Little Red

Reki was frozen for a moment before he came back to his senses, his apartment was right next door. He opened the door which was covered in stains and makes. The lock had been broken by one of his mom's previous boyfriends and was never fixed. The smell of smoke instantly filled his nostrils. His nose wrinkled as he walked into the room, the lights were all off except for a yellow-lit lamp. He could make out the silhouette of his mother slouched in the cough next to it. There was a shattered beer bottle underneath her hands. The whole room was filthy. He tiptoed around his mom and peeled back the covers of his bed. 

"Reki." his mother growled from behind him her voice was ragged and mean. Reki flinched and turned back his breath shuddered as he stared into his mom's glassy eyes.

 "Where have you been." she rasped and staggered towards Reki she was so drunk he was surprised she could even stay upright. 

"I've been at the skatepark." He said meekly backing away from his mother. His mother's eyes glanced at his skateboard and narrowed. 

"How fucking useless." she hissed. "Instead of riding on wood how about you go down the station and get your mom some beer." her breath was hot as she inched closer to Reki. Reki looked away he couldn't run anywhere his mom had him cornered. 

"Mom it's late, can I do it tomorrow morning?" the second the words left his mouth he regretted it.

 "What." his mom's eyes burned with anger as she snatched the board away from Reki. "You think this is more important than your mom!" she yelled causing Reki to flinch. She rose the skateboard above her head her eyes locked dead on Rekis. She threw it to the wall inches away from Rekis's head. It hit the table and the microwave along with some bottles toppled over and fell with a loud slam.

 "I-I'm sorry I'll go now." Reki stumbled over his words, his mom was in a worse mood than usual.

 "Ungrateful shit." His mom snapped and fell back into her chair "Go!" she screamed. 

Reki rushed out of the room and shut the door. He clutched at his chest trying to slow his breathing. His body was trembling. His head was spinning as he stumbled down the stairs. The air was cold now and bit at his skin. He was only wearing a yellow hoodie and black shorts. 

XXX

"Hey Kaoru I'm back!" Joe took off his shoes and walked into his house. Karou glanced up he was bent over some paperwork his hand was pressed against his forehead. 

"How was work?" Karou asked, he took off his glasses and set them down. 

"Just like usual, oh wait I saw a kid digging around in the trash today," Joe answered. 

"Sad to see it, I would've given him a fresh dish but he snatched some leftovers right out of my hand," he said with a sigh.

 Karou frowned "How old did he look?" he asked. "Like about 14 maybe 15, the kid was scrawny." 

Karou shook his head "How unfortunate." 

"Yeah I agree, if I ever see him again I'll be sure to get some food into him," he said with a hint of determination. "Oh, you know what, he also had a skateboard." 

Kaoru joined Kojiro on the couch and nestled beside him "You miss skateboarding?" Kojiro had many fond memories of skateboarding as well as some not-so-good memories.

 "Sometimes," he answered airily. 

XXX

"Ouch" There was a sore pain on his back, he could hear the sound of cars around him. He forced open an eyelid, the sun immediately fell harshly over him. He blinked away the sleep as he came to his senses, he was sat over at the back of the gas station. "I must've fallen asleep.."