What is it? What happened? David was pierced by a shudder of horror. Crushed with his belly to the ground with something heavy and hard slamming into his back, he couldn't move. Someone had knocked him to the ground, damn it. Who? A thief? A murderer? Or maybe...
"Gotcha, you thief," someone hissed over his ear. A man.
Thief? What? It was someone who took him for a thief? But who? Surely it wasn't his father, nor his uncle, nor any cousin... A policeman? He sincerely hoped that he was not dealing with some psycho.
"I'm not a thief!" he tried to free himself but felt a stronger pressure. He hissed in pain.
"Don't struggle or I'll hurt you. If you are not a thief then what are you doing here at this hour?"
"I can ask the same thing. Who the hell are you?"
"The owner. And you, bird, will end up behind bars."
The owner? What kind of owner? After all, the house was quite empty and was going to stay that way until tomorrow.
"Impossible. The owner doesn't arrive until tomorrow!" he growled confident that he had caught his attacker in a lie.
"I came today." The knee was painfully driving into David's back. The man knew how to overpower his opponent. David, although boiling with rage, was totally helpless. But could it be that he was really dealing with the owner? Did the owner actually arrive earlier without alerting anyone?
"What's your name?" asked David, feeling the distinct smell of wet grass and the adrenaline pulsing in his blood.
"What?"
"Your name. You say you are the owner...."
"I didn't give it to anyone," growled the attacker.
"You did give it. It was on the contract when you hired the repair team...."
"Meiden" The word like bells buzzed in the night silence.
David sighed with relief. He felt a little calmer.
"My name is David Krosny," he explained. "I'm working with my father and uncle on a renovation. I forgot to turn off the sprinkles and came to do it. I'm not a thief!"
"..."
"You can either believe me or take me to the police station. I don't think you want to spend the whole night like this." David certainly didn't want to.
"We'll check your story," the pressure eased. "But you'd better not try to run away. You may know the area better, but I'm faster."
And stronger, stated David remembering that he couldn't free himself from under the guy crushing him to the ground. But that wasn't a problem, because he had no intention of running away at all.
He got up and shrugged off his clothes. Gosh, he thought, he was all covered in grass and water. He won't wash those stains and not only that, they really were his best pants, but also his favorite T-shirt.
"If you want, Mr. Meiden we can go together to get the keys," David muttered, imagining what his mother would say when she saw him in such a state. "Without them you won't get into the house. The building has better locks."
"And where are the keys?"
"At our house. Father keeps them."
David got the impression that the man was looking at him. He raised his eyes and noticed that he was taller and bulkier than him. No wonder David couldn't get out from under him. He couldn't see Meiden's face clearly, it was just too dark, but he got the impression that he wasn't as old as he assumed. The man acted alert, but not aggressively. Maybe he was indeed the new owner?
"But he will only issue the keys after checking your passport," David explained.
"I don't have it. We're in the Schengen zone."
"And, right. Then he'll check the ID card."
The man sighed and looked toward the palace, which was black against the night background. Massive two-story building. The moon was just disappearing behind its roof, casting a shadow over them. In this light, David seemed to notice a strange flash in the man's eyes. He trembled. Owner or not, this guy could prove dangerous.
"Go ahead," Meiden finally instructed.
David headed toward the gate. The night was not cold, nevertheless he felt a chill due to his wet clothes. He looked at his T-shirt, where he clearly saw traces of shredded grass.
"Damn, I liked this T-shirt so much. Now it's to be thrown away."
"You should not have broken into someone else's property in the middle of the night."
"After all I said I forgot to turn off the sprinklers!"
"If your story is confirmed, I'll buy you a new T-shirt."
"Do not bother" he muttered. "And how did you get here?"
"Through the gate on the side of the village."
"The lock is already quite broken," David whined under his breath. "We couldn't find a suitable spring anywhere, so we thought about replacing the whole thing, but it's the only original gate in the whole fence."
"To be replaced," decided the owner in a firm tone.
"Okay, I'll tell my father."
They went through the gate. It did not latch on its own, although David tried three times. Annoyed, he moved the spring with his finger and finally there was success.
"But" he became concerned "I can't see the car."
He believed the guy to be the new owner, but if it's some thief, or worse, who happened to know the right name and now wants to remove an inconvenient witness?
"It's parked in front of the main gate."
Hm, probably so. David wasn't entirely convinced, however, it looked like he had to take a risk and go before the man. It's true that his advantage was his knowledge of the area, but the guy was walking so close and gave the impression of being alert enough to seize him at the first attempt to escape. David decided to take a chance. A thief or other criminal would not leave his car in front of the main gate, from where it is perfectly visible. If the car is actually there, it means he is dealing with the real owner. And if he is not there... there are instead roadside bushes on the other side of the road. He should be able to jump there in time to lose his attacker in the thicket. Everything will turn out in a few steps....
***
"I can't believe you haven't had any luck with any of the girls," Luke shook his head in disbelief. "Whoever, but not you!"
Luke was a completely average boy both in appearance and behavior. There was nothing special about him, except maybe that he put up with Greg's changing moods as if it was no big deal to him.
Greg squirmed. He combed his dark brown hair with his fingers in a nonchalant gesture. He knew it made him look cool. All the girls almost squealed when he did it. Now, however, he felt embarrassed. Who did he want to impress? Those village pumpkins? He should be ashamed that he even thought that for a moment.
"I got bored with this place," he replied simply.
He could have added that there was only one person at this village disco who piqued his interest, but the boy left. Damn, sexy he was, Greg should take care of him, but today... Today I guess he really wasn't in the mood for it. He let himself be persuaded to go to this disco because he wanted to get away from domestic issues, from his parents' quarrels, but the atmosphere here wasn't good enough for him to relax the rest of the way. Maybe if he had picked up the boy there he would have felt better, maybe not.
"If you want we can go back..."
Maybe he would like to, but he shook his head. They'd be back in town so he'd have to go home too, and that wasn't a pleasant prospect.
"No,it's cool. Let's hang around here a bit more."
After all, you never know, maybe the black-haired boy will come back and Greg will have a chance to play with him a bit. And if not today, then maybe at the next opportunity. This boy was the only thing in this neighborhood that was at least of the slightest interest to Greg.
Thinking about the future fun with the black-haired and blue-eyed boy, he didn't even know that his eyes had turned kind of dark at that moment. He didn't know that Luke had noticed it and trembled.