Day 4:

           Jose’s lungs burned as he ran.  He could still hear the yelling behind him.  He knew they were gaining on him.  He was faster, but the adrenaline was starting to escape his system and he knew they could last longer at running than him.  He needed to find somewhere to hide and fast.  

           Jose spied an slightly ajar window leading into a boarded-up building.  Without stopping to wonder if it was such a good idea, he leapt and grabbed onto the edge and squeezed through the crack.  He waited for a moment and listened to see if those chasing him had seen him enter or no.

           He could hear them right outside in the alley.

           “Where did that little jerk go!?” one of them yelled.

           Jose recognized his voice as the leader of the gang, Reggie Dalton

           “Reggie, look,” another member of the gang was saying, “that window is open.

           “That skinny little twerp could fit through there.  Open it up all the way and we’ll look inside.”  

            Jose didn’t wait any longer.  He raced further into the dark building.  He heard the slap of feet on the floor behind him.  Jose’s eyes were quickly getting used to the dark, and he noticed a bunch of old dryers and washing machines and realized that this building must have used to be an old laundromat.  One especially large washing machine had its door open, so Jose jumped inside and pulled the door shut.

            Jose heard the muffled noises of Reggie’s gang walking and talking, and then he heard a different voice.

            “What are you boys doing in here!?” the voice yelled.  It sounded like an older fellow with a smoking problem.

            “Nothing,” gulped Reggie.  “We were just looking for a friend of ours.

            “Well, he won’t be in here.  Now get out."

            Reggie seemed to get his self confidence back.  

            “We ain’t leaving til we find our little friend, old man,” he said.  “Got a problem with that?”

            “Yes, I do,” said the old man.

            Jose heard a click and Reggie’s gang gasp.

            “He’s got a gun,” yelped Reggie.  “Let’s get outta here.”

            The gangs footsteps faded along with their urging each other to run faster or get out of the way.

            Jose was now alone with an old man he didn’t know, who had a gun.

            Understandably, he decided to stay in the washing machine in the hopes that the man would go away and Jose would then be able to slip away unnoticed.  Unfortunately for Jose, that didn’t happen.

            After a couple minutes of listening to the old man grumble, the door to the washing machine opened.  Jose held his breath expecting the old man to unload his gun into the washing machine.  Instead, the man threw something small and furry inside and slammed the door shut.  The old man pressed some buttons on the washing machine and turned a knob.

           “One thousand, three hundred, and twenty-sixth times a charm,” he said.  “Here we go.”

           The old man pressed one more button. 

           At first nothing happened, and then the washing machine shuddered to life and began revolving.  Jose tried yelling, but it had picked up too much speed and taken the breath out of him.  It spun faster and faster and faster until…it stopped.  Just all of the sudden it stopped.

          Jose didn’t care if the old man saw him anymore, he needed to throw up and he wasn’t going to do that trapped in a small enclosed space.  He kicked the door open and emptied his stomach’s contents onto the grass.

          Wait, thought Jose, grass?  I’m inside a building.

          Jose stood up and looked around.  He was standing in the midst of a forest teeming with wildlife.

         “But,” said Jose.  

         He slowly spun in circles, trying to take it all in and noticed a mouse jump out of the washing machine he had just been in.

         Jose shook his head and then he passed out.