Running Through Shadows

By Tony Taouk

Running through Shadows is a book based on three fictional characters, who are nineteen years old and homeless. The three characters, Chris, Peter, and Rosa, live in the back of a van in a rural town and survive by stealing from the local members of the community and local shop owners. Their routine is abruptly interrupted after they steal money from the local church and are eventually caught. This incident causes Peter to reflect on his path in his life, and he begins to steer the three of them into a more productive direction. However, their lives take another dramatic turn, when after a scuffle with two other youths, it brings police involvement back into their lives again. This results in Chris and Peter finding out about Rosas and her familys suspicious past, which is soon followed by a kidnapping and desperation by the main characters to keep everyone safe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris AU
• Release date: Jul 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781499011142

Book preview

CHAPTER 1

P eter stands up off the park bench and looks up at the sky. ‘Man, I don’t know. It’s wrong we can’t do that.’ He starts to pace around in a circle, kicking the small grey stones on the dirt path beneath his feet as the slightly cool autumn afternoon breeze pierces his worn clot hing.

Chris is lying down on the lush green grass next to the path; he is wearing a thick red coat, and with his arms behind his head, he gazes at the clouds above and replies, ‘The money is for the poor right? And who is more poor and miserable than us? Trust me, it’ll be all right. Just do your thing, and plan it out, and we’ll be fine.’

Disillusioned and shaking his head, Peter replies, ‘Look, we can hit the bakery instead, and we’ll get away with a feast as well as some money.’

Chris starts scratching his chest, and in a calm and sarcastic tone, he replies, ‘The bakery, are you mad? If we’re caught, that psycho will serve us alive. The church is simpler, and it’s always open. Plus, what’s Father Wallace going to do? Damn our souls? We’re already damned. Isn’t that right, Rosa?’

Rosa pulls the sleeves of her navy blue ragged old coat over her cold fingers. ‘Well, Chris does have a point. The church is always open, and there would be at least a hundred dollars for the taking. It’s not as much as the bakery, but it is a smaller risk.’

Peter is irritated and replies, ‘But what about our integrity and honour? Do you want us to take the money that people have donated to the poor or whatever the collections are for? Stealing from businesses is different. It’s not like they’re going to miss a few bucks here and there from their profits.’ Peter walks over towards Chris, stands over him, and says, ‘But it is the house of God. Have you no fear of death and sin? Of what will happen to us when we die?’

Sarcastically, Chris replies, ‘I thought we were dead. Isn’t this hell? Hell can’t be any worse than this. This town sucks, these people suck, our lives suck, everything sucks. Here, put your hand on my stomach.’

Confused, Peter answers, ‘What?’

‘I said put your hand on my stomach and feel the rumble.’ Saying that, Chris quickly jumps up to his feet, grabs Peter’s hand, and places it on his stomach.

Peter tries to pull his arm away, but Chris has a stronghold of him, and as Peter struggles, he yells out, ‘Get off me!’

Chris wraps his arms and legs around Pete and starts shaking the two entwined bodies. ‘Feel the rum-ble.’ They wrestle to the floor and Peter finally gets away. Rosa remains sitting on the bench, laughing uncontrollably.

Peter dusts himself off. ‘All right, I get it. You’re hungry. It’s not like I’m not hungry too. But, man, come on. Are you trying to tell me that you want to steal from a church? We’ve never had to stoop that low. I’m sure we can find some other easy target.’

Chris stands by his decision with conviction. ‘No, we can’t. There isn’t a place in this stink-hole town that we haven’t robbed from. Everyone is more alert these days, thanks to us, but we can still hit the church a few times before we have to move to another town.’

Rosa interrupts Chris before he can continue, ‘I don’t want to leave, but the church will have to do for now. Peter, you know it’s our best option.’

Peter looks up in the distance and does not reply.

Chris, Peter, and Rosa sit silently in the park and watch the golden autumn sunset. Chris breaks the silence by throwing small rocks at inanimate objects as target practise. He takes in a deep breath and stretches out his arms.

‘So, Peter, what’s on your mind?’

Peter stands up, smiles, stretches out his arms, looks up towards the heavens, and calls out at the top of his voice, ‘Oh, Lord, we are unworthy of the beauty that you have graced upon us. Enlighten these poor miserable two sorry excuses for human beings, so that they might have purpose in their pathetic existence.’

Chris is unimpressed by Peter’s action, but Rosa laughs; she jumps to her feet and also calls out to the heavens, ‘Yes, Lord, pity us, for we will never achieve anything in our sorry lives. May one of us grow a brain so that all three of us can share it.’ Peter and Rosa chuckle at their sarcastic remarks.

Peter steps across and stands over Chris; he clasps his hands together. ‘Well, Chris, are you going to join us in prayer on this night? Or would you rather remain in the shadow of Lucifer’s parasitic grasp?’

A moment of silence passes as Chris lies down on the grass and remains motionless. Peter turns to Rosa and continues, ‘Well, it seems that Beelzebub has claimed yet another victim. Rosa, we must combine our strength to release our beloved from the devil’s horrendous keep.’

In a quick action, Peter throws himself on top of Chris, and Rosa does the same. With the two bodies lying on top of Chris, making it uncomfortable and difficult for him to breathe, Chris yells abusive phrases at them, demanding that they get off, but Peter orders Rosa to jump harder, ‘Harder, Rosa, harder! We must squeeze the evil out of him!’

In desperation, Chris concedes, ‘OK, OK, get off! It’s gone. There is no more evil in me. Just get off.’ Peter rolls off Chris and lies down on the grass beside him.

Rosa stands up, brushes herself off, and says, ‘Come on, boys. Let’s go home.’ Peter and Chris slowly get up on their feet, and all three of them make their way home.

They walk together, kicking small stones and cans along the way. Night settles in as they make their way through the dimly lit town to their white van that is parked in the back of a dark alley. The van has no seats in the back; instead, it has a lumpy old mattress on the floor, as well as items of clothing, blankets, small shaggy sofa cushions, and other various objects covering the back area of the van. Peter and Rosa throw themselves in the back, and they wrap themselves up in warm blankets, while Chris does the same across the front seats. All three of them are lying down about to fall asleep, when a thought occurs to Peter.

‘Rosa, why did you say that you don’t want to leave this town?’

Half-asleep, she replies, ‘What are you talking about? When did I say that?’

Chris interrupts, ‘Yeah, that’s right. You did say that earlier when we agreed to hit the church.’

‘Well, I don’t want to leave. We’ve always been here. I guess that I’m comfortable and familiar with the workings of this town. We know all of the back streets and good places to hide or crash for the night. We know where to go for an easy feed. We know a lot of useful things like that. Why would we give that up? You agree with me, don’t you, Peter?’

Peter can sense that a discussion between Chris and Rosa is stirring and has no desire to be a part of it. ‘You’ve answered my question, so leave me out of this one. I just want to sleep.’

Chris sits up while Rosa remains lying down. ‘That’s all good and well, but memories aren’t going to get food into our stomachs.’

‘I know, but if we hadn’t been here for so long, we wouldn’t have known that no parking officers or police ever walk down this alley. We wouldn’t have been able to spend more than a night camped out in the same spot. It’s just a lot of little things like that.’

In a dismissive tone, Chris replies, ‘Is that all? We can learn these things about another town. The fact is that it is getting too hard to get by in this town, and I’m just keeping the possibility of leaving open. Peter and I have been on these streets for over six years now, and I’m pretty bored and sick of this town. It just gets uglier to me by the day.’

‘All right, whatever. I guess that I’m just a little sentimental… anyway, goodnight.’ Rosa closes her eyes and goes to sleep; Chris lays back down and does the same.

The morning sun rises and brings a mild warmth to the town, which is covered in some morning dew. Chris and Rosa cover their heads with their blankets to escape the light of the morning sun. Peter unwraps himself, puts on the cleanest jacket that they have in the van, and carefully climbs out without disrupting Rosa’s slumber. Peter begins to slowly stroll down the street as the rest of the town is going through its morning rush hour. The streets are filled with appropriately dressed men and women going to work and children on their way to school. He stealthily picks the pockets of a few people as they walk past him. His efforts are rewarded with a packet of cigarettes, a lighter, and a wallet; he puts them in his pocket and continues on his way to St Michael’s Church. As the elderly congregation begin to slowly make their way into the small old weatherboard church, Peter sits down opposite the entrance of the church at a bus stop and observes the congregation’s activity through the large wooden double doors at the front of the church, which are wide open.

There are three priests in this parish: Father Wallace, who is an old man well into his seventies and is retired, was originally born in this town and has come back to spend his final years here. He is of medium build and is of average height. He is bald on the top of his head but has scruffy hair all around the sides and is still always in service attire. Father Anthony is the second priest, in his mid-sixties, serving as the senior priest in the parish. He has a stocky but strong build and is a little shorter than average; he has a well-trimmed but thick beard and has a very peaceful aura about him. The third priest is Father Simon, who has only recently been ordained as a priest and was sent to this town to eventually take over from Father Anthony. He is tall and skinny and is always running around in a pair of jeans outside Mass. He is very energetic and eager to re-engage the youth of the community.

On this occasion, Father Simon is conducting the Mass while Father Anthony sits at the side of the altar praying along with the congregation. Fifteen minutes into the Mass, Peter sneaks around to the car park at the back of the church, avoiding being seen by anyone through the stained glass windows. He presses his back against the wall and looks over to the parish house on the right-hand side, where the priests reside. There is no fence between the two properties dividing them. Father Wallace is in the front yard pruning the hedges, wearing a big straw hat. The backyard behind the parish house has a large grass patch and a few bushes that are well maintained; there is a large vegetable garden all along the far right side and a large porch extending from the front of the house. The front yard is covered with flourishing green grass, with a few large flower bushes around the border. Peter sneaks up to the window of the sacristy and looks through. He notices that the room has two entrances, one leading from the altar and the other leading from outside the right-hand side of the church. He also notices that on each cabinet, there is at least one drawer with a lock. A strong wind blows Father Wallace’s straw hat off his head to the far side of the yard. He drops the hedge trimmers and chases it. Peter runs to the sacristy door and turns the door handle to check if it is kept locked during Mass; he then turns around and causally leaves the property.

Peter takes out the wallet that he stole and opens it up. He notices that there is twenty dollars in notes. He takes it out, puts it in his pocket, and proceeds into the local post office. Peter hands over the wallet to the cashier and claims that he found it on their doorstep outside. While the cashier is checking the wallet for identification, Peter slips out of the store without being noticed by the store attendant. He heads into the grocery store and purchases a loaf of sliced bread, a jar of apricot jam, a bottle of apple juice, and two packets of dry biscuits, pays for them, and leaves the store. He walks back to the van, where Chris and Rosa are still sleeping.

CHAPTER 2

P eter opens wide the van door. ‘ Wake up! ’ Chris and Rosa both moan and roll over. Peter continues, ‘Come on, get up. It’s ten o’clock. I’ve got food wit h me.’

Chris sits up. ‘How much money did you get?’

‘Twenty bucks.’

‘Do you have any left?’

‘Yeah, just under ten bucks. I went and checked out the church. It shouldn’t be a problem stealing the collection if Father Wallace isn’t around. Also, we have to do it during Mass.’

Rosa sits up and starts stretching. Chris jumps over the front seats and into the back of the van and asks, ‘Why?’

Peter starts spreading jam on to the sliced bread and proceeds to making everyone sandwiches. ‘Because there are too many draws and cabinets with locks on them, which means they probably lock everything up except during Mass, when they are using some of the stuff. Plus, we don’t know where they take the money after Mass, so that means we have to wait until tomorrow. I also have some cigarettes if you want them.’ Peter pulls out the cigarette packet out of his pocket and hands it over to Chris, who has stuffed his mouth with two sandwiches at the same time.

As Chris attempts to chew the food in his mouth, choking, he mutters, ‘I was thinking that we could take the gold cups and stuff from the church as well as the money. I’m sure that we can get something for them.’

Peter looks up at Rosa, but she doesn’t say anything. He then turns in disappointment to Chris and says, ‘Don’t be stupid. I’ll just take them back if you do.’

They continue to eat their breakfast in silence without anyone saying anything to each other.

After they finish eating, they drive down to a river a few minutes out of town and park the van at a bank underneath a large willow tree. Chris sets up three fishing rods and secures them in the mud. Peter empties the van and organises the numerous bits and pieces, while Rosa washes their clothes in the clean, clear river water. A few hours pass and bright white clouds cover the mid-afternoon sun as Rosa lies in the back of the van with the doors open. Peter is lighting a fire with scavenged dry grasses, sticks, and branches, while Chris guts and cleans the one fish that he caught. He throws the scraps back into the water.

‘Man, I’ve got a craving for chocolate mud cake. We should go to the café and buy some with the money we have left.’

Rosa sternly says, ‘Nah, we should fill up the van with petrol or at least use the money for something more useful.’ Ignoring Rosa’s line of thought, Chris becomes excited and animated.

‘Hey, we should buy some popcorn and sneak into a movie or maybe we should go and buy a few beers. We’re going to rob the church tomorrow anyway, so let’s have some fun.’ Chris continues to pester Peter and Rosa as they eat their fish and then head back into town. Chris gets his way and they buy some popcorn and sneak into two movies. At the end of the day, they drive their van into the alley and have to go to sleep earlier than usual so that Chris and Rosa wake up in time for Mass.

The next morning, Peter wakes Chris and Rosa up early, and they make their way to the morning Mass. As the elderly congregation shuffle their way into the church, Peter joins them and takes a seat in the back pew of the church while Chris takes a seat at the bus stop across the road. Rosa walks over to the parish house next door and knocks on the front door, runs away, and hides behind the flower bushes on the border. Father Wallace answers the door, looks around, and closes it again. Rosa sneaks back a second time and knocks on the front door again. This time, Father Wallace opens the door and raises his voice, ‘Yes, hello, is there anyone there?’ After scanning the area and not seeing anyone, he returns inside and closes the door.

Rosa pulls out a plastic bag from her pocket. She sneaks up to the tap in the front yard and fills it up with water. Once it is full, she ties the plastic bag up really tight; she carefully sneaks up to within two metres of the front steps and throws it as hard as she can at the front door. Upon impact, the plastic bag explodes, splashing water all over the front porch as Rosa turns and starts running down the street. Father Wallace quickly opens the door in response to the loud impact of the bag; he sees Rosa running away and decides to chase her even though she has a twenty-metre lead on him by that stage. Chris waits until Father Wallace is about thirty metres down the road before he gets up off the seat. Looking around to make sure nobody is looking, he runs across the street straight to the back of the church and waits. Ten minutes pass before the collection plate is passed around, taken to the altar, and then into the sacristy by an elderly patron. Peter stands up, makes the sign of the cross, exits the church, and walks down the road back to the van as a sign for Chris. As the collection plate is place down on the bench, the coins rattle together. Chris hears them and creeps up to the door, peers through, and waits for his chance to enter. The old man turns and leaves the room, closing the door leading to the altar behind him. Chris slips into the sacristy through the exterior entrance and carefully slides the money into his pockets, ensuring to not allow the coins to rattle and bring attention to what he is doing. Once he has collected all of the money, he pauses for a moment and surveys the room for any other valuables. There is nothing easily vendible on the benches, but as he is leaving, he gives into temptation and slips a few ceremonial items from inside the drawers down his shirt. With his loot tucked away, Chris runs back to the van, barely able to contain his excitement.

Chris arrives at the van and finds that Peter and Rosa are