“So far I'd had a great start to my day, I caught the wrong train, had a run in with a crazy Chihuahua, and gotten mugged,” Avery said into the phone. The woman on the other side was quiet. Sighing in annoyance he waited for her response. The silence continued.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ25VIfXuBnR
“Seriously? A Chihuahua?” Alison burst out laughing. The young man’s cheeks began to pink and he held the phone away from his ear.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBnfJWLNYd6
“I think the more important part of that story is that I was mugged and currently stranded in the south side,” he said through gritted teeth. Avery rubbed his raw jaw. Laughter continued through the phone. There was the choice to either call his parents, have them drive the hour to rescue him, or his sister who has an apartment on the north side of Chicago. He chose the latter. His parents would demand to move back home and insist he take the South Shore train into the city for classes.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡR7sWKtDuOp
“Where are you now?” she finally got out.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAvQn8mEFUr
“North of U.S Cellular Field. I saw signs for parking a few blocks back. Somewhere near the medical district. I’ve been walking north for the last two hours,” he grumbled. A beep rang in his ear and he groaned. “My phone is about to die, umm-,” Avery quickly glanced around, “There is a Costco ahead, I’ll wait there.”646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoSrLQw5nIP
“Ok, ok. I’m leaving now,” Alison huffed through the phone and promptly hung up. Dropping his arm, he closed his eyes. The stench of urine rushed to his nose. Anger rose and he quickly took his shoe off in an awkward stumble. As the pungent smell grew stronger as he raised his shoe from his foot, he took a step back and whipped the shoe across the street. Continuing on his way with a limp and uneven footing, he mumbled to himself about rat dogs urinating on shoes.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdduASTN0D0
Washing his hands in the Costco bathroom, Avery inspected his swollen right eye and broken lip. They muggers did some serious damage. His nose already held an angry bruise and luckily he was able to get it to stop bleeding on the walk. Avery wasn’t sure if it was broken or not. The women pushing large carts around hushed their children as he walked through the small food court. Comments on his appearance, missing shoe, and smell surrounded him.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWivORq1rsd
When Avery saw his sister’s car pull up, he sighed in relief. Stress left his body and he could feel his face pulse in pain. His tiny sister got out of the car and rushed towards him. Sporting her old Doctor Who t-shirt and nerdy glasses falling off her nose she quickly inspected his face.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz8SLXjl2yW
“They gotcha good,” she said shaking her head. Her disheveled hair bounced.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpQZlId04XZ
“You look like you just rolled out of a blanket burrito,” Avery mumbled. A smile erupted onto her face and she winked at him.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7RBkGxsNU2
“You bet! Lord of the Rings and Hobbit marathon. You forced me out of my cave,” she pouted. Avery shook his head. He never really understood his nerdy sister. He saw a new magnet added to the collection on the side of her car. An I Double Heart the Doctor bright red magnet stood out next to the faded black one that stated accio TARDIS. Getting into the passenger side Avery let out a small laugh at the figurine she glued to the top of her counsel. Avery felt like he was jumping into a mobile nerd convention on four wheels.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZqQ87eQdEr
“Thor keeps us safe,” she said tapping the miniature Thor on the helmet. Avery kept quiet and leaned his head against the cool glass. “The mugging happen before or after the misfortunate event with the small dog?” his sister laughed out.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLoW5XJxIAS
“Before,” he mumbled. “I was sitting on the ground, taking care of my nose, and the little shit walks up, sniffs my leg, and pisses on my shoe.” Avery could tell his sister was attempting to hold back laughter. She would snort any minute. A loud snort erupted and a fit of laughter followed. Despite everything, Avery smiled.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB10C4AsLlp
After a few moments of laughter and poking fun at her little brother, the young woman looked at her brother with a serious stare between looking at the road. “The Red line is really dangerous, how did you make the mistake?”646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiZ86WbyPoS
“I was running late for class and panicked. I thought the train that was stationed and ready to leave was mine. It wasn’t until a few stops later I realized I was on the wrong one,” he grumbled.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiQqmrKwn0q
“Hopefully none of your bad juju transfers to me,” she said wrinkling her nose. Avery smiled and wiggled his fingers towards her.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0GLccdL1bd
“Please oh great Thor, thunder God, send these bad vibes towards Alison!” he said in a mock creepy voice. Alison laughed and swept his hand away.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyxD0WKfLBj
Suddenly a loud bang shook the car and Alison screamed slamming on the breaks. The car wobbled and the loud tearing and grinding sound filled their ears as she pulled over. Avery, bracing himself against the dashboard, looked at his sister wide eyed in surprise. Along the side of I94, they both carefully got out of the car.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9FR3t8qFIW
Alison stared down at her back passenger tire that was shredded and rim on the ground. She looked between her brother and her car shocked. “You-” she paused containing her anger. Avery held his hands up in surrender and laughed.646Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtdEhRzvkI8
“Guess Thor was listening.”
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