Chapter 8 - Shadows on the Perimeter
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The basketball court at the community center was alive with the sound of bouncing rubber and squeaking sneakers. Mateo stood at the edge of the paint, calling out plays to the younger kids, desperately trying to keep his mind focused on the game.
"Pass it to the left! Keep your eyes up, Leo!" Mateo shouted, clapping his hands together.
But his gaze kept drifting toward the tall iron fence that separated the sanctuary from the main road. Ever since the letter arrived three days ago, the back of his neck had been prickling with an uneasy heat.
"Coach Mateo, watch this!" a little boy yelled, launching a basketball that hit the rim and bounced away.
"Good try, buddy," Mateo said, jogging to retrieve the ball near the perimeter fence.
As he bent down to pick it up, a shadow fell over him.
Mateo slowly stood up, the leather of the basketball gripping tightly in his sweaty hands. Standing on the other side of the wrought-iron bars was a man in a dark, faded hoodie. The man’s face was obscured by a cheap baseball cap, but the posture—the rigid, aggressive slope of his shoulders—sent a violent shockwave through Mateo’s nervous system.
"You've grown," a gravelly voice rasped through the metal bars.
Mateo couldn’t breathe. The air in his lungs turned to ice.
"What do you want, Elias?" Mateo demanded, forcing his voice to remain steady despite the violent trembling in his knees.
"Is that how you greet your old man?" Elias chuckled, a dry, humorless sound.
"You're not my father," Mateo said, stepping back. "You lost that right when you chained me like an animal."
"I did what I had to do," Elias sneered, gripping the iron bars.
"I'm calling the police," Mateo warned.
"Call them," Elias challenged. "I'm on a public sidewalk. I have every right to be here. But you and that woman... you're sitting on something that belongs to me. And I'm not leaving this town until I get it back."
Before Mateo could respond, Mariana burst out of the center's back doors, her phone already pressed to her ear.
"Step away from the fence!" Mariana screamed.
May you like
Elias smirked, pulling his hood up further.
"I'll be seeing you, boy," he whispered, turning and vanishing into the evening shadows just as the distant wail of police sirens began to echo through the streets.
