Outlaws
Just sleep
"It's alright, I'm just trying to give you some food! You guys have been out here all day!", the woman in persuit exclaimed.
How would she know that if she wasn't watching us?
On the other hand, she did come out from the bakery across our alleyway wearing a white apron caked with flour. Maybe she was trying to be a good citizen.
Our feet believed the other story. We nearly ran across the street, with cars passing by like ladybugs in this urban jungle. The woman finally gave up hope and returned to the store. Again, we were faced with the same question: what to do now? We could look for another alleyway I suppose, but could we really have stayed out there for another three years until we reached adulthood?
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My eyes creaked open like ancient attic doors. Above stood a man of thirty or so. His messy blond hair hid half his face and was little longer than his shoulders. Scraggly stubble on the man's face suggested he hadn't shaved in a while. He was kicking at Gerard's feet when he noticed I had come to.
"You're not dead, then. Who the hell are you?"
Jefferson Ave was where we'd decided to stop. My brother was still sleeping, slumped next to a dented metal garbage can and I was keeping watch. More like thinking about Gerard and I and our secrets from the world. Yes, many many secrets...
(Author's Note: Begin flashback to five years ago)
"Gerard, look at this!", I exclaimed, ten at the time. I held it tightly for him to see.
We were under a platform of a jungle-gym. Our parents were on the brown park bench fifty feet away, apparently thinking we'd enjoy that shit. We'd given up hope before we were born. Dad was talking to a man holding the leash of a pampered dog. They seemed to be discussing something. Mom was surveying the crowded of mothers and their bundled children, failing to find us.
"Mikey!" He shouted. Sticky, red gobs dripped down my fingers. I held it loosely in my palm while Gerard studied me.
I breathed in the pain, let myself feel it. It rushed through my body like an adrenaline high and let me know I was real. All problems transformed into liquid and leaked out of my body.
"Mikey?"
"I'm okay", I said. What just happened?
"Are...are you sure? You had this weird look on your face...", he shyly said. Then I felt it: his insides burning. He wanted to know what I was really thinking.
"Wha-"
"Later." I said, hoping he'd forget. And I thought he did, I truly thought so.
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(Author's Note: end of blashbakc five years ago and start of flashback two years ago)
Until three years later. It was 3:29 in the morning and I was making an innocent trip to the bathroom.
I went to open the door, but it was locked. I knocked quietly.
"Just a minute", a paranoid voice said. A few slamming of drawers and many spurts of the sink later, Gerard stepped out.
"All yours", he smiled weakly and his shoulder twitched. He hurried away quickly, leaving me to wonder.
I was washing my hands when I discovered it.
Kerplunk! As a panther to it's prey, an object slammed against the door of the cabinet. As I swung the door open, a pair of scissors leaped out and onto the floor. Reaching for a finger hole, the other dropped and extended the scissors outward. From a distance, they looked fine. But in the middle crevice were specks of a familiar substance.
Blood.
How would she know that if she wasn't watching us?
On the other hand, she did come out from the bakery across our alleyway wearing a white apron caked with flour. Maybe she was trying to be a good citizen.
Our feet believed the other story. We nearly ran across the street, with cars passing by like ladybugs in this urban jungle. The woman finally gave up hope and returned to the store. Again, we were faced with the same question: what to do now? We could look for another alleyway I suppose, but could we really have stayed out there for another three years until we reached adulthood?
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
My eyes creaked open like ancient attic doors. Above stood a man of thirty or so. His messy blond hair hid half his face and was little longer than his shoulders. Scraggly stubble on the man's face suggested he hadn't shaved in a while. He was kicking at Gerard's feet when he noticed I had come to.
"You're not dead, then. Who the hell are you?"
Jefferson Ave was where we'd decided to stop. My brother was still sleeping, slumped next to a dented metal garbage can and I was keeping watch. More like thinking about Gerard and I and our secrets from the world. Yes, many many secrets...
(Author's Note: Begin flashback to five years ago)
"Gerard, look at this!", I exclaimed, ten at the time. I held it tightly for him to see.
We were under a platform of a jungle-gym. Our parents were on the brown park bench fifty feet away, apparently thinking we'd enjoy that shit. We'd given up hope before we were born. Dad was talking to a man holding the leash of a pampered dog. They seemed to be discussing something. Mom was surveying the crowded of mothers and their bundled children, failing to find us.
"Mikey!" He shouted. Sticky, red gobs dripped down my fingers. I held it loosely in my palm while Gerard studied me.
I breathed in the pain, let myself feel it. It rushed through my body like an adrenaline high and let me know I was real. All problems transformed into liquid and leaked out of my body.
"Mikey?"
"I'm okay", I said. What just happened?
"Are...are you sure? You had this weird look on your face...", he shyly said. Then I felt it: his insides burning. He wanted to know what I was really thinking.
"Wha-"
"Later." I said, hoping he'd forget. And I thought he did, I truly thought so.
-------------
(Author's Note: end of blashbakc five years ago and start of flashback two years ago)
Until three years later. It was 3:29 in the morning and I was making an innocent trip to the bathroom.
I went to open the door, but it was locked. I knocked quietly.
"Just a minute", a paranoid voice said. A few slamming of drawers and many spurts of the sink later, Gerard stepped out.
"All yours", he smiled weakly and his shoulder twitched. He hurried away quickly, leaving me to wonder.
I was washing my hands when I discovered it.
Kerplunk! As a panther to it's prey, an object slammed against the door of the cabinet. As I swung the door open, a pair of scissors leaped out and onto the floor. Reaching for a finger hole, the other dropped and extended the scissors outward. From a distance, they looked fine. But in the middle crevice were specks of a familiar substance.
Blood.