’ Joseph heard the footsteps coming up the stairs, heard the floorboards creak as his adversary approached. Yet the sound was subtle and far away. I...t was almost not a sound. Joseph felt rather than heard it. Perhaps it was all inside his head. He had played this game for so long that he was always on his guard and looked at everything and everyone with more than a little suspicion. His pursuer had attempted to trick him many times before and he had learned to always be alert. After all, he had. ”We walked as far as we thought was prudent, then we dropped to a crawl, and finally on our bellies as we reached the crest of the hill we were on. Jack and I poked our heads over the crest just enough to be able to see what was on the other side.We saw three of the enemy acting as rather inefficient pickets as if they were inviting attack. We arbitrarily picked the one on the extreme left as our first capture. I teleported the enemy soldier to the small valley behind us, and Jack surrounded it. He stormed up to the boy and decked him straight in the nose after he had pushed Natasha to the ground. The boy wailed and ran off towards a teacher as Gage helped Natasha up who hugged him tightly. She giggled, elated, that her knight in shining armor had been there to help her. ‘You’re my hero Gage Benevento!’ Natasha kissed Gage’s cheek right before a teacher came up to them and told Gage to go to the principal’s office. Gage was escorted to the principal’s office all the while blushing,. When I woke up I had my shirt on, and was lying between the rails of the examining table, covered with a blanket. Mom was looking at me. "Decided to rejoin us?" It was an in joke from a previous visit. I smiled.We were told to come back the next morning to get the results of the tests. Mom took me for some ice cream. And I was amazed that I didn't have a pile of homework waiting for me at home. I spent the rest of the afternoon in front of the television. It was just after nine the next.