Vanishing Point

Apollo stared at the red neon sign flickering every few minutes, illuminating the foggy night sky and giving him a subtle, eerie feeling in the pit of his stomach. “The Corner” he read out loud, making sure he had come to the correct location his friend Nasir had told him to meet at. Apollo started to regret coming out so late after telling his mom that he would be spending the night at Nasir’s place. He was actually planning on going out to see his crush, Kiara, at The Bowling Bonanza across the street where she worked, but Nas had sent a code L, which meant he needed to update him on something urgent and in person. Hence, Apollo found himself out on a Saturday night at 11:45 PM, parked behind a suspicious-looking black van in an empty parking lot.

He ended up thinking about Kiara more than he had liked lately. Maybe it was because two weeks ago he found out that he would be seatmates with her for the rest of the semester. Before, he never thought he had a chance with a girl like her, but when their eyes met that day, she greeted him as if he wasn’t known for being the laughingstock of Maplewood High School due to several incidents where his anger issues took over. The most notorious one was when he got taken off the basketball team for charging at a player on the opposing team. No one else saw how the ref was missing fouls left and right while the other team played dirty tricks by shoving and tripping Apollo at every opportunity.

Finally, his breaking point came. Apollo was driving towards the basket when he was shoved hard from behind, sending him sprawling. The referee blew the whistle, but instead of calling the foul, he signaled a turnover. The crowd’s boos echoed in the gym, but Apollo’s vision tunneled. He snapped. With a roar, he charged at the player, shoving him back with all his strength. The gym fell silent, the game forgotten as players and spectators watched in shock. The opposing player stumbled, falling to the ground, and Apollo stood over him, fists clenched, breathing heavily. His coach rushed out to pull Apollo away, but the damage was already done. Apollo’s bloody fists were snapped on the school’s newsletter club’s camera for the next exclusive to be shared the following Monday.

Kiara wasn’t like the others, shunning him and blaming him for the school’s big loss. She was also a part of the school’s newsletter club and offered to listen to my story and write an article on the situation. She wasn’t afraid of me, and she seemed to genuinely care about my feelings. After that, we started to hit it off, which is how I found out about her working at The Bowling Bonanza. I’ve been meeting and walking home with her after work ever since. Yesterday, we even got to hang out at her house after her shift since her parents weren’t home. No, nothing happened. He had wanted it to, sure—he was a growing teenager with hormones, after all—but he didn’t want to mess things up with her.

Apollo gathered his thoughts and snapped back into reality. As he waited, he noticed a familiar face in the van’s side mirror. There was definitely someone sitting in the driver’s seat, but he couldn’t make out the face for the life of him. Suddenly, a dim light lit up from the phone of the driver. Apollo sunk deeper into his own seat, intrigued by the new guest, unaware of the lurking eyes behind him. “Why is he sitting here alone?” Apollo thought to himself. The phone now provided more access into the inside of the stranger’s car, showing the stranger’s fitted cream-colored cap with the embroidered initials JR FOREVER, which made him suck his teeth in annoyance.

There was only one person in this whole town with those initials and that cap: Jackson Reed, better known as Saint Reed due to how selfless people claimed he was. Saint Reed, always willing to help others and show empathy towards those in need. Always putting the needs of others before his own. He was respected and admired by everyone in this town due to his virtuous behavior. Something I know nothing about, so I’ve been told. I don’t really mind going unnoticed because of kids like Saint. I mean, I am a year older than him. I just hope Kiara doesn’t fall for guys with the whole hero get-up like every other girl at Maplewood.

Fifteen minutes have passed, and it’s now midnight, but nothing has changed, so I pick up the phone to call Nas to see what’s taking so long. That’s when I get startled by the engine of Saint’s worn out van starting, jolting back, sputtering a little, and hurrying to the stop sign next to the bowling alley where Kiara was walking out from. It only took thirty seconds. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing with my own eyes. Kiara was on the ground, bleeding out. The van stopped right in front of her with the headlights off. So this was planned, I thought to myself. I tried to move, but I couldn’t feel my legs. Saint got out of the van, picked Kiara up bridal style, and threw her lifeless body into the back with the help of two other people hunched inside. They were gone in an instant.

That’s when I heard his voice. “Sorry for coming late, man, my mom wouldn’t let up.” I turned around as I was still processing what had just happened, wondering if I was the only one to witness this catastrophic event. It was Nasir, coming down the street with the biggest grin on his face. “Guess what, I heard Kiara was gonna ask you out next Thursday to the Sadie Hawkins dance. You’re finally getting your chance, Lo!” He shook me vigorously, but I couldn’t move. I only had two things on my mind at that moment: to find Jackson Reed and then kill him.