Prisons

Chapter 1

     A dull ringing rang through the halls of the only school in the Era district. Thousands upon thousands of students exited into the halls, among them was a young man. To everyone except his family, he was nothing special. A twig with curling black hair and light tree bark skin. He was another reject of society here, a person lost in the sea of nothingness stuck between the thought of being real and wondering if this was what was intended.

     You can probably tell the bitterness he held about stereotypes. He'd be the first to admit that he hated 'em and wished 'em gone. He was not the only one like this. The Era District is just full of the rejects of society and does the upper class care? Of course not. They may pretend that they do, but it's rather obvious they don't.

     Now today was basically any other day. It was a little gloomy, too many clouds in the sky to be considered sunny. Though that didn't stop a few stubborn rays from getting through. He had just gotten out of school, really it was the only school in the district. It was a health hazard but it somehow had a place in the hearts of those that walked through it. Being 19 and a senior in high school? Well that's normally laughed at elsewhere. But not here. It was... normal as sad as that sounds. He has had and has classmates that are 22 still learning with him, not because they chose to be held back. But because the teachers didn't care and those of them barely learned enough to maybe glean half of the questions right on the final tests.

     Now some of the teachers do care, but they're few and far between. Most end up moving up to teach while some just quit all together and find a new job that pays only slightly better. Even then, every person that lives in this district goes to a place a rat wouldn't live and that was home. But it wasn't the house or the building that made it a home, no. It was the family. He's seen many dads walk through the door on dead feet only to be welcomed by his children. Of course, it wasn't always like that. In fact, his family was one. His mother took care of himself and his younger siblings to the best of her ability. But there was only so much she could do. She couldn't make a lot of money due to her being slightly crippled and having to use either a cane or crutches. She was barely able to get a job welcoming customers to a grocery store.

     It left himself and his 17 year old brother to bring home money, and his 11 year old sister tries her best but it's still not much. Some would even go as far as calling the money dirty by the way they got it. But if it's to live another day then so be it. It's not like they enjoy it. They have killed people for money, almost never intentional, but he's seen his mother starve herself to where she could barely move just to make sure they had enough to eat. He would never lie when he would say he sometimes woke up in a cold sweat. It's not easy, it's not pretty, but this is life forced upon them and others.

     Sometimes he'll see the rich drive through the streets, just to see what others looked like. Those that are poor aren't pretty, they suffer so that the rich could have a duck roasted on a silver platter. It's almost more than he can stand. His mother always says he's headstrong like his dad, full of dreams that don't deserve to wither away here. Supposedly he's a free spirit. They say this is freedom, and that freedom needs to be paid. But history is paved by the victors and what was freedom if an income still barely allows you to live? No, this wasn't freedom. Perhaps a nice glass tank where people are mice running around.

     Living day to day, dashing through alleys to make sure you're not stabbed  where you could meet your enemies more easily. Gun shots? That was practically the music here. Sirens ring the sound of death, or at least close to it. This wasn't freedom, this wasn't even civil. This was surviving.

     "Cal!! Come quick!! Mimi had babies!!" A shout sounded in front of him. There on the steps leading to his family's apartment was his little sister Fala. Next to her was Kai, his little brother who was the middle child of them. Kai dropped out of school to stay home with their ma, Fala practically has as she doesn't go to school either. And Mimi? That was a stray cat took in one day that decided to stay. She was a ragged thing with a torn ear and a missing eye, her tail had been cut off as well. But she was family and to Fala she was the prettiest cat in the world.

   Fala's excitement was obvious, and Calian couldn't help but smile. Sometimes, it was days like these that made it all worth it somehow. Despite everything, they still had each other at the end of the day. His shoes patted softly on the ground, bits of dying grass in the sidewalk crunching under his feet as he made his way home and into the small archway that hung over the door. Fala didn't waste anytime in grabbing his larger hand in hers and dragging him inside to see what had become of the beloved cat.

   Fala ended up dragging him into the kitchen, which was small and probably a hazard in of itself, but it got the job done. The cabinets under the sink were pretty ordinary, but there was a space where Mimi liked to hide that was hidden by an old dish towel duct taped to the counter. The towel was folded over, exposing a nursing Mimi with 3 little bundles of fur. Kai sat next to the opening, a hand petting the head of Mimi who purred up a storm at the action.

   Calians eyes drifted over to his mother, a small and plump woman confined mostly to rickety crutches that could give out at any moment. She had the same pitch black hair as the siblings, except her skin was a shade darker than theirs. Laugh and worry lines lined her face, making her appear older than she was. She didn't really have blemishes, maybe a couple of beauty marks across her body, but she was mostly fair. He remembered when she was able to walk and play with him and his siblings, but apparently she had a talk with their father. Supposedly after that she was robbed and shot in the leg, hindering her. Paying that medical bill off was a nightmare, and getting the money was even worse.

A smile reached his face as he watched Fala coo softly over the fur balls. She was practically a spitting image or their mother, Kai was as well but still had some resemblance of the missing father. For himself, he looked more like his father than his siblings. They didn't really know much about their father, just vague sensations of something that used to be there but was no longer. His mother doesn't keep pictures of him, he's tried asking but she simply says "You'll know when you're ready."

   He turned away to go to his and Kai's room that was just down a short hallway past the kitchen and living room, like the rest of the apartment, it was small. Both bedrooms were really, and the apartment only held 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. It was clear which side belonged to who really. Calians was covered with various things he found over the years that he thought interesting, ranging from dirty seashells and broken objects that he found at the beach turned junkyard on the other side of town to small knicknacks he nicked from garage sales and run down shops. Books were placed haphazardly around his side of the room, textbooks to fantasy, it was all there. True they were run down, but it's not like anybody would really enjoy them in this part.

   Kai's side however, was almost the opposite of his. It was neat where his was messy, newspaper clippings that contained pictures of the family and his friends hung on the walls in neat rows. A few posters of movies and bands hung on the wall as well that Calian got for him. A battered radio sat on the stand next to his bed, playing a song from a band that he's never heard of but he didn't doubt Kai has.

   Setting his ripping backpack down next to his night stand, Calian collapsed onto the bed with a sigh. Frowning, he reached under his bed and felt for a box he kept there that was locked by a lock where only he had the key and knew where the spare was stashed. Taking out the key that hung from his neck, he opened the box and started to count the bills inside. His heart dropped, he was a hundred short. Screwing up his face with determination, he dug out his phone and began to look through the news feeds as he put the box back. It was going to be a long night.