Chapter 19: The Chase

After Emuna gazed at the boy for a moment, she quickly turned to her friends. "Hey, you guys. I saw the same boy yesterday and the day before yesterday." She turned to the boy and pointed her finger at him. "He's over there, you see him?"

Her friends turned to the boy that Emuna was pointing at. They gasped and widened their eyes when they saw him. Lazarus stood up from his seat and sipped his drink. "Alright, looks like we found him." Then he grabbed his tray and was getting ready to head over to the trash can. "We gotta go catch him before he crosses the street."

"Right!" Zaboulon, Emuna and Yudia agreed, quickly taking their trays, following Lazarus to the trash can.

As soon as they put their trash in the trash can and placed their trays on top of other trays, they saw the walking traffic light turned white. Emuna anxiously widened her eyes when she saw that.

-Ah, shit! The walking traffic light jus' turned white! That means that our target will cross the street! We better hurry up and catch him before we lose him!

They quickly chased after the boy after they looked both sides of the street and waited for the cars to drive past one another. They watched the boy cross the street with the crowd, while they waited for the cars to drive past them. There were only five cars driving by in front of Emuna and her friends.

Yudia impatiently sighed. "Ohhhh, I wish these cars would hurry up and pass by now, so we can cross the street. We're losing him."

"I know, right?" Zaboulon agreed, sighing, frowning at the cars driving by.

"C'mon, guys. Jus' be patient, alright?" Lazarus snapped. "We're not losin' him jus' yet. As long as we pay attention to him, we'll never lose him."

Emuna shook her head when she looked Lazarus in the eye. "Yea, Lazarus was totally right. Jus' pay attention to him and we sure as hell shouldn't lose him in no time."

When Yudia and Zaboulon still saw him continuing to cross the street, he was halfway there to the other sidewalk. They shook their heads while they still frowned at him. "Yea, I guess you guys are right, Lazarus, Emuna!"

Lazarus and Emuna grinned when they heard Yudia and Zaboulon say this to them.

"Excellent, you guys! I know I can count on you guys!" Lazarus exclaimed.

"Yea, like he said!" Emuna agreed with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

Once the coast was finally clear for the gang to cross the street, they immediately crossed the street. However, they saw the boy finally made it to the other sidewalk and the walking traffic light turned orange. Zaboulon and Yudia both sighed when they saw that.

"Oh, great! We're too late! The boy's on the other sidewalk! There's no way we could catch him now!" Yudia roared when she glared at Lazarus and Emuna.

"Yea, Yudia's right!" Zaboulon agreed while he also glared at Lazarus and Emuna. "It's impossible to catch him now! We can't jaywalk, not only because it's illegal but also the locals in Xenopolis take that shit very seriously! The adults will record that shit on their smartphones if we do that! So what the hell are we gonna do now, you two!"

"Guys…guys, jus' calm down," Emuna calmly said. "We can still manage to catch him. We jus' need to follow him, that's all. We'll be given a chance to cross the street and catch him. All you have to do is to be patient."

"Yea, Emuna's right, y'know," Lazarus agreed as he and the gang watched the boy turn right and walk forward. "Jus' stay together and watch him go. That's it. That's all we'll have to do for now."

Zaboulon and Yudia calmed down a bit while they watched the boy go, then they turned to Lazarus and Emuna.

"Okay well, I hope you guys are right," Zaboulon said, giving Lazarus and Emuna a serious look on his face.

"Yea, 'cause I won't take y'all's advice seriously 'bout it next time!" Yudia said as she also gave Lazarus and Emuna a serious face, crossing her arms, tapping her foot on the ground.

"Right?" Zaboulon agreed as he and the gang watched and followed after the boy on the sidewalk. "Me neither."

Emuna's heart began to beat hard and fast when Zaboulon and Yudia's warnings haunted her heart. Her anxieties were building up inside of it. Her heart was beating harder and faster than ever before.

-Oh, man! I better hurry up and catch that boy before he gets away again. I jus' hope he doesn't see us, or we're doom. I jus' need to know if his father's healed or not. I really need to know.

Then she looked up at the sky while she turned to the boy back and forth.

-Dear Elohim, please help me and my friends catch this boy. Please help us get to know his family's situation. We need to know how they're doin' financially. In Yeshua's name, Amen.

Once Emuna and her friends were halfway there to the end of the sidewalk, Emuna scanned her surroundings and saw the traffic lights were present. The horizontal traffic lights still remained green and vertical ones were red.

-Okay, great! I'll advise my friends to run faster towards the walking traffic lights, and press the button before the lights turn green. That'll be a piece of cake! But I jus' need to hurry though before that happens.

She turned her head back at her friends and forward at the sidewalk and the horizontal traffic lights. "Alright, you guys. We need to get to the end of the sidewalk and press the button there on time, before the traffic lights turn red. It's the only way we'll ever gonna get to him. Hurry!"

Her friends studied their surroundings, then turned back to Emuna. "Yea! Now you're talkin'!"

"Great thinkin', Emuna!" Zaboulon grinned at Emuna.

"Yea!" Yudia agreed.

Emuna and her friends ran, ran, ran as fast as they could, yet the horizontal traffic lights turned yellow. Emuna widened her eyes when she saw that.

-Ah, shit! We're almost there! We better get there quickly, or we won't be able to cross the street!

Then they saw an old woman stopped by the traffic lights with her cane and pushed the button before them just in time, before the traffic lights turned red. Emuna's face became relieved when she saw the elderly woman save their day.

-Oh, thank Elohim He sent that woman to press the button for the walkin' traffic lights. That was a close one. I thought we're seriously done for.

Once the horizontal traffic lights turned red, the vertical ones turned green, as well as the walking traffic light turned white. Emuna and her friends made it there just in time, for them to cross the street with an old lady. Their eyes turned to the boy and he was halfway there to the traffic lights. Emuna turned to the boy and at the end of the sidewalk back and forth, with her serious, determined look on her face.

-Oh, man. I better tell my friends to turn toward the traffic lights before he sees us. We really can't afford to let him see us.

Emuna then turned to her friends. "Alright, turn your faces that way while you still look forward." She pointed her thumb right and moved her hand right a couple times. "That boy is 'bout to come into our position over there." She pointed at the end of the sidewalk. "Otherwise, he'll see our faces and run away from us. We can't afford to lose him today. Now ever."

After her friends surveyed their surroundings, they returned their attention to Emuna and shook their heads. "Alright, you got it, Emuna."

"Great!" Emuna exclaimed when she and her friends turned their heads right, while they still looked forward.

Once they made it to the end of the other sidewalk, the old lady continued walking forward, humming to herself with a smile on her face all the sudden. Emuna and her friends stopped near the traffic lights and stood there, turning toward the light in the opposite direction. They waited for the boy to come up to them like a predator would.

They were lucky that the boy didn't even see them, while he was continuing his journey down the hill on the sidewalk. The vehicles moving prevented their ears from hearing the boy's footsteps behind them, so they waited for a while. After they waited for a while, Emuna slightly turned her eyes towards her target.

Her eyes spotted the boy turning his direction to the sidewalk that she and her friends were on earlier. She smiled at him cockily.

-Alright, time to capture this boy and get the info out of him, shall we, Emuna?

She turned around and grabbed his shoulders, looking down at him with her smile on her face. "Huh?!" The boy fearfully looked up at her, widening his twitchy eyes once he recognized her face, frowning. "Oh, no. Not you again!"