Death's Lullaby

Becoming Life

How Life become a Power.

Luka put his hood up on his worn jacket in a futile attempt to shield himself from the downpour of rain that had soaked the city for four days. People gave him sideways glances as he walked down the sidewalk. He didn't blame them. If he was a higher classed citizen looking at himself he would think he looked pretty odd too. A faded jean jacket, torn jeans, scuffed and dirty tennis shoes with a hole on one of them. Chopped white hair that was coated with dirt and a look of sadness and concentration on his face. He felt something hit his jacket and run down his back.

"Go back to your hole filth!" someone shouted behind him. Luka shook himself and cut into the dead end alley that served as his home. No one really liked his 'kind'. They were like a stain on a priceless white table cloth. Noticeable and hideous. Patches and Old Man were huddled in the corner of the alleyway in the corner. They couldn't start a fire because of the rain and the blankets they had didn't hold any warmth since they were all soaking wet.

"This is all I could find," Luka said sitting between the two. He pulled out a warm ham and cheese sandwich wrapped in foil. He unwrapped the foil and tore the sandwich in three pieces.

"That's all right Small Fry," Patches told him in a kind voice. Small Fry was the nickname he was given when the two men found him in a box when he was eight. Luka towered over them now but he liked his nickname. Luka never knew his real parents since both of them had died when he was an infant. Both of his parents were only children and he had no grandparents so he was taken to an orphanage. Luka ran away when he was five though. He never got any food at the place since the other kids stole it from him. The lady in charge never did anything about it though. Luka eventually decided that the streets were better than the orphanage. So, he ran away that night and lived on the street for three years until Patches and Old Man found him. He didn't know there real names and he doubted that the names he knew them by were their real names.

"I wish it would stop raining," Luka said looking up at the stormy sky. A flash of lightning flashed across the sky making all three of them shudder.

"What's on your back Fry?" Old Man asked. Luka craned his neck to look at the back of his jacket and saw a mess of brown seeping down his back.

"Mud," he responded.

"I hate people. Going around and throwing things at us is just horrible," Patches said.

"Not much we can really do about it though," Old Man said with a tired voice. He rubbed his striped gloves together, trying to generate some heat for his hands. Patches huffed and pulled his blue hat further down his face.
"It could be worse though. At least we're not alone," Luka said trying to lighten both men's moods. Old Man nodded and Patches smiled a little bit. Luka took the tinfoil out of his pocket and gave it to Old Man. He knew it would cheer them all up. Old Man loved doing origami and he could make it into any animal. Old Man smiled and began to fold the tinfoil.

"Look it's a bird," Old Man said a few minutes later holding it up so both of them could see it. It looked like a small bird with its wings stretched out wide.

"I wish I was a bird," Patches said. "Then I could fly away from this place,"

"If I was a bird I would fly all over town. Nothing could hold me back," Luka said with a far off look. Old Man put the foil back in his pocket and lifted a blanket above his head. The rain had began to come down harder. Luka yawned and eventually fell asleep.

The next morning the rain had slowed down to a light mist. Luka cracked open his eyes and looked around. Patches was at the end of the alley shouting something and Old Man was nowhere in sight. Luka scrunched his eyebrows and walked over to Patches.