Jaden Baker by Courtney Kirchoff Page B

intersection and increased speed. There was no way Derek could catch him. He shouted, but his voice grew fainter.
    Spanish style houses passed in a blur. He clutched a stitch in his side but pressed on, panting, wishing he could stop. But he didn’t want Derek to get a hold of him. He took a left at the next intersection and kept running.
    The neighborhoods changed as he ran through them. The Kauffmans’ was plastic, with the cobblestone walkways, grand entrances, and second story homes, but these were more real to him: yellowed lawns, smaller houses, more cars parked in the street.
    He had been sprinting for ten minutes and could hardly breathe. His feet hurt. Jaden stopped and bent over, gasping for air. He checked behind him. Derek wasn’t there. There was no one.
    Jaden kept walking until the dusky evening turned to night. He needed somewhere to hide and rest. He knew that the small gaps between two houses was a good place to hide, it was just a matter of finding a suitable one. After checking that no one stared out their front window, Jaden walked across a crunchy lawn. There was about four feet of space between one house and the next, and it wasn’t fenced off or stuffed with trash cans. He bent down and crawled into the gap, then wiped the sweat from his face. Sighing, Jaden hugged his knees to his chest, resting his head on them. It was mostly quiet. He wished he had gone back to the house for Bear.
    Finn was an asshole, but his words still stung. They were half-truths. If she wanted him, she would’ve tried harder. Instead she’d given him away, like Finn had said.
    Jaden crawled out a while later and walked along the sidewalk, thinking of where to go. At least it wasn’t cold. He was tired and wished he could find somewhere to sleep, but everyone had their garage doors shut. Tonight he’d sleep in the back of a car then push on tomorrow morning. He wanted to go back to get some of his stuff, including Bear, but it was too risky. After things had died down, say in a week or two, he could go back and sneak upstairs to get his bear and some clothes.
    There was a roomy Crown Victoria ahead of him, perfect for tonight. Headlights lit his path, casting his long shadow, as he made his way toward the Crown Victoria. The car behind him slowed.
    He turned into the light, shielding his eyes with his hand. The truck or van was too big to be Derek or Jenny’s car, and besides, they weren’t going to follow him. The headlights were too bright for him to see anything else.
    The car slowed but didn’t stop.
    Run!
    Jaden sprinted again. He hopped a fence, then another, to put as much distance between himself and whoever followed. The yards in this neighborhood were smaller. People were awake in their houses, and he hoped no one noticed him streaking past. Ahead was a tall fence. Grabbing the chain links, Jaden lifted himself over the top, landed on the other side of the street, and ran into it.
    A horn blared. He spun to see a car coming at him. He threw out his hands and hit the car’s hood, but he was pitched backwards. Stars burst in his eyes as he fell on his back, scraped his elbows and banged his head on the asphalt.
    “Oh my God,” someone said, opening their car door and running to Jaden. “Are you okay?”
    The wind had been knocked out of him, and his head was killing him, but he was alive. He rolled and pushed himself off the pavement, but was dizzy and unsteady on his feet.
    The driver tried grabbing Jaden’s arm, but he pulled it away.
    A radio went off, and the driver spoke into it.
    “Yes, I think I found him.”
    Jaden looked up. The driver wore a blue uniform and had a flashlight on his belt. A cop.
    The cop gave dispatch his location.
    “Your parents are worried about you, young man. How ‘bout we take you home?”
    Jaden tried standing again, but his left leg hurt.
    “I don’t want to,” he said.
    “You need to see a doctor?” the cop asked. “Are you injured?”
    “You hit me with your