Alley of Shadows by Steve Brezenoff

Author:Steve Brezenoff
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Raintree UK

“Feel free to look around, or join in any of the games,” the preacher said. Then he walked away.

Ben watched him walk through the door that connected the youth centre to the church. Ben wondered if there would be any adults at the centre at all. It seemed like the whole room was full of kids.

Then he spotted a woman helping a small boy play with some blocks. She looked familiar. After he thought about it for a few seconds, he realized that she was the woman who the preacher had comforted during the church lunch.

“Who are you?” said a voice next to Ben.

Ben turned and saw a boy standing beside him holding a ping-pong paddle.

“What?” Ben asked. He’d heard the boy’s question, but he felt confused.

“I said, who are you?” the boy said. “I saw you at church yesterday. You were walking around like you’d lost something. Are you new here or something?”

“Yeah,” Ben replied. “We just moved here a couple of days ago.”

“A couple of days? Wow! You are new,” the boy said. “I’m Will.”

“My name’s Ben,” Ben replied. “Hey, who is that woman over there?” He nodded towards the woman with the little boy.

“That’s Mrs Duran,” Will explained. “She volunteers here sometimes. She’s really nice.”

“I saw her at the church lunch,” Ben said. “Um, I think she was crying,” he added in a soft whisper.

Will squinted in thought, and then nodded. “Oh, right. Her daughter is in the hospital,” he explained.

“Really? What happened to her?” Ben asked.

Will shrugged. “She was hurt by a couple of thugs. We call them the Preacher Bandits, because they stole the youth centre money from the preacher.”

“They stole from the preacher?” asked Ben. “That’s pretty awful.”

“He was walking Mrs Duran’s daughter home from the youth centre when they were attacked,” Will explained.

“Wow,” Ben said. “Did the police catch the bandits?”

“Nope,” Will replied. “The preacher blacked out, and when he woke up, the thugs were gone. And so was all the money that had been donated for the youth centre.”

Will paused, looking around. Then he leaned in close to Ben.

Will said, “The preacher says if we don’t get more money soon, he may have to shut down the youth centre for good.”

“That’s awful!” Ben said.

Will nodded. “Yup. And Mrs Duran’s daughter was unconscious.”

He leaned closer to Ben and looked around, before adding in a whisper, “Some people are saying she’ll never wake up.”

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