My Bully

Chapter 13

We entered a small brunt building that looked like it hadn't seen paint in years and Johnny grinned. "Welcome to our small, humble home. It's not much but, it keeps the rain out."

I looked around. Personally, it was better than you'd think a homeless person's house would be. There was a small mattress in the corner that was decently clean and I saw they had put together a fireplace to keep warm. It was pretty cozy.

I nodded. "You live here all by yourself?"

Jerry nodded. "Yeah. But, we don't have to worry about anything and we can sleep as long as we want." He ran over to the mattress and plopped down.

I turned to Johnny. "So, what is the kid patrol? Like police or something?"

He shrugged. "Pretty much. They look for kids that don't have parents or refuse to go to school and give them to 'new families'." He used his fingers to show parentheses.

"So, you guys don't have anybody?"

"Nope. We like it that way too. No annoying parents to boss you around or pretend to care about you. It's pretty nice." He smiled. "What about you? Anyone who cares for you?"

Marcus flashed through my mind and I looked down. "Not really."

He smiled. "You can stay with us. We ran away from our familie a long time ago and never looked back. You're more then welcome to do the same."

I made a small hm. "I would but... It's hard to explain."

He shrugged and started messing with the fireplace, putting sticks and stuff on it before lighting a piece of paper and dropping it onto the wood. "Why were you in a back alley crying?"

I paused. "I was... running."

"From?"

I sighed and leaned against a wall. "A friend. I hurt them and I didn't know what to do."

He sighed. "We don't really have friends so we wouldn't know what that feel like but, if you want to talk we're happy to listen."

In the end I told them everything. Marcus, my parents, what had happened last night and this morning. They listen and sometimes asked a few questions and it made me feel better to be able to talk to someone about it.

"Why do you stay there if they treat you so bad? If it was me I'd just leave. I don't take crap from people." Johnny said, leaning against the wall.

Jerry nodded. "Our mom and dad never did that but, we got tired of them always telling us what to do and what not to do. If we lived where you live we'd have already left."

I shrugged. "I've only had the courage to do that once and it didn't end well."

"What happened?" Jerry asked.

"I... packed. I grabbed everything I would need, which wasn't very much, and got ready to leave."

***Flashback***

I grabbed my notebook and a few shirts and pants and stuffed them all in my bag. I was trying to hurry because my parents would be up any moment. I folded a blanket and tried my best to fit it into the bag, zipping it as closed as I could.

There was a squeak and someone said, "Where do you think you're going, shit?"

I turned and saw my mother standing in my doorway. She was glaring at me, her arms crossed and eyes sparking with anger. I backed up. "M-mom... I wasn't-"

"You lying, sneaky brat! You don't know how good you have it!" She came towards me and grabbed me by my hair.

I whimpered as she dragged me down the stairs and threw me into her room. I looked up and saw my dad. His eyes were narrowed. "He was trying to leave." My mother said, her arms crossing in triumph.