We’re in high school now – going to Northern High. I haven’t heard from my special friend since that night he told me about the gifts. I kind of expected to hear from him before now, and honestly wondered if the psychologist was right. Maybe I’ve been falling asleep and not realizing I was asleep. That is… until yesterday.
We live on Rosewood Circle, which has always been really quiet. Everybody used to feel safe until one car got broken into. A few weeks later, there was another one. Then someone’s lawn mower went missing. Mrs. Fairly (Kimberly’s mom) started the neighborhood watch, and we put out the lawn signs. Things calmed down after that.
Since Dad is a cop, he took the increase in crime personally, but he was more concerned about mom and my safety. He taught me how to shoot when I was 10 and Mom, since she is ex-army, already knew how. We go to the shooting range every other month. We have a shotgun for the house, and dad has his service weapon. We feel ready to protect our home.
Since I’ve been taking Tae Kwando for years, mom and dad haven’t been concerned about me being able to take care of myself. I had never used it outside of competition and the dojo, until yesterday afternoon when I was walking home from the bus. It drops us all off at Kimberly’s house and we walk to our homes from there.
I was about halfway to my house when I heard a motorcycle coming up behind me. Since nobody that I know of on our street had a motorcycle, I turned around to see who it was. There were two people, and they both had on cool dark red helmets with dark face shields, dark red gloves, and matching jackets and pants. I stopped walking and watched them as they passed very close to me. Once they passed, I continued on walking.
They stopped about halfway between where I was and my house, so I stopped too. They turned around and started coming back toward me slowly – so I took out my cellphone and called 911 just in case; as soon as someone answered, the person on the back of the bike lifted their face shield and yelled, “Hang up that phone!” They had their mouth covered by a bandana, but I could hear them clearly.
I was initially scared, but then I felt that sensation sweep over me and I heard my friend say, “I’m with you, Josiah. Hang up the phone and keep walking.”
So, I hung up and started walking again. The motorcycle went by me, and then slowly turned around to come up behind me again, but I kept walking as my friend had said. My friend said, “Brace yourself,” so I took a firm stance sideways. Just as I did I saw the person on the back of the bike stick out their foot to kick me as they drove by. When their foot struck me, the bike kept going but they fell off.
My friend said, “Defend yourself, Josiah.”
I took a few steps back so that I could see the person who had fallen off the bike and the one on the bike. That person slid sideways to a stop, laying the bike down, and started running in our direction, throwing off his helmet and pulling a knife from his back. Then the person on the ground began to sit up.
I yelled, “Leave me alone!”
The guy reached the person who had fallen off, and she took off her helmet and bandana. There was blood coming from her mouth. The guy asked, “Are you alright?”
She said, “Yeah… get him,” and threw rocks toward me.
I yelled again, “What do you want? Why don’t you leave me alone?”
Then he ran towards me again and lunged at me with the knife. I caught his hand, twisted it away from me, stepped into him and struck him with the palm of my hand under his chin, grabbing his face and driving him backward until he fell. As he fell, I wrenched the knife from his hand and threw it backwards into the woods. I then kicked him in the chest sharply, and he let out a horrible scream!
By then she had gotten up and ran to us with her helmet raised. She swung it at my head. I blocked it with the side of my bicep and forearm and side kicked her. She screamed and stumbled back to the ground.
My friend said, “Run, Josiah.” So, I took off running home. It seemed like only seconds when I got home and I looked back to see if they were chasing me, but I didn’t see anything except a misty fog of purple and green, like the puddle that night.
I unlocked and opened the back door, closed it behind me, locked it, then called 911. My friend said, “Well done, Josiah.”
“911. What is your emergency?” a lady on the phone asked.
I said, “I’ve been attacked by two people on a motorcycle. I’m at home — 3011 Rosewood Circle – Durham.”
The person said, “Are they still there?”
I said, “No. It happened up the street. I ran home.”
“Are you indoors?” she asked.
I said, “Yes. I’m in the house with the door locked.”
She said, “Good. We have someone en route to your location. Stay inside and on the line with me. Can you describe the people who attacked you?”
I gave her a full description and, minutes later, I could hear the police sirens approaching. One car stopped at our house and another continued in the direction of the attack.
I told the lady on the phone, “The police are here.”
She said, “Okay, I’m going to hang up now, but stay in the house with the door locked until they come to you.”
JET (The Hero) 