Destructive (On Hold)

New Eyes

An elbow in the ribs woke me suddenly. "Ow!" I protested, to see Calypso's excited eyes looking back at me. 

"We're here," she said. "C'mon. You seen London before? It's amazing. Let's get out."

The woman with bright pink boots tapped out a final text with her sharp manicured nails on her iPhone and then left along with the other passengers. Calypso tugged my hand impatiently. She put her head close to mine. "You won't believe how easy it is to find money here," she whispered. 

We got off the tube and she hurriedly walked towards the stairs where a slit of sunshine filtered through. As we got closer it got lighter, and suddenly we were at the top of the stairs and I had never seen a place so amazing in my life. I listened to my heart thud in my ears as I took in Trafalgar Square. Tall buildings, statues, a huge fountain spraying water. Busy people in coats and scarves and hats rushed and talked and sipped from coffee cups or were on their celphones. If I had a celphone, I would be leaping for joy, higher than the Big Ben. But these people didn't look happy. Mostly they looked hurried or nervous, like they were late for something. Worse were the vacant gazes as if nothing in this beautiful place surprised them anymore. 

"What's the time?" I asked in a daze. 

"I don't know," Calypso replied, equally as dazed. "I'd say around 12 or something. Afternoon. And it's a weekday, so these people are having their work breaks. Which is why they don't look very happy. But when it's Saturday, it's different. You'll see." she said quickly. 

"Work..." I muttered. "We're going to have to get jobs, aren't we?" I didn't want to become and office robot like Uncle was back at the foster home. Even when he'd get back from his nine-to-five job he'd be holed up in his private office taking calls and flipping through papers, furrowing his brow behind his reading glasses. 

"Let's see the London Eye!" Calypso cried, ignoring my question.

"Where's that?" I asked.

"Across the river. I've seen it before. My mom took me," she explained, and then her eyes widened like she regretted saying that.

"Your mom? Where-" I began, but she was turning away to a stand of maps and pamphlets of tourist attractions. I decided to drop the subject, but something was bugging me. It was that her accent changed in all the different places we'd been. She'd almost sounded Texan when I first met her, and now she had a typical English accent. Maybe she's learnt to adjust to all the different places she'd been in different ways. And I was wondering why she was homeless if she's had - and maybe still has - a mother and why she's not in a home like I was. I couldn't ask her though.

"I wonder if they're looking for you yet," Calypso murmured while scanning a map.

"They won't care, probably," I replied. She laughed.

"Of course they would. They get money from looking after you."

I smirked. "Well, not anymore. I never want to go back. I just want to go forward."

"Yeah?" Calypso said, a sudden harshness in her voice. "What makes you think it's so easy?"

I looked down, embarrassed. "Well, how did you become homeless? Didn't you run away too?"

"My past is none of your concern." 

I got the feeling I was annoying her, but I wanted to know more. "Do you want to be alone? I thought we were friends. You said we were friends. We're going to help each other," I implored.

"I know. But would you quit bugging me?" she said angrily and stuffed the pamphlet back on the rack, crumpling it. "Never mind about this tourist shit. Let's just find somewhere to stay," she said, gritting her teeth. I had never seen her so upset. She seemed so happy, a deluded kind of happy when we had first met. I felt childish and oblivious to what the real world of being homeless so young was like, and wondered what I had gotten myself into as I tried to keep up with Calypso as she fleetingly stomped through the busy London streets.
As we went further the environment started to change. The tall grand buildings and posh designer stores were long behind us and I found myself staring at graffiti, upturned trash cans in alleyways and cigarette butts stamped into the sidewalk. Calypso suddenly stopped at an olive green door of an apartment building. 

"Act cool," she said, and the look in her eyes was almost accusing. She pressed some buttons on a panel by the door and we waited. 

"What are we doing?" I asked in a low whisper. She just shook her head. 

The door opened quickly, creaking at the greasy hinges and a skinny blonde girl who looked in her mid 20's in black leggings and black singlet stood there, with a cigarette balanced between two fingers. She blew smoke into my face. I coughed and spluttered until Calypso elbowed me hard.

"Hi Anna," Calypso spoke pleasantly.

Anna ignored her. She gestured to me and said, "Who's this then?"

"A friend," Calypso said quickly. "We need a place to stay. We won't be long. Greg here?"

Anna paused as she stubbed out her cigarette on the inside of the door and threw it on the pavement in front of us. "Nah," she said. "Out, but you can come in. For a while."

I could tell Calypso was relieved, but I had a feeling you had to keep up a tough exterior to be let in. 

Anna stood to the side of the doorframe and we sidled in past her. I followed the two up a few flights of stairs because the elevator was out of order. "People piss in there anyways," Anna explained in a heavy chav accent. I marvelled at how thin she was. Her collarbones stuck out alarmingly and her limbs looked like they could snap. 

We came to another door in a long hallway. The wallpaper was peeling around the edges and where the wall met the ceiling. Calypso's expression was blank as she surveyed the hallway. Anna unlocked the door and we went inside. 

"Welcome to our humble abode," Anna announced sarcastically. She turned to Calypso. "I'm out of ciggies so I'm going down to the bar. Jayden and Panda are on the deck." She nodded towards the kitchen and said, "But don't help yourself, because we haven't got much in. Okay?" she asked Calypso. 

Anna swivelled towards the door but as she was about to leave she studied me curiously. "Didn't catch your name," she stated.

"Ruby," I mumbled, and couldn't meet her gaze. 

I waited in silence for her answer. She just laughed. "I'm going to call you Mouse. You act like one. You're not going to like it here," she said, and walked out the door, leaving it ajar.

"Damn," Calypso said, biting her lip.

"What?"

"She knows you're a runaway. Not that she'll tell, but she's so nosy." She saw the worried expression on my face and smiled reassuringly. I was glad she was acting normal again.

"So... how do you know her? And who's Greg?" My mind was bubbling with unanswered questions.

"He'll take you in, if you've got nowhere to go. But we have to earn our keep. Like Anna and Jayden and Panda. There used to be a whole lot more. I used to stay here before I went travelling," she explained.

"Travelling? With who?" 

"Myself, of course. I used to stay at a lot of places. Just got to be nice."

I nodded. I was willing to learn anything so I could stay off the road and out of Aunt and Uncle's wretched foster home.