No Name

Chapter One

It had been ten years since that fateful day when both my parents were killed- protecting me. Now that I'm older, I understand that my parents had died to save me from the man who had killed them. I could still remember the look in the mans dark eyes as he squeezed the trigger. No sign of remorse in his maniacal eyes. One was red, a glowing shade of red that seemed to deserve to be thrown into the deepest pits of Hell (not unlike the person it belonged to). The other, was a black so deep, it nearly looked like a pit that you had to restrain yourself from falling into. Like a grave, with a coffin opened, just to bury you alive.

I'd screamed at him, yelled at him to 'GO AWAY!' but he wouldn't. Instead he killed the people I loved most. Now, I do realize that maybe they weren't the best parents in the world, but if they were, I wouldn't have gotten this far in life. Sure, I was an orphan. Sure, I was homeless. But at least I was alive. Some people weren't that lucky.

Actually, the way I see it, I'm really lucky. Not long after I was orphaned, I sort of became a member of a local gang, even though I was only four. Okay, so maybe that's not your definition of 'lucky', but it was. I was lost, broke, and broken. And they took me in and acted as if I was their son. Even though as I got older, my eyesight got worse and worse and now, I can't see anything. Literally. My world is black. But in their oppinions, that made me better. The worse my eyesight got, the better the rest of my senses got. Now, I could hear an insect scuttle across the ground, and a pin drop in a croud of loud, annoying people. It was closer to echo-location than anything else, really, and I'd be lost without it. I could smell anyone a mile away- two if they hadn't bathed recently, and I could tell who someone was by the feel of their skin. I was the best look out they ever had or could possibly need. And the other gangs in town knew it, too. It was why they didn't bother us unless necessary. I knew that what we were doing wasn't moral, and sure, it bugged me, but what I had here.... It's just, anywhere else, I would be a freak. If I were to go to school, I knew I would have to sit alone at lunch, and hear whispers about me all day long. 'Look, there's the blind kid.' 'I don't think he's really blind. No one can be that good at hearing. I bet he's faking.'

Since I didn't go to school, one of the older gang members teaches me in her free time. Which is where I should be now. Instead, I was hiding in a closet of one of the less trashed rooms of where we were staying. And there weren't many, let me tell you.

Although I did appreciate the gesture and patience it must take to teach me, I hated our little home-school. Marie abstinatly yelled that I would not, under any circumstances, end up like her: a forty-year-old gang banger.

"Fang! You'd betta get yo' skinny little be-hind outta yo' hiding spot befo' I find you, or you won't have much of a be-hind afta' I get done!" I almost laughed at her empty threat. Marie was feirce as fire, but the only person she could ever hurt is someone who's threatening to hurt her 'family'. They do that and they won't live to see anouther minute. My breathing stilled as I effortlessly listened to her quiet footsteps. Closer, closer, and then, by my calculations, right outside the bed-room door. They paused. "Fang, you have five seconds to get outta that closet." Fang wasn't my real name. My parents had named me Leuk. But Leuk was weak. And I knew I had to be strong. Espescially here. I didn't move. Instead, I chided myself for my stupidity. How on earth did I think for one second that Marie wouldn't notice me? Marie didn't miss details. In fact, she always said 'Life is in the details' and she didn't miss a single one. "One. Two. Three. Fo'." My sense of self-preservation took over. I scrambled gracelessly out of the closet. "Look who decided to come outta the closet." She said, joking. I grimaced. She shouldn't make fun of that. My best friend Magnus did that recently.

Deciding not to mention it, I said "What do you mean? I was sleeping in there. I didn't hear a word you said." She shifted position, a hand on her hip.

"Boy! I know you weren't sleeping. And if you were, you would'a woke up 'soon as someone shuffled down this there ha'way. You was hidin' from me and you know it just as much as I do."

"I'm not sure I should be learning my grammar from you, Marie. English was obviously not your best subject." Marie laughed, walking closer to me so as to grab my wrist to ensure that I wouldn't be able to run off. Not that it would take much to escape.

She lead me down the dilapidating hallway and into a more stable room. "Now since you don't like my gramma', I'll teach ya math."

I groaned. "I hate math!"

Marie lifted my hand to her face unnecessarily to show me that she was smiling, even though I'd told her countless times, I could hear it in her voice. "I know ya do. Why do ya think I chos' that subjec'?" I smiled too, knowing she hadn't opted for math out of spite. "Now. Pi."

"Three point one four one five nine two six five three five eight nine seven nine three two three eight four six two six four three three eight three seven nine five two eight eight four one nine seven one sixtynine three nintynine three seven five O one five eight two O nine seven fourty-four five nine two three O seven eight one six four O six." I'd always had an amazing memory. I was obviously an auditory learner.

The sound of her curls bouncing told me that Marie nodded. "More than I ever memorized. Square root o' sixteen?"

"Four. I thought we were doing Algebra now. I learned this stuff last week." In our little homeschool, there was no eighth grade, ninth grade, or tenth grade. I just learned untill Marie ran out of things to teach me.

"You wanna do Algebra? Two x minus negativ' fi' y equals?"

"You have to teach me how to do it first. But the answer has negative three in it, right?"

The entire afternoon went like that- or at least untill I heard a person at about a mile away from our 'house'. And we didn't get company often. The person didn't walk like anyone I knew. Their footsteps snapped down more quickly and were much more loud. And the person hadn't bathed recently. At all. Like in the past month. "Marie? We've got company. We've got company that's new and needs a good, long shower."

Marie grinned evily. "Well, wha' we doin' in here, bein' terrible hos's! Let's go greet 'im!" She said, vivaciously jumping out of her seat, grabbing my wrist and dragging me with her.

"Where is he, Fang? I though' we ha' comp'ny."

"We do. The person should be coming around the corner now." a hasty 'ssst' told me that Marie was peeking through the blinds. Snap! as she released the part she was holding.

"You amaze me still, li'l boy."

"It's about to knock."

Marie laughed. "It? Can' you tell genda' boy?" I shook my head mutely. That was the only thing I couldn't do really, you know, other than see. KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!

Marie yanked to door open and said impolitely "What do 'ya want?"

Even though I knew I couldn't see, I peeked at it from behind Marie. I heard a swish in the air as it pointed. At me. "Him."

"Exc-use me?" Her voice was shaking.

"I want that boy who's peeking out from behind you to come with me."

"Why?" I asked, more politly than Marie. "I don't know you."

"How can you tell, you're blind." The man was smiling. How did he know? No one outside our gang knew I was blind.

"What makes you think that?" I asked. Marie was quiet now. She was never good at hiding her feelings.

"You're looking at the middle of my forehead, not my eyes." Oh. Crap.

"It's a sign of respect in some countries, not to look directly at someones eyes, Sir." I added for the benefit of 'respect'.

"Well then what color are my eyes?"

Crap! "Blue." I did my best to sound quick and confident, as if I was absolutly positive his eyes were blue.

The man smiled again. "Brown. You are blind. Which shows me that I'm right about you."

His words chilled me. "What do you mean, you're right about me?"

"You are the one I am looking for. Black hair, tan skin, unseeing green eyes. And let me guess- your name is Leuk."

Marie laughed. "WRONG! His name is FANG!" But I could feel the blood drain from my face as she slammed the door in the mans face.