Outcast City

Chapter 2: Catching a Break

Chapter 2: Catching a Break

       I sat on one of the Church benches, my bag was used to prop up my back as I ate my lunch. It was just a simple turkey and cheese sandwich, a juicy bright red apple, and a thermos full of coffee that was sweetened with French vanilla liquid creamer and sugar. On my lap was my ripped up journal. Sighing heavily I thumbed through the untouched pages, trying to find one that I liked. Nothing but poems and short stories were written on the once clean white pages. With an angry shout I threw it to the other side of the bench as tears started prickling my eyes. Biting my lower lip hard I went and rubbed at my eyes with my black jacket's sleeve, trying to rid them of the offending liquid that burned them. I lowered my arm and sighed, just leaning back to look at the ceiling. I stayed like that for a short time, just keeping my mind as blank as possible. That is, until my cell phone went off-- completely ruining my piece of mind. 

       "Hello?" I snapped, flipping the device open. 

       "Man, what died and crawled into your head?" asked an overly sarcastic voice. 

       "S-Sorry..." I couldn't help but mumble, feeling guilty that I snapped at him. 

       "It's okay. I heard through the grape vine that Jason and his goon squad came and roughen you up before class started. Is it true?" the voice asked. I could hear him taking a drag of something through the receiver. "If it is then why the hell didn't you come find me? Jason should know better than to fuck with you by now." 

       "That's the thing, Billy! You're always sticking up for me! They think I'm weak and so they beat the hell outta me when you're not around. I need to stand up for myself, Billy, but I can't do that if you're always fighting my battles." I could feel tears prick at my eyes as my anger grew. "You know how hard it is, living in your shadow? I'm just Drew, Billy's pathetic friend who's the only freak in school. Doesn't help that my parents use me as their personal punching bag when they're sober..." I wiggled by nose slightly, flinching in pain, as the dried blood cracked and the rest that I missed earlier fell away. Without waiting for Billy to respond to my statement I snapped the electronic device close, turning it completely off as I did so. 

      I tried not to think as I curled up into a ball on the bench, using my bag as a pillow and my jacket as a blanket. Without anything to disturb my peace of mind did I drift off to dream land, hoping to wake up again in the church instead of my own bed. 

       ♦♦♦ 

       Light filtered into the stained glass windows onto my closed eyelids, making me blink a few times as it invaded my sleep. Yawning loudly I stretched and sat up, rubbing the heel of my hands against my eyes to help wake me up even more. My jacket just fell into my lap with a soft thud, causing me to remove my hands so I could look around. "I-It wasn't a dream!" I shouted, grinning from ear to ear. I threw my jacket over the back of the bench and rand down the aisles and went to grabbed for the handles, only to stop as I heard noise outside. 

       "Adam are you sure about this?" a male voice asked, sounding frightened. 

       "Alex, when have I lied to you?" answered another, belonging to who I could only assume to be Adam. 

       "When have we ever lied to you?" another male chirped. 

       "Michael!" the first cried out. 

       I pulled the door open slightly to see three teenage boys a little far off, far away enough that you couldn't see the church. 

       "Shh, Alex. Do you want people to find us?" the one named Michael asked, pulling Alex closer to him. 

       "No, but what if Adam's parents comes looking for him?" 

       The one I was guessing to be Adam, came up behind Alex and pulled him and Michael closer to his body, sandwiching Alex between them. "Are you afraid that they'll finally find out about our love affair?" he crooned darkly, his voice dripping like sweet dark honey. Alex had long black hair that covered part of his face, his bright green eyes stood out against light tan skin as he placed his pale lips against Alex's slender throat. "Are you that disgusted by us now?" he whispered so softly that I had to strain my ears to hear. 

       Michael pushed his sunny blond bangs out of his face with pale digits, reminding me on how some of those jocks had their hair cut. I couldn't help but scrunch up my nose in disgust at the simple thought that one of these guys could be apart of that gang that hated and bullied me so. "Lacrosse practice is soon, so we better make this quick otherwise I'll be late." Michael spoke in an airy tone, sounding very much like someone who'd rather be looking at clouds instead of sweating his butt off playing sports. I could feel the heat crawling up my neck to my cheeks as I quickly, and silently, closed the door. It didn't take a scientist to figure out what they were about to do. 

       I ran back to my bag and quickly organizing it while slipping on my jacket, zipping it up only half way. With a quick look around I figured that this old place must have a back entrance, and I was right. I exited the church, faintly hearing the three boys from before as I disappeared into the trees. I turned on my phone and quickly checked the time. 8:50 glared up at me. "Shit..." I swore, picking up my pace. I knew that I needed to quicken my pace and quickly get back home before my so called 'parents' realized that I wasn't there. I ran through the trees, my jacket getting caught every once and a while on the branches. 

       It didn't take me long and I was back home, sneaking in through my window. I fell to the hard wooden floor with a dull thud. I winced and waited silently for the screaming to start. After a few still moments I blinked, stood up and walked to my door. Slowly I turned the cold bras knob and pushed the dark heavy door forward and stuck my head out in the hallway. The house was silent, eerily so. Taking a deep breath I tip toed down the hallway, down the stairs, and checked out the kitchen and living room. No one was their. I just cocked my head to the side, confused slightly at what was going on. I went into the dining room and noticed a fair bit of cash on the table. Next to it was a note. 

       'Here's some money, you ungrateful little shit. Your dad and I went to stay with your grandmother for a few weeks. This is all your getting. Be glad we left you anything.' I ignored the crude language used by my so-called mother as I grinned, knowing that they will be gone for quite some time.