A Heart of Gold

Skylar runs. Through dark alleyways and dim light streets, he runs faster than he has for years. Soft pants echo form the walls surrounding him even though he’s trying to be as quiet as possible. He can’t afford to get caught, this is his one and only chance to get away from the madness his family has been living in for the past two decades; but only the last three he has been aware of it. And honestly, they have been hell. Maybe his sister likes threatening people with knives and having the ultimate feeling of power. Maybe his brother likes to give his body for others to do what they please with it. But he sure as hell doesn’t like to do those filthy acts, no matter how many times he actually has had to do them.

Skylar’s family is a part of an underground ruling system, a mafia of sorts. They collect protection money from people who are unfortunate to live on their territory, threaten their enemies and people who don’t know their boundaries while living in the City, sell drugs and anything else to keep the citizens under control. The police in the town are powerless in trying to suppress the spreading criminality, so they just ignore everything that is even vaguely associated with ‘The Family’, the true leaders of the City.

‘The Family’’s management consists of three most powerful couples who control everything. Mr. and Mrs. Hardman are in charge of gathering the ‘taxes’ as they call the protection money, Mr. Beel and Mr. Tobin are the ones to take care of the ‘customer service’; basically they hold the biggest brothel in town to please the important business partners and fulfil their sick fantasies. But Skylar’s parents are the worst of all. Mr. and Mrs. Casadei don’t actually do any of the dirty work that ‘The Family’ is responsible of. No, they just sit back and give orders and then they act like it never happened, shutting their eyes and ears from the rest of the world, like they’re better than anyone else mixed in the business. How disgusting, at least the other ones admit their doings honestly. Skylar can’t understand how he was able to live his childhood without noticing all the things that went on behind the scenes. How stupid he had been, for not noticing and making a run for it while he had had the chance.

He still remembers that horrible day when everything went down the drain and he had to do the most painful, gruesome thing to himself he has done to this day. It had been his fifteenth birthday, and he had been waiting excitedly for his parents and his older siblings to come and pick him up from school so they could go to the restaurant they went on his every birthday, and have the most amazing lasagna he had ever tasted. Then they would go back home and he’d get the systems camera he had wanted for ages, and maybe eat some cake if they weren’t too full.

The events hadn’t really gone the way he had planned. During the meal his parents had announced that Skylar was now a proper member of their family, and because of that he had to earn his place in their other family, ‘The Family’. Once Skylar had heard what they were expecting for him to do, he had completely flipped. Never had Skylar thought his parents were able to ask him to lose his virginity to a total stranger, never. And for what? He had to do it so they could seal an important dealing contract which would ‘keep this town supplied for at least seven years’. Like telling that fact would make it more pleasant for Skylar. He hadn’t calmed down until his father had slapped him on the face, hard, and told him he had no other options. He had to do it or they would kick him out on the streets. Now Skylar wishes he would’ve chosen that instead.

Once they had returned home, Skylar had been given an hour to prepare himself to look his best. Slowly, like in a haze, Skylar had gone to his room and taken out more ‘proper’ clothes. Next he had gone to take a shower, and while washing himself, he had made a decision: he had to save his heart from getting ruined and keep himself sane. So, when Skylar had gotten out of the shower, he had grabbed his razor and cut his heart out. Two clean stabs and a little twist, and it had been out. Skylar’s heart had been fluttering and glowing on his palm when he had taken his necklace out of his drawer and sealed it inside the necklace. His emotions had immediately dimmed, like someone had plugged the light cord out of the wall.

Stammering a bit, Skylar had called a crow sitting in a nearby tree to his windowsill and tied the necklace to its leg. The crow instantly had taken off to the sky and towards the horizon. Skylar had closed the window and continued to pretty himself up for the ‘guest’ he would be receiving in half an hour.

In the end, Skylar had gotten the systems camera he had wanted, but he hadn’t been able to rejoice about it the way he had wanted. No, it had been left on the sill of his bookshelf, and instead carrying it with him all the time like he had planned, Skylar carried his hatred towards his family close to the place where his heart should’ve been, never letting it fade away.

Well, all is going to be better from now on. All Skylar has to do is reach the outskirts of this dreadful City without anyone noticing him and he will be free. Free of having to beat the crap out of innocent people one second, and pleasing some greasy old men and women who were ‘important business partners’ another second. As Skylar comes closer and closer to the edge of the City and the highway, he feels the corners of his lips start to twitch. And when the first rays of the morning sun hit the asphalt beneath his shoes, he is far, far away from the place he once, long ago, called home. In the air, a quiet whisper can be heard; “Happy 18th birthday, Skylar. Congratulations, you made it.”