The City of Droth

4. Family

I woke up with a pounding headache. I laid on cold concrete. Blood trickled from my nose and the tenderness of a bruise starting to form on my jawline.

I looked up and shadows surrounded me. The first person that came into view was the boy named Ace. He had messy side-swept undercut black hair, angry blue-green eyes, tanned skin, and sharp jawline.

Boy did I want to punch him in the face.

I clench my jaw and glared at him. Ace leaned forward toward my face and grinned then said "hello, you're so pretty when you sleep. Your long, copper red hair in knots and curled up body is just beautiful. And look at your angry green eyes. Marvelous!"

I growled "creep." And punched him in the nose. Ace stumbled backwards and I shot up onto my feet, my head pounding in protest. I turned and starting walking to find an exit then I heard Ace yelled "you BITCH!" And the sound of a gunshot filled the air.

I turned around quickly. By the time I had turned around someone stood in front of me.

Rat.

A bullet never touched my body and everything went into slow motion as the little 12 year old boy's body shot backwards with the force of the bullet. I jumped forward and caught him.

I could hear the scream of Delilah.

The gasp of his comrades.

I held Rat in my arms while on the ground. He stared at me with fear, his eyes the side of saucers. I said "Rat hey hey it's gonna be okay bud okay? It'll be alright it'll be okay." I looked down at his chest, blood was pouring out. I tore off my jacket and held it against his wound.

"It'll be okay Rat, I promise" I told him over and over. Tears started to slip down my cheeks as I attempted to save... My friend. Oh God my friend. Rat mumbled "Kayda? Will I die?" Will he die? What do I tell him? What can I tell him? I shook my head. I could lie to him. You can lie to people when they are scared right?
Rat stared at me. His breath coming in shorter gasps then said "thank you for showing me that there are people who do care..." I said "h-hey bud don't worry you will be able to live and see more people who care about you I promise."

Rat shook his head, shiny tears formed in the corners of his eyes and dribbled down the sides of his face. He coughed and blood trickled down his chin. He whispered "if you ever find my parents... Please tell them i'm sorry that I ran away a...and that I love them dearly." I nodded, chocking back tears.

Rat looked at me and said "please smile... I love when people smile... I want to see someone happy when I..." He coughs again and looks me in the eyes "please.." He whispers.

I put on a full grin. A dreadful shutter ran through my body. A tear slipped down my cheek and landed on Rats face.

But I smiled. I smiled for him.

Rat weakly returned the smile. "Thank you." And I watched helplessly as my friend slipped away. He lost the light from his eyes... Then he was gone.

A horde of tears ran down my cheeks.
And I lost my grin. Sobs took over my body and I clutched Rat to me. I rocked him back and forth. Heart breaking cries erupted from behind me. Delilah cried "NO! Oh God no he can't be dead!"

I heard metal cling to the ground. I looked and saw the gun laying on the floor and then I looked up and locked eyes with Ace. Horror and shock was etched across his face. A tear slipped down his cheek. "oh god" he mouthed.

Ace dropped to his knees. Reaching out. Then dropped his hand. "I killed him... Oh god I killed him" he said.