S.A.V.E

S.A.V.E-3

Chapter 3

S.A.C.R.E.D

There are moments in life when you question life itself, and you simply sit in silence questioning where your life is going. I did that when I was twelve, the year that my step father walked out and I was evicted out of my home. It also was the year SHIELD found me. Well, I found SHIELD.

~~~September 11, 2003~~~~

"Sam, where did you put the milk?" I looked up from my scattered worksheets from school and glanced at my step father who stood at the fridge.

"Um, I put it on the lower shelf." He turned away and dug back into the refrigerator. After a few slang terms tumbled from his mouth he pulled out the milk. I scribbled on my math homework, and hummed to an old nursery rhyme. I heard him pour him a glass of milk and I heard him put the milk back in the fridge. I didn't want to look at him, every fiber in my body disrespected this man. I promised my mother however, that I would still live with him if she ever passed.

His footsteps soon after disappeared down the hallway into his room. Our house wasn't shabby, however, my step father had let it go to the dumps. Paint was peeling off the walls, and the grass looked like it should be in a wild field. Half the light bulbs were out, and the T.V. didn't work anymore. I kept my room in shape and made sure it looked respectable. I tried to do the same with the rest of the house, but it never lasted.

It was a one story complex, brick, and had a lot of old class to it. We weren't poor, we just weren't exactly swimming in money either. 

"Sam, go to the store again and grab some toilet paper." His voice slipped through the hall and into my ears. I sighed pulling up my homework sheets and placing them back in the green binder. Then I slipped the binder back into my blue and white bag and hung it on the hook against the wall. 

"Sam!? Did you hear me?" He ask as he cracked open his door and we made eye contact. The hallway was short, his room was on the right end and mine was a few feet down on the left. The doors were cream colored, and the wall was a soft yellow. 

"Yes sir, I'll be back soon." I stood quickly and walked away; listening as he shut his door back. I walked down the bare hallways where all the family pictures had been taken down. Ever since my mother passed my step dad had removed any signs she had been living. She passed four years ago, and we both had taken a huge hit. I pushed the thoughts away, because now wasn't the time to get emotional.

I opened the front door and walked down the five stone steps. I grabbed my bicycle and headed into town to the convenient store. Here in New York there were no major convenient stores, there was a small Publix on the edge of town, which is where I was headed now. I took the back alleys because it was hard to navigate my bike on the main roads. 

People crowded the sidewalks and I didn't want to take out some old lady, which I had done before. I passed the back door of the bakery I worked at and after passing two more major building's I arrived at Publix. I parked my bike on an old bike rack and locked it up. Heading to the front I pushed the doors open. I quickly headed to my location; the toiletries aisle. I grabbed the cheapest set of toilet paper and I made my way to a cashier. I chose aisle number eight and stood with one hand in my leather jacket and the other arm protectively held the toilet paper.

I glanced down at my white sneakers and my jeans that had a tear over the right knee cap. I sighed softly, I was wearing my favorite shirt; it's a Captain America shirt that's white and right in the center has his SHIELD. On top of that I had my black leather jacket my mother had saved for me. I found it while rummaging in storage one day a few months back. Glancing up I shuffled forward as the line moved.