You there!” The booming voice awakened Jade from her reverie, reaching her eardrums with the subtlety of a blunt mallet. Jade’s head immediately jolted towards the origin of the sound. “You! Where do you think you’re going?”
Jade peered past the bushes to see the large, bronzed figure towering down the street. His starched khaki outfit stayed in perfect form as he ran, becoming damper with sweat as he came closer to the gates. “You there! I said stop!”
It was not Jade that the patroller was screaming at, but a young man. The devilish creature darted just a few years ahead of the officer. His muscular features and tall silhouette was all Jade could see of him. He dashed with purpose, nearly knocking Jade over as he darted into the bushes parallel to her own.
He crouched less just two feet away, with only the gate and her own sheltering shrubbery to distance him from her. She could tell now that both his pants and shirt were of a deep navy, and his hair was cropped close to his head. Jade felt herself panting with him, feeling his fatigue as though it were she who had been running. She squinted to try to better make him out. The darkness of his hide-away made him nearly invisible.
Jade focused her attention on the officer, finding him nearly as intriguing to watch. His face contorted in anger and annoyance as he paused to wipe the sweat from his brow.
“Peter! That’s not you again is it?” the patroller laughed. He flexed his muscles, perhaps for the gods to admire. “You know what happens to naughty little boys, eh? Don’t want a repeat of last time do we?"
