his foot against the grit of the sidewalk as he starts to make plans in his head. If something does go down at Sister Therins house, Manzer will need a place to escape to.

He looks at the chip on his skateboard. A small reminder of his options, but yet such a far away circumstance. Manzer would have to see what the school day brought him. Get a better sense of his new town and the people in it. Things around here might be more dangerous than they seem, and all things would have to be judged and measured as they came.

Manzer Can see the School building in the distance. It is a large double story building that seems to be plagued with something dark ominous. Manzers senses tell him to avoid this place, but those senses are ignored as just a memory of the past. So Manzer Skates on, making his way down the road and towards the crowds of kids now arriving at the large building.