Nine - Noah

I felt sick and my legs shook like they’d give out at any moment. I had to keep running but I knew if I didn’t lose them soon I’d have to stop. The hunger in my gut was crippling, and my throat burnt from the lack of moisture.

I was approaching the town centre and I could feel the first drops of rain; if I could just make it to the busiest part of the city I’d be safe, but the pain throughout my body told me I couldn’t. In any case the rain was getting heavier and I feared the effect it might have on the usual crowds of people...

Behind me I could still hear the heavy tread of at least one of the officers. They must have been having a very slow day to bother chasing me all this way.

As I ran down a wide street, past a couple in raincoats who turned to stare, and round the corner, an idea struck me. I couldn’t outrun them for much longer, but I had other advantages I could make use of. For a boy of my age I was tiny, malnutrition had kept me small, and although it had bothered me at school, it had become a very useful trait since I’d been on the streets. Immediately I began searching for the escape I needed.

My saviour came in the form of a delivery lorry. It was sitting by the side of the road, rear doors open to allow the two burly men to unload their cargo. Luckily the way it was positioned meant that from the direction we were running it concealed a back alley which I knew ran down between the two arcades. I couldn’t help the slight grin that slipped onto my chapped lips as I put on a last spurt of speed. Within seconds I was behind the lorry and instead of heading down the twisted alley, as I knew the officer would assume I had, I darted back towards the lorry and slipped into the narrow gap between the cab and trailer.

I held my breath as barely a second later the female officer sprinted round the truck and down the alley. She was speaking into her radio and I guessed the man had returned to the car to follow her on road. She disappeared round a twist in the road and my breath came shooting out in a sudden ‘whooosh’.

I sagged against the side of the trailer, too exhausted to move. I knew I should run again, get away from there in case she came back or the man turned up, but I’d been running on empty and I didn’t have the adrenaline to carry me further. As I leaned there, still half-hidden, breathing heavily, a face suddenly appeared before me. It was one of the delivery men, soaked with the rain, eyes narrowed as he scrutinised me.

‘What did you do?’ he asked gruffly.

I thought about not answering him, of running, but of course I couldn’t.

‘I ran,’ I shrugged as he continued to watch me. ‘It was a reflex. I hadn’t done anything wrong...’

He nodded, as though it made sense to him, and opened the door to the cab. I jumped out from between the two sections of truck, worried he was about to drive off, but he just reached into a supermarket bag and pulled out a bottle of water and a sandwich.

I stared at him in mute disbelief, as he handed them to me, face still gruff. My fingers closed around the gifts unconsciously, and he swung himself up onto the seat next to the second man. As he closed the door he paused and looked at me again.

‘I’ve got a son. I’d like to think people would help him out, if he ever...’ he trailed off.

I gulped, tried to speak, to thank him, but my throat was too dry and I choked. He smiled, once, an awkward smile, and closed the cab door. I turned away mechanically as his friend started the engine, heading off at a right angle to the direction the officer had run. The bottle and plastic packet clutched in my hands, the rain hiding my tears.