Bitch

Scarlet could remember them days where her parents would lecture her about going out onto the streets at night. It was dangerous blahblahblah. You could get snatched blahblahblah. They had warned her to never go out onto the streets at night because of the dangerous people out there. One thing they had warned Scarlet about was how to avoid suspicious looking people. These were the people who often kept to the shadows or constantly wore their hood up to cover most of their face. They would walk with a quickened shuffle and kept their hands stuffed in their pockets. Well, Kris was looking like one of those people now.

Scarlet had decided to join Malcom and Chantelle in their mission to find out where all the kids are going. She had planned to meet them back up at the bridge. But now she wasn't so sure because Kris was defiantly looking dodgy. Every small sound sent him to look over his shoulder or reach into his back pocket where she knew he kept a sharp knife for protection. She had never seen Kris look so agitated before. It was like he thought he was being followed. Maybe he was being followed. Or maybe he just didn't want anyone to see him.

Scarlet changed direction, turning round on her heels before following Kris's path, sticking to the shadows as she darted forward swiftly on the balls of her feet. Kris didn't suspect a thing as he patrolled forward. Well of course he didn't, Scarlet had been practising this for years. On her first days of living on the street Scarlet had to learned how to pick pocket and steal. To this you need stealth and the ability to move quickly and silently at the same time.

The more Scarlet followed Kris, the more her suspicions made sense. What was he doing walking back from the bridge and why is he acting like this? He either thought he was being followed or didn't actually want to be seen by anyone. The second one seemed more likely since Scarlet was the only one following him and she noticed Kris acting like this before she decided to change course.

They both travelled two streets more until Kris finally came to a stop outside an old shack of a suburban bungalow. The windows were cracked and decorated with masses of cobwebs, the front door was chipped and rotten with not much left of the original layer of paint. The garden path was coming to pieces, with huge chunks missing and a jungle of weeds poking up through the jagged gaps, desperately craving for a glimpse of sunlight. Birds were nesting in the mouldy drain pipe and the walls had become home to a mass of ivory that sneakily snaked up the brickwork.

Scarlet ducked behind an old abandoned rusty car, leaning up against the corroded, rough and crusty metal while peering through the grime coated window. Why had Kris come here? What was he doing in a place as troubled as this? It's clearly not safe, Scarlet was lucky to have not been stabbed already.

She peeked through the window, watching as Kris entered the house casually, like it was his own home. Maybe it was his own home. Kris and Alexus never slept at the underpass. Scarlet had always presumed they camped with other kids but now she wasn't so sure. It looked like they both had been sleeping in a proper house this entire time. Not exactly a comfortable home but a house was a house, even if it did look like it would fall apart like a stack of cards at the slightest breeze.

Once Kris was inside the house, Scarlet removed herself from the car. Slowly creeping around the deserted vehicle before darting up the cracked path and heading towards the closest window. She had to know. What was Kris up to? Walking around the streets at night like he had just committed a murder and keeping something like this whole house a secret. It was almost selfish, so many kids were crammed into that underpass every night while he and Alexus shared this whole house by themselves. Just the two of them.

Scarlet crouched on the balls of her feet, peeking through the smutty window and examining the inside of the house. The room she was looking at was obviously the main room with an old worn mattress dumped in the middle of the floor and bed covers thrown lazily on top. They even had their own bed! These two treacherous lying scumbags were living it out under a roof while the rest of them froze to death in the bitter cold!

At least once every month a kid will die in the underpass during the night. Whether it's from an infection, the cold, hunger or disease. Some kid will wake up screaming because they've woken up to find their friend dead beside them. Scarlet remembered one night a few months ago, she had fallen asleep next to a young girl who had ended up coughing up half the blood in her system throughout the night before dying horribly in the morning. It was one of the worst things Scarlet had ever experienced. She had tried to make the girl feel better, rubbing her back as she coughed violently and offering her some water. But in the end it was all in vain because the young girl had eventually died. And while these kids were dying on the streets, Kris and Alexus were nice and cosy in their country home. It sickened Scarlet.

She though Kris was alright, he was always trying to help other kids and being a good role model. But now she wasn't so sure. He had just turned out to be another selfish kid. Every man for himself. That was what it was like on the streets. Even for good kids like Kris.