The 7th Child

Chapter 15: The Boy in the Rain

After dinner Tyler went to bed, and Legai climbed back up the fire escape to sit on the roof and look at the stars for a while. He was getting better with being able to tell what time it was, getting as far as being able to tell the time within the range of about an hour. Though it was a little difficult whenever it was a cloudy night, which was almost every night this time of year, but oh well, as long as it wasn't raining it was ok. He looked up at the moon, as it peaked in and out of the blurry holes in the clouds, and thought back on something Jennifer used to tell him. The main thing that has helped keep himself together throughout this whole ordeal. "The moon is a beacon," She used to say, "A spot of light in the biggest darkness." That sentence has been ringing in his head for over a year now. It gave him a bittersweet comfort, imagining her sweet soft voice hugging his ear as her pillowy palm caressed his cheek. "It gives us hope. Cause sometimes that's all you can do. When the dark surrounds you, and you have nowhere left to go, nothing left to do, no one to talk to, the one thing you can always do is hope.". His emotions began to swell, grief from losing his mother, anger at her loss, anger at them for not coming to find him. To save him, to be a family again. She said they would keep him safe. She said this was best for them. His fists balled up, stretching the skin over his knuckles as his brows furrowed and tears built up in his eyes. Why had they abandonned him? Why had they lied him? Where had his hope gone?

As he was sitting criss crossed on the roof, thinking back on the warmth of his mother's arms, he heard an echoed rustling sound out to his left. He looked, and when he heard a louder metallic clang, he rushed to look over the edge of the building, wiping his tears and peeking his head and shoulders over the side of the ledge. The light from the street lights illuminated his face, and he saw 5 men, kicking and punching at Tyler as he raised his hands and defended himself desperately. Legai rushed down the fire escape as lightly as he could so as to not be detected, plopping down onto the pavement in a loud thud as he scrambled to his feet to help him. "Let him go!!" He brazenly ordered the men, taking a battle ready stance against them. The men, with their figures shrouded in darkness, turn to him with angered and yellow eyes, as the man holding Tyler by the torn collar of his shirt pointed to Legai, "Bring him over here." He told the men. 2 men walked towards Legai with balled up fists, and Legai prepared himself for a fight. The first man jumped at him, wrapping his arms around Legai and tackling him to the ground. Legai squirmed his way out, only to be met by the second man. Legai raised his arms to shield his head as the first punch was thrown, colliding with his stomach and knocking him back. Legai evaded punch after punch, weaving and blocking with the best he could offer, until one fist landed right against his cheek. Tyler closed his eyes, not wanting to watch as his friend was beaten, as Legai, hit the ground in a daze. "This one's got no fight in him!" One of the men exclaimed, raising his arms up to the middle of his sides triumphantly. Legai struggled to get up, on his arms and knees, when the second man kicked him in his side. Legai tumbled onto his right side, holding his chest in pain, too busy squinting to see the foot barreling towards his head. A hit that caused his head to fly back into the wall behind him.

Legai, his body screaming for air, fought his way to his hands and knees, suddenly felt a cool sensation on the back of his head. He reached back with his right arm, brushing his index and middle finger across his head, only to be met with a...liquid? He brought his fingers back, and looked down at his hand. It was his blood. The image of his fingers stained with red, the throbbing pain throughout his body, his heart beating faster and faster, his blood boiling. These men had caught him at the wrong time, they were beating on Tyler, and made him bleed. He was furious, and these men were about to pay for it. He began breathing heavily, standing up, teeth clenched so hard his head began shaking, his body bursting with adrenaline. His breath hissed between his teeth, and his eyes were empty. His training kicked in, and his mind focused on doing one thing, survive. He threw one punch to the first man's head as a distraction, then viciously brought up his foot and back down directly into the man's left knee, breaking the leg with a gruesome crack. Legai used the opportunity of the man's vulnerability and hit him with a left hook, flooring him. The fight had begun, and his instincts took over.